Sushi
Moderation Resource Albuquerque
- Messages
- 19,935
- Location
- Albuquerque
Welcome to Phoenix Rising!
Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.
Frontiers (BBC Radio) said:Many people are living with chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel conditions in which the body attacks itself. Although drug treatments have improved over recent years they do not work for everyone and can have serious side effects.
Now researchers such as neurologist Dr Kevin Tracey of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, and rheumatologist Professor Paul-Peter Tak of Amsterdam University, are trying a new approach to improving the lives of these patients. They are firing electrical pulses along the vagus nerve, a major nerve that connects the brain with all the organs. The technology to do this has been for some decades as stimulating the vagus nerve has been used to help people who have epilepsy that isn't controlled with drugs since the 1990s.
Gaia Vince talks to these pioneers of this new field of research. And she hears how there may be ways of improving the tone of the vagal nerve using meditation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04pv6kq
This programme is very interesting - stimulation of the vagal nerve is thought to reduce TNF production and may be applicable to a whole range of diseases involving inflammation - autoimmune (inc RA), migraine and even tinnitus (as well as well-established use in refractory epilepsy). There are early human trials going on with pacemaker type devices and also some types of meditation/social interventions may increase vagal nerve activity.
It sounds good - I wonder what @Jonathan Edwards view is. Is it all hype and speculation?
OTH
Sounds a bit weird to me. I doubt it would do that much to TNF in joints (not supplied by the vagus)
Our studies have revealed that vagus nerve stimulation leads to the release of significant quantities of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the spleen. We identified an acetylcholine-producing, memory phenotype T-cell population in mice that is integral to the inflammatory reflex.5 These T-cells are required for the inhibition of cytokine production by vagus nerve stimulation. Thus, action potentials originating in the vagus nerve regulate specialized T-cells, which in turn produce the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, required to control TNF production and other innate immune responses. Moreover, white blood cells are constantly passing through the spleen, and upon exiting it, these inflammatory cells have a role in the onset and progression of arthritis and other forms of tissue injury in areas that the vagus nerve does not reach. The net effect of this arrangement is that vagus nerve signals can significantly limit the ability of these cells to cause damage when they travel to distant tissues, like the joints in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
I haven´t read the article, but I suppose that acupuncture could be used to stimulate the vagus nerve.
Looks like we need to take up aggressive gargling!I've had visceral manipulation to stimulate the vagus nerve. This stopped some symptoms completely (like OI) but only for about 2 days.
Sushi
Have you tried doing fingertip massage on yourself?I've had visceral manipulation to stimulate the vagus nerve. This stopped some symptoms completely (like OI) but only for about 2 days.
No, because I don't know how to do it. Visceral manipulation requires skills I don't have.Have you tried doing fingertip massage on yourself?
I wish they would spend some time and money on figuring out why signals along the vagus nerve aren't working as they should and a way to fix that problem.
Vagus nerve stimulation has been used in treating epilepsy for a number of years & more recently with Rheumatoid Arthritis (described above). So it seems to being trialed with other auto-immune diseases.
It's interesting that Rituximab is also a treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis... I'll shut up leave informed commentary on that to @Jonathan Edwards
Vagus nerve stimulation might be as good as nurofen - if anyone tried it. I cannot see a trial on pubmed yet. Most of the papers are on rats - with the wrong type of arthritis. Not impressed so far.