A game changer for anyone with an autoimmune condition...

[Chancery]

You may have already seen this fabulous news elsewhere, but I think it is so amazing I'm posting this Upworthy link, which shows the sheer wonder of it all very nicely.

This is the discovery that the lymphatic system does in fact connect with the brain. As someone with both potential autoimmune AND a neurological condition, this is hugely exciting information, and it does kind of underline the potential truth in all the gluten sensitivity theories for thyroid sufferers, but also, oh, so much more. It's so amazing, in fact, I hardly know where to start with thinking about the potential.

It's also great from the point of view of silencing depressing doctors who like to make fatalistic pronouncements about your condition. When talking about my Trigeminal Neuralgia once, my doctor announced "You will never know what caused it. You will never find a cure." At the time, aside from being deeply distressed at this nihilism, I was also furious that a so-called man of science could be so sure of this, given that we know hardly anything about anything. This discovery is living proof, if any were needed, that they discover new things all the time and NO-ONE, not even arrogant doctors with God complexes, can be sure of anything.

Keep up the hope - enjoy!

upworthy.com/no-big-deal-or...

[Marz]

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

iflscience.com/brain/vessel...

amazon.co.uk/Why-Isnt-My-Br...

Maybe time to read this too !

They will soon be discovering that chakras do have a place in western medicine !

[Chancery in reply to Marz]

Oh, it wouldn't surprise me if they find there is some similarity between the chakras and actual physiology further down the line, Marz. And thanks for the links. I guessed it had to have been up here previously. I knew I'D seen it somewhere before Upworthy, although I don't think it was here. I just find it so amazing.

Unfortunately the good doctor's brain book must have been written before this discovery, but I'm sure he's feeling thrilled right now, along with all the other people who have been banging on for years about the how the gut influences the brain.

If only I could feel confident that Western medicine will take it more seriously now - but, sadly, I don't.

[Schenks in reply to Marz]

Thancks, Marz

[Schenks in reply to Schenks]

Did I really spell thanks, thancks?

[Chancery in reply to Schenks]

Ooh that's nothing, Schenks. If I ever posted unedited I'd be responsible for deaths from laughter all over the country. I suppose on health forums drugged typing is the equivalent of drunk typing...

[Schenks in reply to Chancery]

Gosh, I wish I could get some drugs for typing!

[Chancery in reply to Schenks]

You only think that. Can you imagine the ways you'd spell thanks while under the influence? Still, the posts would be (even) funnier...

[Schenks in reply to Chancery]

Thanks for the compliment! The thing is, I'd spell like rubbish, type even more gibberish - but WOULDN'T GIVE A TOSS!

[Chancery in reply to Schenks]

Ah, the joy of not giving a toss - I'm with you on that one. One of the best things that can happen to a woman in life is to finally give up caring what others think. We are all so brainwashed into caretaking others' feelings.

Possibly the only upside to dementia - finally being able to just be yourself. Or, of course, there's those drugs....

[Hidden]

Chancery,

This is really interesting. I have periods of very weird head stuff and although my MRI brain scan was inconclusive, I have since read that damage would only be evidenced when it is substantial.

My head stuff is without doubt accompanied by physical changes in my body and I believe that an auto immune response can have an effect on the brain but trying to get a neurologist to listen to me is not easy.

The brain is so complicated and mine seems to have a life of its own, even when my sound mind is trying to keep me sane. Lol.

These physiological problems only became really apparent after medicating on thyroid hormones but I remember a few episodes even as a child with perpetually swollen lymph nodes behind my ears and under my jaw.

Let's hope they get lots of money to research this further before it gets quashed by the drug companies producing drugs for Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis, etc.

Thank you for posting

Flower007

[Chancery in reply to Hidden]

I never thought of that, Flower. Here's hoping the drug companies can see an opportunity for productive drugs connected to this. Or maybe not...

Drug companies are so corrupting that while it is great to get their money behind research, at the same time you kind of dread it because they bury as much research as they reveal. It really is time government legislated against that; force them to publish ALL research or they don't get a license to produce or sell drugs in this country. Hit 'em hard, I say!

And I know exactly what you mean about the mental effects of physiological problems. I tell my doc time after time about the withdrawal symptoms I get coming off Carbamazepine. They are really unpleasant, but it just runs of his back like water off the proverbial duck. It doesn't interest him and he doesn't take them seriously. For some reason doctors don't seem to rate the mental effects of ill-health or medication. God alone knows why. I can only assume it's because although they dish it out, they don't suffer it.

