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The Risks of “Toughing It Out”

Chronic Pain, Mental Health, and the Case for Regenerative Medicine

For many men and older adults, ignoring pain has become a badge of honor. Cultural messages equating strength with stoicism often discourage people from seeking care, even when discomfort becomes persistent. But the notion of “toughing it out” has consequences. Chronic pain, if left untreated, not only wears down the body but also reshapes the brain and nervous system, creating long-term physiological and psychological damage. Increasingly, regenerative medicine offers a powerful approach to treating the root causes of chronic pain, moving beyond symptom suppression to restore function and quality of life.

Pain Is a Message from Your Nervous System

Pain is your body’s early warning system—a critical sensory signal meant to prevent harm. But when pain becomes chronic, lasting more than three months, it stops functioning as a helpful signal and starts to behave more like a malfunctioning alarm. At this point, the nervous system can become sensitized, meaning it reacts more intensely to pain stimuli or even begins to generate pain in the absence of an injury (NIH, 2025).

This phenomenon, called central sensitization, involves long-term changes in the brain and spinal cord. Over time, it can heighten a person’s sensitivity to pain, increase emotional distress, and even impact cognition and sleep. Chronic pain is not just about damaged tissue; it’s about how your nervous system continues to process that damage long after the original injury has healed (Cleveland Clinic, 2024).

The Mental Health Impact of Chronic Pain

Ignoring chronic pain doesn’t make it disappear—it often makes it worse. Studies show that individuals with chronic pain are significantly more likely to experience depression, anxiety, mood swings, and insomnia (CDC, 2023; Cleveland Clinic, 2024). Up to 67% of people living with chronic pain also meet the diagnostic criteria for a mental health disorder, and the lifetime rate of suicide attempts in this group ranges from 5% to 14%.

This isn’t simply correlation—it’s causation. The longer pain persists, the more deeply it becomes embedded in neural circuits, not only altering pain thresholds but also triggering changes in mood-regulating brain structures such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex (NIH, 2025).

“Toughing It Out” Delays Recovery

Men, in particular, are conditioned to downplay symptoms and resist medical help. Research shows they’re more likely to self-medicate with over-the-counter drugs, alcohol, or supplements instead of consulting a physician (Mitchell, 2025). Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t treat the underlying cause of pain and can lead to further complications, like kidney damage from NSAID overuse, gastrointestinal bleeding, or substance dependence.

Chronic underreporting can also delay diagnosis for serious issues such as nerve compression, degenerative joint disease, or autoimmune conditions that require timely intervention. The longer these go unaddressed, the more damage accrues and the more complex the treatment becomes.

Regenerative Medicine: Addressing the Root Cause, Not Just the Symptoms

Traditional pain treatments—ranging from pharmaceuticals to steroid injections—are often designed to interrupt the pain signal or mask the symptoms. While helpful in the short term, they rarely resolve the root cause of pain.

This is where regenerative medicine offers a paradigm shift.

Vitara Wellness’s approach with RCX therapy is to implant supplemental connective tissue, specifically an extracellular matrix (EXM), a critical but often overlooked component in tissue structure and healing. Think of the EXM as the scaffolding of your body’s tissue—it provides the framework that holds cells in place and enables communication for repair and regeneration. When injury or inflammation disrupts this matrix, tissues lose their ability to heal efficiently.

RCX therapy replenishes this scaffolding with bioactive compounds that support cell signaling, modulate inflammation, and encourage tissue remodeling. It’s not about numbing the pain—it’s about giving the body the structural and biological tools it needs to restore itself. Because the therapy works in harmony with the body’s natural healing processes, it can reduce chronic inflammation, improve joint stability, and accelerate tissue repair without the systemic risks of long-term medication or surgery.

Don’t Wait Until Pain Becomes Your Entire Identity

Lingering pain isn’t something to power through. It’s a physiological warning that something deeper is out of balance. And when pain is combined with the kind of neural plasticity seen in central sensitization, it can reshape your experience of life.

If you’ve been “toughing it out,” it’s time to reevaluate. Regenerative cell therapy provides a scientifically grounded option that supports long-term recovery.

At Vitara Wellness, we don’t just treat pain—we restore balance.

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