Category: brain health

Project MS

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not really Project MS, it’s ‘project me’.

Project managing the most important project of our lives can get pretty stressful if we allow it to. When you think about it, we all project manage our own health (to a greater or lesser extent) every day of our lives.

If we go out to a party we might try and arrange not to have anything too taxing to do the day afterwards. If we help friends celebrate a little too enthusiastically with either cake or booze or a very late night we might take a few more walks, early nights and fewer parties for the next few weeks.

I’m choosing to be aware of my own behaviours in order to get the best care for myself.

We need to be our own project managers and call on the trades that have historically done us well: physiotherapists, nutritionists and a variety of bodywork technicians.

tool kit on the wall

The impact of disordered blood flow in the MS patient, it has been argued, contributes to the lesions or scars in brain tissue and perhaps an overall shrinking of brain volume over time (although reduced activity can also be at fault here?) Deterioration in mobility for people with multiple sclerosis is, in part affected by having less real estate in the brain for messages to get through to where they need to go.

The head needs a steady flow of blood to transport oxygen and glucose to the brain. In MS patients with slower blood flow it has been hypothesised, brain cells can die sooner than for everyone else. Exercise, with its increase in heart rate and breathing might slow down what is apparently inevitable atrophy in the MS’d brain.

The congenital vascular abnormality theory is not widely held by many doctors. It feels like, from this patient’s perspective, medical professionals seem willing to state there are many potential causes for MS but neurologists seem unwilling to accept that the plumbing (fluids flowing in and out of the brain) cannot be one of those mysterious, as yet unidentified causes.

In the case of MS it seems treating the body (for the patient who owns the body) allopathically – dealing with symptoms rather than getting to the root of the condition (what the experts should be up to?) seems to be our best bet for feeling a little better.

Over the past 20 years I’m not sure I can include neurologists in the list of effective tradespeople for the body?

I think I’ll stick to the alternative, functional practitioners. People working in things that affect me every day:

  • Nutritionist, functional doctor,
  • Physiotherapist, Osteopath, Feldenkrais method practitioner,
  • Shiatsu, Acupuncture and Cranio Sacral Therapist.

So far, I’ve found these professionals to be of most use in keeping my body working as best it can… not forgetting doing an awful lot of reading of my own.

At the moment I’m quite taken with You Are The Placebo it brings a refreshing way of looking at the body we inhabit. It was preceded by Biology of Belief which got me thinking differently about a lot of things. Whist working fairly hard on getting my body to do its best I’ve realised it’s time my mind had some attention, too.

 

Circulation Cracked?


what does this image have to do with improved bloodflow?

Nothing, except mackerel is also good for the brain.

So, what if any benefits have I noticed after beginning to address circulation and bloodflow issues in me in 2012? Has improved bloodflow below my head made any sort of difference at all?

I believe it has and will list the three things I’m sure have improved and touch on a couple of other points at the end.

zebrafish

HEAT INTOLERANCE GONE

My brain no longer feels like an overheated computer that’s given up and switched itself off thanks to a prolonged lack of clear flow of air to its cooling fan. The same thing I (and others who believe in Chronic Cerebro Spinal Venous Insufficiency) was happening to my head. Blood was returning to the heart along the equivalent of tiny, country lanes (collaterals) instead of getting onto the motorway and speeding its way back to the heart. This leaves the head, so the theory goes with deoxygenated blood for longer than it should.

BRAIN FOG GONE… MOSTLY.

I still occasionally get a brain freeze like the Green Party Leader when being interviewed in the run up to the UK general election in February, 2015. When that happens, I completely forget what I’m talking and thinking about. She thankfully managed to continue getting words out! Nowadays this mostly happens when I’m stressed (as she was). A meal with more sugars than normal can disrupt the bacterial balance in my gut which I think also gives me a foggy/groggy brain after waking.

FATIGUE GONE.

Aswell as bone crushing tiredness (with no obvious culprit) I was also dozing off after meals which I think was more of an unsteady insulin response but since removing sugar and foods that turn to glucose quickly in the bloodstream this also has gone.

