Down the road, the blossoming field of neurogastroenterology will likely offer some new insight into the workings of the second brain—and its impact on the body and mind. "We have never systematically looked at [the enteric nervous system] in relating lesions in it to diseases like they have for the" central nervous system, Gershon says. One day, perhaps there will be well-known connections between diseases and lesions in the gut's nervous system as some in the brain and spinal cord today indicate multiple sclerosis.
Cutting-edge research is currently investigating how the second brain mediates the body's immune response; after all, at least 70 percent of our immune system is aimed at the gut to expel and kill foreign invaders.
U.C.L.A.'s Mayer is doing work on how the trillions of bacteria in the gut "communicate" with enteric nervous system cells (which they greatly outnumber). His work with the gut's nervous system has led him to think that in coming years psychiatry will need to expand to treat the second brain in addition to the one atop the shoulders.
So for those physically skilled and mentally strong enough to compete in the Olympic Games—as well as those watching at home—it may well behoove us all to pay more heed to our so-called "gut feelings" in the future.
Subscription Center
See what we're tweeting about
97 Comments
Add CommentFor ten's of years Psychotherapists (especially Non-Cognitive ones - such as Gestalt Therapists) have been working with how clients sense, feel and respond from their gut (in cases of trauma, eating disorders, anxiety) -- Psychiatrists have to play catch up now.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Second Brain" is a really dumb term.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCould it be used more frequently in this short article?
Human beings have only one brain - "second brain" language confuses one of the most misunderstood parts of the human body. I wish news agencies would stop mythologizing the brain and start breaking it down into its basic, functioning components. http://www.doctorpho.com/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's been obvious to me for some time, maybe ten years, that our "adaptive subconscious (google it) operates through coordinating our feelings about decisions before we "rationalize" them with some of a quiver of learned metaphors. No doubt this is what is meant by "go with your gut".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis move is blamed, of course, for mistakes made by our inadequate overrides of old niche- appropriate instincts no longer pertinent, and possibly species-threatening.
I'll be awaiting the SciAm article properly skewering the political process and its antediluvian behavior. When we finally let the neuroanatomists and evolutionary psychologists tinker with politics, we may survive our old instincts.
As Dawkins says, our genes are the "Book of the Dead" our ancestors who survived at least long enough to breed us.
Whether this complex and evolving niche we call our world will let us survive is not in question. It won't.
We have to change ourselves and our responses to the world through rational reworking of our instinctive responses, or more likely, our instincts themselves. We don't have time to breed better humans. We'd better stop romanticising our instincts and see them for what they are: old rope that trips us up in modern life.
Are we talking about the Autonomic Nervous System or part of it? If so, it already has a name.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe enteric nervous system is part of the peripheral nervous system, though the autonomic does have much control over it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe article quotes Michael Gershon: "The second brain doesn't help with the great thought processes…religion, philosophy and poetry is left to the brain in the head."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt’s interesting that the author should take this position, since it would be very difficult to establish what role, if any, brain external neurotransmitters might have on logical processes within the brain. There could be an opportunity to establish this through some carefully designed experiments using brain scans for evidentiary determination.
There is a great tendency in science to isolate, compartmentalize and categorize which now produces this belated discovery of the ‘mind-body connection’ (as if they could have ever been disconnected, except in our own conception of their functions).
It seems most odd to call what is obviously the primary brain the "second" brain. If either of these terms (as previous coments point out) is appropos. Certainly, must run counter to any notions of evolution.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLisbeth Jardine, M.A.
The point of the term, "second brain" is that the enteric nervous system doesn't just pre-process information and then pass it on to the brain for integration, as our other sensory systems do, the enteric system integrates the data itself and then acts on it. In that way it is a second brain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@elesjaydepawa, It does not qualify as the Primary brain as it does not direct behaviour. It may have evolved earlier but the term Primary does not necessarily mean "first". In this case, it means "essential".
@jtdwyer, "since it would be very difficult to establish what role, if any, brain external neurotransmitters might have on logical processes", the point is that this nervous system has no direct neural link to the executive functions of the brain. An upset gut may not make us feel like philosophizing, but the actual substance of our beliefs and values are not directed by our gut.
"which now produces this belated discovery of the ‘mind-body connection’ ", what? When should this discovery have been made? If it is so obvious to you then why didn't you make this discovery? Also, from a neuroscience perspective, there is no mind/body separation unless one is talking about the information stored in the brain as opposed to the substrate that stores it. It is the same as the hardware / software separation in computers but it is a logical separation and does not imply a practical separation. I have no idea where you got the impression that neuroscience holds the hypothesis that mind and body are disconnected. It clearly hasn't come from a knowledge of neuroscience.
I read about the 2nd brain in gut when I was in college during the seventies. Since then in my career as a dog trainer, I have incorporated this "two-brain" makeup into a new model for animal behavior in general and canine consciousness in particular. In short, there is a very good reason why we say, physical, emotional and sexual APPETITE. Kevin Behan, author, "Natural Dog Training"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRobert – The article states “Serotonin seeping from the second brain might even play some part in autism, the developmental disorder often first noticed in early childhood.”
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFrom this I conclude that it has not been definitively established that interaction between these nervous systems cannot occur. Even if it has been established that there is no direct neural link (presuming for a moment that the spinal cord does transmit any signal to the brain), an indirect interaction may still occur. I have take beta blockers to prevent my brain from issuing counterproductive commands to my heart in response to conditions it detects, which can also indirectly produce severe anxiety in response to detected physical conditions.
You are so certain in you assessments – are you referring to some authoritative source in determining your assessments, or do you consider yourself an authority in this subject? If so, please give the reader some indication of your credentials, so that we may assess your authoritativeness for ourselves: otherwise you are simply assaulting my opinion with your own. I’ll pass on explaining to you the role of firmware in some computer architectures, etc. I suggested simply that any potential interactions between these nervous systems be experimentally determined, rather than simply relying on a consensus clinical perspective. Is this so objectionable?
You may not appreciate my philosophical perspective, but my point of reference includes the external observation of the medical sciences over the past fifty years, which includes a period in which frontal lobotomies were performed on patients in order to ease their suffering and render them more manageable. At that time scientists no less authoritatively defended their perspectives to laymen than they do today. My comments regarding a perceived functional independence of the mind and body reflects a past scientific consensus rather than any current assessment of neuroscience. You have no appreciation for how silly the current state of neuroscience may seem in the near future.
I hope you can agree that, as a reader rather than a contributor, I am free to comment philosophically from a historical perspective of the scientific community. Thanks for so diligently refereeing readers comments.
if we can come to the conclusion that seeing more blue skies (and therefore more sun) will essentially make us happier, thereby effecting our choices and overall well being, can we not also come to the conclusion that the signals sent from a highly sensitive central system in our own bodies can have similar far reaching effects? even so far as say it could have an influence, if indirectly, on our beliefs and values?...food for thought
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFirmware is a software program or set of instructions programmed on a hardware device. It provides the necessary instructions for how the device communicates with the other computer hardware. But how can software be programmed onto hardware? Good question. Firmware is typically stored in the flash ROM of a hardware device. While ROM is "read-only memory," flash ROM can be erased and rewritten because it is actually a type of flash memory.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFirmware can be thought of as "semi-permanent" since it remains the same unless it is updated by a firmware updater. You may need to update the firmware of certain devices, such as hard drives and video cards in order for them to work with a new operating system... Sometimes manufacturers release firmware updates that simply make their devices work more efficiently. ~per techterms.com
Maybe the earth forming in a region of the solar system where liquid water can exist and the planetoid that formed the moon and tides and eventually led to biological evolution were not accidents. Maybe the rise of human communities really was the goal of evolution in a process that really was terraforming. Humans in communities serve a similar role to cells in a multicellular creature. Things like consciousness and self-awareness serve as the executive of a human body. The fastest way to replace a rival executive is to discredit and isolate him first. This is a good description of what happens in highly functioning autistics.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe the earth forming in a region of the solar system where liquid water can exist and the planetoid that formed the moon and tides and eventually led to biological evolution were not accidents. Maybe the rise of human communities really was the ‘goal’ of evolution in a process that really was ‘terraforming’. Humans in communities serve a similar role to cells in a multicellular creature. Things like consciousness and self-awareness serve as the executive of a human body. The fastest way to replace a rival executive is to discredit and isolate him first. This is a good description of what happens in highly functioning autistics.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisZZZZZ - It is difficult for anyone to argue that the current result of the process of evolution has been to produce a life form whose successful replication has produced inadvertent significant consumption and modification of its entire host planet’s resources.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt can be argued that the development of characteristics identified as high function autism is necessary for this species to adjust from a state of overpopulation and inadvertent environmental consumption to a state of equilibrium within its environment. If so, it won’t be easy for anyone. There is no discernable intended final product of evolution other than the continued survival of life. The current state of life is unsustainable: it will be corrected.
Of course, the initial sentence of the previous comment should have read: It’s difficult for anyone to argue against the assessment that…
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat’s what happens when you type while writing…
P.S. This site’s problem with quotes, etc. within text copied into the comment dialog box is specific to MS products, especially IE. Most of these ills can be circumvented by using the free Firefox browser from mozilla.com – it also offers some other benefits.
You have a lot of gall. :)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe the earth forming in a region of the solar system where liquid water can exist and the planetoid that formed the moon and tides and eventually led to biological evolution were not accidents. Maybe the rise of human communities really was the ‘goal’ of evolution in a process that really was ‘terraforming’. Humans in communities serve a similar role to cells in a multicellular creature. Things like consciousness and self-awareness serve as the executive of a human body. The fastest way to replace a rival executive is to discredit and isolate him first. This is a good description of what happens in highly functioning autistics.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisfocalist: yes you can do better and before writing your Crohns off as "incurable" you may want to read "The Makers Diet" by Jordan Rubin (Google it).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are more neurons in the heart than there are in the brain so they may want to call that the "third brain" or as the ancients considered it, heart intelligence was more important than the intellectual "brain" intelligence of the head.
Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, said that we should treat the body holistically and not as a bunch of independent systems. We are more than mere flesh and blood. We have four vessels (bodies) that house the soul which is anchored at the Seat of the Soul chakra between the base of the spine and the naval. Chakras are the organs of the etheric body, whirling vortices of energy, which act as step-down transformers for high frequency "spiritual" energy. The Secret Chamber of the Heart chakra is next to the Heart Chakra and they are located on a different plane over the physical heart. Within the Secret Chamber of the Heart is an Unfed Threefold Flame that is the portal to the kingdom of God that Jesus said was within us. The 3-Fold Flame is a Trinity of Power (blue, Father), Wisdom (yellow, Son) and Love (pink, Holy Spirit), a gift of the Creator God to his beloved children to know that he is ever present with us. St Paul admonished us to "let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus". This Christ Mind is our Higher Mind, our Real Identity, which we were intended to "put on" and become while in the earth. We each have a unique Christ personality. There is one body of Christ and we are each members of that one body. We are one. Jesus said that what you have done to the least of these, his brethren, you have done to him. When we have "put on" our Christ Mind then we will be able to fulfill his prophecy (John 14:12) and do the works that he did and greater works. Things equal to the same things are equal to each other in all respects including the powers of our Christ Self.
I go into more depth in my blog at http://carltonnewman.blogspot.com. The soul is aware of everything and often tries to get our "outer mind" to pay attention. We get an intuition, a gut feeling and pick up good or bad vibes and then try to relate them to a physical sense and say things like: "that smells fishy", or "that rings true", or "that makes my skin crawl", or "something's rotten in Denmark", or "that just doesn't feel right", etc. Our rational "outer mind", our intellectual mind, tries to rationalize these warnings away.
If I get stomach-ache, would it help to see a shrink to reduce stress?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIsn't it interesting that the Asians figured this out thousands of years ago. They proclaimed that the Hara and Tan den have been the seat of all energy in the human body. Where emotions are stored like fear and anxiety. Yellow belly and jelly belly are some American names given to this visceral feeling.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIts very interesting when you think the part the vagus nerve plays not only in viceral regulation but also cardiac influence as well both main players in the felt sense of emotion
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm sorry , but I believe it's been noted that the heart is thought to be the second brain , and that many of the cells found in the brain are also in heart muscle .(hence the saying think with your brain and not your heart). So that would make our gut the 3rd brain, wouldn't it ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscarlton22 , wonderful comment !!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile my heart can empathize with the very highly developed empirically based philosophical perspectives that have been expressed, my brain thinks that well designed and executed experiments can yield more reliably determinable evidentiarily based systems of reason. Well done, though, philosophically!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe scientific method, as now most commonly practiced, does tend to isolate its foci of analyses and lack the peripheral perspective to fully integrate all available experimental as well as empirical evidence: this common practice often leads to erroneous conclusions. While these shortcomings may keep plenty of scientists busy publishing new research, continually correcting previous errors and revising the consensus view, many erroneous conclusion go too long unnoticed.
