ANTIDEPRESSANT MEDICATION FOR CHRONIC PAIN
Ross Hauser, M.D.

My Pinched Nerve
I knew what to do for my pinched nerve in my neck and it wasn’t to go to a doctor who would have given me anti-healing medications and probably eventually given me an anti-depressant! Hey, you would be depressed too if the doctor wasn’t helping your pain, you can’t train for your sport, and you had to cancel a half ironman race! Well I still had to cancel the half ironman race, but I only lost about three weeks worth of training. This a.m. I biked for 1 hour 15 minutes and ran for 30 minutes. All at heart rate between 140-150. I am back. I am back to training for Ironman Lake Placid. What does this have to do with taking anti-depressants? Sorry, I just am so excited to be feeling better and I want the same for you!

Doctors give anti-depressants to the chronic pain sufferer for two reasons. The most obvious reason is that often they are depressed. The second reason is they help patients sleep better and this may lessen their pain. While these are both noble reasons to prescribe these medications, the main reason the person is depressed is because of the pain. It isn’t that they are depressed and then have pain. I am telling you if the doctor you are going to is not helping resolve the pain and is just giving various medications, including anti-depressants, I say run, don’t walk, to a Prolotherapist!

Over the course of the last four years we have been compiling data that we are hopeful to get published and I am telling you the overwhelming evidence of the research is that even if the medical doctors have told the person with pain that there is no other treatment options for their pain - Prolotherapy will work for them. It is not a guarantee, but in all of our studies that we have done, this has been the case. Yes, on the lower back, neck, hip, shoulder, TMJ, ankle, elbow, wrist, and other body parts showed this. We examined our data on clients who were told that there were no other treatment options for their pain, and they still experienced unbelievably great results with Prolotherapy.

Prolotherapy helps strengthen and regenerate damaged, weakened tissue. Prolotherapy injections stimulate the body to repair painful areas. The substances injected get the immune system activated to where ultimately fibroblasts proliferate (where the word Prolo or to grow comes from). Fibroblasts are the cells that make the collagen which make up ligaments and tendons. Joint osteoarthritis forms when the ligaments (which hold the bones together) are weakened. Now the unstable joints wants stability and that’s why the body overgrows bone. The overgrown bone is stabilizing the joint. Thus, the cause of degenerated joints is ligament injury. The treatment for ligament injury is Prolotherapy.
 

Prolotherapy is typically given approximately every four weeks. Generally three to six visits are needed to resolve most chronic pain. Sometimes Diet Typing is ordered. This is a process to find out what foods will best optimize a person’s physiology. You can read about the various Hauser Diet Types at www.hauserdiet.com.

So there you have it. When the doctor goes for the prescription pad to give you an antidepressant, I say run, don’t walk, to get a Prolotherapy evaluation.