News How Our Digestive System Ties In

[shimmerz]

I found this really cool article about how the 'gut' is seen as a second brain. The idea being that what affects our brains also affects our guts.

"One system's symptoms - and cures - may affect the other. Antidepressants, for example, cause gastric distress in up to a quarter of the people who take them. Butterflies in the stomach are caused by a surge of stress hormones released by the body in a "fight or flight" situation. Stress can also overstimulate nerves in the esophagus, causing a feeling of choking."

Just thought I would share. It piqued my interest given what is going on with me. I found this information in a book called 'Patient; Heal Thyself'

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/health/23gut.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Wondering what your thoughts are on this? Does it make sense to you given your experiences?

 

[PlainJane]

That was very interesting. It makes total sense. I have always had gut troubles and I can connect these troubles 97 percent of the time to stress in one form or another.

 

[Eleanor]

There has been a lot of work started on this in recent years... http://www.nature.com/news/gut-brain-link-grabs-neuroscientists-1.16316. I heard a thing on NPR a week or two ago about a group in OH here it is... http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/201...acteria-might-guide-the-workings-of-our-minds

And this looks promising... Dead Link Removed (I love radio lab and This American Life... I am binge listening while gardening these days...)

A long time ago a woman named Candace Pert started investigating and publishing on peptides "The molecules of emotion" and mapping the connections between emotion, immune system and brain chemistry. Academe did not treat her well, but she did some solid work.

Lots of interesting stuff here... The mind is not just the brain - it is the body too....

 

[garden]

Eating fermented foods can help restore the gut 'system', which gets destroyed by all kinds of stuff, and this is supposed to literally help our moods...Weird right?

 

[PlainJane]

@Eleanor i appreciated those articles as well! :)

Before my diagnosis I was always reading "brain books" and what not always trying to understand what was going on in my own head, lol. I feed on said geeky information. I am a brain and health junkie.

I eat kimchi and drink water Kiefer. Other things too, but I think those are my favorite. It does change how I feel for the better. Except on meltdown mode ;)

 

[jaccat]

Ditto, I've been aware that my emotions are directly linked to my stomach for a long time. Loads of problems since childhood. And anxiety goes straight to my stomach:depressed:. It's horrible.

 

[shell]

When I work on a really difficult memory, I always find I have a physical reaction from my stomach, it either has me racing to the toilet or I have a bad case of acid in my throat. I have always known my Gerd is emotionally related, it is never from the food I eat, as quite often I haven't even eaten for 5 or 6 hours, it get worse in the days before I expect to be working on a difficult memory.

When I was getting memories back it was really awful and constantly with me. I rarely have a bout these days, as I become less anxious so does my stomach. As a child when all the abuse was happening I constantly had stomach pains.

 

[Dakini]

Eating fermented foods can help restore the gut 'system', which gets destroyed by all kinds of stuff, and...

Nope. It makes sense. Microbes are responsible for breaking down complex molecules in food during the fermentation process. Yeast is a perfect example. All cheese is produced when microbes are introduced in cream/milk and even a ideal environment to cultivate. So eating fermented foods makes total sense as those microbes are introduced to your system, repopulating your digest track.

 

[Suzetig]

I tend to struggle with choking if I feel particularly anxious so this makes sense to me.