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Alyssa Luck

Alyssa Luck

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Dynamic Neural Retraining System: Can DNRS Work for IBD?

Alyssa Luck · May 5, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Summary: The Dynamic Neural Retraining System was created by Annie Hopper to heal herself from severe multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS), and since 2008 has been widely used by others with MCS and other “mysterious” chronic illnesses such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and even long-COVID, with seemingly miraculous results. The program is built upon the premise that at the root of all these illnesses is a maladaptive brain response to environmental stimuli, causing the body to react as if harmless stimuli are life-threatening. Although DNRS is not widely used or marketed for IBD, evidence indicates that maladaptive nervous system responses are likely a component of the disease, and at least one IBD patient has reported success using DNRS. Although DNRS is not designed with IBD patients in mind, the principles it teaches may very well be the missing piece for many people who have tried just about everything else.

This article is part of the IBD Index. Last updated on May 5, 2022.

The Dynamic Neural Retraining System, or DNRS, is one of those programs that appears to toe the line between “this is totally miraculous” and “this is total bullshit.” How could someone possibly go from, say, being wheelchair- and house-bound, and only able to eat a few foods, to being totally and completely healthy, just by doing some mental exercises?

It sounds like magic, but this is the promise of neuroplasticity. It’s not easy, but it’s powerful. And for many with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, it could be the missing piece – the reason that all of the drugs and diets and supplements haven’t worked, despite great effort and dedication.

Table of Contents:
What is DNRS?
How does DNRS work?
Do people with IBD have limbic system impairment?
Can DNRS work for ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease?
How much does DNRS cost? Is it worth it?
Helpful resources

What is the Dynamic Neural Retraining System?

The Dynamic Neural Retraining System (DNRS) is a program of targeted mental exercises, affirmations, and visualizations that was designed using the principles of neuroplasticity to “rewire” the brain.

It was created by Annie Hopper in the process of healing herself from severe multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS), electric hypersensitivity syndrome, and fibromyalgia. In the DNRS course, she explains how her conditions had become so severe that she had to live in a tent and then on a houseboat, because she was too sensitive to chemicals and EMFs to live in her house.

Anyone who is familiar with MCS and related chronic illnesses knows that there isn’t much that Western medicine can do to help, and many doctors will even act as if the patient is exaggerating or making up their symptoms, because they cannot find anything physically wrong with their bodies.

DNRS is built on the premise that behind all of these “mysterious” chronic illnesses is something Annie calls “limbic system impairment.” Per the Queensland Brain Institute, “the limbic system is the part of the brain involved in our behavioral and emotional responses, especially when it comes to behaviors we need for survival: feeding, reproduction and caring for our young, and fight or flight responses.”

The idea behind limbic system impairment is that the brain is interpreting harmless environmental stimuli (for instance, perfumes, EMFs, foods, sounds, or even social interactions) as life-threatening, leading to very real physical reactions. Annie frames it as the brain being stuck in “fight or flight” mode, but I don’t think that quite captures the complexity.

But in any case, it’s very clear that traumatic experiences of all sorts (whether physical like a car accident, biological like a viral infection, or mental/emotional trauma) can “rewire” the brain in maladaptive ways. DNRS was designed to reverse that.

How Does DNRS Work?

This page on the DNRS website covers what you can expect from the program. I’d recommend watching the video on the page – I found it very helpful to understand the principles behind the program.

DNRS works using the principles of neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to change and adapt in both structure and function in response to experience. Although it probably seems obvious now that the brain can change (how else would we learn new things?), the concept of neuroplasticity is relatively new, and wasn’t widely discussed until the mid 1900s.

I find it easiest to think of the brain like any other part of our body. Like a muscle or a bone, it changes and adapts in response to our environment. And like a muscle, it has certain patterns and pathways that it relaxes into when we aren’t exerting intentional effort (slouching, anyone?).

However, with intentional effort, we can act out new patterns and pathways. Like exercising our muscles, it’s hard and takes focus and concentration, but with enough consistent repetition over time, these new patterns and pathways become our default. Just as our muscles can eventually maintain good posture out of habit, we can retrain our brains to maintain adaptive signaling and thought patterns out of habit, too.

