Why is nutrition so vital for your health and fibromyalgia?

Episode 17 - Why is nutrition so vital for your health and fibromyalgia?
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This episode continues education on self-management of fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions. Food and nutrition are an essential part of your well-being. Proper nutrition is also essential if you have autoimmune diseases, like lupus or RA, or other chronic disorders.

This episode starts the discussion of how the nervous system and gut influence each other. If your body is dysregulated by prolonged stress, trauma, neglect, chronic or severe illness, like fibro, poor nutrition - this delicate system, comprised of so many parts, starts to malfunction - it will affect your brain and gut. 

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Transcript

Podcast Episode #17 Why is nutrition so vital for your health and fibromyalgia?

 Body and mind are connected. The connection is close and not at all a one-way street.

Did you know that depression can affect the heart? The condition called "broken Heart" or Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is generally a short-term or temporary type of heart condition. It can be triggered by intense emotional or physical stress. Common triggers can include the death of a loved one, a serious accident, a fierce argument, an unexpected loss, or a sudden illness. These triggers are the reason for the condition's nickname, broken heart syndrome. 

But there is also a connection from the body to the brain that can also affect the brain – urinary tract infection can cause confusion, and the adrenal gland's pathology can precipitate a panic attack. 

So, disturbances of the body can precipitate problems in the brain, and vice versa.

The gut and brain are two organs that are not near each other and are often not thought of as closely connected. But the connection is profound. This connection has been recognized for centuries by ancient doctors and by many cultures. 

The brain and gut influence each other profoundly and share the same developmental origin. As an embryo develops during pregnancy, the same cells, neural crest cells, rise to the development of the brain, spinal cord, and the enteric or gut nervous system. In fact, the gut's nervous system comprises 100 million to 500 million nerve cells - the largest collection of the nervous system in the body. For that reason, it is called "the second brain." But it is not only the origin that is similar; the brain and gut are actually connected by the Vagus nerve that travels from the brain stem all away to the gut. Once the Vagus nerve reaches the gut, it splits into a web of nerves that encase the entire gastrointestinal system and penetrate the walls of the gut. The Vagus nerve signals are like a two-way highway - the brain sends signals to the gut, and the Vagus nerve sends the signals from the gut to the brain. 

The way the body and brain communicate is using chemicals; If you ever had a headache - you swallow a pill - it is digested but acts on the brain delivered by the bloodstream. So, the chemicals that are made by the gut, made by the gut bacteria, or chemicals from food, medicine, or hormones can reach and affect your brain. 

The chemicals that are made in the brain can also reach your gut. These chemicals are called neurotransmitters. Your body makes it, and your nervous system uses it to send messages between nerve cells. That's why it's sometimes called a chemical messenger. It's a big part of our uniquely human ability to think, plan, and feel emotions. 

 The central nervous system - the brain and the spinal cord - with the assistance of the endocrine system produces chemicals- dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine. You probably heard of dopamine, perhaps as an expression "dopamine hit." Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter, a chemical messenger. Dopamine is responsible for allowing you to feel pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation. Dopamine is released when your brain is expecting a reward.

Serotonin is another neurotransmitter, and some also consider it a hormone. The body also uses it to send messages between nerve cells.

It appears to play a role in mood, emotions, appetite, and digestion. As the precursor for melatonin, it helps regulate sleep-wake cycles and the body clock. 

Both the intestines and the brain produce serotonin. You probably heard about it as well. Doctors commonly prescribe selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) as antidepressants: Fluoxetine (Prozac) is one example, and Duloxetine or Cymbalta, and many others- they don't make additional serotonin but allow the available amount to last longer. 

 Other parts of the nervous system - the autonomic nervous system - the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system that produce chemicals that influence the fight/flight or rest responses. If the nervous system is activated in the sympathetic or stress response, the digestion slows down. Many chemicals and hormones are made in the gut that help regulate the flight or fight or rest responses.

 The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis- part of the neuroendocrine system - comprises the brain's hypothalamus and pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands that are located above the kidneys also produce chemicals. This system is responsible for handling cortisol, the stress hormone. Under stress, cortisol rises and helps your body handle stress. Once stress is over, it comes down. The gut also plays a role in cortisol release and makes sure the body responses to stress appropriately. 

 So in a healthy body, all these chemicals ensure that the brain and gut work well together. 

