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Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

bbc.com

31–40 of 196 posts

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#31
post #27

I read a book about all this recently called I Contain Multitudes. The thesis was that the gut biome controlled a lot, and given the evidence presented I thought it was compelling (as a layman) though not actionable. Based on that one piece of information I am not surprised by the OP.

I started I Contain Multitudes and ended up reading 10% Human instead. It’s more human-centric. Fascinating either way. I suspect we are starting to see the first glimmers of a vast space of microbiome interactions.

It’s really interesting, and for me personally unfortunate that it seems to be a “crunchy” topic that’s regularly the domain of crystal healers and anti vaxxers and people who blame their maladies on “toxins in the body” because the science behind a microbiome growing from the food we eat and how we evolved seems pretty sound.

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#32
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Right, one has to assume that a good vat for the brain looks pretty much like the body itself :)

I just want my vat to have a good hairline. Is that so much to ask of the future?

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#33
I get gut pain sometimes, on a semi regular basis. The day before the pain hits I have mild-euphoria, clear thinking, positive outlook, lots of energy, more social and extravert. It's not normal.

Something is going on with the brain and my gut.

It's possible that it's endorphins being released to stop any pain ... but this is about 24 hours before the crippling cramps start, and it's more a mood shift than pain killing. Before this great 24 hour, I'm normal baseline okay state.

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#35
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.

Can I ask for a recommendation for the professional you worked with?

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#36
post #3

I certainly feel like my brain is in charge when I wake up, long enough to get my clothes on and out of the house on the school run and back, at which point my stomach resumes control for the rest of the day.

So this has a potential evolutionary aspect to it.

In caveman days you had to wake up, triage the current environment for threats(weather, animals etc) and then once that was done you would go out and try to find food.

It makes sense that your stomach would take a back seat till the above had been taken care of. It would then trigger the hunger feeling to motivate you to focus on food.

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#37
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.

Putting this out there in case it may help others: My mother suffered from GERD for years and years and about two years ago, her condition seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. We’re talking waking up in the middle of the night projectile vomiting. Constant heartburn, burping and indigestion after meals and daily constipation. The doctors were completely unable to help except to recommend antacids and possibly PPI medication which can have serious side-effects.

I put her on a prebiotic + probiotic diet (kaffir, yogurt, whole grains, dark leafy greens, etc) along with a basic probiotic supplement every night and now according to her, at least 95% of the symptoms have gone away. She’s able to sleep through the night now, better mood, better energy, better everything.

Not saying it will work for everyone, but it worked for her. I feel like so little is understood about the gut microbiome and modern medicine is letting people suffer needlessly.

Edit: just realized this sounds exactly like a paid infomercial lol

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#38
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> parts

key word :)

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#39
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That one exactly. Expensive as crap and hard to find in my country but it's priceless.

What's up with this? https://vsl3.com/assets/v1/patient/files/FactSheetVSL3Jun202... Just went to their site and it sketched me out a bit to read this.

As far as I can tell it's a business/patent dispute.

https://www.visbiome.com/blogs/visbiome-vs-vsl-3/exegi-wins-...

Re: Some gut bacteria appear to communicate with the brain

#40

I get gut pain sometimes, on a semi regular basis. The day before the pain hits I have mild-euphoria, clear thinking, positive outlook, lots of energy, more social and extravert. It's not normal. Something is going on with the brain and my gut. It's possible that it's endorphins being released to stop any pain ... but this is about 24 hours before the crippling cramps start, and it's more a mood shift than pain killi…

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