[Marz in reply to Chancery]

who.int/mediacentre/news/no...

I think there are organisations trying to implement more transparency. Probably will be a problem regulating it though. Big Pharma is very powerful as we know.

[Chancery in reply to Marz]

“Our intention is to promote the sharing of scientific knowledge in order to advance public health,” Ooh, what a wonderful world that would be...

But I do feel this is the job of government. Why is it being left to poor old WHO, a toothless beastie, with no legal clout? They're reduced to asking nicely, basically. I think if government made it hard for bIg pharma to do its thing, unless they complied, then we could maybe force their hand. But, of course, that's a utopian idyll. Still, we can dream....

[manolop]

I'm not surprise that it just been discovered, the body is so complex and we think we know it, fact is we don't and for that matter something is related to something else and even when doctors are treating any condition they only treat the symptom not the cause of the problem and often works but also many times doesn't work.

Many conditions we suffer it might be due to your gut and the fauna that lives there as an example when youre prescribed antibiotics never advice how to recivet that faune and even worst necer taught to maintain it healthy and properly analyse in any situation by your doctor as to prevent future problems.

[Chancery in reply to manolop]

You are absolutely right, Manolop. Just by a coincidence I've just taken a course of antibiotics, which I usually try to avoid like the plague for just this reason. Unfortunately I didn't have any options on these, having a UTI that landed me in hospital with low blood sodium because it just wouldn't go away. But, as usual, although it was only a 3 day course, they've caused a massive thrush overgrowth, so that I'm itchy and sore now, despite taking probiotics and having a strict no sugar, no white flour rule self-imposed for a month till my gut recovers.

I went to my doc and asked if he could give me something like a PH balanced wash or something to help my lady parts get back to normal and he said there wasn't anything - just try yogurt. That's how seriously the NHS treats a gut lying in ruins!

[BootsOn in reply to Chancery]

Have you tried Lactacyd?

[Chancery in reply to BootsOn]

No, never heard of that. Just going to look it up. Thanks for the tip, BootsOn!

[BootsOn in reply to Chancery]

You're welcome! Hope it's what you're looking for and that it does the trick. Nothing worse than a sore foo foo!

[Chancery in reply to BootsOn]

A sore foo-foo - love it. You realise from now on I'm going to horrify my partner by calling it that when I'm complaining about it!

I did find the Lactacyd but I wasn't happy about all the detergent in it. However, I did discover it's the lactic acid in it that's the useful ingredient so I'm thinking of getting some from a brewer's shop. Only trouble is I don't know how dilute it needs to be. Don't want to burn my foo-foo as well as itching the poor thing to death!

[BootsOn in reply to Chancery]

Lady Garden might be a suitable alternative then...

[Chancery in reply to BootsOn]

Oh dear, no. Too twee. That would freak him out more than the foo-foo. I will tease him by using foo-foo for a while then revert to good old plain-speaking Anglo-Saxon!

[Hidden]

Yes, unthinking nihilism - it's a kind of control tool. The autism unit at the council once gave my son their standard booklet to work through - half way through it said: "Autism is incurable and your condition will never go away."

In fact there are quite a lot of cases of spontaneous recovery in the States, and as you say - who knows what will be discovered? How dare take salaries for telling sad, anxious children there is no hope?

Rant ends.

[Chancery in reply to Hidden]

Oh, I couldn't agree more, Asp. I mean that. I find it deeply offensive when doctors pronounce things like that. It's supposed to be being 'realistic' or some such, so you don't have false hope, but that completely ignores the fact that humans NEED hope, and people given incurable disease badges need it even more than the rest of us.

I know when I was first diagnosed with TN, between the disease itself, the terrible medications and, even worse, the 'incurable, degenerative' badge I had some of the worse suicidal times of my life. Really scary suicidal urges that were flat and unemotional. They were much more frightening than the drama queen 'I'm going to end it all, no one cares about me' type. For months I was afraid to be left alone in the evenings, and that's no exaggeration. It was only when I started to research it and hit my B12 breakthrough that I felt able to turn things around.

No, doctors who make fatalistic pronouncements should be given 'death sentences' themselves. That would let them see how much fun 'being realistic' is.