The casual dismissal of contradictory evidence by the established scientific community is counterproductive. Once any interpretation becomes well established within the scientific community, no matter how casual its foundation or extraordinary its claims, extraordinary proof is demanded to overturn it. The best examples in my mind are the ludicrous explanations in of misinterpretations in physics requiring Dark Matter, Dark Energy and the Higgs ‘theory’ of mass. One can only hope that more realistic alternative explanations may one day be considered. In the meantime, literally billions of dollars are continuously spent on investigations intended to confirm these erroneous interpretations. Despite its true believers, my gut tells me that science is most definitely fallible.
i am a little overwhelmed with the multitude of different belief systems you have pieced together to fit into a patchwork design that resembles nothing of their origins. it is not Christianity just because you throw in a few quotes from the bible. it is these erroneous misinterpretations and twisting of scripture that cause others who don't know any better to to form incorrect opinions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy gut feelings have been proven right : We are what we eat. It's elementary, or, rather, alimentary, when it comes to evolution -how else could we have survived as creatures, were it not for a serotonin reward system in our entrails?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Ode to Joy ( lyrics by F. von Schiller) put it so nicely:
'Freude ward dem Wurm gegeben, und der Cherub steht vor Gott" : 'Joy was given to the Worm, and the Cherub stands by God'- in short- the full spectrum of 'creatures features'!
Let's not put the cart before the horse regarding which came first:
"I think, therefore I am"??? Not bloody likely, to quote Eliza Doolittle.
I eat, therefore I think - that's more likely.
For an evolutionary-based, i.e. species-specific nutrition concept, visit
Youthevity.com
It’s funny, so many experts.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHolistic approaches to systems are the only way to get a feel to how all the parts interact.
But I propose that not one of you armchair experts can give me a holistic theory of all of the interactions within the human brain, let alone the entire human body.
The only way to figure out how these systems function is to look at one specific function, learn how it works then move on to the next.
Then after you have done that to other systems, you try to find out how these systems interact.
Could you figure out how a toaster worked without knowing what all the individual parts did to function as a whole?
Dissing scientists because they separate the whole to figure out the functioning parts is ridiculous! They have to do that for the same reason you would have to do it, we just aren’t smart enough and we don’t have nanoscopic vision.
Just saying something because it makes sense to you, without experimental data to back you up is philosophy not science.
(Robert Schmidt you seem to be the only voice of reason on this site, as I’ve said to you before, ‘why do you bother’)
no quizzle – I have more than three decades of experience in planning, analysis and technical support for mostly one computer center which contained some of the very largest and most business critical systems in the world. In such an environment, when critical problems occur it is not analytical form or method that is critical, only the production of results the lead to quick and effective problem resolution. My success was in large part being able to discern from the symptoms exhibited by systems too complex to fully document or understand what component was failing in order to identify the specific failure for correction.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFrom this very real experience, I consider myself fully qualified to criticize scientists who have missed what seems to me to be the most obvious source of failure to simply continue repeating their standard methods of further analyzing while avoiding at all costs questioning their own findings. While I am not a qualified scientist, I have tried to share my analysis. Please refer to my essay on the actual cause of the astronomer’s perceptions of gravitational anomalies, “Dark Matter as Gravitational Estimation Error”, and the resulting discussion attached to the article at:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=dark-matter-cdms
jtdwyer - wooptidoo! What the hell does that have to do with anything, let alone my comment. Your comments always sound so insecure. I'm so smart, everybody listen to me and my ideas, listen to me, me, me, me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"While I am not a qualified scientist", "I consider myself fully qualified to criticize scientists"
You sound very convincing, LOL!
no quizzle - You're so lame! Since you had referred to armchair experts criticizing the scientists you deify, I simply offered additional information invalidating your view. I've got the balls to stand by my own expertise and convictions - if my attempts to be considerate in doing so allow you to see me as insecure, that must be a product of your own weaknesses. It's no sweat off mine.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo Perhaps the Egyptians were correct to discard the grey matter between the temples before burying their dead?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAristotle believed that thinking did not originate in the brain located in the head and has been ridiculed ever since for this, even by Marilyn Vos Savant, the proclaimed highest IQ in the world. Yet even Vos Savant admits that thinking can occur in areas outside the head. I remember reading her book and wondering how such a supposedly intelligent person could categorically call Aristotle wrong and then, in the same chapter even, admit that there are thinking processes that happen outside the head. Is it just hubris that makes us assume Aristotle couldn't have been referring to this very phenomenon?
reply to focalist;
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is not enough room to go into detail here, please see my blog at http://carltonnewman.blogspot.com.
Everything in creation is composed of God's Light, Energy and Consciousness and has Innate Intelligence. We were given free will and dominion over the earth therefore we are solely and totally responsible for everything that happens or that does not happen here. The Law of Octaves provides for a separation of various planes of existence. Those in higher planes may not interfere in the development of those in lower planes unless they are COMMANDED to do so by prayer, invocation, mantra, fiat and decree, etc. We have to open the door to intervention.
We are here to learn righteousness (the right use of God's energy) and to put on and become our True Identity as a Christ of God. This is a process that takes a minimum of 14,000 years and can extend to millions of years. The laws of karma (cyclic return of energy) and re-incarnation are the governors and teaching tools that God uses to teach his children. We receive God's energy directly and indirectly and as we use it our identity is stamped on it. Energy used wisely and in harmony with God is positive karma which can complete the circuit and return to God to be stored in our "treasure house in heaven", our Great Causal Body. Energy that is negatively qualified, misqualified and in disharmony with God is negative karma (sin). Negative karma (energy) cannot make the return circuit to God and therefore gets stuck here, stagnates, putrefies, densifies. It becomes like molasses in a barrel of marbles slowing down the rate of spin of the electron around the nucleus and it can become calcified like concrete. This is the cause of every malady and calamity on earth (disease, famine, plague, pestilence, personal and societal instability, "acts of God" in storms, floods, earthquakes, fires, etc). This is our energy which was given to us. It is our responsibility to clean it up. What goes around comes around. Whatever you sow you will reap. What we do not clean up from one life will affect the conditions and circumstances of succeeding lives. It is all just energy, nothing mysterious about that.
Another cannot do for us what only we can do for ourselves. Jesus knew the law and was only able to "heal" those whose karma warranted it; otherwise it would interfere with the lesson the soul needed to learn. Karma is about learning not punishment. I have a video on my blog to show the use of the Violet Flame to gently transmute karma back to light.
