How Gluten Affects Chronic Pain Conditions
By
January 27, 2019
If you’ve suffered from intractable chronic pain, you know how frustrating it can be. Even if your bouts are not chronic, but acute in duration but still intractable, you can go out of your mind trying to find the cause. Often, it’s not about what you do (or lack thereof), but rather what you eat. In particular is gluten, a protein found in wheat and grain based products that is notoriously associated with chronic pain.
Gluten is notorious for promoting inflammation and even causing migraines and neurological pain. It all adds up and can worsen the chronic pain you feel.
Wondering if gluten could be culpable for the pain that you experience that is difficult to figure out its origin? Read on to see the characteristics of gluten on pain to possibly help determine if this is the culprit.
Gluten Causes Weight Gain
Though it is incorrect to say that gluten alone is responsible for weight gain, it is correct to state that it is gluten in combination to its wheat based sources that make it possible. Most of the wheat based products available for consumption have been genetically modified, yielding greater amounts of carbs and gluten than it naturally should be.
So much so that you are not poised to get more sugar from two slices of whole wheat bread than would be in two tablespoons of table sugar. Yes, there is very few true whole wheat or whole grain bread products in the world, with the majority just making you sick and fat.
In the end of it all, carrying around extra weight just exacerbates chronic pain, since your support structures are faced with an even greater task of fetching additional load.
Gluten Modulated Inflammation Is Serious
We have established that gluten is a pro-inflammatory protein, but it has consequences far exceeding the realm of common knowledge. For instance, most people associate gluten intolerance with Celiac Disease, which is just the intestinal manifestation of it.
Of particular note is its role in the development of autoimmune disorders, as gluten has been shown to accelerate and worsen Rheumatoid Arthritis and even osteoporosis. Rheumatoid arthritis is incurable, and mandates use of medication for life.
Gluten Promotes Muscle Breakdown
It is well known that gluten promotes inflammation, which spreads far beyond joints. Muscles are particularly hard hit, as elevated cortisol levels wreak havoc on muscles. Cortisol and testosterone share an inverse relationship, so as one increases the other decreases. In this case, testosterone is prevented from its muscle synthesizing effects, and instead muscle loss ensues. Low muscle mass is frequently associated with chronic pain, and explains how gluten just makes things worse.
Gluten Promotes Neurological Pain
Sometimes pain is worse than it really is, thanks to the effects of the nervous system. Referred pain- which is the sensation of pain in an area other than that affected, can start as a migraine then lead to back pain or full body aches. That’s the power of the nervous system- the ability to make pain worse than it really is. Gluten, thanks to its inflammatory actions once again, can cause neurological pain of increasing frequency.
Conclusion
If there is one thing clear- it is that gluten just worsens the sensation of pain you feel, either directly by promoting further inflammation, or indirectly by affecting the associated nerved. The best way to try and combat the pain? Eliminate gluten from your diet. It will likely be the best thing you ever did for your health, and can lead to more pain free days in the imminent future.
