For some people, just getting out of bed can seem like a monumental challenge. Getting to the end of the day exhausted can be routine. Struggling to make even the most basic of decisions, because of pain, can be overwhelming. Rather than 'singing, like no one else is there', chronic pain sweeps on to centre stage and holds the floor; a phantom, no one can see but always present.
Chronic pain is a condition in which pain progresses from an acute to chronic state, persisting beyond the healing process (1). Interestingly, altered pain perception; a change in the pain threshold is seen in chronic pain sufferers (4). Inflammation and pain go hand in hand, our body's response to pain is to protect and seek to repair damage. Chronic inflammation is bad when the body is unable to resolve the inflammatory trigger. Where inflammation becomes excessive, irreparable damage to host tissues and disease can occur (7).
Reset
As a Naturopath, I understand the pain and inflammatory pathways of the body. Strategies that reduce the body's inflammatory response can potentially reset the effects that are at play for chronic pain sufferers (5), by modulating pain signalling (6) without the use of harsh drugs. This can be achieved by introducing a range of Herbs, Supplements, Nutrition and/or Diet; strategies that can soon get a person singing again.
What is under disclosed about chronic pain is that it usually leads to lifestyle choices that aggravate the problem.
If your pain is so bad, going for a walk can be out of the question. If exercise is out, weight control can become a problem. Your whole body responds to exercise not just your muscles. Your Lymphatic system is activated by exercise (5). Our Lymph clear rubbish from our tissues and are part of our immune response. Poor Lymph function can increase inflammation and slow our ability to fight disease, leading to more problems.
Chronic pain can also lead to depression, this can in turn lead to reliance on pain killers and seeking other solutions like alcohol, or destructive food choices, like eating to 'feel better'. Chronic pain can lead to cognitive deficits such as difficulties in reasoning and decision making, attention or focus and sleep disturbances(3).
Chronic inflammation can lead to sadness, fatigue, reduced libido, altered sleep pattens and behavioural withdrawal. It can also result in increased blood pressure, insulin resistance and dyslipidemia (3).
Come and talk to me about your journey to reduced pain and inflammation.
Some Facts
Chronic pain is any pain lasting longer than three months. Persistent and under-treated painful conditions, as well as a failure to resolve acute inflammation, can lead to chronic pain. Chronic pain leads to diminished physical and cognitive function through a number of mechanisms.
Inflammation and pain coexist in many conditions, especially:
• neuropathic pain (ie: progressive nerve disease such as seen in diabetes sufferers)
• arthritis
• lower back pain
• headache
• fibromyalgia
• visceral pain (internal organs)
• cancer pain.
Lymphatic System (2)
The removal of excess fluids from body tissues. This process is crucial because water, proteins, and other substances are continuously leaking out of tiny blood capillaries into the surrounding body tissues. If the lymphatic system didn’t drain the excess fluid from the tissues, the lymph fluid would build up in the body’s tissues, and they would swell.
Absorption of fatty acids and subsequent transport of fat, chyle, to the circulatory system.
Production of immune cells (such as lymphocytes, monocytes, and antibody producing cells called plasma cells).
(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6650904/
(3) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0675-0
(5) DOI: 10.2165/00007256-200535060-00001
(6) Mediherb: Focus on Pain Relief
(7) Calder PC, Ahluwalia N, Albers R, et al. A Consideration of Biomarkers to be Used for Evaluation of Inflammation in Human Nutritional Studies. British Journal of Nutrition. 2013;109(S1):S1-S34
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