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How DMSO Safely Eliminates ‘Incurable’ Pain
Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/01/03/dmso-chronic-pain.aspx
Analysis by A Midwestern Doctor January 03, 2025
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- NSAIDs (e.g., ibuprofen) and opioids are the standard for pain management but pose significant risks, causing tens of thousands of deaths annually
- Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) provides powerful pain relief, even helping individuals disabled by conditions like failed spine surgeries or severe arthritis regain health
- It is also effective for hard-to-treat pain cases like complex regional pain syndrome, trigeminal neuralgia, fibromyalgia, migraine headaches and post-surgical pain
- DMSO works through multiple mechanisms to relieve pain, including blocking nerve conduction, reducing inflammation, relaxing muscles, and improving circulation
- Unlike opioids where tolerance develops over time, DMSO often becomes more effective with continued use, and many patients require it less frequently or not at all as their conditions resolve
- This article reviews the science behind DMSO, clinical evidence from thousands of cases, and home treatment protocols for pain, arthritis, and injuries, plus tips on sourcing DMSO
Decades of research have demonstrated DMSO treats a wide range of illnesses, and recently, I’ve provided extensive evidence for how it treats:
| Challenging neurological conditions (e.g., strokes, Down syndrome, dementia, brain and spinal cord injuries) | Many autoimmune conditions |
| Eye, ear, nose, and mouth disorders | A myriad of skin disorders |
| Tissue injuries | Disorders of the internal organs |
However, while DMSO often produces remarkable results for those conditions (e.g., over the last few months, I’ve received more than a thousand testimonials from readers who tried using DMSO with great results), it is best known for its use in treating pain. This is because:
- The response it creates is rapid and dramatic, to the point multiple people with chronic untreatable pain have shared with me it “left them laughing because it was so unbelievable.”
- It accelerates the healing of acute and chronic injuries linked to chronic pain.
- It also helps chronic rheumatic diseases like arthritis.
Why DMSO Stands Out
Drugs like NSAIDs and opioids are linked to severe side effects, including tens of thousands of deaths each year.1 NSAIDs cause heart, kidney, and stomach damage, while opioids carry addiction and overdose risks.2
In contrast, DMSO has demonstrated remarkable safety for over 60 years without a single death reported. Its side effects, most commonly mild skin irritation or a garlic-like odor, are minor and temporary. Even at doses 30 times higher than normal, studies show no toxicity.3
DMSO’s unique combination of safety, efficacy, and versatility makes it a transformative option for pain relief and injury recovery — proving that effective medicine doesn’t have to come with dangerous trade-offs.
This program about DMSO on 60 Minutes, for example, provides a context to how impactful it has been for many Americans in pain:
How DMSO Treats Pain
In addition to rapidly treating injuries4 or autoimmune conditions5 (which are often the root cause of pain) DMSO’s has a few therapeutic properties that make it uniquely suited to safely treat a wide variety of pain conditions.
• Conduction blocking — Many different nerves exist in the body. One group, known as the “small fibers” are responsible for transmitting specific sensations and they (particularly the C fibers) are frequently linked to debilitating chronic pain syndromes (e.g., small fiber neuropathy — characterized by sensations of pins-and-needles, pricks, tingling, and numbness alongside burning pain and electrical shocks).
Note: The five most common symptoms of COVID vaccine injuries, in order, are fatigue, post-exertional malaise, brain fog, small fiber neuropathy, and dysautonomia.
DMSO selectively blocks the conduction of the small fibers, thereby stopping the pain without causing significant damage to the rest of the body or having a tolerance develop to it (rather DMSO typically becomes more effective with time). To illustrate:
| A study found 5% to 10% DMSO blocked the after discharges of C-fibers6 (a process associated with painful stimuli). |
| DMSO has been observed to suppress NMDA and AMPA induced ion fluxes in neurons,7 each of which are receptors linked to chronic pain (e.g., NMDA is linked to central pain sensitization8).
Note: This property has been hypothesized to account for DMSO treating complex regional pain syndrome and cancer pain.9 |
| DMSO has also been observed to block sodium and calcium ions’ entry into cells10 (likewise, many local anesthetics work by blocking sodium ion entry). This effect has also been proposed to explain how DMSO can help cancer pain.11 |
| DMSO has also been reported to significantly enhance the potency of local anesthetics.12,13,14,15 |
| In a human study, 50% DMSO was found to produce partial anesthesia (numbness) to pin pricking sensation.16 |
| Isolated sciatic nerves immersed in 6% DMSO for 30 to 120 minutes developed a temporary 40% decrease in conduction velocity.17 A complete blocking of condition has also been observed with 75% DMSO in radial nerves18 and with 5% DMSO in small peripheral nerve fibers.19 |
• Choline esterase inhibition — Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors increase acetylcholine (the neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic nervous system) by blocking their degradation. Numerous studies show DMSO is an effective acetylcholine esterase inhibitor,20,21,22,23,24,25,26 and that it blocks the inhibitory effects of the sympathetic nervous system.27
Chronic pain has been linked to excessive sympathetic activity, and counterbalancing that with an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor has shown promise for treating chronic pain.28 However, unlike those drugs, DMSO does not have a risk of creating excessive acetylcholine levels (possibly because at higher doses it instead blocks cholinergic transmission,29 or because it is a competitive rather than irreversible inhibitor30).
• Anti-inflammatory — Many of my colleagues who used DMSO in practice find it to be one of the most effective anti-inflammatory agents out there. DMSO in turn, has been repeatedly shown to:31,32
◦ Reduce inflammatory cytokines, prostaglandins, and pathologic inflammatory responses to tissue injury.
