Food Poisoning Sequelae: psychosomatic?

I just read this article that states that food poisoning can cause permanent damage (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/food-poisonings-hidden-legacy/ (Food Poisoning's Hidden Legacy)).

There's more here, which states that repeated bacterial infections can lead to chronic inflammation: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171221143041.htm (Gut reaction: Repeated mild food poisoning triggers chronic disease)

This seems like it might be a TMS equivalent. Thoughts?

 

Great question, @music321 . I'm going to contribute my thoughts without reading those articles, because the titles tell me enough, don't they?

I believe that my ability to recover from any illness or injury is absolutely going to be enhanced by visualizing full recovery, by partnering my mind and my body in the belief that my body can heal.

To understand this, I highly recommend "The Anatomy of Hope" by Jerome Groopman, MD. It's not always easy to read, especially the middle section about some of his cases, but he is a beautiful and compassionate writer, and he succeeds in describing what he is looking for. He briefly mentions Dr Sarno in the last section of his book.

In 2012 I had to watch one of my best friends die at age 50. It had taken months to find a small tumor in her brain, for which a course of radiation was prescribed. The radiation was a success; she was supposed to recover. The problem is that radiation crashes your immune system, and she literally didn't know how to survive that. I felt, instinctively, that she needed to contribute her own belief in her ability to recover, but she didn't know how to do that. She didn't want to die, but I don't think she knew how to live.

It was the search for an answer to that question that led me to Dr. Groopman's book shortly after her death. And he answered it.

During the diagnosis phase, the most discouraging thing I heard come out of my friend's mouth was "I just want THEM to find what's wrong so THEY can fix it." Before her radiation I asked if she could visualize the radiation zapping the tumor, but she had no clue what I was talking about. She also claimed to have no anxiety about the radiation, which made everyone who knew her shake their heads in disbelief. Everything about her screamed repressed emotions, including obvious anxiety and goodism (there were many reasons we were such good friends) and particularly the fact of her lowlife dysfunctional family (her coping mechanism was to become a CPA). It was one of the biggest losses of my life, never mind her heartbroken husband, in-laws, and many other friends.

Whew, I'm getting emotional thinking about this. I tell you, I don't think that "TMS equivalents" is nearly strong enough to describe what I'm talking about. I think that someone who doesn't believe that they can recover from an illness, will experience a weakened immune system after that point. More and more studies are showing this to be true.

As for the relationship to these articles, it wouldn't be the first time that medicine comes to the wrong conclusion by following false correlations.

~Jan

 

I'm always incredibly hesitant to use the term "permanent damage." I remember it popping up quite frequently when I was going through nasty antidepressant withdrawal, and I understand how disheartening it sounds. I now also understand that it's often not always true. I wasted so much time believing my symptoms were from permanent neuronal damage... it was definitely not the case!

I wouldn't be surprised if some of these outcomes are straight up TMS or have at least some mind-body component. Steve Ozanich in particular does an excellent job describing how the body is designed to heal.

 

I got food poisoning and was sure I was going to choke to death on vomit (or at least have some very intense pain) because of that lump in the throat feeling from what I always thought was a hiatal hernia. Well, when the worst happened, I was very proud to projectile vomit. Twice. Constipation was no issue either when the crisis hit! I remember thinking it strange that I spent most of my time jammed up, tight, and uncomfortable, but my body worked perfectly when it really needed to. But I wouldn't know about TMS for a while longer though, and of course went right back to the symptoms and read one of those exact articles that sent me down the wrong path for a while. Ooh, the dark legacy of food poisoning! Wasn't that one of Poe's lesser works?

 

@AnonymousNick, that is a perfect example of the body having the ability to heal, but stress making symptoms stick around for much longer than they should!