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Alyssa Luck

Alyssa Luck

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Alyssa Luck

Hypnotherapy for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease

Alyssa Luck · Mar 14, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Summary: Hypnotherapy is a mind-body therapy that may have therapeutic potential for IBD, although it’s a bit less practical to implement at home compared to other mind-body therapies such as meditation. Thus far, clinical trials in IBS have shown more impressive results than those in IBD, but there is some preliminary evidence that hypnotherapy could help maintain remission in UC patients who are already in remission, and reduce heart rate and inflammatory markers in those with active disease. The precise mechanism of action behind hypnotherapy remains to be elucidated, but the research of Robert Becker into the electrical systems of the body provides some fascinating glimpses into what may be happening to the mind and body in states of hypnosis.

This article is part of the IBD Index. Last updated on March 14, 2022.

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Meditation and Mindfulness for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease

Alyssa Luck · Mar 14, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Summary: Meditation and mindfulness are becoming increasingly popular in the health sphere, and rightly so – ample evidence indicates that these practices are extremely beneficial for health. However, as far as their practical efficacy in managing IBD, the jury is still out. Clinical trials in IBD have fairly consistently shown improvements in overall quality of life, but thus far haven’t demonstrated improvements in flare rate or severity. That said, trials in a variety of patient populations have shown that mindfulness appears to down-regulate NF-κB activity, reflecting an overall less inflammatory gene expression profile. Other evidence supports the idea that mindfulness markedly changes how the central nervous system physiologically responds to stressors, including down-regulation of sympathetic nervous system and HPA-axis activity. Taken together, it appears likely that mindfulness could confer more measurable benefits with regards to inflammation and disease progression in IBD over the long term.

This article is part of the IBD Index. Last updated on March 14, 2022.

Mind-body medicine is currently an area of particular research focus for me, so you can expect this post to be expanded and updated in the near future! Follow me on Instagram for personal content related to mind-body medicine, as well as snippets of interesting research that might not make it into a blog post.

Mindfulness is one of those golden health practices that I call “no brainers” – in other words, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. At the outset, I can say that I’d recommend some type of mindfulness practice to every person with IBD, almost without exception (and anyone who knows me knows that I’m not usually in the business of recommending things).

So if you want to learn more, read on. Otherwise, save your time and go meditate!

[Read more…] about Meditation and Mindfulness for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Ulcerative Colitis

Alyssa Luck · Mar 14, 2022 · Leave a Comment

This article is part of the IBD Index. Last updated on March 14, 2022.

I initially focused on either UC-specific or general IBD evidence, but hope to eventually update this post to include Crohn’s-specific evidence as well.

What is hyperbaric oxygen therapy?
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) involves inhaling 100% oxygen at greater than atmospheric pressure for a period of time, usually between 30-120 min. This is done either in a single-person pressurized chamber, or in a multi-person room where oxygen is delivered via hoods or masks. Treatments can take place in hospitals or outpatient clinics, or at home with soft hyperbaric oxygen chambers (although the efficacy of soft chambers is debated).

HBOT is most commonly used for refractory wound healing in situations like advanced diabetes, severe burns, and skin grafts, but it’s being investigated for therapeutic potential in a number of different conditions (including IBD!). Few clinical trials have been conducted so far, but the ones that have (plus the documented case studies) are extremely promising (see references below).

[Read more…] about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Ulcerative Colitis

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and IBD

Alyssa Luck · Mar 14, 2022 · Leave a Comment

This article is part of the IBD Index. Last updated on March 14, 2022.

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO, is one area of research in the field of intestinal health that has gone from relative obscurity to almost totally mainstream just in the past decade. As research has progressed, the name “overgrowth” has become a bit of a misnomer, with recent evidence indicating that the issue isn’t bacterial overgrowth per se, but rather bacterial dysbiosis in the small intestine.

