A NEW TREATMENT FOR CHRONIC PAIN
On April 27, 2011, I attended a seminar led by Dr. John Lyftogt from Christchurch New Zealand at the meetings of the American Association of Orthopedic Medicine in Las Vegas. In that seminar, he reported that severe chronic pain could be treated with injections under the skin of 5% dextrose, the fluid contained in ordinary Intravenous solutions.
I found Dr. Lyftogt’s suggestion difficult to believe, in spite of the fact that everyone he had injected with that solution appeared to have their pain levels relieved immediately. However, I was inspired enough to experiment with his suggested procedure, especially since its possible results are dramatically important and there are virtually no damaging side effects or risks to patients.
The first patient I saw on my return to work after the conference was a 63-year-old man who had suffered a motor vehicle accident 30 years earlier, badly injuring his back. The back pain was so severe that, one year after his accident, he was given a laminectomy. This operation removes the spinous processes (the bones that stick out in the middle of the back) of his lower lumbar vertebrae to relieve pressure on his spinal cord.
The operation failed to relieve the pains in his back and both legs. He took large doses of narcotics and continued to have difficulties sleeping and moving about. The doctor who had referred him to me wanted me to do prolotherapy to stabilize his lumbar spine which had been made unstable by this laminectomy, in the hope that increased stability would take away some of his pain.
Unfortunately, the patient’s previous operation increased the risk that prolotherapy could cause him to become paralyzed. Therefore, I decided to use the safe procedure recommended by Dr. Lyftogt. I used my fingers to press the skin on his back, and everywhere he complained of tenderness, I injected 1 mL of sugar water (5% dextrose). After 156 injections, he stated there were no more tender spots. I asked him to come down from the table and to test his back. He bent over, side to side, backwards, his eyes widening with surprise. Then, he burst into tears. Alarmed, I asked him: “What’s the matter?” - He replied: “This is the first time in 30 years that I have absolutely no pain!” I was just as flabbergasted as he was. I hadn’t given him any local anesthetic, just sugar water…
I warned him that this pain-free status would probably last anywhere from four hours to four days, and that he would have to be coming back once a week for the next four weeks for further treatments, then once every two weeks for another eight treatments, or so.
Every time he came, he needed fewer injections. After a while, he told me he was now sleeping through the night, as he was no longer awakened by pain. After that, the pain in his legs disappeared. One day, he told me he had 10 days with no pain at all, and that the worst of his pain now was like the best days he had previously.
I started treating more and more people with the procedure suggested by Dr. Lyftogt. There were people with whiplash injuries, chronic neck and shoulder pain, tennis elbows, and knee pain. More than 80% of those I treated found this treatment provided relief from their pain. Two women I treated were over 80 years old and unable to go up and down stairs. They were awaiting knee replacements. The treatment provided them with complete relief from their knee pains. One of them is now leading groups of hikers up and down the mountains on Vancouver’s North Shore. A woman with extensive calcium deposits around her right shoulder couldn’t use her right arm because of pain. Two and a half months after her first treatment, she is washing her car and her windows with her right hand and repeat x-rays show the calcium deposits have shrunk.
How could the injection of simple sugar water under the skin provide such dramatic results?
Dr. Lyftogt in his lectures provided the following explanation. For every square millimeter of nerve tissue, there are 8,000 nerve fibers, which are wrapped in an insulating myelin sheath, and 30,000 other “naked” nerve fibers. Among those are the C fibers. Every single group of cells in the body is supplied with these tiny nerve fibers. Their main role is to make sure every cell is functioning optimally.
When there is no injury, they never transmit pain signals. When part of the body is injured, the role of these nerve cells is to kick-start the body’s repair mechanism, to help bring back normal function to the injured body part. They do this by activating their TRPV1 receptor, which transmits sodium and calcium and releases two peptides.
The first peptide released is called substance P, as in pain. If you have pain, you don’t want to move the painful part. This keeps the edges of an injured area together and allows them to heal. Too much movement disrupts the scar formation. The second peptide released is called calcitonin gene related peptide or CGRP. CGRP and substance P cause blood vessels to open up, which will make the injured area red, and to leak, which will cause swelling, the first phase of inflammation. Inflammation is what kick-starts the body’s repair mechanism. CGRP also causes cells to become engorged with calcium, which may lead to calcium deposits in chronically inflamed areas.
A blow, a burn, a cut, are not the only ways of the body can be injured. In order to get to the skin, nerves, which include these tiny C fibers have to cross the fascia, the fibrous covering of muscles. They do this through tiny holes in the fascia, just big enough to let them through. If the fascia is stretched out of shape, these round holes can become slits and squeeze the nerves injuring them. This often happens in whiplash injuries. When the nerves are injured they swell, causing them to get trapped in the holes that they pass through. This constriction injury can cause ongoing damage to the nerves, which causes the swelling to persist. This is called “self strangulation” and results in a “chronic constriction injury”. Swelling can cause the pressure inside the nerve fibers to increase to the point where they are no longer able to conduct nerve impulses or even repair themselves. Inside the nerve, the injured, swollen C. fibers now have activated TRPV1 receptors, which will remain activated as long as the C fibers are swollen. This may help explain why people who suffer whiplash or sudden jolting injuries have such persistent pain.
It appears that blocking the TRPV1 receptor would be the best way to block the release of substance P and CGRP, and the transmission of pain signals by the C fibers. Sugar (dextrose) has been shown to block the TRPV1 receptor. Dr. Lyftogt experimented with different concentrations of dextrose until he found that a solution as low as 5% would block the TRPV1 receptor. Amazingly, sugar blocks the TRPV1 receptor almost instantly. Once the TRPV1 receptor is blocked, CGRP and substance P stop being produced, and the painful message which substance P transmits to the brain disappears in a few seconds. The nerve is no longer swollen and easily crosses the small opening in the fascia. It regains its normal function, which is to maintain cell health.
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