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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

#2

Post by tempaway43355 »

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 fine all day. They did still have seizures at night after the VNS but we tackled those with a different treatment.

The Sentiva 1000 sends regular soft pulses (for one minute every 3.5 minutes) and can also react to heart rate rising suddenly (which might mean a seizure) by automatically increasing its pulses. During a seizure if we want to manually activate the device we swipe over its location with a strong magnet and that activates it to send stronger pulses for a minute or so.

Batteries last about eight years. A few times a year we go to check the battery, the nurses have an ipad and a wand-type thing that they hold over the implants location, it uses some sort of low power NFC to read data and diagnostics from the implant. When we do need to change the battery that will be an operation. But less complicated than the initial operation (and even that was in-and-out in one day)

All pretty amazing.

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#4

Post by theshrike79 »

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 against the vagus nerve -> panic attack symptoms.

I might need to add the study of vagus nerve to "why haven't we studied this about the human body more" -list along with gut bacteria composition.

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#5

Post by jwestbury »

Nerve stimulation implants are really exciting. I have sleep apnea, and while I take to CPAP therapy pretty well, I hate having to travel with the device and I hate its limitations. When we travel, I have to ensure there's an outlet somewhere near my bed; I can't camp without a massive battery pack for my CPAP; I can't go backpacking; and even cuddling my wife at night is a challenge because of the hose hanging off my head.

There's now a sleep apnea implant available, which also functions based on nerve stimulation, and is apparently quite effective. It's still a bit large, so not ideal for those of us who can deal with a CPAP, but in another 10 years maybe I can stop using my CPAP and just get a relatively straightforward surgical procedure every 5-10 years. I'd absolutely do it.

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#7

Post by albntomat0 »

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'm in a very similar situation as you with EoE, acid reflux, and a confirmed mild hiatal hernia. The anxiety seems to line up as well.

Have you found any additional solutions, past the standard PPI and diet for acid reflux?

Thanks!

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#8

Post by fidotron »

What made me start paying attention to the vagus nerve noise was this: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200806092437.h...

This claims to improve language learning through selective non invasive stimulation.

The great confusion with these things is given how the body has a tendency to recalibrate dynamically to new stable levels of stimulation the trick would be finding what sort of on/off routine is needed to create the desired effect.

Re: Growing scientific interest in vagus nerve stimulation

#9

Post by voisin »

> Further research revealed that the brain communicates with the spleen – an organ that plays a critical role in the immune system – by sending electrical signals down the vagus nerve. These trigger the release of a chemical called acetylcholine that tells immune cells to switch off inflammation.

Isn’t inflammation an important process for healing? Too much is obviously bad, but if we go turning it off, won’t that lead to longer term issues?

Shouldn’t we be looking to solve what’s causing the inflammation in the first place?

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