Chronic Pain and "substance P"...new research

[DJEvelEd]

What is Substance P, and how can it be isolated to treat chronic pain, like chronic back pain?

[Dr Steve]

What is Substance P, and how can it be isolated to treat chronic pain, like chronic back pain?

"Substance P" is a neuropeptide (messenger molecule) that apparently helps to transmit pain signals from the body to the central nervous system.

Depleting substance P does indeed relieve pain to a degree; this is the mechanism (at least as it's theorized) behind using capscaicin (the "hot" molecule in hot peppers) for post-shingles or arthritis pain. Rubbing capscaicin on the skin depletes substance P over time and the pain gets better.

Right now, that's really the only targeted approach to dealing with substance P in pain control. We currently have analgesics (tylenol), antiinflammatories (Motrin, etc), and opiates (morphine, lortab, etc) that are commonly used to treat pain. There is a new class of non-opiate pain medication out there, the n-type calcium channel blockers. Currently these are only used "intrathecally", meaning the only way you can take them is to get a spinal tap and inject them into the central nervous system...so we're not using them much.

There is a LOT of research being done on chronic pain right now. Narcotics have so many problems associated with them that researchers are fervently looking for other ways to treat pain that actually work without causing somnolence or being diverted for "recreational" uses.

your friend,


Steve