PAIN
Low back
Neck
Head
Shoulder
Hands
Feet
Knee
Stomach
Intestinal
Sinus
Emotional
So many possibilities! So many avenues!
What is it telling us?! Well, if we mute it with painkillers we will not know until the weight of it outweighs the mask, the mute of drugs, and becomes a much larger problem.
Now I could compose a very lengthy blog about each of the paths pain can take — its myriad roots and causes — but then…
NO ONE WOULD READ IT! ☺.
My point is that there is always a reason, and that a good doctor will look for cause and not simply or only symptomatic relief.
For example, low back pain can be muscular in nature, but why are the muscles contracting or spasming, and causing pain? Could it be from a misalignment in the spine, resulting in nerve root irritation and increased messaging to the muscles (over facilitation), making them continually contract? Could it be a disruption in the deeper connective tissue — the fascia? Could it be problems in the intestines, which share the same nerve roots as the low back? Could it be coming from the feet, resulting in altered gait and, however subtly, causing physical stress upstream from there? Could it be some kind of anemia that reduces oxygenation and energy to the muscles? Could there be psychological or emotional factors involved? This is what I want to know!
Let’s look at stomach pain: so often diagnosed as too much acid, when most of the time the acid production is too low. The result is that one’s food doesn’t break down sufficiently. It putrefies in the stomach, creating excess acid, rather than moving on to the small intestine where its nutrients can be absorbed. This, of course, leads to painful heartburn. In fact, most of the time I recommend hydrochloric acid supplementation for treatment of heartburn!
Anxiety/Depression. Could it be coming from your gut? You may have heard by now that your intestines make up to 90% of the neurotransmitter serotonin (feel good/relax/sleep). The gut bacteria also make a significant amount of dopamine (focus/attention/movement) and norepinephrine (anxiety/energy/cognition).
Consequently, if one is only being prescribed medication without fixing the gut, then s/he will always and forever be relying on the medication. This is seldom without deleterious side effects, such as constipation, low libido, increased anxiety, dizziness, and nausea — to name just a few. Conversely, by the way, brain health can affect and alter gut bacterial balance. Perhaps more on that in another blog ☺.
Often there are “external” sources for our pain, such as the incorrect (or over) use of prescription medications, or environmental toxins. A discussion of either of these would be an expansive undertaking, and one much too involved for a single blog posting. Even so, one need only pay attention to the “verbal fine print” of any prescription medication TV ad, consider the current opioid crisis, or read about the effects of our polluted environment to see that we need to be mindful of how these may be adversely affecting us daily.
Let’s consider STATINS (cholesterol lowering medications), as only one example. This commonly prescribed class of drugs destroys Coenzyme Q10, which is a vital nutrient for cell mitochondrial function. The mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell, and are crucial to cellular energy and function. Decreased CoQ10 means less energy, and limited overall function. In terms of the muscle cells, this translates as aches, pains and weakness. What’s more, cholesterol, the main target of statins, is actually anti-inflammatory: it increases when there is inflammation in the body. Why not find out the reason for the inflammation and treat that?!
What I am trying to express, and feel very passionate about, is that it is unwise to base one’s treatment plan on superficial symptoms alone. For true deep long-lasting healing to occur we have to go to the root of the matter, if we can find it, and treat that!!