Exercise helped there, too. Specifically, short bursts of intense exercise got my body back to dealing better with sudden rushes of glucose. Raising my heart rate and breathing perhaps jolted my body out of its increasingly sedentary state and reminded it of how it used to function? I mention this as a disordered response to blood sugar also causes fatigue – we’re multifactorial beings so addressing bloodflow from the head was only ever going to be one part of my healing process.

In fact, it’s almost as if the way we treat our bodies has an effect on how they perform for us!

Who knew?

Two more angles to come at the MS symptom problem from are listed below:

I knew my love of zebras was more than just admiring their stripes! This piece of research tells of the zebrafish’s suitability for studying the formation of myelin, (transparent if brief lives). I think it’s safe to say MSers have never been transparent but more importantly in the area being researched in the zebrafish study we can no longer effectively make myelin.

This research makes me wonder why on earth the regrowing of myelin or the vascular aspect of MS not been major topics of investigation?

Sleep and getting useful amounts of it has been touted again in the wellbeing media as one of the kindest things we can do for our brains which is good news to me as I love the stuff!

The Bloodflow Show

In this post I’d like to look at a health documentary on a relatively mainstream TV channel that was presented by a doctor. The show, indirectly, touched on two aspects of methods I use to deal with the physical effects of this ‘theory’ of MS that just doesn’t seem able to be put to rest. I’d like to try and present in 400 or so words my frustration with relatively mainstream MS research.

On BBC4 last night Dr Michael Mosley’s Blood Show aired. It started off with him exploring ways to get more oxygen delivered around the body. Athletes train in a low oxygen environment (the equivalent of being at high altitude) to improve their athletic performance by encouraging the increase of production of red blood cells. My curiosity came as I am trying to achieve something along the same lines by breathing concentrated O2 at pressure.

Hopefully, similar results are being attained for people who have a variety of starting points on the wellness/condition scale. More oxygen is being made available to all tissues and cells of variously healthy bodies.

I have been taking this treatment mostly at least once a week for the last 4 years after an ultrasound on my neck showed blood was flowing slowly out of my head. This situation might also mean that blood is flowing slowly into my head too resulting in reduced oxygenation or chronic hypoxia. I talk about this state here.

Many people with MS helped set up a network in the mid80s of independent charities housing hyperbaric chambers across the UK believing increased O2 will counter some of the symptoms of MS. I’ve talked about O2 therapy most recently here and my brush with venoplasty in Brooklyn, here.

white polka dots on red

About halfway through the Blood Show (it’s real title is just as silly) turbulent forces in bloodflow were addressed. Dr Mosley was looking into what happens when mankind is able to do things before it really knows what it’s doing!

Being able to perform angioplasty is an amazing feat of physics, biology and faith. Cutting into an artery in the groin and feeding a tiny balloon all the way to the heart, through various valves and bringing the interventional radiologist out into a vein between the heart and brain describes the procedure I elected to have in 2012. A handful of thousand others with MS have had similar procedures since 2009* when a vascular surgeon from Italy went public with his way of addressing a very old theory.

The Blood Show was looking at reengineering stents as the current, straight ones kept blocking for some reason. An aerodynamicist pointed out the turbulent forces at play in the circulation of blood and, using my own analogy from GCSE geography of the formation of oxbow lakes, deposits were blocking stented, straightened parts of human vasculature.

From this observation the team ended up with a more organic, swirly shaped design. This is more like the shape the body has evolved over hundreds and thousands of millennia of the tubes to carry the blood in.

Circulation of blood is beginning to get taken more seriously, apparently…

But not if you have MS, it seems. Shouting this at the TV screen would only have raised my cortisol levels which is something I try and avoid. But I’m still on the look out for a healthy channelling of my frustrations!

(all suggestions gratefully received in a comment, please).

*records aren’t available for numbers of people taking this procedure as it’s not believed in or even being investigated by mainstream science, yet.

Herbs for MS

The Herbalist, Karen Merryweather has another fascinating post (first one for ChronicAlternatives can be found here). The title of this page really does give away the subject! In this post are listed some herbs for MS that may improve symptoms or prognosis. Baldwins (no affiliate links, just a company Karen’s used) are a good site to find various extracts and tinctures of medicinal herbs.

