Referred Pain & Pain Relief: Dr. Nicholas Fogelson on UTI & Pain, Part 2

Nerves are the slowest-healing tissues in the body, taking between six months and two years to recover from damage. As a result, even when the source of bladder or pelvic pain has been eradicated, the nerves may remain inflamed and send pain signals for a relatively long time. In this situation, patients are often sent to pain management specialists. It is important to view this occurrence not as a dismissal by the urologist or uro-gynecologist but rather as the next stage of treatment. Unfortunately, it is not possible to speed up healing of damaged nerves. That said, medications are available that will interrupt the pain signal as it travels to and is processed by the brain.
Another method of managing pain is through neurostimulation. One at-home neurostimulation device is a TENS unit (remember the infomercials for Dr. Ho’s?). Nerves are biological “wires” that transmit electrons through conductive fluid. TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) units interfere with those signals by overstimulating the nerves so that they no longer respond to unwanted natural signals. To treat bladder pain, Dr. Fogelson recommends placing the TENS unit on your foot to stimulate the posterior tibial nerve. This, in turn, stimulates the second sacral spinal nerve, which generates a somatic feeling in the bladder. This also explains why some people experience foot pain alongside their UTI.
But referred pain is not limited to just your feet. Visceral referred pain can affect the rectum, back, uterus, upper abdomen, and even the chest. Dr. Fogelson believes that referred pain and nerve stimulation as treatment are the mechanisms underlying the efficacy of acupuncture. It should be noted that this is not the Traditional Chinese Medicine explanation for how acupuncture works.
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Learn more about Dr. Nicholas Fogelson at www.nwendometr...
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