Vascular reactivity and nerves

[Diokine]

So what I'm thinking about is - specifically in relation to my own case growing up and the sort of health problems that I've had, and then kind of extrapolating out the health problems other people have - looking at them in the context of continued adrenal dysfunction, continued over activation or under activation of the HPA axis and failure of certain elements of the HPA axis to maintain the sort of structure needed to generate the sort of swings in physiology that we need to be able to control our bodies effectively.

I started considering the fine degree of control required of the vascular system in the context of the central and autonomic nervous systems, primarily thinking about the control of autonomic processes relating to digestion and fear responses but then tying that in with more Prefrontal responses, conditioned fear and perceived fear, perceived danger, and this especially relates to social stress, family unit and domestic comfort essentially.

So an inability of the brain - specifically the hypothalamus and pituitary and amygdala - to regulate the adrenal glands, represents a severe deficit in the kind of tissues needed to have a system that is very sensitive to change. Because it's very important we keep that blood as bloody as it can be, whatever blood does, as far as transferring oxygen and keeping oxidation in motion, it’s important we regulate that closely. It's a lot more than just oxygen - there's phosphorus, calcium, all kinds of minerals, colloidal minerals, albumin, all these sort of pressures present, osmotic, chemo gradients, etc.

This creates a really complex picture of maintaining the different types of tissue through the kidneys and corticoid systems – these maintain pressure in vital areas, vital organs and such. So especially with something like continued social stress you can see a dysregulation of the pituitary and respiratory centers in the brain, like the hypothalamus, preBoltzmann complex, retrotrapezial nucleus, and these feed into the trigeminal nucleus and the facial nerves referring up through the amygdala as part of a very sensitive circuit that maintains your degree of comfort around other people.

We are able to put on a mask and disguise how we really feel, although sometimes that's not necessarily possible because of direct connections between the muscles of your face to the trigeminal nucleus and hypoglossal muscles and just all the muscles coming out of your face, basically your facial expression or facial posture is directly tied into the motor control from your brainstem which goes right out of the pituitary and the amygdala.

So continued dysfunction of this type, especially exposure to a lot of glucocorticoids in early life, from allergic triggers or something like, that can generate a body of tissue – which is responsible for maintaining the vascular system - that doesn't have enough competency, or is not capable enough to generate the sort of voltage swings or electrical potential gradients that we need to coordinate the tissue and this reflects all the way down into the spine, the splanchic nerves, the renal nerves, the suprarenal or adrenal system, all of that stuff controlling the reactivity of the aorta and the vena cava - there's a lot a lot of work going here to keep you alive.

Considering a child prone to allergies, someone that has a lot of problems regulating physiologically or emotionally as they grow up, they can lead to these different challenges in many different ways. No cases are exactly the same, there might be patterns of similarity but everyone's going to express a little bit differently, because their growth process is different from everyone else. But it's basically the inability to electronically control the blood vessels, creating an inability to express full breathing, that creates metabolic problems; acidosis or alkalosis in certain areas. You will see blood stagnating, the blood is still moving but it's not refreshing correctly, there are low lying areas becoming stagnant, still water. There's a little bit of blood moving through but it's not flushing out the way that it should through the capillaries, and you get a lot of cellular debris in this case - you get a lot of closing off of narrow areas and entrapment and vascular issues. An inability to regulate this through the adrenals, especially the gut and vascular systems of the liver, you will find a lot of cases where this will progress to either chronic gut problems and inability to sleep or all kinds of neurological issues. I think these focal neurological issues are the foundation of a lot of autoimmune conditions, the inability of the nerves to control the tissue and maintain it in a proper state. And as a consequence this generates a lot of debris and worsens the blood delivery problem.

 

[Lollipop2]

Following.

 

[Vileplume]

If someone finds themselves trapped in a prolonged stressful social situation that they cannot escape for a few months or years, due to finances or a living situation, what can they do to protect themselves from increasing HPA dysfunction?

Cleary leaving the situation is the best intervention, but if you find yourself stuck in the situation, what can you do?

 

[Lollipop2]

If someone finds themselves trapped in a prolonged stressful social situation that they cannot escape for a few months or years, due to finances or a living situation, what can they do to protect themselves from increasing HPA dysfunction?

Cleary leaving the situation is the best intervention, but if you find yourself stuck in the situation, what can you do?

