capsaicin and nerve pain

Just wanted to point out, for those suffering from nerve pain, that I have been able to strongly correlate red pepper consumption to my nerve flares. I had a multi-day burning flare after having just a few bites of spicy food. Then on 2 more occasions I flew into a flare and later found out that my gf had put red pepper in this recipe or that.

Upon further research, red pepper has capsiascin in it. Capsaiscin's active ingredient is substance p. Substance p is literally an excitatory neurotransmitter whose job it is to fire the c-fiber nerve endings and make them sense pain.

I'm curious if anyone else w/ these nerve issues has noticed this? It's possible you were not aware to watch out for this, so figured I'd highlight.

I asked my pain management dr aboutthis, and he mentioned how he's noticed the same thing, and has actually started to have some of his patients load up on red pepper. The idea being that you flare uncontrollably for about a month, at which point your body runs out of substance p and the nerve pain goes away. Interesting idea.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/substance_p

"Pain
Preclinical data support the notion that Substance P is an important element in pain perception. The sensory function of substance P is thought to be related to the transmission of pain information into the central nervous system. Substance P coexists with the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate in primary afferents that respond to painful stimulation.[29] Substance P and other sensory neuropeptides can be released from the peripheral terminals of sensory nerve fibers in the skin, muscle, and joints. It is proposed that this release is involved in neurogenic inflammation, which is a local inflammatory response to certain types of infection or injury.[28]"

Interesting - they make a nerve pain cream with Capsaicin as the main ingredient.
My husband bought some several years ago and it did work - but he had to reapply it often

It didn’t initially flare his pain though

Yup. The idea is similar to what my dr suggested, substance p depletion. Although I asked around and it sounds like it’s a very bad idea for small fiber neuropathy. May work for some, but often turns into a torturous failed experiment for most.

Do you have nerve pain?

yah this is different im talking about for people w neuropathy