◦I ncrease anti-inflammatory prostaglandins.
◦ Neutralize (scavenges) free radicals, which are both a cause and result of chronic inflammation and a common cause of tissue injury, degenerative illness, and chronic pain.
Research also shows DMSO prevents experimentally induced edema,33,34,35 (including severe forms36), allergic eczema,37 contact dermatitis,38,39 tissue necrosis,40,41 granuloma formation,42 arthritis,43,44,45 and joint stiffness following injury.46
Since inflammation is a key cause of pain (e.g., “chronic inflammatory pain” is well recognized47), this likely accounts for some of DMSO’s analgesic properties.
• Muscle relaxation — DMSO tends to relax skeletal muscle48 while simultaneously enhancing the contraction of other muscles49 (e.g., 3% to 6% DMSO enhances the contraction of the heart and stomach).
DMSO applied topically to the skin of patients produces electromyographic evidence of muscle relaxation 1 hour after application,50 while another study found 50% DMSO prevented the contraction of frog skeletal muscles.51
A 1966 study found that (as shown by electromyography) muscles in spasm will relax within 60 minutes of topical application. It also found that this relaxation could be used to treat headaches associated with cervical disease and complex regional pain syndrome.52
As muscle tension is a frequent cause of pain and musculoskeletal disorders, this property likely accounts for some of its efficacy for those conditions.
• Circulatory enhancement — DMSO removes blood clots and increases blood circulation53 and has been recognized to eliminate the pain associated with blood clots. This aligns with Chinese medicine’s view that poor blood flow causes sharp, piercing pain.54
Note: One of the most common side effects of vaccinations is them creating tiny blood clots (discussed further here), which then trigger microstrokes throughout the body that can often be detected with an appropriate neurological examination. To this point, many of the injuries reported from the original smallpox vaccine matched the same unusual pains and neurological symptoms associated with blood stasis in Chinese Medicine.
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Treating Pain with DMSO
As opioids are seen as the gold standard for pain control, there is very little awareness research has shown a comparable analgesic exists. To illustrate:
• A 1983 study55 using a common research metric (how mice respond to heat and tail flicks) found that DMSO produced an analgesic effect comparable in strength to morphine.
However, this effect was assessed to be due to a different mechanism as an opioid receptor blocker (naloxone) did not affect DMSO’s ability to eliminate pain, DMSO did not produce any of the side effects seen with opioids, and DMSO’s effect lasted far longer (4 to 6 hours and in some cases over 24 hours — whereas in contrast morphine typically lasted less than 2 hours).
Note: Another mouse study using similar tests also found that DMSO blocks pain.56
However, unlike other analgesics (pain killers), DMSO has a variety of unique properties. These include:
• It treats a very wide range of pain conditions, including ones other analgesics can’t address. For example, case reports exist of DMSO treating phantom pain57 (pain outside the body where an amputated limb had previously existed).
• Rather than the body developing a resistance to it (which is what commonly happens with opioids), DMSO often becomes more effective at eliminating pain with subsequent doses, and in many cases, is needed less and less frequently (or not at all because the condition is resolved).
Because of this, while acute pain rapidly responds to DMSO, chronic pain conditions often take 4 to 7 days of applications for DMSO to begin taking effect and 6 to 8 weeks for lasting relief to occur (e.g., to quote one patient, “after twenty-four DMSO injections, I was completely pain-free”).
• In many cases, as is seen with other applications of DMSO, due to DMSO rapidly spreading throughout the body, the effect is systemic. For example, one study found 65% of patients experienced pain relief if DMSO was applied at the site of pain,58 whereas 61.5% experienced comparable relief when DMSO was applied somewhere further away in the body. Because of this, DMSO has been found to help a wide range of pain conditions.
Headaches
Tension headaches (e.g., those caused by muscular tension of the neck) and sinus headaches tend to respond to DMSO (with relief typically lasting 4 to 6 hours), whereas migraine and cluster headaches are less responsive to DMSO. For example, these results were reported59 by two doctors:
Note: Many headaches are incorrectly categorized as migraine headaches. Additionally, while I have received reports of readers with life-changing improvements in migraine headaches, those headaches typically only respond to DMSO if it’s applied during the early stages of the headache.
• Stanley Jacob MD reported on 59 patients with headaches from a variety of causes, of whom over 75% responded to DMSO.
This included 13 out of 17 patient with years of chronic neck pain from cervical arthritis that triggered headaches, (who then required a gradually decreasing DMSO dose), 4 out of 5 patients with sinus headaches improved from DMSO, 2 out of 2 patients with temporal arteritis (causing severe head pain) who fully recovered after DMSO and 26 out of 35 patients who’d had trigeminal neuralgia for more than a year with numerous failed treatments (13 of whom then had a full recovery).60
• Another study found DMSO both relaxes the cervical musculature and alleviates tension headaches.61
Fibromyalgia
The pioneer of DMSO reported that DMSO helped 70% of Fibromyalgia patients62 (with none experiencing side effects), and there are many published examples of it healing this condition.63
Over the years, I have also heard of quite a few cases of individuals with fibromyalgia having a massive improvement in their quality of life from DMSO but simultaneously, I’ve also seen quite a few cases where it needed to be done slowly for a sensitive patient (as otherwise the initial detoxification response was too much for the individual).
Note: This principle is also important to keep in mind when working with other “sensitive patients.”
Spinal Pain
Many of the most profound benefits from DMSO are found in patients with spinal issues (e.g., spinal stenosis, a failed back surgery, surgical scars, severe arthritis, previous spinal cord injuries, or bulging discs), and numerous testimonies (e.g., many can be found in the 1980 Congressional hearing on DMSO64) exist of individuals who had been in years of crippling pain suddenly getting their lives back because of how effectively DMSO treated their pain and restored their mobility.
