is your chronic pain syndrome systemic?

I answer a lot of emails each and every day.  Most of the questions people pose are things that I cannot answer without significantly more information — things along the lines of “I have problem X.  Who can you refer me to in city Y?” or “I have this pain in my side, can you tell me what it is?”  Sometimes, however, I get questions that I can answer by sending them a few links.  I recently spoke to a person from a large city in the South who was interested in coming to see me for Chronic Pain (PIRIFORMIS SYNDROME).  Although I truly love helping our OUT OF STATE AND INTERNATIONAL patients, my goal is to save you a trip to see me if at all possible (HERE).

In this particular situation, the individual was having not only bilateral buttock pains, but multiple sites of what they interpreted as FASCIAL ADHESIONS / TENDINOSIS —- all bilaterally.  Any time a patient is having pain at multiple sites, on both sides of the body (HERE or HERE), it raises a big red flag.  If someone is having pain in their buttock and leg, it sounds like it could very well be Piriformis Syndrome.  However, if this same person is having buttock / leg pain bilaterally, plus having pain in their wrists, knees, ankles, etc, it is highly unlikely that the problem is a true Piriformis Syndrome.   It is probably some sort of systemic health problem.

Because AUTOIMMUNITY is so prevalent in today’s society, this person is very likely having some sort of Autoimmune reaction to their own connective tissues (to see how that usually works, look at THESE POSTS).  How would one go about determining if this is possibly the case?  Although you could simply get tested for a wide variety of different things, the simplest and cheapest way to evaluate the situation would probably involve going on a GLUTEN FREE ELIMINATION DIET.  This way you cover not only Gluten, but the Gluten Cross Reactors as well.  If you do this three or four-week diet the right way, you will not only confirm or eliminate Gluten and the Gluten Cross-Reactors as potential reactive agents, you will also CONTROL YOUR BLOOD SUGAR — critical even if you have not been diagnosed with DIABETES (yet).  Just b

Be aware that there are other things that could potentially be sabotaging your health as well, like severe LEAKY GUT SYNDROME (the diet should make a huge difference on this problem), rampant SYSTEMIC INFLAMMATION, PARASITES (yeah, they’re way more common than you might have guessed), heavy metal toxicity, DYSBIOSIS, POOR STOMACH ACID, along with a ton of others.

The bottom line is that if you come to see me, I want to do everything in my power to make sure that your visit(s) here are as fruitful as possible.  This is why I may insist that you try something else before you make a trip.  It’s in your best interest.  For a better idea of what to to about a systemic issue, be sure and take a look at THIS POST.