gut brain connection

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The gut-brain connection

Have you ever had a “gut-wrenching†experience? Do certain situations make

you “feel nauseous� Have you ever felt “butterflies†in your stomach?

We use these expressions for a reason. The gastrointestinal tract is sensitive

to emotion. Anger, anxiety, sadness, elation—all of these feelings (and

others) can trigger symptoms in the gut.

The brain has a direct effect on the stomach. For example, the very thought of

eating can release the stomach’s juices before food gets there. This

connection goes both ways. A troubled intestine can send signals to the brain,

just as a troubled brain can send signals to the gut. Therefore, a patient’s

distressed gut can be as much the cause as the product of anxiety, stress, or

depression. That’s because the brain and the gastrointestinal (GI) system are

intimately connected — so intimately that they should be viewed as one system,

rather than two.

This is especially true in cases where a person experiences gastrointestinal

upset with no obvious physical cause. For such functional GI disorders, trying

to heal a distressed gut without considering the impact of stress and emotion is

like trying to improve an employee’s poor job performance without considering

his manager and work environment.

Stress and the functional GI disorders

Given how closely the gut and brain interact, it becomes easier to understand

why you might feel nauseated before giving a presentation, or feel intestinal

pain during times of stress. That doesn’t mean, however, that functional

gastrointestinal illnesses are imagined or “all in your head.†Psychology

combines with physical factors to cause pain and other bowel symptoms.

Psychosocial factors influence the actual physiology of the gut, as well as the

modulation of symptoms. In other words, stress (or depression or other

psychological factors) can affect movement and contractions of the GI tract,

cause inflammation, or make you more susceptible to infection.

In addition, research suggests that some people with functional GI disorders

perceive pain more acutely than other people do because their brains do not

properly regulate pain signals from the GI tract. Stress can make the existing

pain seem even worse.

These observations suggest that at least some patients with functional GI

conditions might find relief with therapy to reduce stress or treat anxiety or

depression. And sure enough, a review of 13 studies showed that patients who

tried psychologically based approaches had greater improvement in their symptoms

compared with patients who received conventional medical treatment.

Is stress causing your symptoms?

When evaluating whether your gastrointestinal symptoms — such as heartburn,

abdominal cramps, or loose stools — are related to stress, watch for these

other common symptoms of stress and report them to your clinician as well.

Physical symptoms

Stiff or tense muscles, especially in the neck and shoulders

Headaches

Sleep problems

Shakiness or tremors

Recent loss of interest in sex

Weight loss or gain

Restlessness

Behavioral symptoms

Procrastination

Grinding teeth

Difficulty completing work assignments

Changes in the amount of alcohol or food you consume

Taking up smoking, or smoking more than usual

Increased desire to be with or withdraw from others

Rumination (frequent talking or brooding about stressful situations)

Emotional symptoms

Crying

Overwhelming sense of tension or pressure

Trouble relaxing

Nervousness

Quick temper

Depression

Poor concentration

Trouble remembering things

Loss of sense of humor

Indecisiveness

Subject: Re: Re: Ann

To: fibromyalgiacured

Date: Monday, December 13, 2010, 1:28 PM

 

Ann

You are right about the psychological aspects with IBS, and other gut problems.

I have had a lot of therapy and I have even worked in that field. It is always

hard to share how I got myself out of a lot of that because it was mainly 'every

day people' that helped me, including a lot of folk here on this site

a few famous people that I feel have helped me with this are Joyce Meyer,

McKenna, Pope , and a few other very special people. I can still get a

bit obsessive and what have you but generally much better nowadays

I was addicted to chocolate, carbs and diet coke plus had a lot of sleep

problems and other stuff. I have had a lot of therapy but the main one that

helped me with this side of things was MCKenna. I no longer have addiction

issues and I am off all the chemical meds my doctor gave me

right now I am awaiting a scan on this joint and not sure but I think they are

going to check my small bowel out too

there are times when all this can send me mental, proper 'headless chicken' but

of late I have been a lot more reserved about it. Mainly because I am no longer

in pain and keeling over

there are times when i feel like throwing the towel in all together with the

hospital. Over the years all they did was put me on a low carb/high fat diet

that clearly made my illness much worse, and they gave me antidepressants, which

i think i must be allergic to because they make me terribly depressed, and

NSAIDs, which fortunately i got of early, is there any wonder folk get ulcers

I do not know for certain if I have an ulcer in my small bowel, it is just that

withon a day of coming off this program the first symptoms to show are very much

those of an ulcer.Anyway, we will see if any of this shows up on my scan, but

even if it does, I will not be letting them operate nor taking antibiotics or

anything they have to offer. I know folk have been able to clear up terrible

crohns and other similar stuff using bees ideas so I will stick with that, at

least for now

all the other stuff about different diets for different people, I have to

confess I have no idea if this could be true or not. I really am not qualified.

