Saying goodbye to the old and surrendering to the flow.

 The last few months of 2023 were intense to say the least. I experienced so many different emotions and had some interesting experiences. 

My body has been doing strange things. I have been told this happens during the menopausal transition and boy, did it kick my ass. I wondered whose body this is? What used to work and help with weight, stress and general health just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. Pushing too hard just isn't working and I am tired. 

I have had to surrender and trust more than I ever have before. The BIG lesson of trust has been a doozie to say the least.

How does one surrender after a lifetime of discipline and structure. I really felt like I was being tested. My body was asking for time to adjust, time to rest and time to heal. I had some trouble listening. I rely on exercise to help me feel better and relieve stress. I was not allowed to exercise for 6 weeks and it was tough. I had to create a new routine and I discovered that I was not very good or disciplined in doing so. I missed not exercising and at the same time felt relief that I did not have to take 2 hours out of every day to do so. I have to say goodbye to the idea of perfection.

I told you my emotions were mixed and all over the place. You would think that I would use that time constructively. In my opinion, I did not. (and now looking back, I still accomplished quite a bit) And I am reminded that I am really hard on myself and clarity of my achievements is not a strong suit. It comes from a history of always fighting and striving to be and do better and, I must admit, the belief that I am not enough. Those inner child wounds do seem to show themselves when we pay attention and we get to heal them and soothe our inner child. I did get to do some great work in this area in 2023. (grateful) ☺️ 

Now to get back on track...

I felt disconnected from source and my intuition (I wasn't really but it sure felt like it) I felt like my body had betrayed me and I discovered that I actually betrayed my body. It has been working so hard for me to keep me healthy and be the best that it can be regardless of my daily mental negative onslaughts. I was not kind to myself or my body and I know many of you can relate to that. Why do we do that?

Loving my body unconditionally is my new goal. I am waking up with more gratitude and in awe of the 100 trillion cells that work tirelessly and beautifully within this expression that is me.

It has dawned on me that I need to go with the flow of my body and nature. It is winter here now and thus hibernation is actually the natural status. I am sleeping a lot longer and needing more rest and this did cause me some stress initially. 

 I did a healing journey (mushrooms) and experienced major releases and clearings, which takes a lot of energy and time to integrate. I am constantly being shown that gentleness, surrender and trust is needed now more than ever. The world is in turmoil and I know that it is important for us as healers to be strong, clear and balanced. Taking the time to rest and restore is very important and necessary for the wellbeing of all. (yet another well learned lesson)

After Christmas an opportunistic virus surfaced and challenged my Immune system. I was like: "what the hell?"....I guess if we do not listen and slow down enough the Universe and our body will create a situation that forces us to do so. (I always tell my clients this)  I was obviously still in the old habit of pushing and expecting to be further along my healing and integration journey than I was.  Those old habits have a way of showing themselves and we get the opportunity to stare them in the face and choose to let them go or not. Time to say goodbye to you dear habit!

Fortunately the new year according to the Chinese calendar starts in February and it gives me the rest of this month to integrate and fully recover. I am listening and resting when my body calls for it. I am not judging myself for sleeping 9-10 hours a night. I know this too shall pass and the work will get done.

I am using this time to do some exercises in clearing out mental clutter and physical clutter. I do wish to enter this new year with more clarity and love.

I love reflecting on beliefs that no longer serve me and what I wish to focus on and bring into the new year. Who do I want to be and how do I wish to show up for myself and my community? How do I wish to show up in my business. What do I wish to accomplish with Spirit this year to help heal and bring more love and peace to humanity and earth?

This is going to be an amazing year and I am finally ready to see and be seen. I am willing and ready to share all my gifts with the world and to create the Love and wholeness I wish for all. I am practicing to stay in the NOW.  I am open to receive. I am curious and willing to learn. I know that I know nothing. I surrender to the flow. I surrender control! (this is huge for me)

What are you ready to create this year? What is your dream? What are you willing to give up to grow?

