Chronic pain reaches into all aspects of your life. It affects how and even if you can work. It affects your relationships with family and friends. It affects your mood and your outlook on life. Relentless pain becomes an ever-present companion, accompanying you wherever you go no matter what you do.
Many of those who live with chronic pain spend their entire lives trying to find the cause of their pain. Traditional medicine often treats symptoms, treating each ache and pain as if it were its own illness. Take this medicine for this pain. Take another medicine for other pain. Often times, you can also receive conflicting advice. Try increasing your activity. No, you need to rest. Try ice. No, try heat. Well-meaning friends and family offer all kinds of advice and old wives’ stories and maybe even accuse you of making it all up.
At what point do you give up all the wrong medical advice and give in to a life of chronic pain?
Before you give up and give in, you need to know a common cause of chronic pain and a problem that can be solved relatively simply. A crafty culprit may have been wreaking havoc on your body for years. Gluten.
What is gluten?
Simply put, gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, malt, rye, and some oats. People with gluten sensitivity often have no idea what kind of destruction this protein is causing in their bodies. The traditional medical community has only recently begun to recognize how gluten can cause harm.
People with gluten sensitivity cannot digest this protein. As protein travels through your digestive systems, it damages the villi in your intestines, the part of your intestines that collects nutrients from your food. Over time, you lose the ability to absorb nutrients in your body, leading to a number of health problems including:
- Celiac Disease;
- Autoimmune disease;
- Tired;
- Anemia;
- Mental health problems such as depression or anxiety;
- ADD and ADHD;
- Irritable bowel syndrome;
- Neuropathy;
- And chronic pain.
How does gluten cause chronic pain?
It is difficult to imagine that a protein found in the most basic foods (bread, cereals, pasta) could cause so much damage. But when you think about what you lose by ingesting what is essentially poison, it actually makes more sense.
Gluten causes chronic pain in two key ways. First of all, gluten sensitivity causes inflammation. Inflammation leads to pain, plain and simple. In fact, you may have been taking anti-inflammatory medications for years knowing full well that your pain is related to inflammation. Gluten also causes chronic pain through its effect on your neurological systems. For example, gluten has been linked to migraines and nerve damage.
So what can I do?
Your chronic pain will never get better until you get to the root of the pain. You may have known, for example, that inflammation has caused your chronic pain. However, inflammation is just another symptom, not a cause. Too often, traditional physicians stop their diagnosis one step away from the real cause.
If you think gluten could be causing your chronic pain, there are several steps you can take. First, you can talk to your healthcare provider about getting blood tests for antibodies related to gluten sensitivity. While these tests can demonstrate a gluten sensitivity and give you concrete evidence, they are not perfect.
In fact, most of the time when you go to your doctor, the typical test that is ordered to determine if you are intolerant to gluten is a notoriously bad test. Learn more about why the typical gluten intolerance test is not appropriate by reading an informative white paper on the subject.
If the tests come back negative but you still suspect that gluten is the culprit for your chronic pain, you can try a gluten elimination diet. This means eliminating all gluten-containing foods (and the list is quite long) for a defined period of time. Once you have removed this protein from your body, you can add it back to your diet. If your symptoms return, then you have your answer.
Don’t give up and give in to a life of chronic pain. You deserve to lead a full, productive and happy life. Chronic pain keeps you from living the life you want to live. It is time to stop treating the symptoms and get to the root of the problem. A gluten-free diet could be your ticket to a pain-free life.
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