However, while I frequently read case reports of this (and I’ve now received dozens from readers), I have only located one that specifically evaluated it. In that 1968 study,65 38 patients with lumbar and cervical disc problems received conventional (nonsurgical) treatments, and half also received DMSO — which was found to halve the required treatment time.
Note: Topically applied DMSO is often extremely helpful for herniated discs (and much safer than systemic steroids). Additionally, a few people found injecting DMSO mixed with lidocaine into the vertebral musculature was quite helpful for spinal pain.
Additionally, there are also many instances of quadriplegics who initially took DMSO to alleviate their chronic pain and then gradually regained motor function as a “side effect” of DMSO. In turn, there are many cases of individuals overcoming lifelong paraplegia, (including cases where their “miraculous” improvement could be traced to DMSO as it stopped once DMSO was withdrawn).
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic pain condition involving autonomic and inflammatory issues, often triggered by trauma like surgery and linked to small fiber neuropathy. Its causes remain unclear, and treatment usually relies on multiple drugs targeting symptoms.
DMSO is one of the few effective alternative therapies for CRPS, as it blocks pain from small fibers. Unfortunately, its potential for treating CRPS remains largely overlooked.
Note: Complex regional pain syndrome was an adverse event associated with the HPV vaccine.
The supporting evidence is as follows:
| A 1985 study demonstrated that 50% DMSO reduced the inflammation associated with CRPS and improved symptoms associated with the condition.66 |
| A 1996 study of 32 patients with acute CRPS (e.g., heat, redness, pain, swelling, reduced range of motion) gave them 50% DMSO or placebo for 2 months, and a significant improvement was seen in the DMSO group.67 |
| A 2003 study randomized 64 patients with CRPS to receive topical 50% DMSO and 67 patients to receive N-acetylcysteine (NAC) for 17 weeks to a year. This study found that DMSO was a cost effective therapy that produced good to excellent results for the patients, especially when their CRPS was associated with inflammatory symptoms and when it was done earlier in the illness.68 |
| Another 2003 study of 146 patients also comparing 50% DMSO to NAC (over 24 months) found DMSO was effective, particularly for hot (inflammatory) CRPS.69 |
| A 2012 study gave 29 patients (who had had CRPS for less than a year) 50% topical DMSO and found DMSO significantly reduced their pain (with results approaching a complete absence of pain), brought back the functionality of the affected limb and improved their quality of life.70 |
| A 2012 study used a combination of treatments including 50% DMSO for CRPS and found this combination was effective for treating the condition.71 |
| Finally, a 2005 review of the existing therapies for CRPS concluded 50% DMSO had evidence of efficacy and, compared to the other treatment options, was the least likely to cause harm.72 |
Cancer Pain
Many cancer patients experience severe pain (which increases as the cancer becomes terminal), and in 10% to 20% of cases, it does not respond to standard opioid management.73 In many cases however, it does to DMSO. For example:
• A study included two older patients with cancer pain DMSO, one of whom had an excellent response to treatment and one who had a good response.74
• Another study found that of 7 patients with metastatic cancer pain, DMSO gave 2 a full remission and 2 a partial remission.75
• One of the most well known examples was Otis Bowen MD (a popular second term Indiana governor) who “illegally” used topical DMSO to treat his wife’s pain from terminal multiple myeloma and then publicly denounced the FDA’s absurd embargo on it at the AMA’s 1981 national meeting.76
Remarkably, a few years later, Bowen became Reagan’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, but even then, with this highly ethical doctor at the helm of the HSS, DMSO was unable to overcome the FDA’s prohibition of it.77
Note: For decades, the FDA has relentlessly stonewalled life-changing natural therapies to protect the medical industry from competition, and one of their most egregious campaigns was directed towards DMSO.
Surgical Pain
Since DMSO both accelerates wound healing and reduces pain,78 it is uniquely suited to post-operative pain. Numerous studies support this. For example:
• A rat study found administering DMSO into a wound before closing it significantly reduced the subsequent pain and guarding the rats had, suggesting this approach could address a common complication of surgery.79
• A 1967 study found that DMSO applied to the incision sites of thoracotomy (open chest surgery) patients in concentrations of 60% to 80% resulted in significant pain relief, and reduction of the opioids needed (which in turn led to fewer gastrointestinal complications).
These patients as a group were able to cough more effectively, move more easily both in and out of bed, resume early motion of the arm and shoulder, and in general enjoy a more rapid and less complicated postoperative course.80
• Another study gave 90% DMSO to 64 postpartum women with episiotomy pain and found that over half had pain relief and a reduction in swelling and that there was a significant improvement in mobility (with some patients who had left the hospital then requesting to resume DMSO to alleviate subsequent pain).81
Conclusion
Since the pharmaceutical industry revolves around indefinitely selling pills that temporarily “treat” an illness, pain is one of its most coveted markets. DMSO’s remarkable ability to safely eliminate pain (and that being well-known to hundreds of thousands of Americans over 60 years) hence provides some of the most substantial proof I know of that effective therapies are being deliberately withheld from us to protect the medical monopoly.
Fortunately, the internet’s rapid dissemination of information which challenges prevailing narratives, and the unprecedented ascendency of the Make America Healthy Again has created a window to break this medical monopoly. As such, the results many are now having from DMSO are providing critical first hand experiences that will open eyes to the dysfunctional medical paradigm we are stuck within, and I am immensely grateful to see that this is happening in my lifetime.