In any case, SIBO is often identified in patients with IBD*, and can both affect and be affected by other IBD-related disease processes. Therefore, the question of whether and how to treat it is highly relevant. While treatment of SIBO is certainly a lever one can pull that may affect symptoms and overall disease state, SIBO is also often a symptom of other dysfuctions and environmental factors, such that addressing those other factors could resolve the SIBO without explicit treatment. And because testing for and treating SIBO is often quite complicated, it’s best to take it in context and consider whether there are other “no-brainer” levers that could be pulled first.

[Read more…] about Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and IBD

Vagus Nerve Stimulation for IBD

Alyssa Luck · Jan 27, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Summary: Vagus nerve stimulation is an up-and-coming intervention for chronic inflammatory disorders including IBD. Clinically, it involves electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve through implanted or external devices, but natural methods such as yoga, meditation, and specific breathing practices have also been shown to increase vagal tone. Research in both animals and humans indicates that stimulation of the vagus nerve is able to reduce inflammation via various neural and hormonal pathways, with similar targets to popular pharmacological IBD treatments. Clinically, this is an exciting new treatment that is actively being researched; practically, vagus nerve stimulation via natural methods provides a safe way to reduce inflammation and improve health.

This article is part of the IBD Index. Last updated on January 27, 2022.

Vagus nerve stimulation is an ongoing area of research and experimentation for me. If you want to follow along on my personal journey, follow me on Instagram! Eventually, I will update and expand this post as well.

Table of Contents
What is vagus nerve stimulation?
What is the vagus nerve?
What’s the science behind vagus nerve stimulation for IBD?
        Activation of the HPA axis
        Cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway
        Activation of sympathetic anti-inflammatory pathways
Is there clinical evidence for vagus nerve stimulation in IBD?
Are there any risks to vagus nerve stimulation?
How can I increase vagal tone at home?
        Mind-body disciplines: yoga, tai chi, qigong, meditation
        Left-nostril breathing
        Other possible interventions
Review of the literature
Technical details of clinical vagus nerve stimulation

What is Vagus Nerve Stimulation?

In the clinical research setting, vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) refers to stimulation of the vagus nerve via electrical impulses. This can be done either invasively, via a surgical implant, or noninvasively, via electrodes stuck to the skin in the ear. (For technical details, check out this section at the bottom of this article.)

VNS has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of drug‐resistant epilepsy and depression, and interest is building for its application in the treatment of chronic inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis (and of course, IBD). VNS is not yet available as a clinical treatment for IBD, but two small trials have been conducted in patients with Crohn’s Disease (CD), and two more trials are underway.

Outside of clinical research, talk of stimulating the vagus nerve typically refers to at-home practices that naturally stimulate the vagus nerve, including things like deep breathing and meditation. More on these techniques below!

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Quitting Controlled-Arch Braces [AGGA 2.5-year update]

Alyssa Luck · Jan 11, 2022 · 5 Comments

Hi friends! Today I bring you the news that after 1.5 years in controlled-arch braces (CAB), and over 2.5 years since beginning my AGGA journey, I have decided to quit CAB.

It’s not quite as dramatic as it sounds – I do have to finish up treatment somehow, after all – but this decision did come about in concert with a decline in confidence with the CAB process in general, so I want to share my rationale and current thoughts.

If you’d rather watch/listen to my updates, you can check out the two videos at the bottom of the post. (As a reminder, I do try to post updates to YouTube regularly, and I’m usually a bit delayed posting them to the blog, so subscribe on YouTube if you want to see updates right away.) I also linked all my AGGA update posts/videos to date at the bottom of this post.

[Read more…] about Quitting Controlled-Arch Braces [AGGA 2.5-year update]

CBCT Results: An Update on Implants [AGGA/CAB Update]

Alyssa Luck · Sep 3, 2021 · 2 Comments

Hey friends! Latest AGGA/CAB video update is up on YouTube, and as promised, below is a snapshot from my CBCT scan.

First, to summarize the video: this was supposed to be the appointment where my dentist showed me my CBCT results, told me that I had plenty of space and bone for implants (as expected), and referred me to the implant dentist for an initial consultation and to get on the books.

