The Trauma-Brain-Gut Connection
“It’s all in your head” is a phrase often tossed around by doctors failing to understand certain symptoms when lab tests come back normal.
There is some truth to this statement, especially in the context of trauma.
An overload of stress can actually trigger and rewire the primitive structures in our brain, which send signals via the vagus nerve to wreak havoc within our guts, shifting microbial populations, releasing inflammatory mediators, stress hormones, and loosening the junctions of our single-celled intestinal wall. Overtime, the terrain of our immune system shifts as the brain prints out patterns of disease and danger.
The inflamed gut and confused immune system then send signals back up the vagus nerve to the brain, spewing warning cries of inflammation and toxicity. The brain interprets these signals as yet another stressor, sending signals back to the gut along the vagus nerve that something is not quite right. Time to attack anything labeled foreign and attack the immune cells shall!
Early Depiction of the vagus nerve: Photolithograph, 1940, after a woodcut, 1543. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), by Vesalius, Andreas, 1514-1564.
Alas, the gut-brain axis becomes a loop of less than ideal communication. Stress begets stress, and disease processes unfold rhythmically. The vagus nerve’s wide reaching tendrils communicate messages of danger from the brain to the gut and almost 80% of these signals then radiate from the gut to the brain.
Trauma and Limbic Dysfunction
Mounting a stress response engages the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis), which also engages the what is known as the limbic system.
The limbic system is one of the most primitive structures in our midbrain. Its main purpose is to protect our systems from danger. In addition to serving as our “feeling and reacting” center of the brain, it also serves as the “anxiety switch.” It closely dances with immune function, dictating how our immune system “reacts” to the world around us, labeling some stimuli as safe and others as threats.
Anything can hinder the functioning of the limbic system, but common causes of dysfunction root in:
Trauma/Emotional stress
Chemical toxins
Infection
Gut Dysbiosis & Dysfunction
Viruses, Parasites, & Mold
Excessive EMF exposure
Limbic system impairment can lead to an overactive response to stimuli that would otherwise not be seen as dangerous. It gets stuck in a faulty, frenzied mode.
Even when the threat is removed, the vicious cycles loop because the limbic system is sending fear messages throughout our bodies. When clients describe feeling constantly “on” and constantly tense, mentioning annoyances related to sleep, digestion and an inability to rest, the possibility of limbic impairment snags my interest.
Overtime, the body starts labeling foods, smells, even bodily sensations (like bloating, fatigue, or pain), and thoughts as “dangerous.” To protect us from the threat, the body triggers a cascade of hormones (cortisol, adrenaline, aldosterone, histamine, serotonin, etc.) that further trigger inflammation in the system. These same hormones lower appetite, decrease hydrochloric acid (i.e. stomach acid) production, and down-regulate the release of digestive enzymes within the small intestine. Digesting food without these co-factors proves highly problematic, leading to bloating, excessive gas, constipation, diarrhea, and a host of issues related to malabsorption and fermentation of food matter. These stress-related hormones also interrupt the production and circulation of anti-stress hormones, like GABA, progesterone, dopamine, and thyroid hormone, to name a few, which can lead to constantly feeling on edge and anxious.
This texture of hypersensitivity and over-reactivity sets the system into a constant state of churning. Eventually, the immune system learns to recognize benign molecules--like milk proteins or albumin from eggs-- consumed in a stressful state, as warranting attack.
When someone gets stuck in this hyper-aroused state, it paves the way to constant feelings of fight, flight, fold, or freeze: all comprising different stages of the stress response. Mechanisms requiring parasympathetic activation, like digestion, normal immune responses, repair, sleep, hormone production, energy production, thyroid conversion, and bowel movements, are all put on hold.
Long-term, lack of critical function spiral into further decline. Critical building blocks like magnesium are wasted in desperate attempts to soothe the stress. Clients might be doing everything “right” but still find themselves miserable and fatigued.
