What is Pain?

By Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Today you will hear about pain in a way that is not typically discussed and you will see how this impacts your life.

I had a client recently that was experiencing pain in the area of what was thought to be her gall gladder. This was a sharp pain that seemed to disrupt her daily routine. She had test done via conventional medicine to assess the function of her gall bladder and to recognize if she was dealing with gall stones or a blockage that was leading to this pain.

Low and behold, every test came back negative and she was told that nothing was wrong with her gall bladder and that this should be monitored. If the pain remained, it was also suggested that they may have to remove the gall bladder.

You have to be curious about this.

What Type of Pain are You Experiencing?

Are you living with a dull ache, a stabbing pain, a throbbing sensation, a chronic annoyance or any other expression of pain?

Do you ever wonder what pain is?

As a culture, we have become accustomed to pain and has become an accepted part of life for most.

After all this is why pain meds are actually being written in what we can consider an epidemic proportion. And on top of this, so many people are currently addicted to pai meds, and you might recognize this yourself right now.

To overcome pain, it is first important to understand what pain is.

I am thinking about this today because I have an injury in one of my toes and am experiencing pain myself in this moment.

I was thinking to myself, I do not have pain, I am simply feeling the expression of the neuropeptide called Bradykinin. More on this shortly.

Since it is really not pain I am experiencing, which puts me into a state of recognizing that I have control over this on some level.

Isn’t that a fresh statement?

You actually have control over your pain.

The PAIN Neuropeptide

Understand that when your body is inflamed, you will produce the neuropeptide called Bradykinin. This neuropeptide is basically expressed in how you feel pain.

Perhaps you are feeling it right now, as am I.

So, the first part of this to “get” is that pain is the expression of this Bradykinin, and the Bradykinin is produced based on inflammation.

So pain is really inflammation, right?

Wrong.

Something has to cause the inflammation.

Most Common Causes of Inflammation

• Injury
• Infection
• Food sensitivity
• Mental/emotional stress
• Toxicity
• SAD diet or standard American diet

So pain is actually any one of these situations above, whether this is individual or a combination of these triggers?

Not so fast, that is not all.

We also have to consider how your body rids itself of inflammation.

Your body actually produces a hormone called cortisone, which is your body’s natural anti-inflammatory. And this hormone is produced in your adrenal glands.

This of your adrenal glands as your stress hormone system.

Unfortunately for most, you have plenty of stress in your life and not just mental/emotional stress. Also the stress of any of the triggers above. Such as infection, injury, food sensitivity, toxicity and don’t forget, the SAD diet.

So when you are dealing with these stressors, this is weakening your stress hormone system, which is return is basically disabling your ability to produce cortisone. Ultimately leaving your stuck in a chronic inflammatory state.

You’re probably getting it now.

Chronic inflammation leads to an increased production of Bradykinin, which is leading to more PAIN.

Yikes!

Did you also notice that the triggers for inflammation are also the same as the triggers for your stress hormone system?

If not, go ahead and recognize that right now.

So in essence, your pain is basically your stress hormone and inflammatory triggers.

What to Do About This

Take a pain med?

Aaaa…NO!

The pain med might, and I stress the word might, make a dent in your pain but this is not truly taking away the pain if you are still stimulated by the triggers, still dealing with inflammation and dealing with a  weakened stress hormone system.

The answer for your pain is first tied into your triggers, so it will be essential for you to figure out what these are an eliminate these riggers.

The next stap and also an essential step is to assess your stress hormone system.

After all, if you cannot produce the cortisone you need to create the anti-inflammatory response, you will still be stuck with the production of Bradykinin and the expression of pain.

Once you address the triggers, help improve your stress hormone balance and work on creating a healthy anti-inflammatory response, guess what?

Your body will stop creating the Bradykinin and in the end, less to no more pain.

Now that sounds like a good idea!

To finish the story from the beginning of the article, let discuss the gall bladder situation deeper.

Testng revealed that there was not issue with the gall bladder, no stones and no obstructions.

Yet, the doctor is considering removing the gall bladder if the pain continues.

Thankfully we looked a bit deeper at this situation with this client.

It was recognized that this person was actually living with multiple infections, understanding that infection will lead to inflammation, which will then lead to pain.

So removing the gall bladder would not have eliminated the pain, this would have only created digestive difficulty and created an inability to properly breakdown fat consumed.  Ultimately leading to many other challenges in the body.

Thankfully this client will be b le to escape the pain AND keep her gall bladder.

Good news, right!

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