B Vitamins and Chronic Pain

A recent study shows that neuropathic pain caused by injury to the nervous system may be treated effectively with B vitamins. Nearly 86 million Americans suffer from severe pain and costs business and industries billions of dollars for sick time, medical costs, and lost productivity. Many who suffer from severe pain may not have found any relief from the medical world. This study implies that relief may be found as close as the vitamin counter at your pharmacy or grocery store.

An old injury, stress, and bones that have been broken can cause acute pain. Many Americans suffer in silence because they believe there is no relief in sight. Many others are thought the pain to be “in their head.” Chronic pain can lead to other physical and emotional problems. Severe pain on one side of the back may result in favoring one leg over the other and cause physical problems in the legs. Chronic and unexplained pain can cause emotion problems such as depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide. Many may feel they are going crazy and are unable to explain the pain they are feeling. They may be suffering in silence but B vitamins may be the answer to their chronic pain.

To understand how B vitamins can reduce pain, we first need to understand how the pain originates. Pain comes from nerves that sense and respond to any part of the body that receives damage. These nerves, called nociceptors, respond to tissue irritation, injury, and pending injury. They send signals through the peripheral nerves and the spinal cord and take the signals to the brain. Studies show that B vitamins have the ability to block physical distress of some pains.

Vitamin B1, B6, and B12 have proved to be effective in treating lumbago, sciatica, trigeminal neuralgia, and paralysis in the face. Nociceptive pain can come from inflammation, sprains, bone fractures, bruises, bumps, and burns. Tests using combinations of B1, B6, and B12 showed they reduced pain in clinical tests such as the writhing test, heat coil test, or hot plate test.

Clinical tests performed on laboratory rats showed that after surgical rods were implanted into their legs and were studied both before surgery and for a total of 14 days after surgery. They found the rats had a reduced foot retraction when exposed to heat stimulation. B vitamins were injected on the third day after surgery and the decrease of pain was directly associated with the B vitamins the rats received. In rats that were treated with the added vitamins had a decline to sensitivity in only four to five weeks compared with eight to ten weeks for the rats who did not receive the B vitamins.

This could be good news for the millions of people who suffer from chronic pain. More studies and clinical trials will need to be conducted before a determination can be made about the effectiveness of B vitamin injections. Contact your health care professional to see if B vitamin therapy may lessen your pain.