One in 5 have chronic pain. What's the cause? Could be drugs prescribed for pain (yes, pain), diabetes, or osteoporosis. Or it could be from muscle imbalances, heavy metals, or nutrient deficiencies.
A series on identifying the root causes of disease. Use quick links to verify research and sources.
FDA: Osteoporosis Drugs Caused “Severe” and “Incapacitating” Pain
Bisphosphonate drugs [prescribed for osteoporosis]… may cause severe and even “incapacitating” musculoskeletal pain, says the FDA in an alert.
Opioids Cause Increased Sensitivity to Pain
Even at safe doses, [opioids] can cause… increased sensitivity to pain.
A Common Effect from Metformin is Pain
Common side effects [of metformin include]… lower back or side pain, muscle pain.
Contents
Genes Aren’t the Problem (So, What Is?)
Implications
Chronic Pain is Very Different from Acute Pain
Root Causes of Chronic Pain
Toxic Drugs as First-Line Treatment? Used for a Prolonged Period?
For Wellness Providers & Educators: Boost Your Impact — Premium Resources Just a Click Away from $19
Context
Genes Aren’t the Problem (So, What Is?)
With knowledge of causal factors, true healing is possible.
Establishment medicine has long promoted the belief that genes are a “blueprint” for a person’s biology and health. This was proven incorrect by the Human Genome Project completed in 2003.
Defective genes are spoken about as if they are “disease time bombs,” fatalistically programmed to go off inside of us... And yet, despite common misconceptions… diseases that result from errors in the nucleotide sequence of a single gene… [account for] less than 1% of all diseases… Following the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, it is no longer accurate to say that our genes “cause” disease.
Genomic researcher Craig Venter remarked… “Genes have very little impact on life outcomes. Our biology is way too complicated for that and deals with hundreds of thousands of independent factors. Genes are absolutely not our fate. They can give us useful information about the increased risk of a disease, but in most cases they will not determine the actual cause of the disease, or the actual incidence of somebody getting it.” … As we migrate from one country to another, our chances of being diagnosed with most chronic illnesses are determined not by the country we come from but by the country we migrate to… [and] the concordance between identical twins for breast cancer was found to be only 20%. Instead of our genes, our lifestyle and environment account for 90–95% of our most chronic illnesses.
Genes are better understood as potentialities.
Genes express differently based on the cells’ environment — which means our exposure to toxins, nutrients, stress, exercise, and so on.
Those environmental factors determine whether genes are “signaled” or not.
Implications
The presumption that conditions that seemed to “run in the family” were due to genetic inheritance overlooked all the other things (the “environment”) that family members may share: the food they eat, the toxins in their water, the electro-magnetics in their area, the chemicals in their cleaning products, the way they deal with emotions, their stress levels and so on.
The implications of the genetic “blueprint” model were profound and long-lasting. Western medicine promoted the false belief that disease is due to genetic inheritance, propagating a medical system built on the false belief of fated outcomes and “no cures”, resulting in:
Helplessness, disempowerment
A focus on symptom management
Excessive use of pharmaceutical drugs
Distraction from identifying and addressing root causes
Dr. Bruce Lipton: “We are not victims of our genome”
My research on how environment [toxins, nutrition, exercise, stress relief, etc] shapes genetic activity was published in 1977… Twenty years after I started my stem cell research, the same conclusions were officially recognized by science in advancing the revolutionary field of Epigenetics … the science of how environment controls genetic activity. The most exciting consequence of these studies is the revelation that we are truly masters of our genome… We are empowered creators, not victims of our genome.
While genes play a role in life and disease, there are innumerable epigenetic triggers that differentiate us from mice and each other [and express as health or illness].
Chronic Pain is Very Different from Acute Pain
While chronic pain often has roots in an injury or illness, it’s a condition resulting from a sensitized nervous system.
Chronic pain is not just a symptom. It takes the form of disease through active processes, in the form of multiple plastic changes that together determine the duration and intensity of the pain. There is central and peripheral sensitization in the nervous system with neuro-chemical and neuro-anatomical components that eventually results in hyperexcitability, recruitment and disinhibition of the pathways, that amplifies and perpetuates chronic pain.
It’s widely understood that chronic pain is a nervous system response that amplifies pain. In addition to the nervous system process, chronic pain may be considered from a cellular perspective, where there is likely to be mitochondrial and metabolic dysfunction. [source and source]
Pain often persists in patients with an inflammatory disease, even when inflammation has subsided… Inflammation-induced mitochondrial-dependent disturbances in sensory neurons predispose to a failure in resolution of inflammatory pain and development of chronic pain.
Root Causes of Chronic Pain
The following conditions may activate the nervous system in a way that leads to chronic pain:
Chronic fatigue syndrome (may be considered a chronic pain disorder) [source]