As a sufferer of constant nausea I have often pondered how to use marijuana but I don't know how to get it and more importantly to know if it is any good or how to use it. I know it is an illegal substance but I don't care about that I just need some relief. If anyone can advise my email address is idkwia at virginmedia dot com I am in the UK.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have finally come to de conklusion that a good reliable set of bowels is worth to a man than any amount ov brains (H Wheeler Shaw)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe word God, in english, comes from an older language word meaning "the One who is invoked". The latin word Deus, cognate to Zeus and Jupiter, has connections with a sanskrit word, dyaus, meaning the force, in the way of star wars "let the force be with you". Religion means binding again mankind with Deus, with the force, with the One who is invoked. The Godspel speaks that some people that made wonders and chased devils in the name of God won't enter heaven, and that nobody should expect salvation by fulfilling the law. A wonder has such an enormous evidence value, that it can eliminate freedom.The force is not only God's property, sorcerers, that have guidance from devils to use the powers inside, also make marvelous facts, and some people claiming being contacted by alien spaceships report an increase in the so called psi forces. The belief in the concept of an omnipotent being, that comes naturally from the human mind preset features, is also a protection from intrusions, dominancies, and a way to obtain the maximal output from the mind, and also a source of joy. Many times a word names very different things, and is good to look at it in other languages
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have neither Chron's disease nor a stash, and you've probably looked at this, but.....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisare there not medical version of THC/cannabis--Maranol?
Also, my intro psych class has informed me a legal product called K2 that contains various herbs and is sprayed with THC. I hear that is illegal in UK but is available OTC in many US states.
If I had that miserable condition, I'd be living in one of the several states with legalized MJ.
I have neither Chron's disease nor a stash, and you've probably looked at this, but.....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisare there not medical version of THC/cannabis--Maranol?
Also, my intro psych class has informed me a legal product called K2 that contains various herbs and is sprayed with THC. I hear that is illegal in UK but is available OTC in many US states.
If I had that miserable condition, I'd be living in one of the several states with legalized MJ.
There is more in-depth and scientific discussion on following website on the second brain, its relation with the brain in the head and how the former plays a crucial role in emotional equilibrium, and in reducing stress and depression. It also deals with pros and cons of meditation and autosuggestions from modern neurological perspective. Website:- http://rewiringthebrain.net/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNiru
It is interesting to read about the anandamide CB2 receptor and the less dangerous Japanese Umbrella Pine. The gut/brain connections is intriguing and also personal.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFatigue was my first symptom. Adopting a wheat and corn free diet about 10 years ago allowed me to regain the 5 lbs. lost in one week. Normal speech syntax returned as word transpositions ceased.
Jump 10 years, add exposure for three and a half years to the gutting and reconstruction of buildings on a large campus, work in our home and I have been brought to other measures as new symptoms and past began.
If you look at the article from an article from Uni. of Birmingham, UK. about the Sulfation Pathway you will find that interference with nutritional absorption in the gut can have a loop effect. Overload of food and environmental toxins weaken the liver's ability to remove them, weakens the sulfation of the gut and pancreas, further provoking the gut to allows toxins and proteins to enter the blood.
Poor sulfation weakens other organs as they also need sulfate (SO4), the beneficial product of the pathway. One of the nutrients the sulfation path needs, Molybdenum, is supplied through the work of bacteria in soil. The supply may be lacking when farming methods using chemicals destroy the bacteria. Molybdenum is found in a number of food products, especially organ meats which our Western diet generally shuns.
In the Sulfation Pathway, we take in sulfur, as from eggs. Further along sulfites (SO2) are produced which need to be changed to usable sulfate (S04). Genetic factors may affect this conversion, leaving the body with too much sulfite to deal with and organs inadequately sulfated.
I tried in vain to find a doctor who would check my CDO and SOX enzymes levels important in this conversion and which are under hereditary or genetic influences.
Finally a path toward healing has begun. A doctor who was at Johns Hopkins and familiar with their integrative approach tested my of IgE allergies and recommended a test for non IgE reactions related to Lymphocyte antigen-specific complement-activating antibodies, (IgA, IgG, IgM), Ig-M-anti-IgG immune complexes, and cell-mediated direct lymphocyte antigen recognition. The test revealed lymphocyte activity against a number of substances-foods, additives, and several chemicals found is gasoline, engines, lubricants, and used in farming.
Shots, sublinguals, and strict avoidance to provoking substances for 1/4 to 1/2 year is not easy, but well worth the gain--elimination of IB, and narcosis.
............and if you don't believe this, just ask someone with Crohn's Disease!! It turns your brain into a Carnival ride. This article should be sent to ALL Doctor's offices. It seems like, if they don't see blood all over, they don't think anything is wrong. Can be embarrassing!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe enteric nervous system being essential to the motility of the gut and feeding has very early evolutionary origins going back some 500 million years. In the arthropods it is called the stomatogastric nervous system. With the appearance of the vertebrates evolution soon settled on a quadruped limb structure and a similar arrangement of skeletal and visceral organs throughout the lineage. The autonomic nervous system, as part of the peripheral nervous system distinct from the somatic part, became clearly distinguished from the central nervous system, especially the cerebral hemispheres, such that emotive or emotional feelings could be reflected in conscious cerebral awareness. The enteric nervous system, although phylogenetically older than these developments, and able to function at a primary level even when separated from the central nervous system, normally functions through connections with both divisions of the autonomic nervous system. In this respect emotive feelings of the enteric nervous system are reflected in conscious awareness and influence our conscious motor responses to somatic sensory input. Anyone who has ever felt squeamish standing on the edge of a precipice should know this.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe cerebral hemispheres have developed in three quite distinct stages or bulges, all three of which were present but undeveloped in the amphibians that first crawled onto land. The expansion of the first two bulges is generally associated with the reptiles and lower mammals respectively. The third bulge called the neo-cortex expanded dramatically with the higher mammals and especially humans, such that it enfolded the two primitive brains around the limb or edge of the brain stem at the top of the spinal column. The two primitive brains are intimately connected via the hypothalamus to the autonomic nervous system and thus constitutes an emotional brain, known as the Limbic System, distinct from the neocortical thinking brain. This distinction was pioneered by Papez and extensively developed in the 1950s and 60s by P. D. MacLean. It was popularized by Arthur Koestler in his book The Ghost in the Machine. We have the intellectual capacity to build atomic bombs and send rockets to the moon harnessed to the emotional capacity of a crocodile and a horse, as he put it. MacLean referred to it as schizo-physiology. It seems a fair statement to the human social dilemma. Despite some disagreement on the defining boundaries in the cerebral part of the Limbic Brain there is clearly a distinction between emotional feeling and how we initiate conscious behaviour.
With the classic experiments of Roger Sperry on split brain patients for the treatment of epilepsy it further became very clear that left-hemisphere language and reason function independently yet related to right-brain intuition, both neo-cortical hemispheres being fuelled by emotional input from the more primitive Limbic Brain. Although the enteric nervous system has often been called the second brain, at an integrating functional level there are actually three distinct focal points to conscious thought that seek a mutual balance according to how we intuitively perceive the world around us to work. If you are interested there is more on this in the article Inside our Three Brains at www.cosmic-mindreach.com .