Author’s note: This is an abridged version of a longer article that goes into greater detail on the data discussed here, how DMSO is used for pain, arthritis and musculoskeletal injuries (e.g., sprains), and provides guidance for personal DMSO use (e.g., dosing, therapeutic precautions and where to obtain it). That article and its additional references can be read here.
A Note from Dr. Mercola About the Author
A Midwestern Doctor (AMD) is a board-certified physician from the Midwest and a longtime reader of Mercola.com. I appreciate AMD’s exceptional insight on a wide range of topics and am grateful to share it. I also respect AMD’s desire to remain anonymous since AMD is still on the front lines treating patients. To find more of AMD’s work, be sure to check out The Forgotten Side of Medicine on Substack.
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- 2 The Forgotten Side of Medicine, October 27, 2023
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Fibromyalgia Linked to Extensive Brain Inflammation
Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/08/05/fibromyalgia-brain-inflammation-link.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate.
Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola Fact Checked August 05, 2023
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- Brain scans of fibromyalgia patients have offered hard evidence that the pain they experience is real; their threshold for tolerating pain impulses is substantially lower than that of most individuals
- Recent research shows fibromyalgia patients tend to have severe inflammation in their body, including their nervous system and brain
- The cannabinoid receptor that produces the “high” in response to THC in marijuana also helps regulate inflammatory reactions in your brain
- The signal that instructs glial cells to stop their inflammatory activity is endocannabinoids, which work by binding to cannabinoid receptors on certain neurons
- With age, your natural production of endocannabinoids decreases, which then leads to impaired immune response regulation and chronic inflammation
Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published October 18, 2018.
Fibromyalgia, characterized by chronic, widespread pain is an often-debilitating condition that primarily affects women. While as many as 10 million Americans have fibromyalgia, its cause remains a mystery.
Brain scans of fibromyalgia patients have offered hard evidence that the pain they experience is indeed real — mainly because their threshold for tolerating pain impulses is substantially lower than that of most individuals. But the mechanism causing this lowered pain threshold is still unknown.
Some experts, such as Dr. Frederick Wolfe, the director of the National Databank for Rheumatic Diseases and the lead author of the 1990 paper that first defined fibromyalgia’s diagnostic guidelines, believe fibromyalgia is mainly a physical response to mental and emotional stress.
But while stress and emotions may indeed play an important role, more recent research shows fibromyalgia patients tend to have severe inflammation in their body, including their nervous system and brain.
Signs and Symptoms of Fibromyalgia
Diagnosis can be a challenge, but the updated case definitions of fibromyalgia, issued in 2010 and later simplified in 2012, claim to correctly diagnose about 83% of cases.1 Originally, the condition was thought to be a peripheral musculoskeletal disease. Today, fibromyalgia has become increasingly recognized as a neurobiological problem causing central pain sensitization.
Unfortunately, there are currently no laboratory tests available for diagnosing fibromyalgia, so physicians primarily depend on patient histories, reported symptoms and physical exam findings. Classic symptoms of this condition include:
• Pain — The key marker of fibromyalgia is pain, which is profound, widespread and chronic. Pain inside of your elbows and knees, collarbones and hips is indicative of fibromyalgia when it’s present on both sides.
People also frequently report pain all over their bodies — including in their muscles, ligaments and tendons — and the pain tends to vary in intensity. It has been described as deep muscular aching, stabbing, shooting, throbbing and twitching.
Neurological complaints add to the discomfort, such as numbness, tingling and burning. The severity of the pain and stiffness is often worse in the morning. Aggravating factors include cold/humid weather, nonrestorative sleep, fatigue, excessive physical activity, physical inactivity, anxiety and stress.
• Cognitive impairment — So-called “fibro-fog” or foggy-headedness is a common complaint.
• Fatigue — The fatigue of fibromyalgia is different from the fatigue that many people complain of in today’s busy world. It is more than being tired; it’s an all-encompassing exhaustion that interferes with even the simplest daily activities, often leaving the patient with a limited ability to function both mentally and physically for an extended period of time.
• Sleep disruption — Another major part of the diagnostic criteria for this condition is some type of significant sleep disturbance. In fact, part of an effective treatment program is to make sure you’re sleeping better.
Medical researchers have documented specific and distinctive abnormalities in the Stage 4 deep sleep of fibromyalgia patients. During sleep, they are constantly interrupted by bursts of awake-like brain activity, limiting the amount of time they spend in deep sleep.
• Other symptoms — Other common symptoms include irritable bowel and bladder, headaches and migraines, restless leg syndrome and periodic limb movements, impaired memory and concentration, skin sensitivities and rashes, dry eyes and mouth, anxiety, depression, ringing in the ears, dizziness, Raynaud’s Syndrome and impaired coordination.
Conventional treatment typically involves some form of pain medication, and perhaps psychotropic drugs like antidepressants. I don’t recommend either as they fail to address the cause of your problem. Many fibromyalgia sufferers also do not respond to conventional painkillers, which can set in motion a vicious circle of overmedicating on these dangerous drugs.
