How Chronic Pain Can Lead to Autoimmunity Problems

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By Forest Tennant, PNN Columnist

Every chronic pain patient must know and understand autoimmunity and how to combat it. Research on chronic pain has unequivocally determined that the chronic inflammation and tissue destruction caused by a painful disease or injury will produce autoimmunity.

Autoimmunity is a biologic phenomenon in which certain antibodies in the blood -- called autoantibodies -- turn against the body and attack one’s own tissues. Autoantibody means “self-attack.” This is in stark contrast to “immunity” which means antibodies only attack an invading virus, bacteria, poison or contaminant to protect the body.

Chronic pain that causes inflammation and tissue degeneration generates cellular destruction that can shed tissue particles into the blood stream. These tissue particles are considered foreign and unwanted by the body’s immune system, so it makes autoantibodies against them. Unfortunately, these autoantibodies may then attack normal tissue, giving the patient unexpected symptoms and more pain.

The symptoms and sequelae of autoimmunity can be mysterious and overwhelming. Such disorders as traumatic brain injury, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, adhesive arachnoiditis, post-viral, and stroke are particularly prone to the development of autoimmunity.

Although antibodies may attack any tissue in the body, autoantibodies seem to attack the soft tissues such as membranes around organs, ligaments, cartilage, small nerves and intervertebral discs. Another common target is the body’s natural immune protection system, including lymph nodes, thymus gland, mast cells and spleen.

The complications of autoimmunity usually begin without warning. Common clinical manifestations of autoimmunity and the presence of autoantibodies include allergies, skin rash, fibromyalgia, psoriasis, thyroiditis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and arthritis of the joints including the temporal mandibular, elbow and hand joints.

Serious painful and life-threatening autoimmune conditions may also occur, which include the kidney (glomerulonephritis), liver (hepatitis), nerves (neuropathy), spinal canal (arachnoiditis), adrenal gland and the pituitary gland. We now believe that autoimmunity, along with excess neuroelectric stimulation, to be the cause of Intractable Pain Syndrome (IPS).

How To Tell If You Have Autoimmunity

Every chronic pain patient needs to do a self-assessment to determine if their basic pain problem has caused autoimmunity. A failure to control autoimmunity will likely result in progressive complications, misery and probably an early death. As with most other medical conditions, the earlier the recognition, the better the control, suppression and outcome.

Patients should review the following list of some common autoimmune symptoms or conditions. If you have two or more, an assumption can be made that you have autoimmunity and must take actions to control and suppress it:

  • Joint pain

  • Carpal tunnel

  • Histamine episodes or mast cell stimulation

  • Cold hands (Raynaud’s)

  • Allergies

  • Mild recurring fever

  • Neuropathy

  • Medications stop working

  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

  • Food or Medication Sensitivity

  • Hashimotos Thyroiditis

  • Brain Fog

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Diarrhea, gastric upset, heartburn

  • Periodic flushing and itching

  • Herniated disc

  • Constipation

  • Psoriasis

  • Exhaustion and Weakness

If you have two or more of these conditions, a laboratory blood test can help confirm it. Autoimmunity and its close association with chronic inflammation, immune suppression and allergy will almost always result in elevations of one or more of the following blood tests:

  • C-reactive protein (CRP)

  • Lymphocytes or eosinophiles

  • Anti-nuclear antibody (ANA)

  • Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)

  • Interleukins-cytokines       

  • Thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO)

  • ASO Titer

  • Tumor necrosis factor

Automimmunity may also result in decreased immunoglobulins and an altered albumin-globulin ratio.

At this time there is no specific, published treatment for chronic pain-induced autoimmunity. Based on our early investigations, we recommend patients take vitamins, supplements, low dose corticosteroids, low dose naltrexone (LDN) and hormone therapy to control and suppress autoimmunity. Further details can be found here.  

Forest Tennant is retired from clinical practice but continues his research on intractable pain and arachnoiditis. This column is adapted from newsletters recently issued by the IPS Research and Education Project of the Tennant Foundation. Readers interested in subscribing to the newsletter can sign up here.

The Tennant Foundation gives financial support to Pain News Network and sponsors PNN’s Patient Resources section.