I use Aspirin calms the stress response, extra B vits, Vit D/Vit K2, Progest-e, extra NDT, Chamomile tea at night.

 

[Diokine]

I've had some interesting experiences over the past few weeks that I want to share. I believe some of these are related to some supplements I have been taking regularly which have been working to great effect. These include high dose progesterone (30mg orally, approximately 3x / week,) along with pregnenolone, high dose thiamine (between 1 and 2 grams approximately every other day,) high dose B2, inositol (for phosphate action on thiamine and kidney inflation,), and betaine (trimethylglycine,) along with some stretching routines I have been doing on my spine.

There have been significant changes in my skeleton, especially in the thoracic region near my kidneys. I can feel the level of tension in my spine changing, and the vertebra are rearranging. Yesterday I reached a different space bodily, and it was associated with a profound change in my head space, it's hard to describe but I feel more "current" in reality. Like if every moment of what I'm currently experiencing could be seen like the surface of a river, I'm noticing more of the eddies and swirls as the water flows over features. I think it's from my kidneys working better. I can notice an overall reduction in "inflammation" in my blood, and that's what is allowing me to notice these things. I have associated this inflammation with gut irritation, excessive TDO activity, and high levels of kynurenic and quinolinic acids. It feels like whatever is causing these things in my being, their astringency and tendency to dry and injure my fine tissues.

Now I have noticed a degree of "bloodiness" in my perception. I can almost smell, or taste it. It's hard to describe. If you've smelled fresh meat or fresh liver, this is very close to the essence I'm talking about. I can feel this behind my eyes, in my back, and the sides of my neck. My sense of smell has been very keen lately. I think this reduction in inflammation in my blood has allowed it to do what it does better. I also notice a difference in the quality of my saliva, it is more viscous, and seems "saltier." Actually I feel saltier all over, like my body is holding on to it better.

During some of these stretching routines, I became aware of an area in the center of my belly, above my navel. This would be described of as the dantien in Taosist writings. I could feel how this place was very nearly the root of my entire sense of well being. I think what it is, materially speaking, is the ability of the vascualar system very near the kidneys and adrenals (iliac artery, renal artery, etc) to react to very fine signals. With more work, I was able to influence it. One of the ways was laying on a foam roller, bending back like a bow, and taking large breaths. During these breaths, encourage your spine to lengthen, and "press" into your core area, above your belly button. Do this in concert with your breathing. It's very hard to describe the action, it's like pressing inward with your muscles but it's not so much muscular as energetic. One time I did this I felt an express tract of energy running down the right side, and it felt like I was pulling an elastic hook that kept slipping, and through working with the breath and movement I was finally able to get enough traction to "hook" whatever this energy was back into my spine/kidneys. Immediately I felt the entire vascular space in my head change, my sinuses shifted, my guts garbled, and I could begin to feel blood pulsing through my kidneys. I don't really know what's going on here but whatever it is seems to be intimately tied with breathing and the maintenance of your flesh through your brain.

Some reading for fellow nerds;

The transient receptor potential family of ion channels​

The Involvement of TRP Channels in Bone Homeostasis​

Unraveling the mechanism by which TRPV4 mutations cause skeletal dysplasias​

 

[cjm]

I've had some interesting experiences over the past few weeks that I want to share. I believe some of these are related to some supplements I have been taking regularly which have been working to great effect. These include high dose progesterone (30mg orally, approximately 3x / week,) along with pregnenolone, high dose thiamine (between 1 and 2 grams approximately every other day,) high dose B2, inositol (for phosphate action on thiamine and kidney inflation,), and betaine (trimethylglycine,) along with some stretching routines I have been doing on my spine.

There have been significant changes in my skeleton, especially in the thoracic region near my kidneys. I can feel the level of tension in my spine changing, and the vertebra are rearranging. Yesterday I reached a different space bodily, and it was associated with a profound change in my head space, it's hard to describe but I feel more "current" in reality. Like if every moment of what I'm currently experiencing could be seen like the surface of a river, I'm noticing more of the eddies and swirls as the water flows over features. I think it's from my kidneys working better. I can notice an overall reduction in "inflammation" in my blood, and that's what is allowing me to notice these things. I have associated this inflammation with gut irritation, excessive TDO activity, and high levels of kynurenic and quinolinic acids. It feels like whatever is causing these things in my being, their astringency and tendency to dry and injure my fine tissues.