The work of Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride on what she calls the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) is using a very specific colon-healing diet to successfully treat autism, depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, various autoimmune diseases and more.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis gut/brain idea may be new to mainstream science, but for those of us looking for ways to heal (not just cope with) these illnesses, the nutritional dietary methods recommended by Campbell-McBride, Donna Gates, Julia Ross and others have been available to heal many people for some time.
The work of Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride on what she calls the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) is using a very specific colon-healing diet to successfully treat autism, depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, various autoimmune diseases and more.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis gut/brain idea may be new to mainstream science, but for those of us looking for ways to heal (not just cope with) these illnesses, the nutritional dietary methods recommended by Campbell-McBride, Donna Gates, Julia Ross and others have been available to heal many people for some time.
You may want to consider a strict gluten free (GF) diet, for life, to control Crohn's symptoms. If the GF diet does not work, then the Specific Carbohydrate Diet may (no sugar, grains, potatoes, etc.). After being on the SCD for several months, you may be able to relax back into the GF diet without symptoms.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo the person suffering with Crohn's disease, you may want to try a strict gluten free (GF) diet, for life. If the GF diet does not resolve symptoms, you may want to try the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), which excludes sugars, grains, potatoes, etc. After being on the SCD, and symptoms resolve, you may be able to relax back into the GF diet.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswow. what a mixed up soup of religious belief.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy daughter suffered from such extreme IBS that once while in high school her school bus had to stop to allow her to jump out and run into a public restroom so she wouldn't have a bowel movement in her pants. She would sweat, get pale, lie on the floor in terrible pain. She was tested for celiacs disease, crohns and whatever else her doctor could consider. Again and again the diagnosis was the same: the amorphous ailment of irritable bowel, which had the vague tinge of judgement carried along with it. "All in your head". Because my daughter had suffered since a young child with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Tourette's, ADHD, the diagnosis of IBS was the medical equivalent of "it figures".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is heartening to see research being done in this area and the gut being taken more seriously as a region of legitimate illness and not just "nerves". Unfortunately all the research in the world won't help my daughter. In October, at the age of 19, a Dean's List Sophomore attending UC Santa Cruz, hanged herself to death in her bedroom. On her desk titled "Things to talk to the doctor about" was a list of the symptoms the pain in her gut was causing her to experience. She knew of course, she'd had these discussions with doctors before and she knew she would receive the same shrug, "It figures". Also in her papers, the name of movie she wanted to watch "Last Days", about Kurt Cobain, the musician who killed himself. One theory about his life and death was the stomach pain that plagued him led to his addiction to heroin and ultimately his death.
Perhaps of interest too, are the results of the DNA testing performed on me as part of the human genome project. From what I have gleaned from the rather hodge podge nature of the info out there on these things, the subclade I belong to: H7, has markers suggesting a risk for gastrointestinal illnesses.
It seems to me that the majority of people who are reading this article and the comments are either suffering from stomach pain, are healthcare professionals treating the pain or are researchers in the field. I beg all of you to address these symptoms with the same seriousness you would give a more defined, diagnosable ailment. It may give you or someone else the hope needed to survive.
I quote from the book GAPS (Gut And Psychology Syndrome):
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe father of modern psychiatry French psychiatrist Phillipe Pinel (17451828), after working with mental patients for many years, concluded in 1807: The primary seat of insanity generally is in the region of the stomach and intestines. And yet, the last thing a modern psychiatrist would pay attention to is the patients digestive system!
Excellent article. COuld explain why hypnotherapy is so effective for IBS: http://www.baysidepsychotherapy.com.au/IBS.php
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo understand what the mind is the example of a computer program can be used. A computer program is neither the storage media usually some kind of disk nor the computer that hosts it. Actually it is an electrical pattern in time and has no material substance at all. Of course it needs the computer and media to exist. In the traditional view the brain is both the host and storage media for the mind which is a pattern of electro-chemical signals in time and has no material substance. Maybe a mind can be hosted by any large collection of neurons (like the in the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract or even simple creatures like social insects or bacterial colonies. The brain is insulated from the outside world but the GI tract isn't. It gets exposed to anything we eat or put in out mouths like cigarettes. So maybe something like demonic possession isn't spirits but colonies of microorganisms. One might expect to find these colonies in places where a lot of people have lived like old houses which sometimes have a reputation of being haunted. Maybe the hallucinations that people experience from these infestations are the source of the hauntings in the same way that the main carriers of rabies (wild dogs wolves and bats) are the source of stories of werewolves and vampires.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMicroorganisms could use the nerve cells (which are there to process food) as a kind of brain that would give rise to a mind as explained above. The most common hallucinations that people experience are auditory ones i.e. hearing voices (the conventional explanation is that theyre hearing their own thoughts). If this second mind was able to communicate with the first mind in the real brain it might be consciously perceived as an internal voice. Thus Jacob Lorbers voice near the heart or the foreign installation that Castaneda wrote about. These microorganisms would probably have a natural habitat in woods or fields such as the power spots that are often described. They might have animal carriers like rodents that housecats often hunt and eat and could infect their owners. Maybe this is why housecats are sometimes depicted as witchs familiars.
Termites evolved from cockroaches that found a new food source and became social. The food source was the cellulose in wood and plant fibers (as in grass and bushes). Animals can't digest cellulose but some microorganisms can so by forming a symbiotic relation with the microorganisms in their guts they digest the waste products of those microorganisms. Cows and other ruminants also eat this way. Old wood frame houses and their insulation are nearly all cellulose so one would expect to find these microorganisms there also.
This research is fascinating, and the implications are numerous. However, it bears mentioning that many medical practices from the Eastern world have long related the gut with behavioral outcomes. I find it fascinating that this article presents this information as brand new. Perhaps to us, but not to millions of Chinese and Indians.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInteresting to read about our enteric brain. So what happens when surgeons perform a bowel re-section and remove parts of the system ie. the illeum? How does this affect future immune response? How does this affect current digestion, nutrition absorption, osteoporisis, serotonin levels, etc.?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo get a clue of how gut bacteria work and how they affect our immune systems, start with the June 2008 article in Scientific American~
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Jeremy Nicholson's Gut Instincts: Researching Intestinal Bacteria" http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=jeremy-nicholsons-gut-instincts
Then follow up with Gerald Callahan's (Associate Professor of Immunology at Colorado State University) Infection, the Uninvited Universe (2006) and Gary B. Huffnagle's (Professor of Internal Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan Medical Center) The Probiotic Revolution (2007).