EPplant

  • The medicinal use of Evening primrose ‘Oenthera biennis’ seed oil has been extensively researched since the 1980’s. This native North American naturalised in the UK, with its tall spikes of highly night scented yellow flowers is a food source for moths and bats. It is a powerful alterative that regulates the hormonal system and a hepatic, protecting the liver and nervous system. The beneficial effects of this oil are: increasing blood flow through decreasing platelet aggregation (stickiness); reducing the autoimmune response; normalizing the diminished essential-fatty-acid levels found in people with MS. “The abundant supply of essential fatty acids in evening primrose oil may be valuable in minimizing the inflammation associated with this progressive nerve disorder. The fatty acids may also contribute to healthy nerve development when taken over time.”  More information on herbs can be found here.

scutellaria lateriflora, scullcap

  •  Skullcap ‘Scutellaria lateriflora’ is a primary nervine tonic that can be taken as needed with its effects continuing after use. Skullcap’s flavonoids, iridoids, volatile oils, tannins, ascorbic-acid, calcium, lignin, magnesium, potassium, scutellarin and zinc, renew and revive the central nervous system. A cerebral vasodilator, Skullcap soothes nervous irritation of the cerebro-spinal nervous system. It is antispasmodic and a nervine relaxant, helping the body cope with stress and muscle tension. Its interactions with GABA receptors in the brain have been researched – a decrease in GABA synthesis is known to cause impaired motor function, muscle stiffness and spasm. Skullcap potentiates other medications. It combines well with gentle Lime blossom/Linden ‘Tilia europa/cordata’, a nervine, antispasmodic and anti-inflammatory, and Catnep ‘Nepeta cataria’ an antispasmodic and relaxing nerve sedative that can ease pain.

turmeric root

  •  Research is starting to uncover the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective potential of Turmeric. Tumeric ‘Curcuma longa’ is a pungent root that stimulates the digestive, circulatory and respiratory systems. It normalizes energy flow, is an antibiotic, anti-carcinogenic, antioxidant and hepatic. Containing curcuminoids (curcumin & others), initial studies have found these could block the progress of MS by inhibiting the manufacture of the IL-12 protein, a cause of damage to the myelin sheath. Curcumin regulates inflammatory cytokines – proteins released by cells affecting the interactions and communications between cells.

oatstraw

  •  Oat straw, the green oats of ‘Avena sativa,’ has been used to support brain health since the Middle Ages. It is able to suppress inflammatory cytokines in artery walls which can increase blood flow to the brain. High in calcium and other minerals, an infusion of oat straw can nourish the body at the deepest level (Susan Weed). Its ability to stimulate cell growth, ease muscle cramps, strengthen blood vessels, protect nerve sheaths and its high Vitamin B complex content, makes Oat straw an effective herb in treating ms.

marshmallow

  • Marshmallow ‘Althea officinalis’ acts as a demulcent, emollient, diuretic, anti-inflammatory and expectorant. Both the leaf and the root are high in mucilage – a demulcent that soothes and heals, aiding regeneration of tissues in the gut and providing protection to the gut lining. Its calcium and magnesium content feeds the nervous system.

St John's Wort flower

  • St John’s Wort ‘Hypericum perforatum’ is a direct anti-inflammatory for the central nervous system, nervine and sedative. Its combined constituents have a histamine antagonist interaction lessening the inflammatory response. Used to treat nerve pain, depression and insomnia, St. John’s Wort is being researched for its ability to promote the healing & health of nerves.

Karen Merryweather Clinical & Hedgerow Herbalist. More detail about her can be found on her website. As ever there is a warning: St John’s Wort and scullcap can interact with other medicines so seek the advice of a herbalist before starting a new treatment.

 

Oxygen therapy, what’s involved?


The choice of image at first glance seems to have nothing to do with oxygen therapy. Getting out into the garden on a bright, dry, early spring day when stuff’s growing and spring has almost sprung gives me a similar feeling to the state I’m in after oxygen therapy. I feel good in this environment. Views like this lift my spirits and heart. Future post on the science behind the beneficial effects of nature to follow soon.

So, back to the post at hand: why are there so many names for this oxygen treatment?

