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Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

theguardian.com

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Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#21

Post by tempaway43355 »

spread_love wrote: post #19
tempaway43355 wrote: post #2

One of my children has severe epilepsy and has a Vagus Nerve Stimulation device implanted - Sentiva 1000 https://www.livanova.com/epilepsy-vnstherapy/en-gb/hcp/produ... It has really helped although obviously it took surgery and then also nine months of slowly tweaking the settings. Before the VNS they could (for example) not go on a trampoline for more than a few minutes without having a seizure, but now they're fin…

Thanks for sharing. I'm considering VNS but frankly I'm terrified of complications and recovery time.

Operation was in-and-out of hospital in one day. Then had a big cellophane-like bandage on neck and shoulder area that had to be kept clean and air-tight for 2 weeks. It was a good bandage though, just had to patch it up occasionally with new layers of cellophane-stuff. Main possible complication would be infection (worse case is that device then has to be removed) or some people have side effect where it feels like their throat is ticked and they cough when device activates. We didn't have any problems.

Then once its all healed they turn the device using nfc wand thing and then slowly increase the power bit by bit over several months. There are various timing and frequency settings that can be experimented with.

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#22

Post by MPSimmons »

theshrike79 wrote: post #4

I have acid reflux and possibly a mild hiatal hernia. When it triggers in Just The Right Way, I also get severe panic attack symptoms. When I started investigating it (my coping mechanism during panic attacks) I discovered that the vagus nerve travels next to the esophagus through the diaphragm. So my complete layman explanation was that the stomach pushes through the diaphragm during a hiatal hernia -> it rubs again…

Yeah, I've had this too. I've also noticed that digestion in my large intestine triggers panic attack symptoms sometimes.

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#23

Post by tempaway43355 »

tibbydudeza wrote: post #13
tempaway43355 wrote: post #2

One of my children has severe epilepsy and has a Vagus Nerve Stimulation device implanted - Sentiva 1000 https://www.livanova.com/epilepsy-vnstherapy/en-gb/hcp/produ... It has really helped although obviously it took surgery and then also nine months of slowly tweaking the settings. Before the VNS they could (for example) not go on a trampoline for more than a few minutes without having a seizure, but now they're fin…

This is so awesome - thanks for sharing this - my daughter also has epilepsy, but it is fortunately controlled by medication. It seems that stimulating the vagus nerve resets something to default in the brainstem when a cascade event is about to occur - probably shuts down the errant signals from propagating to the entire brain ???. Do you know which lobe in her brain it happens ??? (my daughter has left temporal lob…

My child has Dravet syndrome so its quite major seizure activity and many different seizure types (tc, absence, focal, myoclonic). I think slightly more left lobe than right but its been a while since we had a full EEG. VNS is known to help with Dravet in enough cases that they were prepared to try the VNS.

The VNS can help stop seizures but also there's a sortof long-term effect from just having it firing every few minutes all the time, seems to re-train the brain in some way. I'm not sure if they really know how it works, just that it seems to help.

Another non-medication treatment that was very good for us was the ketogenic diet. Like, hardcore proper ketogenic diet, 4:1 ratio, prescribed and monitored by an NHS dietician. Every meal measured out by the gram. Its hard work but it did work very well. Its been properly researched - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16146451/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25524846/ - for Dravet syndrome at least, keto is as effective as the best AEDs with fewer side effects.

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#24

Post by buescher »

Off and on, I've been seeing woo about the vagus nerve for a while. This article was refreshingly balanced. Now I know: "Tracey’s discovery also caught the attention of mind-body practitioners, including the Dutch motivational speaker and “Iceman” Wim Hof". Aha. Indeed.

Where is the rest of this stuff coming from? Is there a deeper dive?

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#25

Post by davzie »

theshrike79 wrote: post #4

I have acid reflux and possibly a mild hiatal hernia. When it triggers in Just The Right Way, I also get severe panic attack symptoms. When I started investigating it (my coping mechanism during panic attacks) I discovered that the vagus nerve travels next to the esophagus through the diaphragm. So my complete layman explanation was that the stomach pushes through the diaphragm during a hiatal hernia -> it rubs again…

I spent 6 years trying everything to solve reflux. I am a relatively fit 35 year old. I tried antacids, PPIs, H2 blockers and these just exacerbated the issue over time.

Eventually after much reading I read that without enough stomach acid, food backs up and causes reflux. It also causes the LES to not close properly. So I started taking Betain HCL and Digestive Enzymes (Solgar ones) before I eat and I can't tell you what a difference it's made. It's so amazing. I get 0 symptoms and I also feel so much better generally.

I honestly encourage you to try this. The medication for this stuff just has it the totally wrong way around. I can't believe this stuff is given out as one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the UK at least.

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#29

Post by oidar »

bgribble wrote: post #14

I have this dream scenario where they discover that the gentle swirling of a cotton swab in the ear canal stimulates the vagus nerve and has these tremendous health benefits, allowing the sanctimonious anti-cotton-swab-in-the-ear brigade to sit down and shut up for a minute.

Arnold’s nerve cough reflex: evidence for chronic cough as a sensory vagal neuropathy

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4222929/

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#30

Post by [deleted] »

tempaway43355 wrote: post #23
tibbydudeza wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so awesome - thanks for sharing this - my daughter also has epilepsy, but it is fortunately controlled by medication. It seems that stimulating the vagus nerve resets something to default in the brainstem when a cascade event is about to occur - probably shuts down the errant signals from propagating to the entire brain ???. Do you know which lobe in her brain it happens ??? (my daughter has left temporal lob…

My child has Dravet syndrome so its quite major seizure activity and many different seizure types (tc, absence, focal, myoclonic). I think slightly more left lobe than right but its been a while since we had a full EEG. VNS is known to help with Dravet in enough cases that they were prepared to try the VNS. The VNS can help stop seizures but also there's a sortof long-term effect from just having it firing every few…

[deleted]
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