Microbiome

Okay, so most of us regulars on this forum understand the basic premise of Mind Body Syndrome. However, as the name implies only two aspects are considered i.e. the 'Mind' and the 'Body'. Lately I've been thinking whether another element has not been considered i.e. the microbiome. The microbiome is its own entity and contains different DNA to the body. The microbiome produces all sorts of chemical messengers that can affect the brain (Gut-Brian axis) i.e. it's a two way communication stream. I do wonder whether some TMS symptoms could, in theory, be triggered/created by a bad microbiome. I'm thinking particularly about one of my symptoms (insomnia). For example, I heard stories (anecdotally) of people who start to experience sleep disturbances on a keto or carnivore diet or during/after antibiotic use. Indeed the Mind is ultimately in control but to not even consider or pay respects to the trillions of living organisms in the gut in MBS or TMS seems to me as a glaring omission by the authors of TMS.

What are your thoughts?

P.S. In a video Helmut produced he was talking about how food sensitivities can be TMS. He was saying that as one starts healing from TMS they often see that they can introduce more and more foods as the mind will see less and less foods as dangerous/threatening. I do wonder if an expanding diet during the healing phase may produce a more healthier/diverse microbiome and hence influence the brain (mind) and thus reduce TMS symptoms.

 

That it s a neat strategy to keep your mind focused on the Physical. I get really bad gas when I eat asparagus with nothing else. It even gets painful....and the pain foes away in about 3 hours. It has NOTHING to do with TMS

 

Stress is ruinous to the GI symptom, perpetual fight or flight, nervous system disregulation all slow down and hamper GI function. I think diet is super important, I’m vegan myself, and currently on a low fod map low acid diet resulting from stress induced gastritis and IBS (all tms). It has helped, but I recognize the reality that it’s my mind’s dysfunction and my reaction to stress causing these GI issues, not the other way around. I understand that as my nervous system returns more to normal/baseline I’ll be able to resume my normal diet where I could eat pretty much everything.

when I was really struggling with with GI pain back in February, I had just learned about TMs and mind body medicine, I remember trying to brute force my way through the sensations, try to eat whatever I wanted, I think I had chili 3 days in a row with an active gastritis flare, lol, unwise to say the least. I had to have a real conversation with myself and accept that I am going to have to limit what I eat for the time being, partly due to necessity but mainly out of kindness to myself that I don’t deserve to be in pain 24/7. I also do think it’s possible to brute force your way through with incredible mental discipline, but if we had that discipline would we be in this situation in the first place?

The gist is once your nervous system calms down the GI system should start working properly. I think there is a lot of fear mongering by people trying to sell stuff, whether that’s diets or supplements or medications. In many cases they’re shitty bandaids that don’t address the root. Again, I think people should absolutely eat healthy, but they need to stop and recognize the role stress and their response to stress is playing in their life.

Even non human animals can have acute or chronic stress colitis (inflammation of the colon), it’s commonly seen when animals are hospitalized or boarded somewhere or in shelter environments. the GI system slows so stool will not move properly through the colon, thus retaining more water and leading to diarrhea, it resolves when the stress is addressed, but again can become chronic if the stress is perpetual. Even for us, it’s an accepted phenomenon to have ‘butterflies in our stomach’ our TMS GI sensations are just that concept amped up incredibly.

 

Im exac

I’m on this diet too ie low fodmap and low acid. This is after a gastritis flare following antibiotics for H Pylori. I’m now slowly transitioning into a normal diet. I agree with all that you said. However, my question was more about the living organisms living in the gut as opposed to the foods that we eat ie how much influence do they have on the mind. So if you take a faecal transplant from a healthy non TMS donor into a TMS patient would their TMS symptoms improve? Food for thought.

 

If the original cause isn’t addressed (the stress fueling Nervous system dysregulation) then the GI system and subsequent microbiome will just continue to function improperly. Sure maybe you’ll find benefit from the placebo over the short term but eventually that gut biome will revert to dysfunction. You’re thinking about one aspect of the GI system, but what of the trillions of living cells that are necessary for acid production, peristalsis, bile production, water absorption, vitamin absorption, nutrient absorption etc. if you’re in fight or flight and your parietal cells in your stomach don’t produce enough acid then the gut biome will subsequently struggle with the improperly digested food. Every part of our bodies are living. We forget sometimes that we’re trillions of cells.

 

Mike,
Stay the course: Sarno, Claire Weekes. Helmut. Buglio. Don’t take any complicated twists and turns. They are distractions that will slow you down. Plenty of people have healed from insomnia using standard TMS methods. (After you heal, you can research biomes all you want. I’m sure there are so many things yet to be discovered there.) But for now, don’t get sidetracked. Journal. Get vulnerable. See your therapist. Challenge your symptoms. Soothe your nerves. And carry on with life. Add fun things to your life. (Stop researching.) Trust me: it’s a time killer, and a dead end, imho.​

 

I think us with TMS tend to really over analyze things. I'm guilty of it.

 

I figure this only applies to food intolerances? I had changed my foods a lot during my journey until eventually eating w/e and it never did anything but my symptoms were pain and inflammation. I think everyone tries the diet route and has for decades but it doesn't work for most people. What you have to consider is when people were healthy they were eating the same things they eat after they get better. I thought about this in the physical rehab context when I had pain. I thought if I slowly ease into exercise then I should acclimate my body to stress and get better. The issue is I had already been exercising before I got bad so it didn't make sense. So if you consider the gut microbiome stuff can only apply to food intolerance success stories and then you consider people were already eating the same stuff before they got sick you can come to the conclusion it's not your microbiome. I'm not saying microbiome isn't important but for the conditions people have gotten better from using TMS/Neuroplastic theory then it doesn't apply. And even if someone hasn't gotten better from something there is still always the next pioneer to get better from a new condition.

 

Yep! It's a form of avoidance. I don't have to act because I'm considering everything carefully.