HDOT (high dose or high density Oxygen therapy) HBO (Not the American entertainment channel), O2 therapy.

two birds in a tree

The Hyperbaric part of the name refers to the decompression chamber we enter to breathe oxygen. Deep sea divers go into these spaces if they came up too quickly from a dive leaving them with the wrong balance of gas in their bloodstream (the bends).

The chamber recreates what it’s like underwater (no swimsuits required!)

The increased pressure causes oxygen in the bloodstream to become more concentrated, it increases in Density. The increased oxygen creates an improved healing environment in the body. Wherever we have an injury our body’s natural healing process is speeded up.

We can call the process natural as there are no extra substances on top of the air we breathe – there’s just more of it.

We don’t need to breathe extra deeply as the whole thing happens at a cellular level in the blood and tissues of our bodies. We start breathing oxygen through a hood or mask once lots of air has been pushed into the chamber itself to reproduce the effects of greater pressure underwater.

That’s why the chambers are almost spherical, there are portholes and really thick welds so nothing explodes! A similar thing happens when we go up in an aeroplane. To be able to breathe at high altitude we increase the pressure from the thin air at thousands of feet by pushing more air into the body of the plane.

The human body doesn’t feel the change in pressure in a plane or a decompression chamber.

Australian sports scientists and American footballers are just two groups who have known of the decrease in time off the pitch, track or field due to the improvements in bone knitting when players have sessions in the ‘tank’ while recovering from broken limbs.

That’s a layman’s description of what I try to do at least once a week once I’ve taken the risk described in a previous post.

I’m choosing to believe increasing circulating O2 using the above technique aswell as exercise as described elsewhere are worth doing for the state of my mind as much as the state of my blood! I think making the conscious choice to believe I’m doing myself good is just one of the aspects of the therapy that’s making a difference.

Risk:Reward?

It’s a good idea to try and keep aware of all the aspects of the treatments we’re choosing to take; water soluble vitamins (like vit C and some Bvits) don’t carry much risk as the body will get rid of any extra the next time you go to the toilet. The ‘oily’ vitamins (vit A,D,E and K)  also known as the sunshine vitamins) do carry a greater risk of toxicity as the body stores what it doesn’t need in our fat cells.

Depending on the health of our arteries High Intensity Interval Training (mentioned here and here) could bring on a stroke a la Andrew Marr. I’m not suggesting don’t exercise to save yourself! but do take it slowly if you haven’t exercised much recently. But exercise fast or slow is not what this post is about.

dog for the disabled enjoying a rest in the sun

Some of the things I am doing at the moment that I need to work out my risk:reward profiles for:

  • Taking hemp oil (a few drops under the tongue a few times a day) for its CBD (cannabidiol). This is entirely legal so carries no risk of locking me up and throwing away the key but may not be as therapeutic as cannabis derived CBD? I’m not sure how much of an effect it’s having but found this resource which shows one person’s opinion on the miraculous benefits attached to various cannabis derivatives.
  • Another thing I’m doing weekly is hyperbaric oxygen therapy. which I have mentioned here and here and there was a post recently about the therapeutic use of oxygen.
  • A few weeks very unusual interruption of supply via Amazon temporarily halted my supplementation with phospholipids as mentioned in an earlier post.  This Hiatus highlighted even more to me that strengthening the edges of my cells is worth doing. They communicate better with each other which perhaps caused less balance over the past few weeks? It may be down to something else entirely but I’m consciously choosing to believe that this substance is having a good effect.

Luckily, taking the hemp oil doesn’t leave the taker feeling ‘stoned’ or in any way chemically inconvenienced so doesn’t interfere with my driving to get to my local MS Therapy Centre which houses the hyperbaric chamber that creates the environment for increased density of oxygen molecules n the body.

The treamtment is 20 miles away along the main road leading out of one of the largest container ports in Europe. There are many collisions, near misses and stress in response to people driving very close to the car in front. On at least one side of the dual carriageway there’s stationary traffic inching its way past an accident in my 40 mile journey.

Every now and then I find it useful to assess the various supplements and treatments I do to see if they’re worth the time, effort and/or money.

I still believe it’s a therapy worth taking some risk for especially in light of this research. In the Journal Neurology and Neuroscience it has been noticed that there are some bloodflow issues in neurodegenerative conditions. Oxygen therapy, by increasing the level of O2 in the blood addresses possible hypoxia brought on by slowed venous return from the brain to the heart.