GABA...It's role in health and Wellbeing

 

The Role of GABA in Health and Well-Being

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola December 10, 2023

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• Most modern people live in constant fight-or-flight mode and find it hard to relax. GABA helps put you into parasympathetic mode, thereby promoting relaxation and stress reduction, indirectly
• Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter and GABA the main inhibitory neurotransmitter. These two are always working in conjunction with each other to maintain a balance. Glutamate converts into GABA in your brain. If you have trouble converting glutamate into GABA, you’ll have excitatory-like symptoms, as the glutamate over-accumulates
• Underlying factors that can prevent the efficient conversion of glutamate to GABA include a lack of cofactors (B6 and magnesium), and a lack of the enzyme glutamate decarboxylase, which is what converts the glutamate to GABA. Two common problems that inhibit the function of this enzyme are infections and chronic stress
• Mentally, GABA deficiency is associated with anxiety, fear, depression, short temper, phobias, impulsiveness, disorganization, addictions, schizophrenia and OCD. IBS, diarrhea, hypertension, tinnitus, chronic pain, migraines, allergies, frequent urination, flushing, sweating, salt cravings and muscle tension are physical symptoms of GABA deficiency
• Supplements that help raise GABA include N-nicotinoyl GABA or nanoliposomal varieties of GABA, kava, valerian root and cannabinoids such as CBD and CBG. Other ways to increase GABA include exercise, and things like meditation, mindfulness training, breathing exercises and yoga, which raise GABA by putting you in a parasympathetic state

In this interview, Dr. Scott Sherr, director of integrative hyperbaric medicine and health optimization at Hyperbaric Medical Solutions, reviews the action of gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) and the role it plays in your physical and mental health.

"I worked with people all over the world, and I worked with clinics all over the world, using hyperbaric therapy as the fulcrum or main focus point of what I do," Sherr explains.

"I then gravitated towards a colleague of mine who was working in a foundational approach to medicine called health optimization medicine and practice, which is an educational platform.

It's a nonprofit that's training doctors and practitioners, including myself, on how to optimize health. And from there I've kind of delved into multiple things, including neurotransmitter balancers like GABA."

Most modern people live in constant fight-or-flight mode and find it hard to relax. GABA helps put you into parasympathetic mode, which is why it helps promote relaxation and stress reduction. Indirectly, GABA can also aid detoxification because detoxification happens during parasympathetic mode.

Serotonin Is Not a ‘Happy Hormone’

Most have heard of serotonin, dopamine, glutamate and norepinephrine, but they don’t realize that GABA is a major player involved in 20% of your brain’s neurotransmission.

Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter and GABA the main inhibitory neurotransmitter. These two are always working in conjunction with each other to maintain a balance.

Serotonin is typically referred to as "the happiness hormone," and deficiency is thought to be the source of depression. That’s why depression is routinely treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) that raise serotonin levels in your brain.

The problem is, serotonin is NOT responsible for depression, and raising your serotonin is the last thing you want to do. Elevated serotonin destroys empathy, love and wisdom, and impairs thyroid function, reduces metabolism, and contributes to reductive stress and insomnia.

Increasing GABA, on the other hand, can indeed be part of the solution for depression. Many who struggle with depression are GABA deficient, and augmenting the GABA system can in these instances make a big difference.

"GABA deficiencies are associated with so many things," Sherr says. "It's associated with anxiety, with fear, with depression, with a short temper, phobias, impulsiveness, disorganization, addictions. It’s even associated with schizophrenia and OCD [obsessive-compulsive disorder].

You can also have things like IBS and diarrhea, hypertension, tinnitus, chronic pain, migraines, allergies, frequent urination, flushing, sweating, salt cravings, muscle tension. These are all things that could be signs of GABA deficiency.

Many have been prescribed an SSRI for some of these symptoms, but it may not have been related to a serotonin deficiency. Actually, we know that depression is not related to serotonin deficiency. That's been well-studied over the last several years now."

Why GABA Is so Important for Mental Health

As explained by Sherr, GABA decreases the firing of neurons. When GABA binds to its receptor, it prevents that neuron from firing. So, it's what we would call a postsynaptic neuron. The presynaptic neuron fires and the postsynaptic neuron doesn't fire because GABA prevents it from doing so.

