People suffering from chronic pain don’t need a primer in brain chemistry to know that they are hurting. Neurotransmitters are responsible for the sensation of pain and imbalances in neurotransmitters can lower a person’s pain tolerance.
Once more, being in pain can actually create neurotransmitter imbalances. The body uses up a large number of nutritional resources to combat the effects of chronic inflammation – these include nutrients needed to make neurotransmitters. In addition, being in chronic pain can cause the body to lose large amounts of serotonin over time. This often results in depression, fatigue, irritability and/or other disorders associated with neurotransmitter imbalance.
Improving neurotransmitter function can greatly decrease the pain and other symptoms caused by neurotransmitter imbalance. Once that occurs, the remaining pieces of the chronic pain puzzle can be more easily identified and addressed.