The Facial Pain Advocacy Alliance wishes our American readers a joy filled, pain free Thanksgiving tomorrow!
An interesting fact:
Turkey, the traditional choice for Thanksgiving dinner, contains a significant amount of the amino acid L-tryptophan. According to researchers, L-tryptophan has side effects which may include a reduction in chronic facial pain.
At SlowAging.org:
“As a health treatment, L-tryptophan may improve the conditions of insomnia, sleep apnea, depression, anxiety, facial pain, premenstrual syndrome, smoking cessation, teeth grinding, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and athletic performance.”
But don’t just take their word for it. There is research that supports the claim.
“This study investigated the effects of daily administration of three grams of tryptophan … on chronic maxillofacial pain [and] experimental pain thresholds… In a double-blind study, 30 chronic pain patients were randomly assigned to a tryptophan or placebo group. At the initial appointment and 4 weeks later, the patients’ subjective ratings of their pain were recorded, electrical tooth pulp stimulation* was used to measure pain thresholds… Over the 4 weeks of the study, there was a greater reduction in reported clinical pain and a greater increase in pain tolerance threshold in the tryptophan group than in the placebo group.”1
So enjoy your turkey dinner tomorrow, and by all means…go back for more. To your health!
* Is it just me or does “electrical tooth pulp stimulation” sound like something from a torturer’s bag of tricks? No, thanks!
1. Seltzer S, Dewart D, Pollack RL, Jackson E. The effects of dietary tryptophan on chronic maxillofacial pain and experimental pain tolerance. J Psychiatr Res. 1982-1983;17(2):181-6, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6764935↩