GABA also functions as an interneuron. An interneuron is a neuron located between other neurons, and it regulates the firing between the other neurons. Sherr explains:

"[Interneurons] are extremely important for learning, processing, memory and skill acquisition, because it’s not about how much you can intake in your brain; it’s how much you can stop that information from coming in so that your brain can actually process it, so you can learn and understand and have new memories and skill acquisition ...

So, if we can enhance and balance the GABA system, we can see a significant shift in the health of our patients and clients. I've been seeing this in real time, looking at the whole arc of GABA production, everything from the amino acid glutamine, which gets converted into glutamate in the brain.

Glutamate is your excitatory neurotransmitter. And then glutamate gets converted into GABA. GABA is made, for the most part, in the brain from glutamate. And you need the cofactors, vitamin B6 and magnesium to do it."

The conversion of glutamate to GABA only goes in one direction, so GABA doesn’t convert back into glutamate. According to Sherr, if you have trouble converting glutamate into GABA, you’ll have excitatory-like symptoms, as the glutamate overaccumulates.

Factors That Inhibit Glutamate’s Conversion to GABA

Underlying factors that can prevent the efficient conversion of glutamate to GABA include:

• A lack of cofactors — B6 and magnesium.

• A lack of the enzyme glutamate decarboxylase, which is what converts the glutamate to GABA. Two common problems that inhibit the function of this enzyme are:

◦ Infection, either acute or chronic.

◦ Chronic stress causing cortisol and glucocorticoid elevations — When your stress hormones are elevated, you're going to decrease the production of GABA.

The chronic stress angle is one of the reasons I quit low carb and intermittent fasting, as one of the side effects of those strategies is an increase in stress hormones, primarily epinephrine and cortisol. That said, Sherr points out that the ketogenic diet does increase GABA production. It’s an effect related to the production of ketone bodies. So, there is some balance there.

The stress of fasting, however, could easily deplete your GABA reserves, depending on what those stores are to begin with. Eating too little can also affect your gut lining and cause problems via that route. I firmly believe that optimizing mitochondrial function with appropriate carb intake is the best way to increase GABA. Ideally you will also need about 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Sherr explains:

"[People who eat very little] might not be getting enough protein in the day, for example. As a result of that, they're not getting enough glutamine. Glutamine is an amino acid that's extremely important for the health of the gut lining.

If you have any leaky gut, for example, or stress in the gut with infection, or if you have a leaky brain, which is very common if you have a leaky gut, you're probably going to need significantly greater amounts of glutamine to convert to glutamate, because you're using all the glutamine for your colonic cells. It’s the main fuel of your cells in the gut themselves. So, you have to be looking at the whole picture when you're thinking about this.

The other thing is that GABA supplements don't typically work because the molecule itself, GABA, is too big to get across the blood-brain barrier. However, if you have a leaky brain, they may work. So if you're taking GABA and it's working, it may be because you have a leaky brain, which sounds scary, but that just means that you have a leaky gut as well.

So, be aware that if you're trying to enhance the GABA system, you're going to be thinking about all the aspects of the biology — leaky gut, leaky brain, glutamine production, glutamate conversion, cofactors.

And then if you're looking to enhance the GABA system, you have to be thinking about other things rather than just GABA itself. And there are many other ways to do that. There are herbals, there are even ways of attaching GABA to other things to help it get through the blood-brain barrier."

Does Oral GABA Work?

Now, there’s ongoing debate as to whether oral supplementation with GABA works on brain-related issues as it’s still unclear whether, and how well, GABA can cross the blood-brain-barrier (BBB). Studies looking into this matter have come to wildly differing conclusions.

For decades, the drug industry and mainstream medicine have spent a ton of money on questionable studies to "prove" GABA supplementation has no effects on the brain. This is understandable once you realize that many of the most popular anti-anxiety meds, such as benzodiazepines, are GABA agonists.