I do not have a high level of experience with this nutritional stuff. this is

the main reason why I tell folk to go to Bee she is much more intellingent than

me and much more knowledgable. I do know some folk do struggle with the coconut

oil, usually, I think, because they are on certain chemical meds, but like I

say, I am not really well versed in this stuff. I have only been following Bees

diet for a couple of years and for the first year I definately did not do it

correctly. Before that I was on The Atkins Diet, this helped me but it was only

when I fianly stopped eating any processed and really cut back of the main foods

that interfere with autoimmune that I started to get well, and even now I am

still only a learner

I do have a lot of information, some of it very good some of it pretty average.

I collect this stuff mainly because it has pictures and video clips. It is so

much easier for me to pass this stuff on to my dad, hubby and other family

members when it is in picture form. they all struggle with reading due to

autoimmune illnesses, brain damage and so on

Normally I really enjoy passing this on to them and it does help me learn it

too, but this last week it has been harder than usual. My dad asked me to

explain some of it to my sister. She has schitzophrenia, or something, I dont

know but it was hard. I have told him today that I am not that well qualified

and that I can only share my video clips and pictures etc. He was OK about it

and said he and my sister will spend more time reading Bees stuff, which is a

releif really. I know they will struggle (My dad has Parkinsons and she has

loads of brain problems, mainly I beleive due to her insulin, she is diabetic,

and I really do not think tha anti-psych drugs are helping, but thats just me, I

always blame the drugs LOL)

Yeah, now I have told him they will probably now pester me so much. It is always

pretty easy to pass it oin to my children and my hubby, they have a similar

outlook to me. My dad did have before his Parkinsons set in but now he has it he

has difficulty learning. But the good news is, his doctor has recently said, his

is the mildest case of Parkinsons he has ever seen, so at least there has been

some pay off. And now my dad knows more or less what he is doing he can pass it

on to my sister withouth me being much involved, whcih really is what I want.

Anyway, thats me. I should ask how you are? And what you want to share. I am not

usually all one way traffic, its the fatigue from running up and down to my

parents house that is making me, this way. I am normally pretty welcoming of

other folks stuff. A bit of tunnel vision I guess.

Anyway, do share more about your stuff. I did pick up on you saying a routine

helps you, and beleive me I do know how important that is, and you said you have

done some food elimination, mainly sugar and starch, I think you said. This is

generally what most of us here have done. I tend to talk about the diet the

most, mainly because right now this is what i am passing on to my dad, but

others here use acupuncture, chiroprictic, physio etc. I do too but again not

really well versed the others would be able to tell you more about all this

stuff if you want to know anything

thanks for letting me share Ann, I am going through it a little right now, no

illness, thank the Lord but not on form. sharing here helps me a lot so thank

you for being there

All my love Joanne

________________________________

To: fibromyalgiacured

Sent: Mon, 13 December, 2010 16:38:00

Subject: Re: Ann

 

Hi Joanne,

Thanks for sharing Joanne. Sounds like a leaky gut, I know many people who have

had one, including myself. I am glad that the diet is working for you. You gave

me the website and I was very interested in looking at it. I have looked at

Bee's site, I thought it very informative, just haven't had time to really

peruse it yet. But I am familiar w/quite a bit of what she is generally

conveying.

I def. agree w/diet change, and have dealt w/leaky gut, but no longer deal w/it

as a result of diet change, colon re-building as well as tweaking a few other

systems.

I might add, that I have learned for me & many others that I know, who have had

leaky gut, chrons (severe inflammation of the intestines), that there were

certain emotional components that where connected for many us who have dealt

w/this issue.

One of the biggest issues was, ALWAYS having the need to be in control. And for

the Chrons, being too controlled. Not saying that this is you at all, because I

don't know you. I am also not saying that this means that this is merely a

psychological problem. Just sharing that along w/the physical stuff that we did,

we also had to do some emotional releasing work.

In agreement with what you said, I do agree that one's immune system needs to be

in an optimum state in order to assist the body in doing it's job. I was just

speaking of people w/autoimmune issues being careful of revving it, when it's

issue, is of always being on.

When it comes to diet though, I do not agree w/one way fitting all. I do believe

however, that any dietary eliminations of certain foods will most def. produce

changes, especially white products & certain carbs. But when it comes to diet, I

believe that one's blood type should be considered along w/personal testing as

well as many other factors. As even with the same blood types, there can be

variance's w/ones toleration to certain foods.

For instance, while coconut oil has many benefits, not everyone can tolerate it,

no matter how small of an amount that they start off with, seen this over & over

again. Yet, many diets advocate using coconut oil because of it's many health

benefits for " all. "

But if one can't tolerate it, it can cause other issues as I have also seen,

although it has benefited many.

It sounds like you have done a lot of research and thus have benefited yourself

greatly. I think this wonderful that many see that they too can help themselves.

I really appreciate forums that encourage others in this way.

You have a wonderful day.

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> > > Uhhh, are we taking a vacation or have I been temporarily kicked out of

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> > > Just wondering.

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