Fascinating area of study. It made me think of the eastern studies, Hinduism and the chakras or energy centers the are purportedly "harmonized" in yoga and other disciplines.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFascinating area of research. It made me think of he "chakras" or energy centers of the body discussed in Hinduism and other eastern philosophies and religions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have food sensitivities, I get bleary and sick for about 4 days after eating certain foods. I'm gluten intolerant and it may be a consequence of celiac disease. I don't get obviously sick from these foods until after doing an elimination diet and trying the food again after it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI noticed and many other people have too, that avoiding the foods I get sick from helped me drastically, psychologically. I was much less anxious, less inhibited, less uptight, more cheerful. My vision had been slightly hallucinatory before I eliminated gluten and dairy, and a few other foods. Now it's just vision.
It fits with these nerves in the gut. Perhaps the foods don't have to directly affect the brain to cause psychological changes.
focalist,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat you eat can set off autoimmune reactions, as in celiac disease. It's called "molecular mimicry" - you develop an immune reaction to a food protein that's similar to a body protein.
Similar things may happen with Crohn's. Some people with Crohn's say it's controlled by avoiding certain foods.
billsmith! the vagus [X th ] is a CN......
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFocalist, have you read up on Celiac and the range of gluten "intolerance"? Celiac is life threatening for some as well, and is autoimmune. Have you read some of the articles on gluten and autoimmune disease by Dr. Fasano?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso, to *anyone* who has IBS , the only way to be sure gluten is not a problem is to eliminate from the diet for a couple of months, then challenge. Testing is not foolproof, for either antibodies or villous atrophy, and there is so little about the disease that is fully understood.
Personally, I cannot imagine being unwilling to try a gluten free diet to see whether it will help or not.
My sons' psychiatrist told me several years ago that the gut secretes hundreds of times more seratonin than the brain. Might this explain many eating disorders?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy son had abdominal migraines- severe nausea that would finally resolve with vomiting. Over time his migraines became more classic headaches, still terminated when (and if ) he vomited. My neurologist simply said, "adults get headches, kids puke, it's still a migraine".
As far as the marihuana debate, I'm sure the drug companies would love to synthesize the active chemicals singly and then sell each fractional effective drug rather than allow us to to grow our own, save money and maybe not have to pay the doctors $300 a visit to write the prescription.
Litlsprite: My husband traveled to Brazil in August of this year to have gut surgery to treat his severe type II diabetes. He was still making plenty of insulin, but the insulin resistance was incredibly high. His doctor put him on insulin as maximum oral medications, he was taking 300-400 units of insulin a day. I know this is an almost unbelievable amount, I am a Registered Nurse and have never met anyone else on this amount of insulin that was type II.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnyway, he had a surgery called "Santoro 3". and over the last few months has almost fully recovered. these types of surgeries are based on increatin (gut hormone) manipulation. The outer curve (antrum) of the stomach secretes Grehlin (causing hunger) until stretching causes it to stop, so that part of his stomach was removed (still leaving 10x the capacity of a gastric bypass). then about 1/2 of the middle part of the small intestine (jejunum) was removed so that food passes more quickly into the ilium. at the ilium mechanical stimulation causes release of GLP1 and other hormones causing satiety and release of insulin (the injectable drug byetta acts similarly and the drug Januvia slows the degradation of GLP1). Lastly most of his omentum was removed. The omentum is a small fatty sheet of tissue that is very metabolically active, causing inflammation, insulin resistance and continuously releasing fatty acids into the liver. My husband's was literally the largest they had ever
removed in 600 cases, and as the surgeons are aware the largest on record. His A1c is now 5.8 and he only takes a small amount of metformin daily, no insulin! He now has a desire to eat only fruits and vegetables, has lost lots of weight and can now walk hours each day. he has gone from planning early retirement to going back to full time work from 1/2 time.
Of course, I enjoy the fact that he is not on blood pressure medicines any more. he has had no absorption and his protein levels are normal. We went from paying $360 per months in medicine copays alone to no medicine costs at all as our insurance gives out Metformin for free.
To learn more search:
GLP1
digestive adaptation
ometectomy
diabetes
several studies are being funded by the NIH now on this type of gut hormone manipulation. (search MEDSCAPE or PUBMED)
And don't forget that Metformin is a potent, well tested and CHEAP drug that helps insulin resistance, weight loss and inflammation.
Wonderful to be living in the times we are in!!
Dawn - Very interesting post. Did your husband go to Brazil for this surgery because it isn't an approved procedure in the US or was it because of cost (insurance coverage)? I would think that there must be others who are suffering in similar situations. How did you find the doctors and figure out that this procedure was the likely cure?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRead Dawn Birdsong's post. It's about type II diabetes, but some or all of the procedures described might also be a way to get rid of Crohns disease. Her post was after yours. Just a thought.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt turns out that at least part of our brain is in our ass! I'm being funny (maybe) - but, this research may lead to some real breakthroughs and may be especially important to finding some way to really understand and control our diet in order to improve our moods and mental as well as physical functions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI feel for the Crohns sufferers, although I am not one of you. I do have S-3 nerve damage that occasionally produces severe shooting pain when it temporarily repeatedly reconnects. However, I also have a perhaps less common and/or misunderstood acute condition that occurred about 3 years ago that may also provide some insight into the presumedly 3 separate human neural networks (brain, heart & gut). I’ll relate the relevant info. as succinctly as I meaningfully can.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn 2000 I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure with the common primary symptoms of severe fluid buildup in my lower extremities, shortness of breath, etc., very successfully treated primarily with a Beta blocker (Coreg). Beta blockers work by blocking the effects of the hormone epinephrine (adrenaline). As I understand, my brain detected insufficient blood flow (leaky heart valve), caused an increased production of adrenaline which continuously produced an ineffectively increased heart rate.
A couple of years later I survived 9 mo. chemo., which left in a state of mind which prevented me from taking any meds., so I stopped taking all of them, including even vitamins. I had no serious problems for several years.
About 3 years ago, in one week my waist size increased from 38 in. to 42 in., my abdomen was around 25 PSI, seriously couldn’t breathe (since my lungs/diaphragm couldn’t expand into the abdominal cavity), couldn’t sleep without fluid entering my lungs causing apnea and coughing and couldn’t effectively digest any significant amount of food. I seriously couldn’t breathe, eat or sleep.
I saw a gastroenterologist who referred me back to my cardiologist who happened to be seriously ill, delaying treatment. He did put me on some meds, but not the Beta blocker. I switched to a new cardiologist who examined me & admonished me for having quite my meds before, but insisted the problem was with my gut. The GI hospitalized me & thoroughly tested me, finding too little fluid in my abdomen to account for my symptoms, finally getting the cardiologist to agree that the problem was my heart. However, since he couldn’t see me for another month.