Brain Inflammation — Another Hallmark of Fibromyalgia
Using PET imaging, an investigation2 by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden revealed the presence of widespread brain inflammation in patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia.3,4
Earlier research5 conducted at Karolinska Institutet also discovered high concentrations of cytokines (inflammatory proteins) in the cerebrospinal fluid, suggesting fibromyalgia patients have inflammation in their nervous system as well.6
The team at Massachusetts General Hospital, meanwhile, has previously shown that neural inflammation, and glial cell (immune cells) activation specifically, plays a role in chronic back pain. Animal studies have also offered evidence for the hypothesis that glial cell activation can be a cause of chronic pain in general.7
Here, they found that when glial cells in the cerebral cortex were activated, the more aggressive the activation, the greater the fatigue experienced by the patient. As reported by Medical Life Sciences:8
“The current study first assessed fibromyalgia symptoms in patients using a questionnaire. A PET tracer was then used, that is, a radioactive marker which binds a specific protein called translocator protein (TSPO) that is expressed at levels much above the normal in activated glial cells, namely, astrocytes and microglia …
[G]lial activation was found to be present at significantly higher levels in multiple brain areas in patients who had fibromyalgia than in controls. Glial cell activation causes inflammatory chemicals to be released, which cause the pain pathways to be more sensitive to pain, and promote fatigue …
One area showing higher TSPO binding in direct proportion to the self-reported level of fatigue was the cingulate gyrus, an area of the brain linked to emotional processing. Previous research has reported that this area is inflamed in chronic fatigue syndrome.”
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Brain Inflammation Linked to Loss of Brain Cells
In related news, German researchers investigating inflammation mechanisms in the brain have found that as mice get older and regulation of inflammatory responses become increasingly impaired, they start losing brain cells.9
Interestingly, the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1), which produces the “high” in response to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in marijuana, also helps regulate inflammatory reactions in your brain. In short, chronic brain inflammation is in part driven by the CB1 receptors’ failure to respond. To understand how this works, you need to know a little bit about how microglial cells work.
Microglial cells are specialized immune cells found in your central nervous system, including your spinal cord and brain. These immune cells respond to bacteria and are responsible for clearing out malfunctioning nerve cells. They also signal and recruit other immune cells when needed and trigger the inflammatory response when necessary.
Problems arise when the inflammatory response becomes dysregulated and overactive. In the brain, the inflammation can easily damage healthy brain tissue. The “brake signal” that instructs glial cells to stop their inflammatory activity is endocannabinoids, and the endocannabinoids work by binding to certain receptors, including CB1 and cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2).
Immune Cells Communicate, Influence Inflammatory Response
Curiously, microglial cells have virtually no CB1 and very few CB2 receptors, yet they still react to endocannabinoids. The present study was designed to investigate this puzzling riddle. As it turns out, there’s a type of neuron that does contain a large number of CB1 receptors, and it appears that it is the CB1 receptors on these specific neurons that control microglial cell activity.
In other words, it appears microglial cells do not communicate with nerve cells directly; rather, they release endocannabinoids, which then bind to CB1 receptors found in nearby neurons. These neurons in turn communicate directly with other nerve cells. So, the brain’s immune response is regulated in an indirect manner rather than a direct one.
Now, what happens with age is that your natural production of endocannabinoids decreases, which then leads to impaired immune response regulation and chronic inflammation. As noted by coauthor Dr. Andras Bilkei-Gorzo:10
“Since the neuronal CB1 receptors are no longer sufficiently activated, the glial cells are almost constantly in inflammatory mode. More regulatory neurons die as a result, so the immune response is less regulated and may become free-running.”
Earlier research11 by this same team found that THC can help restore cognitive function in older brains, and the current study also hints at THC-containing cannabis may have valuable neuroprotective benefits in older people by quelling brain inflammation and preventing loss of brain cells. As the study was done on mice, further research is needed to confirm that the same mechanisms apply to humans, but it’s compelling nonetheless.
Are You Living an Inflammatory Lifestyle?
Your diet can either promote or decrease inflammation. For example, foods that increase the inflammatory response in your body include:
- Sugar, especially processed corn syrup
- Synthetically produced trans fats
- Processed vegetable and seed oils, high in oxidized omega-6 fat
- Processed meats
- Refined carbohydrates
Meanwhile, marine-based omega-3 fats have powerful anti-inflammatory effects, and are crucial for healthy brain function in general. Antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables are also important for controlling inflammation, as is optimizing your vitamin D to a level of 60 to 80 ng/mL, ideally through sensible sun exposure.
In addition to anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties, vitamin D receptors appear in a wide variety of brain tissue, and researchers believe optimal vitamin D levels may enhance important chemicals in your brain and protect brain cells by increasing the effectiveness of glial cells that help nurse damaged neurons back to health.
A number of ubiquitous chemicals have also been implicated in inflammation, so if you struggle with fibromyalgia you’d be wise to take a close look at your choice of foods, household and personal care products. As mentioned earlier, getting enough high-quality sleep is another key treatment component for fibromyalgia.
Suppressing Inflammation Improves Pain
Senior study author Dr. Raymond Swanson, a professor of neurology at UCSF and chief of the neurology service at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, commented on the results, saying:
“I was most surprised by the magnitude of this effect, because I thought ketogenic diets might help just a little bit. But when we got these big effects with 2DG, I thought wow, there’s really something here.
The team further found that reduced glucose metabolism lowered a key barometer of energy metabolism — the NADH/NAD+ ratio — which in turn activated a protein called CtBP that acts to suppress activity of inflammatory genes.”
The study also pointed out that a ketogenic diet may relieve pain via several mechanisms, similar to the ways it’s known to help epilepsy.
“Like seizures, chronic pain is thought to involve increased excitability of neurons; for pain, this can involve peripheral and/or central neurons. Thus, there is some similarity of the underlying biology,” the authors stated, adding:
“A major research focus should be on how metabolic interventions such as a ketogenic diet can ameliorate common, comorbid and difficult-to-treat conditions such as pain and inflammation.”15
Address Emotional Contributors
Since fibromyalgia is a chronic condition, it becomes emotionally challenging in addition to the physical challenges it imposes on your life. Having a game plan to deal with your emotional well-being is especially important if you suffer from any chronic disease.