If your body is dysregulated by prolonged stress, trauma, neglect, chronic or severe illness, poor nutrition - this delicate system, comprised of so many parts, starts to malfunction - it produces either too much or not enough of the chemical signals. The neurotransmitter levels get out of wack; hormones are upset, mood changes, and immunity changes. The gut protective barrier is compromised, leading to additional symptoms, some call leaky gut - the chemicals that should stay in the gut are leaked out and reach the brain. 

So, to treat this dysregulation, we use chemicals in the form of medication and chemicals in the form of food. 

This complicated system may be confusing to understand. 

I like analogies. 

So if you think of your body like a bathtub - it holds water for you to take a bath. You need enough water to take a good enough bath. If you have too little water, you may not be able to soak in water, not enough; just enough to wash your feet or your behind, which is not what you want. If there is too much water, the water will splash out and get the floor wet as you get into a tub. 

So your body needs just enough water at the right temperature to function. The water comes from the faucet. You can turn the faucet up or down and regulate the water and the temperature. The faucet represents the production of the chemicals, hormones, neurotransmitters that you need to function. The faucet fills the tab. If everything works well, the tub is filled, and the water is perfect for taking a bath. You, your gut and brain have enough chemicals to function. 

But the tub also has the drain - and the drain removes the water. The chemical signals are used as you function, and they go down the drain; they don't last forever. As you digest, or you use your brain, or any other organs or body systems, the chemicals also drain, get used. 

So for a perfect function of the bathtub - you need a working faucet and a drain that is a match, that properly holds the water and drains it to avoid overflow. You need to produce chemicals, use them and waste them appropriately. 

But say the body or the bathtub is not properly functioning. The water is going in correctly, meaning your body is producing enough chemicals. But the drain is draining too fast. This happens when your body uses too many neurotransmitters due to chronic illness, pain or prolonged stress, smoking, addiction to alcohol or drugs. You are being drained, physically and mentally. 

One way to fix it - get a drain stopper - this is how most antidepressants work – most they don't produce anything; they just let you keep what you made a little longer. They downsize the drain to match the faucet. 

But what if the faucet is not producing enough chemicals? If your body is depleted of nutrients, it can not make enough of the good stuff you need, right? If you don't have energy due to poor sleep, if you are dehydrated, hungry, or malnourished - it's hard to make anything good. So the fix would be better nutrition, better building blocks that your body needs to make chemical signals, and other essentials for your body to function. It will restore the faucet and let the water flow better. 

But what after many years of neglect, your body is depleted of nutrients, the faucet is barely running, the water is slightly warm, the tub is only 1/2 full. The drain is also leaky, and it drains faster and barely keeps the water in. You have hardly enough water to take a quick wash. As you prepare to get in, someone comes in with a bucket and takes a bucket full of water out of the tub... as you watch in disbelieve, watching the water level go down, then someone else comes in with another bucket, then another... 

This would be an analogy of additional stressors - beyond your typical - say pandemic, war, loss of loved one, or loss of your job. 

So your faucet is barely working due to poor nutrition; your drain goes way too fast as you are being depleted by the chronic stressors of life, chronic illness or pain, and then the buckets of additional stressors drain the rest of the tub. 

So I see this rather often. Years of chronic pain, fibro, additional chronic conditions like diabetes, autoimmune disorders, smoking, addictions in addition to poor nutrition, eating junk, drinking soda... they are barely surviving, scraping the bottom, then additional stressors come up and it is becomes rather unbearable. 

So to fix this situation, I often recommend working on food, clean eating, improving diet, fixing the reserves - fixing the faucet. But also working with doctors and reduce the drain - treat depression with an antidepressant or therapy, or often both, manage pain and sleep, make sure RA is well-controlled or diabetes. Fix the drain. Then you work on the environment - try to prevent accidental buckets that come into your life to take the water out - remove toxic people out of your life, add stability when you can. Now, if you have a full tub of water, the faucet works well, the drain is a match - any accidental stressors in the form of a person coming and taking out a bucket of water, will be managed, if a bathtub is full of water, it will be OK, you have a reserve. 

So when the next time you take a bath, think of the faucet, the drain, and how much water do you have in the tub. Can your tub take a hit from an additional stressor? Do you have just enough water to wash your feet? 

 So if the many previous episodes were about stress and pain management, we were talking about the drain; during the next episodes, we will start talking about how to fix your faucet - your nutrition and other body functions that keep up with the production of essential chemicals and building blocks your body needs to keep you not just alive, surviving, but living well - with the enjoyment of taking a long, warm, bubble bath.