If you can just take a GABA supplement to treat your anxiety, depression and sleeplessness, the drug industry would suffer major losses. Interestingly, companies are now working on alcohol replacement products based on GABA, so, the industry faces a tricky problem. If oral GABA can’t cross the BBB, just how could a GABA-based synthetic alcohol produce alcohol-like effects in the brain? Sherr comments:

"Alcohol has a high affinity for the GABA receptor. This is where benzodiazepines, barbiturates and Quaaludes will also bind. Those are called allosteric binding sites of the GABA receptor. So, GABA binds to the receptor, and it's got all these other binding sites on the receptor where other things can bind.

So, alcohol and benzos and barbiturates bind very tightly to the GABA receptor, and when they do that, it enhances GABA production and GABA function. So you have more of the inhibition. So yes, this is how alcohol works.

Unfortunately, things like alcohol, benzos and barbiturates are highly addictive because they bind so tightly to the GABA receptor at their sites, and then they cause a conformational shift in the receptor themselves. So, if you go cold turkey off of those things, it could cause withdrawal and even death.

But there are other natural equivalents that are much safer. Things like kava, for example, have been known for thousands of years to affect the GABA receptor without causing any potential addiction, withdrawal or tolerance. Honokiol from magnolia bark is another one that binds to a receptor site outside of the GABA receptor itself but actually does the same thing.

It helps with enhancing GABA production. Valerian root is another one that increases GABA production in the brain, but it doesn't bind to the GABA receptor itself. It binds to these allosteric sites.

There's something called N-nicotinoyl GABA, which is vitamin B3 attached to a GABA molecule. Because it's attached to B3, it very easily gets through the blood brain barrier and then hydrolyzes vitamin B3 and GABA in the brain.

As a result of that, you have increased vitamin B3 in GABA directly. So that becomes a GABA agonist, also called an orthosteric ligand at the GABA receptor. So, you have other ways to modulate the receptor, even if you can't get GABA in directly.

Now, I have heard that nanoliposomal varieties will potentially work because they're attached in a fat molecule itself. And if you take very, very high doses of GABA directly, that may have an effect as well. But, at least clinically, if patients have a pretty good gut overall, they don't have any effect of the GABA supplements themselves.

Then, I give them vitamin B3 attached to GABA. If we give them these allosteric molecules like the ones I've just described, then they start having significant improvement. Then their anxiety and stress get better and they sleep better as well."

Cannabinoids such as CBD and CBG will also enhance the GABA system, as will THC, although it can produce a paradoxical response. "The reason some people who take THC will get a lot of anxiety is that it's doing something to the GABA receptor where you [end up having] less GABA to play around with. As a result of that, you get more excitatory anxiety and things like that," Sherr explains.

Other ways to increase GABA include exercise, which helps reset the balance between glutamate and GABA, and things like meditation, mindfulness training, breathing exercises and yoga. All these strategies put your body in a parasympathetic state, which increases GABA production.

The Importance of Carbon Dioxide

One of the reasons breath work is so helpful for resetting your sympathetic and parasympathetic balance has to do with carbon dioxide (CO2), commonly misunderstood as nothing more than a harmful waste product of respiration. As it turns out, CO2 has many important roles, including improving oxygenation and tolerance to stress. Sherr explains:

"I've been an oxygen guy for a decade, doing hyperbaric oxygen therapy and understanding how oxygen works. It wasn't until maybe two years ago, when I met a couple of colleagues in the breath space and the CO2 retention space, that I truly started to understand that if I wanted oxygen to work better, I needed to understand how CO2 was working.

Because, if you're hyperventilating, for example, you don't unbind oxygen from your red blood cells and you can't get it to your peripheral tissue because of how you shift your oxygen dissociation curve. The oxygen dissociation curve shifts depending on multiple different things.

Oxygen availability is one of them, CO2 is another. The pH in the body will shift. I used to think about it as, ‘Oh, we just make carbon dioxide and breathe it out.’ But CO2 has lots of other major effects, especially in the brain. It causes vasodilation, for example.

If you have too little CO2, you're going to constrict blood vessels, and if you're constricting blood vessels, you're going to have a challenge with getting oxygen to the tissues that need it.

So, the breath work that works on CO2 tolerance is really important, because that's going to shift your oxygen dissociation curve. As a result of that, you're going to have a better parasympathetic and sympathetic balance because you're going to be more tolerant to stress overall if you have more CO2 tolerance overall.

