Rejection really can break your heart and inflame your guts

Here is a digest of a paper by George M. Slavich et al. at UCLA which indicates a clear causal link between the stress from feeling socially rejected and inflammation. This reports one of his many papers looking at the effects of mind-body interaction and would appear to be very relevant to the repeated flares characteristic of  IBD, (the autoimmune conditions known as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, which includes Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis). Being the reluctant Black Sheep really does seem to have an inflammatory effect!

Image courtesy of uwillreadnews.blogspot
 http://uwillreadnews.blogspot.com/2010/08/rejection-affects-health.html  
Here is an abstract from the original paper:
"Although stress-induced increases in inflammation have been implicated in several major disorders, including cardiovascular disease and depression, the neurocognitive pathways that underlie inflammatory responses to stress remain largely unknown. To examine these processes, we recruited 124 healthy young adult participants to
complete a laboratory-based social stressor while markers of inflammatory activity were obtained from oral fluids..........
For the full paper click here:

 http://www.georgeslavich.com/pubs/Slavich_PNAS_2010.pdf

Stress, Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease flares

Here is a WebMD article on the relationship between stress and Ulcerative Colitis. It includes a neat summary of the mechanism which applies equally to the role of stress in the inflammation exhibited in Crohn's Disease. It includes patient accounts of how stress causes their Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) to flare.

http://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/ulcerative-colitis/features/link-between-stress-ulcerative-colitis

Image courtesy of  healthyalways.net

Inflammation in Crohn's Disease
Image courtesy of medicablogging.blogspot.com

Vulnerability is essential for mental health

I was writing a new post about the effect on the body of internalising feelings rather than expressing them. I have found that Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis in particular and other autoimmune conditions in general such as psoriasis appear to respond in particular to the stress that results from being a different persona from the one being lived. This video talks in a very clear way about the importance of living from  your "Core Self" (Copyright) as I talk about in my BUDI(TM) program.
First watch this; it illustrates so well how modern day humans often block off feelings and live behind the person we think we ought to be. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.htm
Ted Talks are a wonderful resource and Brene Brown really does her opportunity justice. Enjoy, and please tell me what you think! - Joy

Reduce the pain of your humira / adalimumab injections!

This is for people with Crohn's who would like help with their Humira injections. Please read this a couple of times first to become familiar with it before starting.

1. Get into a comfortable position, shut your eyes and allow your body to relax completely from head to toe. Breathe deeply and slowly. 
2. When you are completely relaxed, open your eyes and imagine that your first 2 fingers of the opposite hand to the one that holds the syringe are anaesthetic fingers. 
3. Slowly and firmly run your fingers in small circles rhythmically over the area you are going to inject. Each small circle should take 2 seconds to complete. 
4. As you do this, watch your fingers and feel the area under your fingers becoming totally numb to a deep level. 
5. Notice the colour of the skin under your fingers change as the sensation disappears. 
6. Breathe in for two circles, and breathe out for two circles and continue to repeat. The more rhythmic are your circles, the less you can feel. 
7. When you are happy that it’s numb to a deep enough level, keep your fingers still, slightly apart, pressing firmly on the area and keeping your gaze completely focused on your fingers. For as long as you maintain your gaze on your fingers, the anaesthetic effect will last. 
8. Continue to breathe in the same rhythm – (in for 4 seconds and out for 4 seconds) and noticing how the numbness deepens. 
9. Still keeping your gaze completely fixed on your fingers, notice the patterns on the knuckles nearest your nails, and using only your peripheral vision, take your syringe and position the tip between your fingers. 
10. In one complete, relaxed out breath, notice the pressure of the syringe increasing to match the pressure of your fingers and watch how the rest of the sequence happens as though automatically by itself, and be amazed at how easily and effortlessly it is completed, almost without your noticing.
11. When everything is complete, as the numbness wears off, you’ll feel the glow of elation and satisfaction.

The little brain in the gut - read this if you are attending the webinar

For those of you who have asked to attend my (long awaited) webinar on the mind's influence on the body, please make sure you read this in preparation. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gut-second-brain even if you've read it before, it will still be good to refresh your memory. You may also want to revisit the videos of my interview with Dr Michael Gershon (father of modern day neurogastroenterology and author of Second brain (the little brain in the gut) which you will see if you scroll down to my older posts. If you would like to be notified of the webinar being announced you are welcome to send me your email address via private message on Facebook (@Crohn's Helper for friends page or @Crohn's Help page).  - Joy

IBD: Stress causes flares of IBD—how much evidence is enough?

IBD: Stress causes flares of IBD—how much evidence is enough?

As you know, I'm already convinced of this- this conviction underpins my work in helping people achieve remission of their  Crohn's, Ulcerative Colitis and other autoimmune disease symptoms.  

Here is a link to the teaser for an article by Jane M. Andrews & Gerald Holtmann. Subscription to the paper is $18, which I will gladly pay and summarise for you (copyright laws permitting) if there is sufficient interest. Please leave your comments below if you would like to hear more about their findings. 

IBD: Stress causes flares of IBD—how much evidence is enough?

P.S. HAVING LOOKED FURTHER INTO THE RELATED STUDIES THAT THESE TWO PEOPLE ARE INVOLVED IN, I THINK THE ABOVE TITLE IN THE PUBLICATION LINK BELOW IS MISLEADING. I'LL KEEP YOU UPDATED WITH MY SUBSEQUENT FINDINGS. SORRY - I TAKE CARE IN CHECKING THE INTEGRITY OF MY INFORMATION - THIS ONE GOT THROUGH THE NET.- JOY

http://www.nature.com/nrgastro/journal/v8/n1/full/nrgastro.2010.208.html

Image courtesy of roadtojersey.blogspot