Since by this time I literally hadn’t been able to breathe, eat or sleep for 3 months (resulting in increasingly continuous anxiety attacks, which further antagonized my condition and effectively drove me crazy), I went to a third cardiologist, who put me on Coreg (which is now a standard treatment for congestive heart failure). By the next day I could breath, eat and sleep much, much better and within a couple of days my waist size was back to 38 in. I haven’t had serious problems since, despite another 11 mo. of (now improved) chemo.
My doctors would not speculate, but I conclude that my gut was responding to extreme levels of adrenaline, as was my heart. I can only guess that the adrenaline intended to adjust my heart rate had caused some form of physical seizure of the gut. This incident indicates to me a likely (at least indirect) close interrelationship between the three presumedly separate neural networks of the brain, heart and gut.
Perhaps in the future studies could be conducted to determine if there is a way for (or even if) the CNS communicates with the enteric nevous system. This could lead to controlling illnes in the GI and other areas automaticatically or at least stimulated be medications or food.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis makes complete sense. My daughter has been diabetic for 6 years and within the last two has developed severe reactions to MANY foods, including gluten, yeast and cow's milk. We have searched for answers and for a doctor to help us better her life. It has been MISERABLE. She is going to major in microbiology so SHE can find a cure and help others! If any of the authors of this article are willing to see her as a patient,PLEASE respond!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is very interesting. Is there anything known about the disease Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome and weather or not it has any relation to this second brain? I have been diagnosed with CRPS and have been experiencing digestion troubles to understate things dramatically. Very little is known about possible treatment or a cure.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLearning to understand the stomach in relation to the brain is key, I believe, in determining the causes, the effects and the treatment options for many diseases for which we have been searching elsewhere for the cures. I eagerly await any new information on this topic or the topic of CRPS, (Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe role of the enteric nervous system and the use of cytokine modifying strategies to aid in the management and control of depression has been explored in a short review article by Michael Ash http://tinyurl.com/yzdp39r. The practical approach based on clinical experience and solid data has produced a simple approach to utilising the tremendous communication networks in the human gut.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe link for the novel treatment of depression bythe use of probiotics was incorrect http://tinyurl.com/yzdp39r if interested please use this one.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe use of antibiotics even for a single day has an effect on the composition of the bacterail communities with an increased risk for changes to the barrier, mucus production, carbohydrate fermentation and cytokine profiles. This may be a trigger for persistent mucosal imune activation and transfer of cytokines to the CNS which in turn induce sicness behaviour (depression) a novel strategy for correcting barrier function and reducing cytokine activity involves the use of probiotics and other agents. This short article explains the key components http://www.nleducation.co.uk/resources/reviews/a-novel-approach-to-treating-depression-how-probiotics-can-shift-mood-by-modulating-cytokines
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you for opening up an entirely new perspective on digestive systems functioning and giving a vision of a future field of science that could yield surprising and life saving treatments.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy son has been suffering undiagnosed for 3 years now. His only relief from the nausea/pain/cramping/depression has been marijuana. He has lost over 100lbs in these past 3 years and now is about 130lbs at 5'9". Not so bad if you're into the emaciated rocker look, but not so good if you're a mother watching this happen to your 20 year old. He goes to doctors at Stanford Hospital's Gastric Health Clinic, and since he told them that medical mj is the only thing that relieves his symptoms, and because they so far have not been able to come up with a diagnosis of their own, they treat him as if he is a drug addict. We have requested a prescription for a GI cocktail which would give him relief on his worst days, only to be told by the attending that day "I am not going to give you narcotics!"....sigh. Just last week though, his primary doctor there subversively did call in a (non-narcotic) prescription for a version of the GI cocktail that involves lidocaine, an antihistamine, and extra-strength Mylanta, so he has some relief now from the cramping and pain, if not for the cause. I have been stunned at the lack of knowledge and proactivity that these Stanford "specialists" have exhibited. If my son could travel I would try to get him to see Dr. Gershon, ,but unfortunately the syndrome he has never lets him get far from the security of a bathroom. People can theorize and expound and talk about how dumb the term "second brain" is, but until you live this daily nightmare and watch your loved one suffer and waste away while doctors look puzzled and order more and more invasive tests, I challenge you to come up with a better term for the part inside you that causes all this agony.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHas anyone heard of Fructose Malabsorption? Hereditary Fructose Intolerance? Are there any doctors and nutritionists in the Stanford Bay Area who are knowledgeable? This is a gut problem also.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am so sorry to hear of your struggle with Crohns. Have you heard of the GAPS diet? There has been HUGE success with Crohns, IBS, UC, autoimmune, autism, mood disorders, etc. We work with a lot of GAPS clients. I highly recommend reading the book! (Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Natasha Campbell-McBride) www.realfoodwholehealth.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlease check out the GAPS diet for your son. Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Natasha Campbell-McBride.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually, the primary brain of the body is located in the heart. This neurocardiological system has over 40 thousand neurons. In the growing embryo/fetus, the central nervous system and the enteric nervous system develop around the same time. However, the heart is already beating before these two nervous systems become distinctly established. This alone is proof that our heart contains the primary brain (or nervous system) in the body.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm interested in getting some of the Japanese Umbrella Pine for testing on peoples enteric N.S. does anyone know where to get some?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBe interseting to know your sources on that as neuroscientist Dr. Lise Eliot's work (see What's Going on There: How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life, 1999)shows the beginning of the enteric nervous system the first month of the fetal construction schedule, the heart and blood vessels form the second month, the digestive system begins to function on the third month, the hear beat is then detectable on the fourth month, and no upper brain is there yet to direct this functioning.It is possible that the the heart is another brain, but certainly not more fundamental than the gut brain, and the gut brain is the first of all these brains to develop, regardless of the upper or heart brains. See book on Amazon:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"What's Behind Your Belly Button?"for more on this.
For a catch up psychological view of the gut brain see "What's Behind Your Belly Button?" on Amazon, authors discuss the intelligence of human nature and gut instinct, and a Somatic Reflection Process they developed in a clinical setting is presented with a protocol and verbatim examples of its use.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSee the new book on Amazon, "What's Behind Your Belly Button?" for a psychological view of the intelligence of the gut brain and gut instincts. A new Gut Psychology is presented that would be interesting to anyone intrigued by the idea of the gut brain and a protocol for the Somatic Reflection Process is presented along with verbatim counseling sessions. The theories are revolutionary and based on experience in research and clinical studies with hundreds of people.See:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this<http://careerstorefront.angelfire.com> for more information.
you're right on the money. one would think the area for processing info lies strictly in the brain - NOPE! it's also the stomach/gut, aka the second brain (i.e. my gut tells me; gut feeling; gut reaction; gut in knots from stress....). that's exactly how we're wired and how we process info!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisstress absolutley makes people consume - drugs, alcohol, smoking, porn, gambling, shopping, even more frequently....eating. anything to block out emotions. article on study: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/stress-contributes-increased-consumption-high-fat-high-calorie-foods-says-award-winning-penn-re
maybe in another 50 years when enough people are dying off in droves from obesity the world will start to entertain this reality-based "excuse" of over-indulgence. it's a brand new concept to some people. I just keep watching for and reading those studies.