Now I have noticed a degree of "bloodiness" in my perception. I can almost smell, or taste it. It's hard to describe. If you've smelled fresh meat or fresh liver, this is very close to the essence I'm talking about. I can feel this behind my eyes, in my back, and the sides of my neck. My sense of smell has been very keen lately. I think this reduction in inflammation in my blood has allowed it to do what it does better. I also notice a difference in the quality of my saliva, it is more viscous, and seems "saltier." Actually I feel saltier all over, like my body is holding on to it better.

During some of these stretching routines, I became aware of an area in the center of my belly, above my navel. This would be described of as the dantien in Taosist writings. I could feel how this place was very nearly the root of my entire sense of well being. I think what it is, materially speaking, is the ability of the vascualar system very near the kidneys and adrenals (iliac artery, renal artery, etc) to react to very fine signals. With more work, I was able to influence it. One of the ways was laying on a foam roller, bending back like a bow, and taking large breaths. During these breaths, encourage your spine to lengthen, and "press" into your core area, above your belly button. Do this in concert with your breathing. It's very hard to describe the action, it's like pressing inward with your muscles but it's not so much muscular as energetic. One time I did this I felt an express tract of energy running down the right side, and it felt like I was pulling an elastic hook that kept slipping, and through working with the breath and movement I was finally able to get enough traction to "hook" whatever this energy was back into my spine/kidneys. Immediately I felt the entire vascular space in my head change, my sinuses shifted, my guts garbled, and I could begin to feel blood pulsing through my kidneys. I don't really know what's going on here but whatever it is seems to be intimately tied with breathing and the maintenance of your flesh through your brain.

Some reading for fellow nerds;

The transient receptor potential family of ion channels​

The Involvement of TRP Channels in Bone Homeostasis​

Unraveling the mechanism by which TRPV4 mutations cause skeletal dysplasias​

Great post, thanks for sharing your observations, I resonate with a lot of them.

Real quick question before I share my reaction: when you say "fine" tissues, do you mean like eyes and lungs?

My thought about the increased "bloodiness" is that its riboflavin. I've been taking thiamine, zinc, and magnesium in a stack the past week (and forever trying to make these work for me, a marginally healthy person) and not noticing anything long lasting, just transient relief from ruminating. But after 1200mg B2 the past 2 days -- per dosage in the migraine studies (15mg/kg) -- and only adding in my liver supplement and pot routine (I vape both THC and CBD) -- I noticed a constant flush that looked like a niacin flush but without the tingling feeling.

I was going to digest your post and move on with my life quietly but thoughtfully; however, this annoying but fastidious massage therapist-turned-pain blogger made mention of TRP and described them as such:

The proteins that help us feel the world: transduction (part 1)​

(didn't read yet but there's a fun graphic)

I'll have to go back and check your nerd links.

Final thought: the blood-brain-barrier is a blood vessel, right? That's the intimate connection between the kidneys, electronic control of blood vessels, and one's state of mind.

 

[Diokine]

@cjm
Thanks for the link, I appreciate the information.

The fine tissues I am referring to are things like epithelial ducts, my pancreas, liver, kidneys, and brain. I would consider my eyes and lungs also, though mostly I think about these things in terms of my kidneys.


--

I've noticed another interesting pattern while breathing carbogen after taking niacin. This treatment has been used for things like tinnitus, and to sensitize malignant tissue to radiation and chemotherapy. The idea is that niacin sensitizes endothelial tissue, carbon dioxide dilates vasculature, and oxygen does... oxygen stuff. So this treatment could be thought of as pressing oxygen rich blood into tissues that may have subliminal hypoxia due to excessive TDO/IDO activity.

So I take about 1 gram of niacin with about 1/4 tsp of baking soda in 8 oz of water. I begin to experience a flush within twenty minutes, usually along the sides of my neck and back of my head, though the sensation is in different places in different days, and I typically use the flushing response as an indicator of tissue NAD levels.

