Chronic pain isn’t just a physical experience. It’s also an emotional phenomenon that can cause new depression or worsen existing depression.
At the same time, depression isn’t just a mental and emotional challenge. It physically changes the way you feel pain and can lead to chronic pain.
Whether you’re dealing with depression, chronic pain, or both, our Palo Alto Mind Body team can help. We specialize in treatments that provide rapid relief and improve symptoms for many people..
Our treatments can be effective even when other medications have failed because they target brain chemicals associated with both depression and pain.
Here are four connections between the two conditions:
Pain is more than a physical sensation. When sensory nerves in your body send pain messages to your brain, the brain interprets the signals and triggers an emotional and behavioral response.
Depression is more than a mental and emotional state. It can also cause physical pain. Many people with depression experience headaches, muscle aches, and general pain.
Why is there such a crossover between two seemingly unrelated conditions? It’s because pain and depression share neural pathways in the brain.
The areas of the brain that process pain and regulate your mood are near each other, and their functions overlap. For example, when pain causes an emotional response.
Additionally, both are activated and regulated by the same neurotransmitters (brain chemicals that support nerve communication). When one condition (pain or depression) changes the neural pathways, it affects the other.
When you have chronic pain, the ongoing pain signals physically alter nerve communication and neurotransmitter levels. These changes impact mood regulation, often leading to new-onset depression or exacerbation of existing depression.
Depression makes you more sensitive to pain and other body sensations, a change attributed to the imbalance in neurotransmitters associated with depression.
The increased pain sensitivity can cause new and longer-lasting pain. These variables work together, allowing depression to cause chronic pain and amplify existing pain.
Chronic pain weakens the immune system and causes inflammation. So does depression. The neurotransmitter imbalances responsible for depression contribute to inflammation. Also, inflammation causes and perpetuates chronic pain.
This is one more link between depression and pain, leading to an ongoing cycle with one worsening the other.
Chronic pain doesn’t stop, and it can negatively affect every aspect of your life and well-being. Chronic pain disrupts sleep, interferes with work, and makes it challenging (or impossible) to socialize, enjoy hobbies, or stay active.
Any one of these challenges can trigger depression. Yet chronic pain combines physical discomfort with lack of sleep, job worries, isolation, stress, and anxiety.
Simply put, chronic pain wears you down. It takes incredible energy and strength to live with pain. Even the most resilient people often feel overwhelmed with pain-related stress and anxiety.
Chronic pain is notoriously hard to treat and not all people respond to conventional therapies.
Depression can also be challenging to overcome. At least one-third of people who take antidepressants have treatment-resistant depression, which means their depression didn’t improve after trying at least two types of antidepressants.
When other treatments fail, we specialize in therapies that can help, taking an integrative approach that often combines functional medicine, psychotherapy, and IV ketamine infusions.
Ketamine targets a brain chemical called glutamate. Glutamate plays an important role in regulating pain and mood. Glutamate is also a different neurotransmitter than those affected by most traditional antidepressants, which is why it can be effective for treatment-resistant depression.
We use an intravenous (IV) infusion to administer ketamine and ensure you get the precise amount needed for optimal results.
IV infusion has another benefit: sending ketamine directly into your bloodstream means it reaches the brain quickly. As a result, many patients experience rapid relief from their symptoms.
Even those who haven’t responded to other pain and depression medications find that their symptoms improve following an IV ketamine infusion.
Don’t keep struggling with chronic pain and/or depression. Our caring team has extensive experience treating both conditions, whether separately or together.
Call Palo Alto Mind Body today or request an appointment online to learn more about your treatment options.
