For those of us who spend a lot of time in the Dorsal Vagus Nerve activated freeze/immobilization/death feigning stress response, a number of otherwise vital biochemical reactions in our brains and bodies can go awry. We may stop producing healthy levels of particular enzymes, peptides, hormones and neurotransmitters, or make too much of these, or else stop being able to remove toxic by-products, that are necessarily created as part of the chemical steps in the creation and degradation of these substances, fast enough.
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The Dorsal Vagus Nerve and Parkinson's Disease
In this article, I would like to return to this topic, and concentrate this time on that primitive, reptilian branch of the Vagus Nerve, and its potentially central role in Parkinson's Disease.
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The Gut, the Digestive System and Parkinson's Disease, Part 1
Once upon a time, Parkinson's Disease was believed to be a purely neurological problem, caused by dopamine producing cell death in a bean sized part of the brain called the Substantia Nigra. We now know that this neurodegeneration is not necessarily casual, but an effect resulting from more systemic issues, which become worse over a sustained period of years prior to diagnosis. Today, it is widely accepted that problems with the gut and digestive system, including nutritional deficits - due to resulting impaired absorption, are not only integral to PD, but are also likely to play major roles in the true causal factors.
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Helicobacter Pylori Bacteria in the Gut and Parkinson's Disease
As many forms of PD begin in the gut, and only later migrate to brain, the initiating and causal gut problems will still remain too after the brain damage has occured. We will certainly need to address these digestive tract issues, therefore, if we are ever to fully heal. In my view, even if we could correct the resulting brain problems tomorrow, if we do not also attend to the original causes which reside in gut then we will not be "fixed" for very long.
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