I'll begin my carbogen breathing, generally around 20% CO2 and 80% O2. The sensation in my head is markedly different in a flushing reaction, and I can feel areas of my body "stiffen" or "loosen," especially the left area of my groin and right side of my thoracic spine. What I have noticed during these experiments is a marked change in my body odor. The odor coming from my armpits becomes *very* astringent, almost like vinegar, with a touch of wet bath towel. I tend to notice this odor more from the left arm pit. I have reproduced this several times, and I think what I am smelling is the products of immune activation, mostly kynurenine and quinolinic acids. I have become very familiar with this smell now, and have keyed into the patterns of daily/hourly metabolism rhythms with regards to immune activation.

I think the carbogen/niacin treatment forces oxygen rich blood into activated tissue which has spent a very long time in a hypoxic environment, which has consequently upregulated TDO/IDO activity. This oxygen is then consumed by these enzymes and their products are released and are shuttled through the lymphatic system. There is a distinct headspace I get after these treatments, a sort of fogginess or disassociation, which passes in a few hours.

The Kynurenine Pathway As a Novel Link between Allergy and the Gut Microbiome​

 

[Diokine]

I have noticed some more interesting phenomenon related to posture and breathing.

I'm getting more indications that your posture, or how your cognitive apparatus perceives it's orientation in time and space (re; vestibular image,) is fundamental in generating cooperative metabolic patterns. This has led to some experiments on altering the way I hold my body, especially in relation to my head and neck. Normally, posture is a fairly unconscious process, but it is possible to imagine different axes and "points of authority" distributed throughout the physical body. The axis running up the spine and out through the top of the head is one of these.

One exercise I have been playing with is to use a medicine ball to generate some thoracic extension and traction, bending backwards over the ball and breathing. After some degree of tension is explored, I'll roll down to a sitting position, with my knees up and feet on the ground, and bend forward in some mild thoracic flexion. Here I use this up/down spinal axis as the point of authority for my whole body. What this means is I am imagining a line running up my spine and out the top of my head, and this line is where I place all my awareness. I'll take a large breath in, and exhale passively, until I reach what feels like a "neutral" breath position. Then, with my awareness still on this spinal line, I'll breathe. What I've noticed is that breathing seems to be actually driven by posture, instead of conscious operation of the diaphragm or other muscles. Fixing awareness on the top of my head, and drawing this point up subtlety, initiates a fully automatic breath, or one that doesn't require any conscious action on my part. These breaths tend to be very shallow and satisfying.

This gave way to an awareness of several points along my spine essentially. I can feel a reflexive connection between some area in the left side of my brain stem, in circuit with some of the tissue in the lower part of my jaw and throat, through the top left side of my heart, descending through my left kidney and grounding out in my sacrum,. Continuing this automatic breathing brings feelings of satisfaction and well being, and soon I can feel the area of my spine near my kidneys begin to move in concert with the breath (this area normally feels pretty static.) I've noticed here that after a few minutes of this, I can feel blood rushing through my kidneys, and I can feel them "working" in essence. It gives way to a feeling of very harmonious interface with time and space, as if I am consciously "blooming" into existence, and it feels very pleasureable.

Stochastic Resonance Activity Influences Serum Tryptophan Metabolism in Healthy Human Subjects​

Stochastic resonance therapy (SRT) is used for rehabilitation of patients with various neuropsychiatric diseases. An alteration in tryptophan metabolism along the kynurenine pathway has been identified in the central and peripheral nervous systems in patients with neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases and during the aging process. This study investigated the effect of SRT as an exercise activity on serum tryptophan metabolites in healthy subjects.

Locus Coeruleus as a vigilance centre for active inspiration and expiration in rats​

At rest, inspiration is an active process while expiration is passive. However, high chemical drive (hypercapnia or hypoxia) activates central and peripheral chemoreceptors triggering reflex increases in inspiration and active expiration. The Locus Coeruleus contains noradrenergic neurons (A6 neurons) that increase their firing frequency when exposed to hypercapnia and hypoxia. Using recently developed neuronal hyperpolarising technology in conscious rats, we tested the hypothesis that A6 neurons are a part of a vigilance centre for controlling breathing under high chemical drive and that this includes recruitment of active inspiration and expiration in readiness for flight or fight. Pharmacogenetic inhibition of A6 neurons was without effect on resting and on peripheral chemoreceptors-evoked inspiratory, expiratory and ventilatory responses. On the other hand, the number of sighs evoked by systemic hypoxia was reduced. In the absence of peripheral chemoreceptors, inhibition of A6 neurons during hypercapnia did not affect sighing, but reduced both the magnitude and incidence of active expiration, and the frequency and amplitude of inspiration. These changes reduced pulmonary ventilation. Our data indicated that A6 neurons exert a CO2-dependent modulation of expiratory drive. The data also demonstrate that A6 neurons contribute to the CO2-evoked increases in the inspiratory motor output and hypoxia-evoked sighing.