At the moment I figure it’s worth keeping my O2 levels topped up as mentioned here in a post from last summer.

In my next post I’ll describe what goes on after the drive to the tank.

The Power of Our Mind is Ours.

This post will mostly be about stuff that’s caught my eye/ear/imagination recently including acknowledging that our bodies, when correctly directed want to get us functioning as well as they can. The power of the mind is a precious thing:

I was listening to Today on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday the 18th February

“0845

The renowned physicist Michio Kaku, author of “The Future of the Mind” says we’ve learned more about our brains in the last 15 years than in the whole of human history and new technologies like MRI means we’re entering a golden age of neuroscience. The human brain might be unusual territory for a theoretical physicist but Professor Kaku says many of these remarkable feats are already happening in our laboratories.”

I’m really pleased investigation is going on in labs as it doesn’t always feel like there’s much investigation going on from this patient’s experience. I apologise if that sounds a bit grumbly. After finding out a number of years ago that specialists weren’t interested in investigation outside of their small area of expertise really, I should be over the fact that healthcare doesn’t directly seem to be about caring for the patient, not if you’re the owner of a non-lifethreatening condition.

pills

It could be argued that not addressing long term (ie not deadly) conditions is a rational use of the NHS’s limited funds. On the other hand, stopping people from dying is a laudable prize to keep their eyes on.

When the pharmaceutical companies are getting up to activities like those listed below it’s time for folk to start taking their health into their own hands.

  • Falsification or submission of false information
  • Underreporting of adverse events
  • Failure to follow the investigational plan or other violations of protocol
  • Inadequate record keeping
  • Failure to protect the rights, safety, and welfare of patients
  • Use of experimental compounds in patients not enrolled in trials
  • Failure to supervise clinical investigations properly

How can we harness the power of our mind to heal ourselves? I’m thinking being less grumbly on my part toward what we are offered in the healthcare arena might be a start. This article points again to the power of placebo and how it’s often more effective than the treatments  we more usually have pushed toward us.

I list some of the alternatives to the mainstream pharmaceutical offerings from our GPs and other healthcare providers in this site and on this page. We perhaps don’t pay enough attention to what we occupy our minds with?

The visual and the aural.

Connection with people isn’t always easy to keep up when you are less mobile and can’t get out to see people but we’re social animals and benefit from contact of one sort or another on a fairly regular basis.

This lady says we come to rely on machines too much and mentions visiting an old folks’ home during her time researching social media and seeing a robot seal being given to a lady with dementia to provide her comfort.

The lady seemed to be saying it was a bad thing to be substituting digital for physical contact but I think perhaps she’s looking at the situation from an able and older perspective?

Any contact whether good or bad appears to be necessary for human beings – cultivate creating good contacts.

Oxygen: the stuff we breathe

This post (like most posts so far) will be about oxygen, the stuff we breathe daily (all being well) including links loosely connected to measuring and increasing oxygen in the body.

I started taking high density oxygen therapy (breathing 100% O2 in a decompression chamber) three and a half years ago.

When I first started the treatment there was a definite, noticeable effect: picture the dullness of a grey, overcast day and compare that with how we can feel utterly lifted on a bright, sunny, blue sky day. That’s the best way I could think to describe the therapy when I started.

Physiologically, I believe the sessions were addressing low level yet chronic hypoxia in me. I don’t notice those benefits quite so sharply now but I believe that’s because regular sessions keep the level of O2 where it should be and I was treated for CCSVI almost three years ago which I think addressed shortfalls in the easy circulation of blood around the head.

view through a decompression chamber porthole

As well as improving mood it helps bladder function and decreases my fatigue.

These things haven’t been tested although an interesting study in pubmed from April 2013 looks at the effects on an injured brain. Refractory (persistant, not easily fixed) depression they conclude improves with hyperbaric O2 therapy and doesn’t carry any of the adverse effects of anti-depressants. Removing the troughs but also the peaks of life seems a pretty rubbish side effect of something that’s supposed to bring you back to a place of experiencing joy in life.

Regular exercise has also been reported as good for depression perhaps by increasing bloodflow to the brain?

