News Dna Modifications Measured In Blood Signal Related Changes In The Brain

[MyPTSD]

Researchers say they have confirmed suspicions that DNA modifications found in the blood of mice exposed to high levels of stress hormone — and showing signs of anxiety — are directly related to changes found in their brain tissues. Scientists say this research offers the first evidence that epigenetic changes that alter the way genes function without changing their underlying DNA sequence -- and are detectable in blood -- mirror alterations in brain tissue linked to underlying psychiatric diseases.

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[Deleted member 1860]

So are they saying that there are particular changes in our bodies that persist even after stress has been reduced? What they say makes sense given that I'm under the belief that sufferers need to take steps to minimize stress for life as we seem to have a higher susceptibility even after we've done much healing. Sorry if this isn't clear, as I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything that was said. It also points to "healing" and subsequent management of said healing as opposed to "cure" until there is some sort of medical intervention that can return our underlying chemistry to normal. But, I wonder if those who do claim to be "cured" have an underlying chemistry that was able to return to normal on its own, whereas those of us who continue to struggle have chemistries which have been permanently changed. It would really blow all of those "I cured my PTSD" people out of the water as "curing" may have been just as much a matter of individual chemistry as receiving the right type of therapy! That is, a large part of their healing wasn't even under their own control. Side note, those people annoy me because most of them have had far less medical intervention and therapy than I have yet they feel the need to scream about "the way" to heal, when in fact the degree of healing may, to an extent, be out of our hands. That is, not everyone is on an equal healing playing field, some may have a body chemical advantage? Just thinking...

 

[greenleaf]

@Solara, there was another study too that talked about epigenetic changes, and it talks about there being *different* epigenetic changes in survivors of childhood vs. adult trauma. Also some people had a lot more pronounced changes than others. So, if there are totally different biologies and amounts of change in epigenetics involved, it could make sense that some are more alterable than others.

On the plus side, researchers do seem to be looking at this stuff more than 20 years ago... And there seem to be more healing resources available.

Mehta D, Klengel T, Conneely KN, Smith AK, Altmann A, Pace TW, Rex-Haffner M, Loeschner A, Gonik M, Mercer KB, Bradley B, Müller-Myhsok B, Ressler KJ, Binder EB. Childhood maltreatment is associated with distinct genomic and epigenetic profiles in posttraumatic stress disorder. Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences, 110(20):8302-7. 2013.
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[Deleted member 1860]

Maybe I should stop beating myself up so much for not being able to heal as much or as fast as other people if much of the healing process comes down to epigenetic changes in the body. Don't get me wrong, I am on a good healing path, it's just that I want so much more than what I have right now. Gotta work on self forgiveness and self acceptance.

 

[Al_Lurker]

Maybe I should stop beating myself up so much for not being able to heal as much or as fast as other people ....

This is just my opinion but I should think that's a good idea no matter what the science or physiology is. You are in 'competition' with no one but yourself when it comes to your own happiness and recovery and if you're making progress and wanting more it sounds as if you're doing it right.

 

[greenleaf]

@Solara, it's definitely good to never beat yourself up! :-) I also wonder if maybe some of those "cured" people might not have problems again in a few years as they come into different stages of dealing with stuff. I've had periods of years where I pretty completely focused on other areas of my life and didn't feel that trauma stuff was affecting me much -- although at one level it was, because I seem to have been dissociating certain levels of emotion the whole time. Well, and I never was able to go off those antidepressants... small details... :confused: