Inflammation

Vascular inflammation often contributes to and may, in fact, be the cause of complaints such as tension and sinus headaches, jaw pain, neck discomfort, fatigue, as well as low back pain. The mechanism by which vascular inflammation works is through inflammation of the arteries and veins that form the vascular structure of the meninges, the thin material that lines and protects the brain and spinal cord. For example, in the case of chronic sinus congestion, the cause is often thought to be allergies or some structural abnormality. Most of the time, however, the actual cause is vascular inflammation which blocks the areas of drainage. This congestion often leads to bacteria accumulation and an infection, a symptom which is mistakenly treated with antibiotics, while the actual cause is ignored.

Vascular inflammation, in addition to causing a variety of headaches, also causes pain in the spinal cord all the way down to the low back. A constant popping and grinding sound in your neck and back may not be due to any structural dysfunction or arthritis but an area in your spinal cord that is chronically inflamed. Treating vascular inflammation is complex. It cannot be treated solely with medication or even a series of chiropractic visits. The treatment must be holistic. Most importantly, it involves dietary modifications which eliminate trigger causing foods in the diet.

Previous approaches on treating vascular inflammation have often been unsuccessful because they focus on one suspected triggering factor at a time. A triggering factor includes stress, heat, barometric pressure, as well as dietary items like caffeine, chocolate, and MSG. These triggering factors do not work in isolation but together. One day may be very stressful, and it's on that day that you eat a chocolate muffin and your symptoms flare up. Another day you may not be experiencing any stress and the chocolate muffin may not cause you any trouble. It is this type of thinking that causes people to to give up too quickly on the diet component of their treatment.

When going into this diet, it is extremely important that you realize that each of these foods stack on top of each other until they reach a level where your symptoms flare up. If you are suffering from chronic pain caused by vascular inflammation, the level in your system is already above this point which means, in order for this diet to work, almost everything on this list must be eliminated for a period of two months.

For more information on the details of this diet please contact me at 503.232.3139