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Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

bbc.com

11–20 of 196 posts

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#11
post #7

In the last three years, something related to my gut-brain connection got fucked. I'm not sure if it was some kind of post-viral inflammation causing stress, or stress of isolation causing inflammation. But it's definitely a two way street and mine got completely stuck in a feedback loop. The mainstream medical system failed to help me. Eventually some functional medicine doctors managed to help me improve via diet,…

What's the issues you've been facing, and why do you think it's a gut-brain issue?

Constipation, headaches, stress, bloating, anxiety, depression, fatigue, weight loss, hair loss, rashes.

I don't know what the cause was, but the gut-brain theory fits all of my experience and treatments aimed at improving my gut bacteria helped the most, and there has definitely been a strong connection between how my gut is feeling and how my mind is feeling.

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#13
post #7

In the last three years, something related to my gut-brain connection got fucked. I'm not sure if it was some kind of post-viral inflammation causing stress, or stress of isolation causing inflammation. But it's definitely a two way street and mine got completely stuck in a feedback loop. The mainstream medical system failed to help me. Eventually some functional medicine doctors managed to help me improve via diet,…

I got the opposite experience. I have IBD and recently started on some potent probiotics. Suddenly my energy and focus went up 1000%. So this is how regular people healthy live wow. I used to be lethargic all the time for 30+ years.

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#14
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the issues you've been facing, and why do you think it's a gut-brain issue?

Constipation, headaches, stress, bloating, anxiety, depression, fatigue, weight loss, hair loss, rashes. I don't know what the cause was, but the gut-brain theory fits all of my experience and treatments aimed at improving my gut bacteria helped the most, and there has definitely been a strong connection between how my gut is feeling and how my mind is feeling.

If you're experiencing an improvement, great. It seems reasonable that your gut issues (if nothing else) could be improved by addressing the gut biome.

Since you've had some luck with traditional medicines, I can share my $0.02 about the traditional system I'm somewhat familiar with. In traditional Indian folk medicine, the focus for practically everything seems to revolve around improving gut health. It's a common belief that tongue health is a reflection of gut health, so for example a coated tongue suggests a sluggish digestive system, and the physician will seek to address that before anything else. A lot of treatments also include required dietary changes (like avoiding certain vegetables).

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#15
post #5

There's a hundred million neurons in our guts. It makes me think arguments about being brains in a vat, and treating the brain as a biological computer with inputs form the senses misses the fact that the brain is part of the nervous system extending throughout the body, and not some isolated system. An envatted brain isolated from the body is likely not going to function properly. The brain can only properly be unde…

The "brain in a vat" concept only really makes sense if you are willing to draw a distinction between the conscious part and other parts of the body, i.e. if you are willing to admit that some parts of the world are mechanistic (the external world, the function of our eyes, sense of smell, etc) and some parts (including the brain) are not. If you are willing to admit that, then the brain-in-a-vat scenario says that y…

> A person can lose arms and legs and intestines and still be perfectly conscious.

You can also lose parts of your brain and be totally fine!

I'm not sure this proves as much as you think, though I do tend to agree.

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#16

There's a hundred million neurons in our guts. It makes me think arguments about being brains in a vat, and treating the brain as a biological computer with inputs form the senses misses the fact that the brain is part of the nervous system extending throughout the body, and not some isolated system. An envatted brain isolated from the body is likely not going to function properly. The brain can only properly be unde…

Also, hormones have an enormous effect on the brain. The speculation I have read about immortality through brain vat tech does not address that such brains might not have any reason to want to live.

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#17
post #7

In the last three years, something related to my gut-brain connection got fucked. I'm not sure if it was some kind of post-viral inflammation causing stress, or stress of isolation causing inflammation. But it's definitely a two way street and mine got completely stuck in a feedback loop. The mainstream medical system failed to help me. Eventually some functional medicine doctors managed to help me improve via diet,…

I got the opposite experience. I have IBD and recently started on some potent probiotics. Suddenly my energy and focus went up 1000%. So this is how regular people healthy live wow. I used to be lethargic all the time for 30+ years.

Which one was it? I’ve heard about Vsl-3 as being medical grade

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#18
I have to wonder what the prevalence of psychedelics and antidepressants has done at a population level to change us.

A Multidisciplinary Hypothesis about Serotonergic Psychedelics. Is it Possible that a Portion of Brain Serotonin Comes From the Gut? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36137971/

Seeking the Psilocybiome: Psychedelics meet the microbiota-gut-brain axis https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S169726002...

Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors and the Gut Microbiome: Significance of the Gut Microbiome in Relation to Mechanism of Action, Treatment Response, Side Effects, and Tachyphylaxis https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.6828...

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#19
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the issues you've been facing, and why do you think it's a gut-brain issue?

Constipation, headaches, stress, bloating, anxiety, depression, fatigue, weight loss, hair loss, rashes. I don't know what the cause was, but the gut-brain theory fits all of my experience and treatments aimed at improving my gut bacteria helped the most, and there has definitely been a strong connection between how my gut is feeling and how my mind is feeling.

Have you ever done a hydrogen methane breath test? Curious if it could be SIBO-C.

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#20
post #18

I have to wonder what the prevalence of psychedelics and antidepressants has done at a population level to change us. A Multidisciplinary Hypothesis about Serotonergic Psychedelics. Is it Possible that a Portion of Brain Serotonin Comes From the Gut? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36137971/ Seeking the Psilocybiome: Psychedelics meet the microbiota-gut-brain axis https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S16…

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