So, I think a part of what's going on with breath work and balancing out your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system is CO2 tolerance. By extension, I think GABA is playing a role as we have more parasympathetic balance around as well."

Most people think you need to breathe more — heavier and more quickly — to get more oxygen, but it's the exact opposite. Rapid deep breathing lowers your oxygen. Slow, shallow breathing allows CO2 to rise, which in turn allows more oxygen to be distributed. Nasal breathing is also important for improving your oxygen carrying capacity.

More Information

If you’re intrigued by Sherr’s approaches and want to learn more, be sure to check out his website, drscottSherr.com. To learn more about health optimization medicine, which focuses on optimizing cellular health, gut health and the effects of neurotransmitters like GABA, check out homehope.org. You can also connect with Sherr on Instagram.

Honesty

 

Courtesy of the Daily OM.... The Energy of Honesty

Speaking our truth may involve risking rejection, but when we allow ourselves to follow the flow of life, we are supported.  As children most of us learn that honesty is better than dishonesty, and we may not question this beyond whether or not to do what we’re told. As adults, however, we can go deeper to examine our choices as investments of energy with predictable risks and returns. When we speak the truth, we affirm what already is. This is like using a paddle when the stream is already moving the same direction. We are already supported by the universe and its energy flow, so we don’t need to exert much energy, leaving more for other pursuits. But dishonesty redirects a portion of our energy against the flow, which requires extra effort. In addition, it creates an alternate reality that requires further energetic input to be maintained. So we can easily see that we are best served when we work with the flow of the universe. Life is not always clearly defined, so we may find it useful to follow our choices to their logical conclusions. We may feel that little untruths are harmless, but they can be like small cracks that weaken an overall structure over time. Even giving someone a compliment or trying to protect them can create problems later when the alternate reality we’ve created becomes the basis for further actions. Even if the actions that follow are honestly done, the underlying unstable foundation of dishonesty will threaten to topple things eventually. This can lead to further energy being spent on keeping things hidden, working to remember the tales we’ve spun and fearing the consequences of being found out. Life doesn’t need to be this draining, but we can make the choice to free ourselves from the bonds of dishonesty at any time. Speaking and living our truth may involve risking, among other things, the possibility of rejection. But when we allow ourselves to follow the flow of life, we are supported. We can then use our energy to cultivate physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being and to create our dreams, rather than leaving ourselves too drained to even maintain our existence. Today we can make honesty our choice in every interaction, bringing the nurturing power of the universe’s energy into our lives to bring positive, lasting results.

Intermittent Fasting Benefits:

The practice of intermittent fasting for therapeutic purposes is increasing. Some of the benefits of intermittent fasting include reduced insulin resistance and improved glucose homeostasis, reduced blood lipids (including triglycerides and LDL), and increased fat burning. Health care practitioners are likely to encounter questions regarding the safety and efficacy of intermittent fasting. In this blog post, Sara Gottfried, MD and Kari Hamrick, PhD, RD walk through new clinical research on the benefits of intermittent fasting for health and longevity.

 Fasting and Insulin resistance   follow the link 

Your genes do NOT control your destiny…

This is such an important message to listen to daily to remind yourself of the power you have within you to create health. BRUCE LIPTON does a great job of breaking down how your cells and signaling works in the body to help you create better health. Do yourself and you health and wellbeing a favor and watch this often. Let it become imprinted in your life.

.https://youtu.be/WSW2MszpK-0

 

The gut’s role in viral immunity 

Robert G. Silverman, DC, DACBN, DCBCN, MS, CCN, CNS, CSCS, CIISN, CKTP, CES, HKC, FAKTR 

February 17, 2021 

Katemangostar/Freepik 

An individual patient’s immune response to infection is closely linked to their gut health. Patients with healthy gut microbiomes tend to have an immune system that responds quickly and appropriately to viral attacks. An unhealthy gut is linked to immune activation, mild chronic inflammation, and greater susceptibility to viral infection and more severe illness. During a long viral pandemic, helping patients restore or maintain a healthy gut microbiome and a healthy immune system has never been more consequential.