Neijing Tu​

 

[Diokine]

For the past few weeks I've been taking an adrenal extract from pure encapsulations, and it's worked to great effect. There was definitely an adjustment period for the first week or so, with a tendency towards elevated heart rate and slight hyperactivity and mild sleep disturbance. This settled into a clean balance point, and gave me incredible energy. Now, when I take thyroid hormone, I can feel what it is doing. This was the case many years ago when I first started supplementing it, but over time it became difficult to distinguish what it's effects were, even with regular use. A welcome effect of the adrenal extract use is a drastic reduction in lower back and joint pain.

I'm also consuming a lot of white sugar - about a cup per day spread throughout, in spoonfuls. It's absolutely delicious and I've begun to crave it. Many times after eating the sugar, within one or two minutes I'll experience a burst of heat radiating from my face and neck. This is accompanied by deep satisfying breathing and lasts for five minutes or so. I've made it a point to not consume sugar within about two hours of consuming fat, when I do consume the two close to each other there is a distinct sort of foggy headspace and pressure that feels unpleasant. Most days I have also been drinking two pints of fresh squeezed, salted orange juice. I noticed on the days that I didn't drink the orange juice I tended towards a degree of anxiety, and found that my need for potassium has greatly increased.

I ate a 6oz portion of liver last week, early in the day, and during my stretching routine in the evening had some interesting observations. I could feel a degree of "density" in several points along my spine, especially near my sacrum. It's hard to describe how these points were different other than I was more aware of them, and they had a "mustardy" or "bitter" sort of property to them. Sort of like the difference between manipulating a gyroscope that is not spinning versus one that is. Again I was aware of the tracts of energy running up and down my spine, looping around towards the top of my head, through my eyes. The interface of these dense "spinning" points in my spine seemed to interface harmonically with this looping energy,

Attempts to alter the "pressure" of this interaction seemed to change the geometry of whatever I was observing, and I could feel this pressure throughout my organs. Basically, the image of whatever was making the shape of my face was generated by these two tracts of energy.

 

[Lollipop2]

For the past few weeks I've been taking an adrenal extract from pure encapsulations, and it's worked to great effect. There was definitely an adjustment period for the first week or so, with a tendency towards elevated heart rate and slight hyperactivity and mild sleep disturbance. This settled into a clean balance point, and gave me incredible energy. Now, when I take thyroid hormone, I can feel what it is doing. This was the case many years ago when I first started supplementing it, but over time it became difficult to distinguish what it's effects were, even with regular use. A welcome effect of the adrenal extract use is a drastic reduction in lower back and joint pain.

I'm also consuming a lot of white sugar - about a cup per day spread throughout, in spoonfuls. It's absolutely delicious and I've begun to crave it. Many times after eating the sugar, within one or two minutes I'll experience a burst of heat radiating from my face and neck. This is accompanied by deep satisfying breathing and lasts for five minutes or so. I've made it a point to not consume sugar within about two hours of consuming fat, when I do consume the two close to each other there is a distinct sort of foggy headspace and pressure that feels unpleasant. Most days I have also been drinking two pints of fresh squeezed, salted orange juice. I noticed on the days that I didn't drink the orange juice I tended towards a degree of anxiety, and found that my need for potassium has greatly increased.

I ate a 6oz portion of liver last week, early in the day, and during my stretching routine in the evening had some interesting observations. I could feel a degree of "density" in several points along my spine, especially near my sacrum. It's hard to describe how these points were different other than I was more aware of them, and they had a "mustardy" or "bitter" sort of property to them. Sort of like the difference between manipulating a gyroscope that is not spinning versus one that is. Again I was aware of the tracts of energy running up and down my spine, looping around towards the top of my head, through my eyes. The interface of these dense "spinning" points in my spine seemed to interface harmonically with this looping energy,

Attempts to alter the "pressure" of this interaction seemed to change the geometry of whatever I was observing, and I could feel this pressure throughout my organs. Basically, the image of whatever was making the shape of my face was generated by these two tracts of energy.
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What an interesting update!