Inflammatory pain and Sugar

[WelshMoth]

I regularly get pain behind my left shoulder blade - a stiff, aching pain that affects all my upper body movement.

I've recently dropped a little weight through low carbing and the pain stopped.

I low carbed for 4 weeks and felt pretty good. Embarrassingly I started eating normally last week and scoffed too much chocolate to mention and the pain is back in the same
Spot.

Is sugar causing inflammation in this part of my body? It's bloody painful and I'll gladly give up scoffing so much sugar to help ease this pain.

Hi Welshmoth, yes, sugar does make a difference to inflammatory conditions. I have a skin prob with very dry, itchy, reddened, very unhappy, sore looking, flaky skin but only when I have been eating sugar. Fruit doesn't cause any probs, but sugar does. And the only way to calm my skin is to really reduce the sugar I eat. My threshold is one sugary item per day. So if I have marmalade for breakfast, I have to remember not to have any more sugary things that day. Other carbs can do it too such as crisps and crackers. Sometimes it's difficult, particularly when socializing, but if I stray far from one small sugar portion, I pay the price with awful skin for four or five days.

Molly thanks for posting and sorry you're also struggling.

I definitely need to cut down and I will - especialmy since I'm off skiing next week and I can't afford to be in this much pain.

Nothing shifts it either - no painkiller or anti inflammatory. And it's always under my left shoulder blade. Always!

Hi Welsh, poor you. Hopefully some fresh mountain air will make you feel energized.

Actually, I'm happy to report I'm not struggling at the mo - lucky me, I feel really well, partly because I gave away all the sweets, biscuits and chocs I was given for Xmas because they just don't agree with me.

Pancreatic pain can refer to the left shoulder blade. So if your pancreas is struggling with the sugar load that makes sense to me.

Venus thank you for posting. This pain makes more sense now.

I get headache from chocolate, when I pig out.
Maybe you should do a blood test if it could be your pancreas...

Sounds like a great opportunity to do a load of scientific experiments to see what affects you, OP. Try different sugary foods, try sugar without chocolate.

You could try all the anti-inflammatory things, too. Like having oily fish, taking lots of exercise, eating loads of fruit & veg.

Yes, a diet too high in carbohydrate (sugar as far as the body is concerned) can cause inflammation.

Thanks everyone.

I've had this pain in the past - really debilitating. I was blood tested by my GP at one point and referred to Rheumatology because my inflammatory markers were high (not sure what that means exactly). It would hurt every time I turned in bed at night so my sleep quality was terrible. It seemed to vanish overnight though and I only have flare ups.

Giving up sugar for a month has highlighted how well I felt (after the initial 'cold turkey withdrawals) but having a binge on choc has made me
SO aware of how toxic it is for me.

Bit worried for my Pancreas now though, I must admit