If you have fibromyalgia, you might be able to trace it back to a triggering event, or you might not. Any traumatic experience has the potential to linger in your mind for a lifetime. You can have the perfect diet, the perfect exercise routine, and an ideal life; but if you have lingering unresolved emotional issues, you can still become very sick.
A tool that can help release this emotional sludge is the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). If you are a regular reader of my newsletter, this won’t be an unfamiliar term to you. EFT is a form of bioenergetic normalization. If you have fibromyalgia, this is something that is going to be extremely helpful. You can do this yourself, at home, and it takes just a few minutes to learn. For a demonstration, see the video above.
- 1 Rheumatology Network, February 9, 2012; 29
- 2 Brain, Behavior and Immunity, September 14, 2018 [Epub ahead of print]
- 3, 8 Medical Life Sciences September 28, 2018
- 4 Medical Xpress September 26, 2018
- 5 Journal of Pain Research 2017; 10: 515–525
- 6 Journal of Neuroimmunology 2015 Mar 15; 280: 49–5
- 7 Nat Rev Neurosci. 2009 Jan;10(1):23-36
- 9 Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience August 28, 2018
- 10 Medical News Today September 6, 2018
- 11 Nature Medicine May 8, 2017; 23: 782-787
- 12, 14 Nature Communications 2017; 8, Article number: 624
- 13 Medical Xpress 2011-2017
- 15 J Child Neurol. 2013 August; 28(8):993-1001
How to Assess Your Biochemical Individuality
Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/10/30/urine-organic-acids-test.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate.
Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola Fact Checked October 30, 2022
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- Functional genomics testing looks at the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, pronounced “snips”) of genes
- The urine organic acid test (OAT) can provide valuable insight into your biochemical individuality, and combined with genomics testing can help chart a course for healing complex, chronic health problems
- G6PD insufficiency, the most common enzyme insufficiency in the world, can result in a significant loss of NADPH, thereby increasing inflammation and decreasing mitochondrial function
- Elevated oxalate is a common cause of chronic pain and fibromyalgia. One way to lower your oxalate level is to take Epsom salt baths, as the sulfate will displace the oxalates
- If you suspect oxalates are part of your health problems, combining high-oxalate food with calcium-rich foods or a calcium supplement will prevent the oxalate from causing a problem by binding to the calcium in your digestive tract
Emily Givler1 is a functional genetic nutrition consultant with the NutriGenetic Research Institute and Tree of Life, founded by Robert Miller, a traditional naturopath and trailblazer in the field of functional genomics, which looks at the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, pronounced “snips”) of genes.
Here, Givler discusses the benefits of the urine organic acid test (OAT) — a little-known test that can provide you with valuable insight into your biochemical individuality.
“We’re all living in this super toxic world, so everyone is being confronted by insult and injury to their bodies every day. Even those of us who are in this field can tweak things based on our biochemistry to make things work better for us,” she says.
“There’s not one right answer for everybody. We’ve got to find what makes us unique and find those places where we’re a little bit more vulnerable and support those areas appropriately.”
Givler’s Personal Story
Givler’s own health challenges were in part what drove her into the field of functional nutrition. She explains:
“I started with chronic pain and pretty excessive fatigue as a teenager … I had test after test and really got no answers. It took about five years before I got a fibromyalgia diagnosis. At the time, it was reassuring to know that this wasn’t all in my head. Other people felt this way too.
But where I got frustrated was the only recommendations I was given were narcotic painkillers or antidepressants … I was still a teenager. I decided I wanted to have a liver and kidneys by the time that I was 40, so I did not go down that route.
But I really had to carve out my own path to try to regain my health. I definitely had some missteps along the way. I stopped eating meat. I started eating a lot of spinach, beets and Swiss chard. Sounds good, right? I was eating these three meals a day, seven days a week and just felt worse and worse.
My rheumatologist told me to plan on being disabled by the time I was 30. I was about 20 at the time and thinking, ‘Boy, I knew to expect disability, but I didn’t think it would happen this fast.’
It turned out I was really dealing with extremely high levels of oxalates, which cause crystalline precipitates to form in the muscle and connective tissue. This was causing much of my pain and depleting my nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), which was zapping my energy. I looked like I had fibromyalgia. I really think a lot of people who have that label are probably dealing with something similar.
The healthy foods I was eating, the spinach and the beets, are sky-high in oxalates. I don’t want to suggest that no one should eat them, but I was poisoning myself with these healthy foods … The lowest my pain level ever got was an 8 out of 10.
I can say that now, almost two decades later, it’s completely managed with no painkillers … There are too many people who suffer every day. They think they’re doing the right things. On paper, they’re doing the right things. But what’s right for one person may be totally wrong for them, [and] there are ways you can figure this out rather than just fumbling through the way I did.”
SNP and OAT Testing Are a Powerful Combination
The irrefutable evidence Givler needed was found in her OAT test. She’d also done Miller’s functional genomics test, which further supported her conclusion that her fibromyalgia was related to an excess of dietary oxalates.
Indeed, the combination of functional genomics testing and OAT can be very powerful. When I had the SNP test done, it revealed I have a genetic variant that is essentially equivalent to celiac disease, with the crucial difference that it does not cause any noticeable gastrointestinal issues. Still, this genetic flaw means I must abstain from gluten to optimize my health and avoid autoimmune problems. Turns out I have a problem with oxalate as well.
“As clinicians, we tend to get into the habit of wanting to put people on a protocol. We find something that works and we push it. It may work for a lot of people, but there are always going to be people who slip through the cracks because there are differences in our biochemistry,” Givler says.
