Originally posted on this author’s earlier blog In His Grip back in 2019
Heads up… today’s topic is not for the squeamish as it will talk about the dread ‘p’ word. Yup, that one. Poop. Consider yourself forewarned.
Ok, raise your hand if you’ve never heard of the Vagus nerve? Uh yeah, me neither. But apparently it’s pretty crucial to good gut/brain health. In fact, I’d go so far to say that if your vagus nerve is in trouble, your brain, your gut and pretty much all of you is in trouble. So you want to hear more? What does the Vagus nerve do and why should you care? Well here’s the low-down:
This superhighway of a nerve is located “at the base of your brain and meanders to all the major organs, serving as a communication pathway to and from the brain. This pathway is known as the gut-brain axis… and is bidirectional, meaning communication travels in both directions; the brain talks to the gut and the gut talks to the brain. Check out the full article here:
So how did I know that my vagus nerve was imperiled? Well it’s taken decades and it’s not a pretty story but I have dealt with chronic constipation since before I knew what constipation was. It’s one of the reasons I don’t eat gluten and I pretty much have just learned to live with going every other day at best. Even gluten free. So something was going on there. But then the acid reflux started. At first it was intermittent. But long-term intermittent, like it was there 24/7 for six to eight months. Then it would go away for a year. Tried all the normal meds but none worked so again, I just resigned myself to living with it. Those were the red flags my body was waving, but I didn’t know what to do with them and neither did anybody else in the medical community. Or so I thought.
Enter Dr. N. who is a functional medicine chiropractor about a half hour from me. I was recommended to him by my local chiropractor and we were skeptical but we went. We were pretty much blown away. Without even seeing my blood test results he told us that my symptoms suggest that I have an underdeveloped vagus nerve. He told me to gargle (this is quite humorous if you ever need something mildly entertaining to watch as I really can’t gargle very well). He also told me to trigger my gag reflex a few times before eating major meals. And then the real fun–the best way to stimulate the vagus nerve is through—(drumroll, please) coffee enemas. Come again?
Now I must admit that he was not the first alternative practitioner to tell me this but the last one I had blown off as a semi-quack. After being told twice, I decided to give it a whirl. Since this was only my second time ever doing any kind of enema, it was rather awkward. Even just buying the kit, which you can do on Amazon if you don’t feel bold enough to walk into Walgreen, can be a bit daunting. Whatever. This is a weekly commitment for now and it takes about an hour out of my day. It takes some getting used to and after my third one today, I finally feel like I’m getting the hang of it. The best way is to stay in the bathroom because you will definitely need to go…ahem, quickly. So don’t think you can run errands while you are “waiting” for the coffee to do it’s thing. Play some music, bring a pillow in so you can be comfortablish (as comfortable as you get lying on the floor) and just relax. Also lock everyone out–did I mention that? Because this would be a truly terrifying sight to walk in on…just sayin’ !
There are other parts to my health plan–a boat load of supplements that cost about as much as the office visit but since I was pretty desperate at this point, we handed over the money and I have to say, it’s taken about a month but I’m seeing and feeling results (like days without acid reflux!) and so we’re going to continue. The whole protocol is supposed to take about 90 days and I can handle that. It’s better than pretending it doesn’t bother me that much. And the possible alternatives of Parkinsons, Alzheimers and dementia seem far less palatable than a little time on the bathroom floor.
So why am I telling anyone else about this? Totally TMI?? (Hmm… then why are you still reading? ) Because I’m fairly certain I’m not the only person that has these problems and may be stumped as to how to deal with it. If we don’t talk about gross stuff, we may miss out on some real quality years with our kids and grandkids or anyone you’d like to spend more time with. I have found more and more that “traditional” or “conventional” medicine is helping me less and less as I age and alternative medicine, while considered by some to be quackery, is actually making some headway for me. I like how they focus on finding the root cause. It always irritated me how traditional medicine focused on covering up symptoms and often, they didn’t even help me alleviate those!
So though I’ve never gambled, I’m going to urge you to check out Vegas. Oops, wrong Vagus. The nerve–google it. Spend a little time figuring out how it can enhance your health and then consider other options for coffee besides using it to keep yourself awake! Once you get over the enema thing, I think you might be surprised and how much interference you were getting without even realizing it. Don’t wait decades. The problem is probably not going away so be proactive and cruise on down the highway between your brain and those vital organs. The coffee smell is not a bad perk even if it doesn’t pick up your drooping eyelids!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go work on elevating my blood pressure…
Aloha~Jennifer
Decidedly Different 