The Gut-Immune Link

The crosstalk between the gut microbiota and the immune system is constant—and central to mounting an effective immune defense. Between 70 and 80 percent of all immune cells are found in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) surrounding the intestines. When the GALT is compromised, the entire immune system is weakened.

The intestinal immune system can distinguish between the wide and ever-changing range of harmless microbes within the gut and pathogens. This constant, delicate immune homeostasis is disrupted when antibiotics, poor diet, lack of exercise, and other harmful factors such as environmental toxins alter the gut bacteria's balance, causing dysbiosis.

In dysbiosis, the GALT is continuously stimulated to produce immune cells and inflammatory response. When dysbiosis continues, the gut epithelial barrier can become permeable—the patient now has a leaky gut syndrome. Bacteria, bacterial metabolic and breakdown byproducts, and large undigested food particles can escape the gut and enter the circulation through tight junctions that open too widely. The result is further immune activation as well as localized and systemic inflammation, usually along with other dysbiosis symptoms such as gas, bloating, diarrhea, and brain fog.

The LPS Effect

The triggering factor for systemic inflammation from increased gut permeability often begins with lipopolysaccharides (LPS) endotoxin from bacteria. An endotoxin is a complex lipopolysaccharide (LPS) found in the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria such as E. coli and H. pylori. About 65 percent or more of the bacteria in the gut are gram-negative. As some of these bacteria are dying off at any given time, small amounts of LPS are constantly being released.

The gut produces enzymes that neutralize the endotoxin, and any amount of LPS that escapes is easily handled by the immune system. In dysbiosis, however, the gut may have more LPS-producing bacteria than it can handle. If the dysbiosis causes the gut barrier to become permeable, LPS can leak through and trigger endotoxemia, or inflammation throughout the body. Studies also show that LPS damages the blood-brain barrier by making it more permeable.

Leaky gut syndrome and dysbiosis can lead to endotoxemia, but they’re not the only causes. A diet high in saturated fat can kill off gram-negative bacteria, which causes the release of excess LPS into the gut. If the gut barrier is permeable, as it may be from a diet high in bad fats and processed foods, LPS can get through and enter the circulation.

Endotoxemia does its damage by triggering the pro-inflammatory protein complex NLRP3. Activation starts when the LPS component of gram-negative bacteria is detected by Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in the cell membrane, which activates the transcription factors IRF1 and NF-κB.

IRF1 drives the NLRP3 complex to release the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin 1-beta (IL-1β). This inflammatory pathway may be behind a wide range of chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes.

The transcription factor NF-κB is activated by LPS and other harmful stimuli, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) and IL-6. Once activated, NF-κB enters the cell nucleus. There, it upregulates the genes that tell the immune system’s T cells to get active. It also controls many of the genes involved in inflammation. High levels of NF-κB are associated with chronic inflammatory diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, atherosclerosis, and gastritis.

The Viral Link

Modern life puts many adults into a constant state of dysbiosis and low-grade chronic inflammation from immune system activation. Obesity, chronic illness, a poor diet low in fiber and high in sugar, bad fats, processed foods, and a lack of physical activity all promote dysbiosis and gut permeability.

On top of a lifetime of these pro-inflammatory factors, older adults often have an additional source of low-grade chronic inflammation known as “inflammaging.” Among the causes of inflammaging may be a decrease in the overall variety of bacterial species in the gut microbiome, along with an increase in pro-inflammatory species. The dysbiosis this causes leads to greater gut permeability and more immune activation in older adults and adds to any preexisting inflammation from obesity, chronic illness, and lifestyle.

In the current novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, the patients who have experienced the most severe disease and mortality are generally older, or have chronic illnesses, or are obese—or all three. In other words, the sickest patients are also the ones that are the most likely to have already elevated markers of inflammation from disturbances of the gut microbiome/immune system link before they become ill. COVID-19 is associated with increased levels of inflammatory cytokine and chemokine markers such as IL-2, IL-6, IL-7, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and C-reactive protein. When added to preexisting inflammation, the COVID-19 inflammatory response may lead to a cytokine storm and cytokine release syndrome, which is associated with severe illness and high mortality.