“Whether it’s differences because of genetic predispositions that may make us metabolize things, like oxalates, histamine or glutamate, differently than the average person, or because of particular environmental insults that we’re exposed to, either because of our occupation or because of our geography — those things pile up and may make us fall outside of that normal box.
If we can use genetics as kind of the framework around which we build our protocols, and then use functional testing like the urine organic acid testing, we can more precisely target the types of dietary choices or nutritional, supplemental interventions, and in some cases, lifestyle changes, we need to implement to really propel us towards health …
I think histamine foods are a really good example. We can read volumes about how good fermented foods are for your gut … and how we should be eating these things every day. But if you can’t clear histamine, or if you’re dealing with excessive mast cell activation, and you bring these foods into your diet, you may set off a catastrophic cascade of events and make your symptoms exponentially worse.
Too often then, you’re going to be told, ‘You’re just having die-off. Just keep going. You’re just not doing enough of it,’ when actually you may be making yourself sicker. Getting the right guidance with the right functional testing can really make a huge difference in people getting on the right plan for themselves.”
The Most Common Genetic Disorder in the World
Givler’s SNP test also revealed she has glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) insufficiency, which is one of the most common enzyme insufficiencies in the world.
“This is where things get complicated,” she says. “Very few of us are dealing with just one thing. We have to see where these patterns of weakness kind of pile up … G6PD insufficiency … can result in a significant loss of NADPH. That can increase inflammation in the body and decrease mitochondrial function.
That, piled on top of my genetic predispositions to over-absorb oxalates, which will also deplete NADPH, really gives me a one-two punch when it comes to energy … [Dr. Mercola] and I have spoken pretty extensively about things I can do to rebuild my nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and NADPH levels. That has really helped me to propel my health to the next level as well.”
NADPH may in fact be as important as adenosine triphosphate (ATP), because while it lowers inflammation, it’s also the primary source of electrons in your body to internally recharge antioxidants such as glutathione, vitamin C and vitamin E. If that’s not working, it’s very difficult to get healthy.
The good news is there are simple and inexpensive ways to improve your NADPH, such as glycine supplementation. The bad news is you won’t know you have a serious NADPH problem unless you do these two tests.
I my view, doing genomic and OAT testing can go a long way toward figuring out what you need to do if you have a chronic complex problem and not getting better, and Givler is quite skilled in interpreting these tests. In my case, she also detected a B2 insufficiency. She explains:
“So few people are thinking about B1, B2 and B6, but they are critical. For you, for true metabolic flexibility, getting adequate B2 to work with the level of fat that you’re eating was a big piece of it. Interestingly, with the gluten, it was not just the SNP test that showed it. That was reflected on the organic acid test as well. It took about four months, being strictly gluten-free, for you to get that metabolite back in line …
It’s amazing how much insight we can get from looking at the right functional testing. These two are just a one-two punch for figuring out, ‘Is it some inborn issue that you need more of a certain nutrient than someone else, or is it just poor dietary choices for you? Is it an environmental toxin?’ When we pair [SNP and OAT] together, so many of those pieces really come to light.”
Is Glyphosate Exposure Affecting Your Health?
There are several different labs where you can order glyphosate screening for yourself and your pets, for example, EnviroScience’s ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) method, which utilizes an antibody specific for glyphosate,2 and my preferred lab, Health Research Institute, whose testing kits I include in my online store.
According to Givler, certain patterns in your OAT results can also be indicative of a problem with glyphosate exposure.
“We can see patterns when there is high level of glyphosate exposure,” Givler says. “Glyphosate’s very disruptive for the gut microbiome but it doesn’t kill all species uniformly.
If there are elevations in clostridia species, yeast and depleted beneficial bacteria, that is one pattern you can see with glyphosate exposure, because it’ll kill the lactobacilli and the bifidobacterium and leave some of the more opportunistic organisms, which will make you more vulnerable to lipopolysaccharides.
Glyphosate also breaks down into oxalate. For some people who are not dealing with the genetic predisposition but are dealing with the secondary hyperoxaluria, that may be a result of glyphosate as well. If we see a lot of mineral depletions — since glyphosate is a mineral chelator — that may be an indicator that there are some problems.
High succinate on the OAT test also can be an indicator, because succinate and glycine combine to move into the heme pathway. Without the glycine, if it’s being disrupted by glyphosate, that level may be elevated. If you’re seeing high oxalates, high succinate, high clostridia and low good bacteria, I would start looking for glyphosate exposure.”
A Clinical Example: My Personal OAT Results
To give you an idea of what OAT might tell you, I share my own test results in this interview, which Givler interpreted for me. My first OAT was in August, and the results shocked me. It was not at all what I expected considering how strict I am about living a healthy lifestyle and eating a healthy organic diet.
“There were definitely some things out of line,” Givler says. “One of the first things that I always tell my clients is this is a written explanation for why you’re feeling how you’re feeling. Sometimes when people see things out of line, they get really upset about it …
But if we don’t know what’s wrong, then we don’t know how to bring you back into balance. I’m a data lover. The more data we can collect, the better. This showed us that your gut was not in the best of shape. You were maybe overdoing it on good bacteria. I recommend that you slow down on your probiotics.”
Turns out I had small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, also known as SIBO. Interestingly, I’m a huge fan of molecular hydrogen, as it has a long list of health benefits. Alas, SIBO type C is one of the few, if not the only, clinical conditions where molecular hydrogen may actually do more harm than good, as it feeds the bacterial overgrowth.
SIBO-C is typically caused by an overgrowth of archaea, which feed on hydrogen. Now, I had SIBO type D. But SIBO-D will often progress to SIBO-C, because the overabundant bacteria that cause the diarrhea produce hydrogen, which then feed the archaea, which then produce the methane, which then causes the constipation.