Leaky Gut
While leaky gut can be triggered by infection and “real” sensitivities, over-activation of the HPA-axis releases cortisol and adrenaline into the bloodstream. Just by thinking about what stresses you out (money! The kids! Coronavirus! Being single! Being married! Being fat! Being too thin! Your purpose or lack thereof!), the body responds as if the stressor is real. Imagined or not, it looks the same on a physiological level: stress hormones pulsate and flow freely in tandem with our stressful thoughts.
Cortisol and adrenaline loosen the junctions of the gut lining and have a catabolic effect on tissue: they digest YOU.
When you eat, undigested food particles can then travel from the intestine into your bloodstream, where the immune system mounts an attack. It shouldn’t be here, it declares. Why is this particle of banana in the bloodstream? Label it as a pathogen, the body declares.
Unfortunately, the immune system has memory. Every time you delight in that food that has been labeled as dangerous, your immune system sends alerts through your body, which in turn increases the “leakage” of the gut even further.
Food Anxiety Compounds Limbic Dysfunction
To compound the matter, individuals that have been chronically unwell or have experienced trauma often develop gut dysbiosis, leaky gut, accumulate parasites, struggle with constipation or diarrhea, and then react by starting to fear foods that lead to ongoing symptoms. Yet again, the brain creates a self-fulfilling prophecy: fearing foods and how they might interact with our bodies, we set off the same cascade of stress hormones that initiated the original decline.
Food fears stem from limbic dysfunction and trying to prevent repeated reactions, which compound the reactions when we do eat.
Sometimes, people feel better while following strict protocols like the carnivore diet or keto-based eating, mostly because they are limiting the immune response to highly reactive foods, additives, and toxins. Or, they’re eating Whole30 and experiencing MAJOR reactions to the nut-laden treats, the loads of cruciferous veggies, and the metabolism-suppressing oils.
As can be the case with many fad diets, they ignores the root cause, smothering a highly inflamed system with a temporary bandaid that seems to INCREASE physiological stress and increase food fears, obsessions, and orthorexic behaviors.
To get to the bottom of the mayhem, it’s important to ask:
Why is the body unwell?
What is triggering the constant anxiety, at the very root of it all?
What triggered the limbic dysfunction and perpetuates the stress-based loops?
How can we get the limbic system unstuck and back to a state of balance?
If the parasites, infections, and inflammation have been handled and the mold has been mopped up, why are immune reactions still taking place? What stories, thoughts, beliefs, and food fears must be rewired to allow the body to receive signals and safety so that it can enter the rest-digest-repair state of vitality?
These are big questions. They wrap up with our history, our conditioning, our experiences, compounded by our perpetual struggles and even what we forecast looking ahead. This immune memory and learned dysfunction doesn’t just reverse in one session of practicing signals of health. Yet, with deliberate attention, focus, and commitment, the cells start to shift. With time, the brain rewires itself gracefully and at its own pace.
“Your mind is in every cell of your body” -Candace Pert
If you are looking to rewire your limbic system to tease out what might be causing chaos—awareness, commitment, and belief is all that you need. Neuroplasticity shows us that change is possible.
When it feels like you’ve tried everything, I’m curious if you’ve worked on re-modeling the brains habitual loops.
Rewiring, retraining, relearning, unlearning, and restoring might provide the shift your limbic system (and immune system) craves.
In order to finally integrate a sense of balance so that the interventions, lifestyle practices, supplements, and dietary tweaks can actually nourish you, the brain & the thoughts it engages require your attention. You’re ready as soon as you think you are. With a blend of DNRS techniques, somatic experiencing, EFT Tapping, CBT tools, visualization, affirmations, lifestyle hacks, and thought shifting, I’m here to help.
If you’d like to schedule a complementary 20-minute sample session to experience brain rewiring first hand, feel free to send me an email or click the “ask us” button on the right.
“The latest research supports the notion that we have a natural ability to change the brain and body by thought alone, so that it looks biologically like some future event has already happened. Because you can make thought more real than anything else, you can change who you are from brain cell to gene, given the right understanding.”
― Joe Dispenza