The brain not getting enough oxygen knocks all the brightness out of life. Literally, we’re not firing on all cylinders. Which is a very unscientific way to describe what a number of people with (and without) MS are experiencing every day.

A group of people who are interested in exploring the effects of less oxygen getting to the brain is NASA, in partnership with Paulo Zamboni and the Italian Space Agency. More is reported on the study here. An Italian astronaut has been measuring the effects of zero gravity on the human body’s ability to deal with slowed venous return from the brain.

This is a study, reported by the BBC and I wanted to highlight some of its crapness. As soon as folk start using the word ‘could’ they’re not making any claims that can be backed up, they’re just filling column inches. This ‘could’ be an interesting line of investigation but it is a study formulating a theory based on the patient’s own feelings. The study participants self reported on how forgetful they felt they had become and conclusions were drawn from that?

Now, I’m all for not putting all one’s hopes in what has been delivered to chronic conditions via the double blind placebo controlled trial but a whiff of scientific rigour might be nice.

The Cochrane Group do meta analyses of already published research. This is their section on studies of the condition of MS and other diseases of the CNS (Central Nervous System) and their analysis of the various treatments whose studies reach their requirements.

Oxygen and the Brain; The Journey of Our Lifetime is a book written by the professor who, I believe, has been advising to the MSTCs (Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centres) since they were set up in the UK in the 1980s.

The therapy has been reported in The Telegraph it was also in the Daily Mail but I’d heard the Telegraph may be serialising parts of Prof James’ book in 2015. Both papers highlighted the benefits that injured returning soldier Ben Parkinson has experienced.

When trying to find an explanation of what happens during an hour’s breathing in a pressurised container I stumbled on this link.

Reduced oxygen it seems isn’t even good for our furry friends!

 

 

making life a little bit better

A scarecrow frightening birds from a snowladen field in midwinter nicely sums up just how ‘surplus to requirements’ my poorly performing body can sometimes help me feel. At the same time the image reminds me the world keeps turning and what seems fixed and permanent now will eventually pass.

I figure this online presence allows me to share the stuff I’ve found makes my life a little better (see some of them here) in the hope that you will also share some of the approaches you are taking that have been making your life a little better. We could all try some of these things and by doing this we could make all our lives a little bit better.

I’m not making any huge claims. This is intentional. I, like everyone on earth have good days and bad days so I don’t want to set myself up for a fall (or fail for that matter) which would leave me with useless negative thought patterns shuffling through my head. I believe making life a little bit better can be well within all our grasps.

I’ve been away for a couple of weeks as my eyes have been playing up; making staring at screens awkward at best and the comprehension of words delightfully imprecise. I seem to have a jazz interpretation of predictive text going on between my eyes and brain.

I’ve been trying to work out whether this change in my vision is the fallout from a sugary christmas bringing on a New Year bloom of the opportunistic pathogen, candida albicans or simply recovery from a 24hr viral tummy bug that involved being sick a lot just before christmas.

small improvements

I now wonder what the point is in wasting valuable brain processing power on a query whose answer won’t bring a different outcome. The question of whether a viral fallout or a refreshed candida overgrowth has given me a blurry eye is unlikely to bring any improvements (I’m already back to being on the sugarless wagon).

  • Instead I’ve been going to bed early and sleeping deeply behind our blackout curtains. Our brains fix themselves best when we give them plenty of sleep.
  • I’ve been keeping up doing superslow hand weight exercises to try and stave off sarcopenia (muscle wasting through age isn’t inevitable but through inactivity it pretty much is).
  • The other thing I’ve been doing that helps me feel a little bit better is lying down for 20 minutes minimum with knees bent, feet flat on the ground and a book under my head. The vertebra in my spine seem to like having the chance to soread out (especially as I sleep on a slope (mentoned in the link list on the first line of the second paragraph of this post)

On the radio this morning was an interview with Dr Kate Granger who, after feeling dehumanised and no more than a bed number whilst in hospital started a twitter campaign to get consultants (the folk who mostly are no longer in white coats) to introduce themselves to patients under their care when on their rounds.

It’s the small things that can make life a little bit better. See a report into the benefits of compassion led patient care here.

I’ve touched on a number of things in this post which I’ll be returning to more fully in future. I guess I can sum up the content by saying getting lots of sleep and lying down have been helping me feel a little bit better recently.

