Sorry to hear of your pain levels. You are, however, reporting something interesting. Although I can't pull the full text articles offhand, there is some active research right now in Japan on air pressures changes and neuropathic pain (NP). The article abstracts suggest that the mechanism of action is in the inner ear and that the key variable is the
rate of pressure change, rather than the
absolute levels of low atmospheric pressures that are reached.
This could explain beautifully why tornadoes and hurricanes could have a much greater effect than a large, hulking winter low pressure system off of the Pacific Northwest: still not great fun but nowhere near what's being described here.
But what's odd is that, after disabling the key inner ear nerve in mice, researchers were able to exacerbate NP in only 8 minutes, roughly the same time it takes a jet to get to 20,000 feet, but there aren't the same levels of reports of NP associated with air travel, even though our ears send unambiguous and generally painless signals of
increasing air pressure as we descend.
Any thoughts or reports to the contrary, e.g. crippling pain with air travel that is not related to the stress of getting to and through the airport? (Such as after an easy and hassle-free connection made by wheelchair?)
In any event, here are the abstracts:
1. Lowering barometric pressure aggravates mechanical allodynia and hyperalgesia in a rat model of neuropathic pain, Sato J, Morimae H, Seino Y, Kobayashi T, Suzuki N, Mizumura K,
Neurosci Lett. 1999 Apr 30;266(1):21-4.
Department of Neural Regulation, Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Nagoya University, Japan. jun@riem.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Abstract
To examine the effects of meteorological change on the pain-related behaviors of neuropathic rats, animals with a chronic constriction injury (CCI) to the sciatic nerve were exposed to low barometric pressure (LP), 20 mmHg below the natural atmospheric pressure in a climate-controlled room. CCI caused a decreased hindpaw withdrawal threshold to von Frey hair (VFH) stimulation (mechanical allodynia) and prolonged duration of hindpaw withdrawal in response to pinprick stimulation (mechanical hyperalgesia). When the CCI rats were exposed to LP, both these pain-related behaviors were aggravated, whereas no change was seen in a group of controls. In the CCI rats sympathectomy inhibited this LP-induced augmentation of pain-related behaviors. These results show that LP intensifies the abnormalities in the pain-related behaviors of neuropathic rats, and that sympathetic activity contributes to the LP effect.
PMID: 10336174 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10336174
2. The rate and magnitude of atmospheric pressure change that aggravate pain-related behavior of nerve injured rats, Funakubo M, Sato J, Obata K, Mizumura K,
Int J Biometeorol. 2011 May;55(3):319-326. Epub 2010 Jun 24.
Department of Neuroscience II, Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan.
Abstract
Complaints of patients with chronic pain may increase when the weather changes. The exact mechanism for weather change-induced pain has not been clarified. We have previously demonstrated that artificially lowering barometric pressure (LP) intensifies pain-related behaviors in rats with neuropathic pain [chronic constriction injury (CCI) and spinal nerve ligation (SNL)]. In the present study, we examined the rate and magnitude of LP that aggravates neuropathic pain. We measured pain-related behaviors [number of paw lifts to von Frey hair (VFH) stimulation] in awake rats after SNL or CCI surgery, and found that rates of decompression ≥5 hPa/h and ≥10 hPa/h and magnitudes of decompression ≥5 hPa and ≥10 hPa augmented pain-related behaviors in SNL and CCI rats, respectively. These results indicate that LP within the range of natural weather patterns augments neuropathic pain in rats, and that SNL rats are more sensitive to LP than CCI rats.
PMID: 20574669 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20574669
3. The inner ear is involved in the aggravation of nociceptive behavior induced by lowering barometric pressure of nerve injured rats, Funakubo M, Sato J, Honda T, Mizumura K,
Eur J Pain 2010 Jan;14(1):32-9. Epub 2009 Mar 21.
Department of Neuroscience II, Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Japan.
Abstract
Patients suffering from neuropathic pain often complain of pain aggravation when the weather is changing. The exact mechanism for weather change-induced pain has not been clarified. We have previously demonstrated that experimentally lowering barometric pressure (LP) intensifies pain-related behaviors in rats with chronic constriction injury (CCI). In the present experiment we examined whether this pain aggravating effect of LP exposure in nerve injured rats is still present after lesioning of the inner ear. We used both CCI and spinal nerve ligation (SNL) models for this study. We injected into the middle ear sodium arsanilate solution (100mg/ml, 50microl/ear), which is known to degenerate vestibular hair cells, under anesthesia the day before surgery. Rats were exposed to LP (27hPa decrease over 8min) 7-9 days after CCI or 5-8 days after SNL surgery, and pain-related behavior (number of paw lifts induced by von Frey hair stimuli) was measured. When the inner ear lesioned SNL or CCI rats were exposed to LP, they showed no augmentation of pain-related behavior. On the other hand, the pain aggravating effect of a temperature decrease (from 24 to 17 degrees C) was maintained in both SNL and CCI rats. These results suggest that the barometric sensor/sensing system influencing nociceptive behavior during LP in rats is located in the inner ear.
PMID: 19318284 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19318284
Mike