Do People With IBD Have Limbic System Impairment?

So that’s cool and all, but do people with IBD actually have limbic system impairment? The common conception of IBD is that it’s a body disorder, not a brain disorder, and under that paradigm, DNRS seems totally irrelevant.

However, it’s well-accepted now that IBD involves – among other things – a maladaptive immune response to commensal flora in the intestine. And the immune system is, of course, controlled by the brain (albeit unconsciously). In that sense, IBD certainly fits into a framework of “maladaptive response to harmless stimuli” as a result of patterns of nervous system activation.

I plan to delve far more deeply into the relevant science in another post, but for now, you can check out this 2019 review article: The role of the autonomic nervous system in the pathogenesis and therapy of IBD. I’ve also talked about this topic some in my article about vagus nerve stimulation for IBD.

Essentially, maintaining balance between the branches of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic) is crucial for maintaining proper homeostasis. The sympathetic branch is responsible for mounting the body’s defenses (including inflammation) in threatening situations, while the parasympathetic branch is responsible for turning off that response and returning the body to a state of growth and repair.

Therefore, sympathetic overactivity or parasympathetic underactivity can lead to unresolved inflammation and other effects of chronic stress.

We have evidence that disrupted autonomic balance is involved in IBD. And the limbic system regulates the autonomic nervous system. So whether or not you choose to use the term “limbic system impairment,” I think it’s highly likely that most people with IBD have some type of nervous system imbalance that is contributing to ongoing disease processes, and that therapies targeting the limbic system could address that imbalance.

Can DNRS Work for Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s Disease?

DNRS was designed for and is primarily marketed towards people with chronic illnesses such as multiple chemical sensitivities, electromagnetic hypersensitivity, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, PTSD, anxiety, POTS, and chronic Lyme disease; essentially, the patient population that Western medicine has the least to offer.

However, I’ve seen at least one success story from a patient who resolved her ulcerative colitis using DNRS, and quite a few from people with IBS or food sensitivities.

My current thinking is that the ideal IBD healing protocol would include some type of neural retraining (not necessarily DNRS) along with other modalities like diet, environmental optimization, and other targeted therapies. The paradigm I’ve recently adopted for thinking about chronic illness is that one must create a healthy environment, and then adapt to it. We tend to focus on the former; brain retraining addresses the latter.

How Much Does DNRS Cost? Is it Worth It?

The online program is $350. I’m not sure how much the in-person seminars cost.

Is it worth it? Hard for me to say, because I haven’t been able to compare it to any other brain retraining programs out there; this just happens to be the one I came across first, so it’s the one I bought.

Here are my personal reservations about the DNRS program:

  • the online program itself is a bit haphazard and outdated, and I struggled to get the videos to play at times and have had some trouble logging in
  • your $350 only gets you access to the program for one year, rather than lifetime access, and they also try to upcharge you to buy additional videos
  • it’s designed for people with MCS and similar illnesses, not IBD

However, they do offer a money back guarantee, and will refund the full $350 after six months if you haven’t experienced benefits from the program.

I personally think the purchase was worth it, because despite the above-listed shortcomings, I’ve found the framework it offers invaluable. That said, I have no idea whether a different brain retraining program might be better.

If you’re on the fence, I’d say go for it. If not this specific program, one of the other brain retraining programs available. (And if you try a different one, tell me about it!)

Helpful Resources

  • About the DNRS program
  • DNRS YouTube channel with many success stories
  • Annie’s book, Wired for Healing
  • Podcast interview: Chris Kresser with Annie Hopper
  • Podcast interview: Phoenix Helix (Eileen Laird) with Annie Hopper
  • Podcast interview: Dr. Ruscio with Annie Hopper

Related

Mind-Body Therapies brain retraining, Crohn's disease, DNRS, Dynamic Neural Retraining System, IBD, limbic system, mind-body, mindfulness, ulcerative colitis, visualization

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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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