 

D’oh, it’s dopamine!

lights

We’ve made it through the holidays.

Hurrah!

This post might seem long but it’s kind of all connected.

This post will be looking at how we might think a bit differently about aspects of ourselves by becoming more aware of the role of dopamine. You may have noticed from my somewhat nightmarish vision of christmas decorations and my language that I don’t relish the season we’ve now turned our back on. I’m preferring instead to embrace all that a New Year can bring. I don’t think I’ve ever been considered the life and soul of a party but that’s ok with me.

  • lacking drive?
  • low on motivation?
  • finding it hard to engage and live life fully?

All of the above could describe what I’ve always felt was part of my ‘nature’. Since signing up to 23andme (previous mentions of it here, here and here). I’m beginning to see that the chemistry lab in us all is shaped by our genes and so an impaired neurotransmitter production here and utilisation issue there might explain me sometimes preferring a good book to a good party.

I’m finding out the bits of me that don’t work as well as they could and realising my inner curmudgeon might in part, be thanks to the chemistry lab.

Many of the posts on this site are about investigating how to make life a little better. Sugar’s not come out smelling of roses on these pages. I’ve not been able to find anything good it can bring to the table apart from cake which we all know is really nice (for birthdays and very special occasions).

Having indulged in various sugary confections over the holidays I’m eager to get started on reducing the sugar again and getting back to a simpler way of eating. I talked about noticing the difference here but got a little distracted from my sugar free desires by birthday cake!

I found out something which might stiffen my resolve when it comes to the sweet stuff.

23andme analysis has thrown up some interesting things about dopamine in me. There are ways to protect what we have and get more, naturally. Finding I’m low in/poor at using this stuff through having wonky vitamin Dreceptors could answer an awful lot of questions about my behaviour in years past and the actions of a reformed sugar addict when relapsing with (gluten free) mince pies in recent weeks.

A diet high in sugar can wear out the dopamine receptors which can make what dopamine there is in the system less useful again.

One thing I’ll definitely be continuing with is supplementing with phospholipids over and above the

  • krill oil I take daily. I also started, back at the beginning of December taking two teaspoonfuls every morning of
  • Empirical Labs Phospholipid Complex. I bumped into this site whilst researching the stuff.

Go to about halfway down the NCBI post, The US National Centre for Biotechnology Information (better known as the reliable and often cited PubMed) for studies on depression, improvements in coping with stress as well as repairing brain matter. It really seems to be a wonder substance. It has a consistency a bit like bitumen or treacle (for its stickiness not sweetness). When I first started I thought it could waterproof the hull of any nearby boat. It helps strengthen the edges of all our cells not just those in the brain.

I think I feel… less… wobbly? Like I’m more in charge of keeping my body under control (both mentally and physically). I feel less prone to overbalancing whilst standing completely still. I thought this increased stability may have come from reducing a candida overgrowth since Septembe but the stability’s still there even after struggling to reduce my sugar consumption since a sugary christmas. more to follow on this struggle in another post.

Whatever caused the improvement I’m happy about it and whilst it would be nice to treat my body as an experiment and only change one variable at a time I also don’t want to hang about getting myself well.

After reading the US Pubmed post I’m going to make sure I never run out of this phospholipid complex ever again!

I think it’s fascinating the many and varied roles dopamine plays, including

  • brain function,
  • metabolism,
  • energy production aswell as affecting mood as mentioned at the top of this post.

The role that phospholipids seem to play in our harvesting of dopamine I’ve only just scratched at the surface of. You can perhaps tell I still have a lot more reading to do on the subject but thought I’d share this burst of enthusiasm with you!

There are so many possible suspects involved in us not feeling our best. I’m choosing to see the addressing of potential problems as a challenge to be entered into with curiosity and an open mind.

New Year’s resolutions are for the birds, feeling better is a lifelong undertaking (albeit taking in a few duvet days along the way). Cutting ourselves some slack/being kind to ourselves is just one way to get the best for and from us.

I hope, with a return to low sugar food in my diet and a regular intake of healthy fats I will achieve weight loss , my pre christmas energy levels and will have no need to make this noise.

happy New Year.