Likewise, migraines and menstrual cramps are not caused by trauma

Your body makes natural painkillers, called enkephalins (meaning literally "in the head") and endorphins (as in "endogenous morphine"). By the way, although pain nerves are very fine and rather slow to conduct messages-the country roads of the nervous system-sensory messages of touch and pressure travel in large nerves that carry messages much faster, which is why you know you stubbed your toe or bumped your knee a fraction of a second before the pain actually kicks in. Capsaicin is the active ingredient in pain ointments that are used for arthritis, shingles, and postmastectomy pain. Specifically, it depletes a chemical called substance P, which is the chemical messenger that lets one pain nerve carry its message to another nerve. But more importantly, in the right dose, it blocks the nerves' ability to transmit pain messages.

Hot chili peppers contain a remarkable substance called capsaicin, which is what gives peppers their zing. Likewise, the nerve symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome have been treated successfully with vitamin B6, which probably works both on the nerves themselves and in the brain. However, recent research shows that a combination of foods and exercises lowers blood sugar, improves circulation, and relieves pain decisively and quickly in most patients. For most patients, these nerve problems and poor circulation worsen gradually over time. This is due either to a toxic effect in the nerves that occurs when blood sugar builds up, or to poor circulation in the tiny blood vessels that nourish the nerves. Sometimes people who have had this illness for several years develop pains in their legs and feet. One example comes from diabetes. Some strategies for reducing pain focus on the nerves themselves. Pain is carried in fine nerve fibers that lead to the spinal cord, where they connect to other nerve cells leading straight to the brain.

No matter how much irritation or injury there may be to any part of your body, you feel nothing until the pain message reaches your brain. The goal in each of these situations is not to influence your brain's ability to feel pain, but to stop the damage itself. Foods have a major influence over the concentration of these hormones in your blood and how active they are. As we will see, sex hormones play a role in these conditions, and possibly in some forms of arthritis, too. Rather, the chemicals in your body that control pain and inflammation are acting up and need to be brought into better balance. Endorphins are made in the pituitary gland at the base of your brain. Enkephalins are made in the adrenals, small glands that sit on top of your kidneys.

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