Patients who have recovered from the worst of COVID-19 may still have ongoing dysbiosis, ongoing immune activation, and ongoing inflammation. A recent study published in the journal Gut of hospitalized COVID-19 patients after viral clearance showed significant alterations in their gut microbiomes compared to non-COVID-19 individuals. The COVID-19 patients also showed elevated concentrations of inflammatory cytokines and blood markers that corresponded to disease severity.

“Associations between gut microbiota composition, levels of cytokines, and inflammatory markers in patients with COVID-19 suggest that the gut microbiome is involved in the magnitude of COVID-19 severity, possibly via modulating host immune responses,” the authors concluded. “Furthermore, after disease resolution, gut microbiota dysbiosis could contribute to persistent symptoms, highlighting a need to understand how gut microorganisms are involved in inflammation and COVID-19.”

When their major symptoms have resolved, the disrupted gut/immune crosstalk may still be causing inflammation and lingering “long COVID-19” symptoms, such as fatigue and joint pain. Looking upstream and treating leaky gut syndrome and gut dysbiosis may help resolve these symptoms.

An Integrative Approach

COVID-19 will likely be with us for a long time, even when cases have dropped below epidemic level. A key step to prevention, both now and in the future, will be recognizing and treating dysbiosis and leaky gut syndrome and restoring normal active immunity.

This is particularly important for vulnerable patients, the elderly and those with obesity or chronic illness. Now more than ever, all patients should be encouraged to improve their gut microbiome through a better diet, more exercise, and the use of prebiotic and probiotic supplements to promote a healthy diversity of gut bacteria.

References:

• d’Hennezel, E., Abubucker, S., Murphy, L., and Cullen, T. (2017) Total Lipopolysaccharide from the Human Gut Microbiome Silences Toll-Like Receptor Signaling. Host-Microbe Biology. Retrieved from: https://msystems.asm.org/content/2/6/e00046-17
• Hirano, T. and Murakami, M. (2020) COVID-19 A New Virus, but a Familiar Receptor and Cytokine Release Syndrome. Immunity. Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32325025/
• Hooper, L.V., Littman, D.R., Macpherson, and A.J. (2012) Interactions between the microbiota and the immune system. Science. Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22674334/
• Levy, M., Kolodziejczyk, A., and Thaiss, C. (2017) Dysbiosis and the immune system. Nature Reviews Immunology. Retrieved from: nature.com/articles/nri.2017.7
• Toor, D., Wsson, M.K., and Kumar, P. (2019) Dysbiosis Disrupts Gut Immune Homeostasis and Promotes Gastric Diseases. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31100929/  
• Yeoh, Y.K., Zuo, T., Lui, G.C., Zhang, F., Liu, Q., Li, A.Y., Chung, A.C., Cheung, C.P., Tso, E.Y., Fung, K.S., Chan, V., Ling, L., Joynt, G., Hui, D.S., Chow, K.M., Ng, S.S.S., Li, T.C., Ng, R.W., Yip, T.C., Wong, G.L., Chan, F.K., Wong, C.K., Chan, P.K., Ng, S.C. Gut microbiota composition reflects disease severity and dysfunctional immune responses in patients with COVID-19. Gut. Retrieved from: https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2021/01/04/gutjnl-2020-323020

About the Author: 

Robert G. Silverman, DC, DACBN, DCBCN, MS, CCN, CNS, CSCS, CIISN, CKTP, CES, HKC, FAKTR

Robert Silverman is a chiropractic doctor, clinical nutritionist, international speaker, author of bestseller Inside-Out Health, and founder and CEO of Westchester Integrative Health Center. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic and has a master’s degree in human nutrition. The ACA Sports Council named Silverman Sports Chiropractor of the Year in 2015. Silverman is on the advisory board for the Functional Medicine University and is a seasoned health and wellness expert on both the speaking circuits and the media. A frequently published author in peer-reviewed journals and other mainstream publications, Silverman is a thought leader in his field and practice. Silverman was the principal investigator on a Level 1 laser U.S. Food and Drug Administration study. Silverman’s new book, Superhighway to Health, is expected to be published in June 2021.