The Stress Response and Mystery Illness

The Caveman and the Tiger

So you’ve probably heard this analogy before - a caveman is chased by a predator (like a tiger) and defends himself or runs for dear life. Obviously, his "flight-or-flight" mechanism kicks in. Adrenaline floods the bloodstream and his heart rate and blood pressure rise. This is what our sympathetic nervous system is meant to do.  But once the threat is over, the parasympathetic nervous system ("rest and digest") takes over again and he’s able to sit around the campfire with ease - eating, laughing and singing…
 

The Limbic Brain

From an evolutionary perspective the limbic system is said to be one of the oldest and most primitive parts of the brain. One very important way that the limbic system impacts health is through carrying sensory input from the environment to the hypothalamus, and then from the hypothalamus to other parts of the body. The hypothalamus acts like the “regulator” of hormone control, helps the body maintain balance, and sends signals to the pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands. The limbic system receives information from many body parts, including the heart, vagus nerve, digestive system and skin. Because of the hypothalamus’s functions, the limbic system is directly in control of your stress response (fight or flight).

Anxiety and high amounts of stress are tied into this fight or flight response - a response which has a significant impact on inflammation levels, digestion, cardiovascular functions, your immune system, and the reproductive system.
 

Trauma After Trauma

In many individuals with mystery illness, accumulation of traumas to the brain - traumas such as infections, chemical exposure, physical trauma, emotional distress and genetic predispositions - all activate the stress response. An over-activated stress response ultimately leads to abnormal sensory perception, which sets off a protective process as if, like the caveman running from the tiger, your very life depended on it. Over time, this hypervigilence results in a heightened reaction to a pretty small exposure to triggers. Current research suggests that as the brain learns to issue a constant stream of alert chemical/hormone messages to inform the rest of the body there is a problem, many crucial body systems - immune, GI, etc - are put on the back burner, so to speak.

In many cases of mystery illness, the brain, which tried to help you by adapting to compensate for injury and disease, ends up becoming stuck in “fight or flight” mode. This acute adjustment in response to new situations or to changes in the environment ends up being a chronic adjustment as the limbic system becomes maladapted. 
 

The Body is Designed to Heal

The opposite of this fight-or-flight response is "rest and repair" or "rest and digest," so named for good reason! When our bodies re-learn how to stay in the parasympathetic nervous system most of the time, our bodies are MUCH better able to do what they are designed to do - HEAL! The immune system balances out, the GI tract comes back online, the rest of the organ systems get back to doing the work for which they're made. 

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