The caffeine in coffee has diuretic effects, which cause your body to urinate more, which conflicts with the recommendation we give our EDS & POTS patients: to increase hydration.
Dehydrated cells cannot properly function, cannot produce energy, and cannot eliminate waste. We recommend aiming to drink about two liters of water a day.
For more information on CRPS diet, read CRPS Diet: Tips for What to Eat & What Foods to Avoid.
One of the symptoms that is pretty universal in all CRPS patients, besides pain, is digestive issues. These issues will be varied, depending upon the patient and how long they have been sick. In its mild first stages, patients usually suffer from indigestion, heartburn, constipation and/or diarrhea, and bloating. As it progresses, patients may suffer from food allergies, leaky gut syndrome, Crohn’s disease, and chronic inflammation of the GI tract. In its most severe form, patients will suffer from gastroparesis, or weakness (paralysis) of the muscles of the stomach.
The Vagus nerve helps manage many complicated processes in your digestive tract, including signaling the muscles in your stomach to contract and push food into the small intestine. A malfunctioning Vagus nerve can’t send signals to your stomach muscles. This results in poor digestion of the food in your stomach, and the slowing down of the emptying of your stomach. Patients who suffer from this condition will have a very difficult time ingesting anything other than liquids. This condition results in nausea, vomiting, and severe abdominal pain.
CRPS patients suffering from GI problems are usually treated like patients with two separate conditions, rather than a patient with a central nervous system malfunction resulting in both conditions. The distinction here is an important one, as one treatment approach works, and the other doesn’t.
Medical treatment of GI problems usually involves prescribing medication(s) to manage symptoms (for instance to force the bowels to function more regularly) and under very extreme circumstances, surgery to remove malfunctioning parts. Diet is seldomly addressed, and even when it is addressed, it is done so poorly. Managing symptoms without addressing the root cause is like putting a wet towel over a fire alarm while the house is burning down. Not only is this approach not helpful, it is actually harmful. In order to tackle this problem logically, you must first understand why the GI system started malfunctioning in the first place.
Start your patient journey with the Spero Clinic's neurologic rehabilitation program.
