The Role of Diet & Nutrition in Chronic Pain Management

Written By: Dr. Stephen F. Grinstead, LMFT, ACRPS, CADC-II Date: September 16th, 2009. Topic: Member Blogs.

Recent research studies by the National Fibromyalgia Association (NFA) have confirmed that diet and nutrition play a significant role in the management of pain. The NFA (2006) reports that success relies upon utilizing a multidisciplinary and multidimensional approach, incorporating lifestyle and dietary changes to achieve optimum health and well being.

Up until recently there was a lack of information and a great deal of misinformation regarding the role of proper nutrition for effective chronic pain management. The purpose of this blog is to introduce you to some of the methods used as a part of the Addiction-Free Pain Management® treatment approach.

The NFA also states that nutritional therapy practitioners are successfully using diet to treat and prevent illness, and restore the body to a natural healthy equilibrium. Some healthcare practitioners believe that deficiencies of minerals and vitamins could be responsible for much of the disease and weakness in the body. Examples of conditions resulting from deficiencies include fatigue, lethargy and susceptibility to colds and viruses.

The role of proper diet and exercise as a part of addictive disorder recovery has been recognized for a long time. There is a significant amount of information about this in the recovery literature, such as the books Passages Through Recovery (Gorski, 1989) and Staying Sober (Gorski, & Miller, 1986).

Nutrition and Pain: Foods That Help or Hinder

Although diet has little effect on a person’s experience of pain, it probably influences pain perception by the way it is associated with inflammation. When metabolized, some fats and fatty acids may have a tendency to intensify the inflammation response, so their intake should be closely monitored. In addition, certain foods act as triggers for certain pain conditions, such as migraine headaches.

Some of the problem substances that are linked to increases in pain are caffeine, alcohol, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and aspartame (NutraSweet®). On the other hand, some foods have been credited with pain reduction—e.g., cherries (Anthocyanins, which give tart cherries their deep red color, have anti-inflammatory properties similar to those in aspirin) and soy (It can help relieve some osteoarthritis pain). Dr. Margaret Caudill in her book Managing Pain Before it Manages You, reports some foods linked to decrease in pain include vegetarian diets as well as diets high in complex carbohydrates and low in protein.

The use of a food diary can be beneficial in discovering which foods may be a part of the problem or part of the solution. For optimal success this should be done under the supervision of your doctor or nutritionist. Consumption of bioflavonoids, as found in fresh cherries, as well as eating other foods such as vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and some types of nuts can supplement some of the vitamins that may be deficient in people with chronic pain.

However, caution must be used when taking vitamin and mineral supplements, especially with the tendency of chronic pain patients to use megadoses—the mistaken belief being that if a little is good a lot is better. Two conditions that seem to respond well to dietary changes are rheumatoid arthritis and gout.

To learn about the importance of using a multifaceted team approach for chronic pain management please check out my article The Need for Multidisciplinary Chronic Pain Management, that you can download for free on our Ariticles page.

You can learn more about the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System at our website www.addiction-free.com. If you are working with people undergoing chronic pain management and want to learn how to develop a plan for managing their chronic pain and coexisting psychological disorders including depression, addiction and other coexisting psychological disorders effectively please consider my book Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders: Using the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System. To purchase this book please Click Here.

If you would like to see my upcoming trainings and especially to learn about my 20 hour (three days) Addiction-Free Pain Management® Certification Training on December 7-9, 2009 in Sacramento California designed to teach treatment strategies for people living with chronic pain and coexisting disorders including disorders including addiction please Click Here and scroll down to the December 7-9, 2009 for the description and how to sign up.

To read the latest issue of Chronic Pain Solutions Newsletter please Click here. If you want to sign up for the newsletter, please Click here and input your name and email address. You will then recieve an autoresponse email that you need to reply to in order to finalize enrollment.

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