“That’s why many people see evolving gastrointestinal issues that start in one way and end up another way,” Givler says. “If you take hydrogen water and you get gassy, bloated, constipated or brain fogged, there is a really good chance that there’s an overabundance of organisms in your digestive tract.”
In my case, the therapy was cutting down on fiber and eliminating gluten. Elevated hippurate also revealed that my phase II liver detox was not keeping up with phase I. Givler explains:
“Phase I was moving too fast for phase II. Phase I takes those fat-soluble toxins and turns them into intermediary metabolites, which are more toxic than those toxins when they were sequestered in fat cells … They should move right onto phase II to move into one of our six conjugative pathways of detoxification so they turn into a water-soluble form to leave the body.
When hippurate is elevated, it’s often an indicator that you’re getting stuck with those more toxic intermediary metabolites. Phase II needs a little bit of assistance.”
My last test, in February, revealed the bacteria in my gut had rebalanced, but I still need to improve my phase II detox pathway. This test also revealed a mold marker suggestive of black mold exposure, which makes sense, as I had a small leak in my laundry room that had gone unnoticed for perhaps a year or more. Some of the wood behind the wall was rotted through by the time I discovered the problem.
Oxalates May Be a Problem Even if Test Results Are Negative
As mentioned, one thing that’s an issue for both of us are the oxalates. Interestingly, oxalates may be a problem even if your test is normal. Givler explains:
“[In your] first test we saw an overt elevation. There were oxalates physically leaving your body. The oxalic acid was elevated. But if you are storing oxalates, if they’re all aggregated in connective tissue, in the lungs or the pelvic griddle, in your brain or in your eyes … then they don’t necessarily show up in unprovoked urine tests.
Just in the same way that if you are doing an unprovoked heavy metal test, you are only seeing what’s excreted and not what’s being stored. There are times that the oxalic acid can show up in range, or even low, when there is truly a high body burden of oxalates.
This is where [you need to look] at the bigger picture. Is there mold? Is there yeast? Are there other types of dysbiosis? Are there genetic predispositions on genes like the alanine-glyoxylate aminotransferase (AGXT) or the glyoxylate and hydroxypyruvate reductase (GRHPR) or 4-hydroxy-2-oxoglutarate aldolase 1 (HOGA-1)?
If you find variants there and you find patterns of inflammation and pain presentations going along with it, then you may actually be dealing with retained oxalates. This is a risk for osteoporosis. It’s a risk for iron deficiency anemia because the oxalates will chelate your calcium; they’ll chelate your magnesium; they’ll chelate your iron and form these really painful precipitates.
The most common form or the one that people are most familiar with are kidney stones because the oxalates [are] physically leaving your body … But only 0.5% of people who have oxalate issues will actually develop kidney stones. The other 99.5% have issues, like myself, where the pain presentation or those oxalates are actually trapped in the body and creating issues.
They’re linked with some really serious health conditions, as well as a pretty significant amount of chronic pain. Like myself, they may find themselves doing healthy things that are really wrong for them, but there are some really excellent, easy and inexpensive things you can do if you suspect the oxalates are an issue. Or if you have testing like this that tells you beyond a shadow of a doubt that, yes, oxalates are a problem.”
How to Lower Your Oxalate Level
One way to lower your oxalate level is to take Epsom salt baths. Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate. When you eat sulfurous foods such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and eggs, your body must metabolize that sulfur. The sulfur goes through a multistep process, getting converted into sulfite and then into sulfate.
When you take an Epsom salt bath or foot soak, on the other hand, it’s already in the sulfate form, which your body can absorb transdermally, thereby displacing a lot of the oxalates.
“Many of your listeners probably use Epsom salt soaks for aching muscles and they think, ‘Oh, the magnesium is really helping me.’ I don’t want to discount the role of magnesium — it’s really important for that — but that sulfate the magnesium is bonded to, if there are oxalates, that’s the part that’s really making the difference with pain,” Givler says.
“If you suspect oxalates, the Epsom salts are a pretty safe, gentle and effective way of starting to move those out of your system.”
Another little pearl Givler taught me is to combine any high-oxalate food I eat with calcium-rich foods or a calcium supplement. The oxalates will then bind to the calcium in the digestive tract, preventing them from becoming a problem.
“The oxalates get into the system through the sulfate transporters, and then they attach to the sulfate receptor sites, which is part of why they’re able to get into so many tissues.
We tend to think about absorption as being a function of the small intestine, but our sulfate transporters are all over the colon. If you can bind the oxalate and the minerals in the stomach, then they will bypass those transporters in the colon and be excreted in the stool without giving you any difficulty,” she says. “Bringing in any type of calcium source … is a really good idea if you have oxalate issues.”
More Information
You can learn more about Givler and/or become a client by visiting the Tree of Life website.
“For many, food has become the enemy because they can’t figure out what they’ll actually feel good on. They don’t realize they don’t necessarily have to navigate that road on their own through trial and error.
We can take targeted action, eliminate a lot of the guesswork, actually make progress and save a lot of money by testing and seeing what the right answer is for you, rather than shifting through wrong answer after wrong answer,” Givler says.
The NutriGenetic Research Institute also offers a 30-hour, 14-module online certification course to become a nutritional genetic consultant for health practitioners. This course will teach you what you need to know about functional genomic analysis and how to apply it in your own practice. Webinars for health practitioners are held every other Thursday.
Patients interested in more information are directed to the yourgenomicresource.com which includes a listing of doctors who have completed the training and are qualified to provide nutritional guidance based on your SNPs.