INSTEAD, he told me that despite having 7mm gaps in my mouth, I do not have 7mm gaps between the roots below the surface, which means not enough room for implants.

This was a huge bomb drop, since we’d been aligned from the beginning that the plan was to do implants, and he never once had any doubts that that would be possible for me. Up until he looked at the CBCT.

[Read more…] about CBCT Results: An Update on Implants [AGGA/CAB Update]

AGGA/Controlled Arch Braces Progress Update (13 months in braces, 26 months total)

Alyssa Luck · Aug 9, 2021 · Leave a Comment

Monthly video update below!

I did ask my dentist about the concerns I expressed in my last update, and he was very reassuring. I share more details in the video, but he said that the regression I noticed is likely tooth tipping, and that will be corrected (ie my teeth will be tipped outward again) before I get my braces off. He also said my bite will certainly be corrected using rubber bands before getting my braces off. Was still a bit confused about the spacers, but he seemed confident and not concerned, so I’m just going to trust him!

AGGA/Controlled Arch Braces Progress Update (12 months in braces, 25 months total)

Alyssa Luck · Jul 13, 2021 · Leave a Comment

Hi friends! Posted another video update on YouTube (see below).

Cliff notes: Things are still going smoothly, although I do have a couple concerns that I plan to raise with my dentist at my next appointment.

First, I’m worried that I’ve lost some of my forward growth during the braces phase, but I’m hoping it’s just a matter of tooth tipping (which can be corrected) and not true growth loss.

Second, I need to confirm his plans to fix my occlusion. At my last appointment, they put spacers between my bottom molars to “encourage the teeth to erupt until the bite is closed.” But that seems like a strange thing to do when I still have bite pads on the left. Why would you use spacers to prompt teeth to settle into an uneven bite? Wouldn’t it make sense to remove the bite pads, THEN use spacers??

Not a huge deal either way (they can always put in spacers again), but it definitely triggered my paranoia/trust issues. I’ll keep you guys posted!

Akkermansia Muciniphila: Bane or Boon for IBD?

Alyssa Luck · Mar 21, 2021 · Leave a Comment

Summary: Akkermansia muciniphila is a commensal bacteria found in healthy human colons that is widely regarded as a promising next-generation probiotic. Researchers have mainly focused on therapeutic potential for obesity and diabetes, but there’s also substantial interest in the field of IBD, particularly for its beneficial effects on gut barrier function. However, a minority of researchers have suggested that Akkermansia muciniphila could worsen colitis. Despite that, most of the evidence thus far suggests that A. muciniphila could potentially be leveraged as a beneficial therapy for IBD and gut health in general once more research has been done.

This post is part of the IBD Index.

Table of Contents
Akkermansia Muciniphila: Fast Facts
Akkermansia Muciniphila Degrades Colonic Mucus – But That’s a Good Thing
Akkermansia Muciniphila Strengthens the Gut Barrier
Akkermansia Muciniphila May Promote Intestinal Wound Healing
Akkermansia Muciniphila May Modulate Immune Response to Commensal Bacteria
From Mechanisms to Colitis Models in Mice
Schrödinger’s Bacteria: Akkermansia Muciniphila Both Promotes and Ameliorates Colitis
So What Does This Mean for Humans with IBD?
Akkermansia Muciniphila and IBD? It’s Complicated.
Should I Take Akkermansia Muciniphila?

Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria species may still be the darlings of the probiotic world, but there’s a new kid on the block: Akkermansia muciniphila.

This bacteria was isolated for the first time in 2004 (1) so it’s still relatively new to the game, but you can see from this fun trend analysis (2) that research has exploded, especially in the last couple years.

Source: Hojat et al., Global scientific output trend for Akkermansia muciniphila research: a bibliometric and scientometric analysis, 2020

So what is Akkermansia muciniphila, and why the interest all of a sudden?

