Nerve Pain

One in five chronic pain sufferers have neuropathic pain. This includes neuralgia, nerve pain and compression neuropathy. Examples are sciatica, lumbosciatic pain, peripheral neuropathy and chemotherapy induced pain.

Clinical tools for addressing nerve pain include high dose and high strength fish oil and herbal anti-inflammatories such as curcumin, Boswellia, White willow bark, ginger and Devil’s claw.

We now rather excitingly have another tool to add the abovementioned kit… Palmidrol. (Palmitoylethanolamide, aka PEA found in soybean, lecithin, palm oil and egg yolk.)

A few PEA supplements are combined with Crocus sativus (saffron) and vitamin B1 which greatly enhance
the pain-reducing properties of PEA.

Bear with me a moment as I explain a little of PEA’s actions!

PEA is an endocannabinoid-like lipid mediator. That is, it can latch onto various receptors and immune cells to provide anti-neuro inflammatory, neuroprotective and analgesic actions.

As well as being found in certain foods PEA is also produced within the body. But levels decline during chronic disease, tissue damage, inflammation, pain syndromes and ageing. (Not entirely fair!)

Clinical applications for PEA include both acute and chronic pain issues, as well as nervous system disorders, nerve damage or injury that may be contributing to pinched or compressed nerves (i.e. sciatica and carpel tunnel syndrome), nerve pressure and/or heightened sensitivity and reactivity to pain.

The key phytoconstituent of saffron is safranal which desensitises neurons that cause an increased perception of pain (TRDA1) and vitamin B1 has been found to significantly reduce dorsal root ganglia neuron excitability, which is a provocative factor in central sensitisation of pain. A deficiency of vitamin B1 (thiamine) is linked to heightened pain.

A large scale, randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of 636 participants with lumbo-sciatica pain received either 300mg or 600mg of PEA for three weeks. The group receiving 600mg/d of PEA reported a significant improvement in quality of life. Pain was reduced by greater than 50% compared to the 300mg/d and the placebo group.