Anon, Anon, Anon, maybe not 50 years, as some recent research and clinical studies show that the emptiness in our guts is mistaken for a need for food because we do not understand the instinctual needs that also make us feel empty in our guts when they are not met. This article agrees with your idea that we are wired to have instinctual feelings in our guts, and that it is our DNA coding to feel empty when certain instinctual more psychological needs are not met and full when they are met. You might want to read this new release on it:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.pressreleasesonline.net/2012/01/new-book-helps-you-understand-how-your.html
Gershon was probably trying to say that there is difference in thinking in the brain and feeling in the gut (a basic Emotional Intelligence assumption), and that the gut feeling is purely somatic (unlike emotions that have an element of logic connected to them). So the gut language is not going to be found written in books. But it does have a directive and purpose as coded in the DNA, see new book sold on Amazon, "What's Behind Your Belly Button?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisExcellent article. In the future I'd like to see more about this subject:"psychiatry will need to expand to treat the second brain in addition to the one atop the shoulders."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI also believe that many gut microbes emit signaling molecules that mimic the neurotransmitter of the enteric nervous system. We've co-evolved with our intestinal biota.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRon Lavine, D.C.
yourbodyofknowledge.com
This article is relieving, as I've been trying to find the cause of my constantly bloated state for more than 6 months. After many analyses, turns out I have absolutely no medical problems and a perfectly healthy gut. On the other hand, I admit I am a very, very stressed out person (even though I'm only 21) and a bit too tense for my age. I tend to overworry about everything and anything, and this has given me an indication of the possible/probable cause. However, I don't understand some things in this article: if 95% of our serotonin is in the bowels, how is that bad for the gut (since it's a neurotransmitter responsible for happiness and well-being)? And how is more of it a bad thing? To my mind, it would make sense that taking away serotonin from its normal habitat (the gut) would result in the kind of problems I have. Or maybe it isn't the case that the more serotonin there is in the bowels, the happier we will be? I'm just a bit confused about cause-effect relations here, and what I should do to fix my state, apart from relaxing and enjoying life more, obviously. This thing is getting unbearable and sort of a vicious circle. Any knowledgeable replies would be greatly appreciated!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm not qualified to offer medical advice, but I can convey a perhaps similar experience. I once went through a period of 3 months with a bloated stomach, with no problem really found. In that case my waist size had increased by 4-5 inches nearly overnight. My stomach was pressurized like a football, which obstructed normal breathing since my diaphragm was unable to extend into the abdominal cavity. Of course, eating was nearly impossible - I doubt my digestive system was functioning properly anyway. Sonic scans of the abdomen to search for fluids only found a small amount - the biopsy was not helpful.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEventually I was prescribed an anti-anxiety medication, Clonazepam, which seemed to help a great deal. However that was only one day before my third cardiologist prescribed Coreg (Cardedilol), standard treatment for the congestive heart failure that had been treated with other medications. Coreg/Carvedilol is a Beta-blocker, that inhibits the uptake of the hormone epinephrine (adrenaline). I understand that the brain detects the ineffective delivery of nutrients and extraction of cellular that occurs in congestive heart failure and, in response, produces excess adrenaline to make the heart work harder (if still ineffectively). I began the Coreg treatment (one day after trying a dose of Clonazepam) - it completely eliminated the belly inflation and all symptoms by the second day.
I certainly can't tell you that either medication would benefit your condition, but if you're as desperate as I was - not breathing, eating or sleeping adequately, I suggest that you discuss them with your doctors. In any case, I certainly think that anti-anxiety medication should be appropriate medical treatment and could help. Best wishes for your recovery...
This subject matter is of high interest to me. I found this article with a search for "gut-brain""mind-body". Actually, my original search was with:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"gut-brain mind-body" however it got no results! I am proposing this term:
"gut-brain-mind-body". It is a term that I feel, think, believe and intuit has considerable merit to it.
I'm thinking with several paradigms on this including the new medicine (especially German New Medicine), Human Design and nutritionally. German New Medicine has the biological organism very well presented so that psyche-brain-body is understood as the integrated wholeness that it truly is. See learninggnm.com
Human Design shows the mechanics of the "second brain" without using that term. "Following your gut" applies to the "Sacral Center" and especially if yours is "Defined". If your Sacral Center is not Defined - then, depending on one's design, one may follow their intuition (Spleen Center), emotional clarity, (Solar Plexus Center) inner knowing (Self Center), one's heart desire (Heart Center), etc.
Nutritionally we are just beginning to realize the connectivity (some say oneness) between gut-brain and adding that understanding to the brain-mind. Now that German New Medicine has been initially introduced to Weston A. Price Foundation members and friends it won't be long before the whole entire circuitry of "gut-brain-mind-body" will be realized and very self-evident.
to True, I am a Focusing andf Experiential Psychotherapist, and as such have encouraged clients to get a 'felt sense' of thier issues in their body. This information re-inforces what I already knew on an intuitive level. The more primotive forms of CBT fail, in the long run because they activate the over-ride, rather than the processing parts of the brain. Gestalt, Focusing, Mindfulness, somatic experiencing, all activate the procesessing systems, making use of the wisdom of the whole body. CBT is improving - ( MBCT ETC) and catching up, its a shame CBT theorists dont acknowledge were they get the info and techniques from !
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI like how this is referred to in the ancient Greek -- "splanchna" (used often in the Bible --- I love you with all my bowels : )
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.zealouswaterbuffalo.com/2010/11/i-love-you-with-all-my-bowels-splanchna.html
I use to suffer from Celiac and IBS. As a naturopath, I have studied this subject for many years and helped many people change their diets and detoxify their systems so their gut can heal.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs a quick note: many people treat their gut like a garbage disposal and then are surprised by the reaction the cells have to so many toxins.
Our gut has one of the fastest rates of regeneration if we just give it a rest.
If you send your contact information, I'd be happy to talk with you to share my experience.
Religion is not one of the great thought processes. It is indoctrination and the replacement of pure imagination with rational thought.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReligion is not one of the great thought processes. It is indoctrination and the replacement of rational thought with pure imagination.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this