[Read more…] about Akkermansia Muciniphila: Bane or Boon for IBD?
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Hi! I’m Alyssa. I like thunderstorms and cats, hate wearing shoes, and enjoy devising extensive research projects for myself in my free time. This is me in Bali with a monkey on my shoulder. And this is my blog, where I muse about health-related topics and document my relentless self-guinea pigging. If you want to know more about me, click here!

alyssa.luck

alyssa.luck
Photo dump from the last year. Thanks to everyone Photo dump from the last year. Thanks to everyone who made 28 the best yet - excited for 29🥰

(PS. In case anyone wants to know what it’s like in my head, I was going to write something like “year 28” or “my 28th year” but then I realized that the year between your 28th and 29th birthdays is not your 28th year of life, it’s your 29th year. I am turning 29 because I have been alive for 29 years. So then I had a whole thing about how to word it without being inaccurate and ended up going with what you see above which is vague and weird but the point is it was a good year and I love all the people in my life dearly)
Biology of Belief (2005) was written by Bruce Lipt Biology of Belief (2005) was written by Bruce Lipton, who earned a PhD in developmental biology in 1971 and was an anatomy professor and academic researcher in the 70s and 80s. Despite the book's presentation and Lipton's background, this is not a science book. It is an exposition of an ideology, supported by haphazard and poorly contextualized nuggets of evidence, rhetorical leaps, and a mind-boggling overuse of analogies. 

The book largely failed to deliver on its promised content. What it does is argue for the primacy of the environment over DNA in controlling life; propose that the cell membrane rather than the nucleus is the "brain" of the cell; invoke quantum physics to explain why modern medicine fails; explain that our behavior is largely controlled by our subconscious mind; inform parents that they therefore have a great deal of control over the destiny of their children; and conclude that humans must become nonviolent protectors of the environment and of humanity because Everything Is Connected.

It’s not that these points aren’t relevant to the topic at hand - they are. But they were not connected in a coherent way that would explain how “belief” actually works (like…biologically), and the treatment of scientific concepts throughout was careless, or perhaps disingenuous.

I think he's correct about many things, some of them being common knowledge. For instance, the "new" science of epigenetics is now old news, as is the critical role of parenting and early environment in shaping a child’s future. But however important these and attendant concepts may be, the book did not do a good job explaining, supporting, or connecting them. 

As far as practical guidance, he refers the reader to a list of resources on his website, which is fine, but I expected some scientific insight into how/why those modalities work. None was given. 

On the plus side, the book was quite thought-provoking, and I came away with loads of references and topics to follow up on. My favorite line? "There cannot be exceptions to a theory; exceptions simply mean that a theory is not fully correct."
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science (section 382) Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science (section 382), as quoted in the introduction to Thus Spoke Zarathustra because I like the translation better.
This paper totally changed the way I think about e This paper totally changed the way I think about early nervous system development and the relationship between physiology and sociality. 

The authors propose that newborn babies are not inherently social, and have just one goal in life: physiological homeostasis. I.e. staying alive. This means nutrients, warmth, and regulation of breath and heart rate, i.e. autonomic arousal (it’s well-accepted that newborns sync their breathing and heart rate with caregivers through skin to skin contact). 

All these things are traditionally provided by a loving caregiver. So what the baby experiences during the first weeks of life, over and over, is a shift from physiological perturbation to homeostasis (a highly rewarding event inherently) REPEATEDLY PAIRED with things like the sound of a caregiver’s voice and seeing their face. Thus, over time, the face/voice stimuli become rewarding as well. 

The authors argue that THIS is the beginning of humans’ wiring for sociality, and may explain why loving social interactions can have such a profound regulating effect on physiology throughout life: because the brain was trained for it at an early age. 

This framework holds all kinds of fascinating implications for what happens if that initial “training” isn’t so ideal. What if the return to nutritional homeostasis via feeding is paired with negative expressions and vocalizations rather than loving ones, perhaps as could occur with PPD? What happens if the caregiver has poor autonomic regulation, such that social stimuli become paired with cardiorespiratory overexcitement in the baby? Could that have potential for influencing later introversion vs extroversion? (Because if social interaction is paired with autonomic overexcitement, that could lead to social interaction literally being more energetically draining, which is what introverts experience. Thoughts?)

For my energy metabolism enthusiasts: Table 1 in the paper draws a link between metabolic rate and sociality across species. Swipe for a screenshot. 

Anyway, check out the paper! It’s free, just google “growing a social brain pdf.”
I’ll be under general anesthesia in a couple day I’ll be under general anesthesia in a couple days to have two tooth implants placed, and I think I’ll take the opportunity to have a little heart-to-heart with my subconscious mind. A bit of medically-assisted self-hypnosis, if you will. 

I randomly stumbled upon these papers a couple months ago - an RCT showing reduced post-op pain in patients who listened to recorded positive messages while under general anesthesia, plus a post-hoc analysis of the same data that found reduced post-op nausea and vomiting in a subset of high-risk patients. 

The full review paper from the first slide is unfortunately in German, but it has long been recognized that even when unconscious, the patient is listening (for better or for worse). 

It boggles my mind that it isn’t standard of care to have patients listen to recordings like this while under sedation, considering that almost nothing could be easier, safer, or cheaper, and we have at least some evidence of significant efficacy. I mean c’mon, what more could you want from an intervention? 

(Yeah, I know. Profit. If anyone still thinks that our medical system operates with patient well-being as the foremost goal, you’re deluding yourself.)

“There should be a fundamental change in the way patients are treated in the operating room and intensive care unit, and background noise and careless conversations should be eliminated.”

“Perhaps it is now time to finally heed this call and to use communication with unconscious patients that goes beyond the most necessary announcement of interventions and is therapeutically effective through positive suggestions. When in doubt, assume that the patient is listening.”
If you've seen "vagus nerve exercises" that have y If you've seen "vagus nerve exercises" that have you moving your eyes or tilting your head, you've probably encountered the work of Stanley Rosenberg. The exercises he created and introduced in his 2017 book now appear in instructional videos all over the internet. 
 
The book itself has much to recommend it: it's accessible, it's practical, it's inspiring. But it has one major flaw: the solid practical and informational content regarding the cranial nerves is framed in terms of the scientifically dubious polyvagal theory. 
 
I particularly enjoyed the book as an introduction to the therapeutic arena of bodywork, of which Rosenberg is a skilled practitioner. His book is full of case reports that demonstrate how immensely powerful extremely subtle movements and physical manipulations can be. These do need to be kept in perspective: it's a small sample size of the most remarkable cases, and the results were achieved within the supportive clinical environment of a skilled practitioner. You can tell from his descriptions how refined his technique is. But nevertheless, it was a paradigm-shifting read for me, and the exercises give you something concrete to play around with. 
 
The book also brought the cranial nerves and the concept of “social engagement” to the fore as arbiters of health. Rosenberg has a solid background in cranial nerve anatomy and shares many interesting tidbits and considerations that you don’t typically hear; for instance, the potential impact of dental and orthodontic work on cranial nerve function.
 
So, is it worth reading? If any of the above piques your interest, go for it! Just read my post on polyvagal theory first – you can use the book to practice separating the wheat (solid informational content) from the chaff (pseudoscientific framing). If nothing else, the book is a nice reminder that genuine healers who get lasting results for their patients do exist.

But if you just want to try the exercises, you can easily find them all on YouTube. 

“You learn techniques to understand principles. When you understand the principles, you will create your own techniques.” -Stanley Rosenberg
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  • Polyvagal Theory: A Critical Appraisal
  • Lymphatic Support for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease
  • Heart Rate Variability 101: What It Is, How It’s Measured, and Controversies in the Literature
  • Autonomic Nervous System 101: Anatomy and Physiology
  • Vitamin A Detox Diet for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease

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