Serotonin

Lilja · Post by **Lilja** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 6:32 am

Hi everybody, and a Happy New Year to all of you!

I came across this article from a seminar held in Oslo in October 2014. I give you the link, even though most of you cannot read Norwegian.

http://www.friskogfunksjonell.no/semina ... abel-tarm/

I will try to translate a summary of some of the topics from this seminar:

Professor Emeritus Arnold Berstad, who has worked with IBS for 30 years, opened his speech by congratulating the fact that a seminar has been possible to arrange. He said that IBS is a huge health problem, and that the authorities don’t understand much of it. Berstad thinks that up to 1 mill Norwegians suffer from IBS, and that 20-30% of the Norwegian population may suffer from gluten sensitivity.

Berstad means that the Rome III-criteria used in diagnosing IBS are difficult to use, and said that incomplete defecation seldom is mentioned, and thus this important symptom is disregarded when the whole picture of the patient’s symptoms is being created
.
Over a period of time Berstad has systematically registered the symptoms in 84 IBS-patients. His findings have been published in the article «Functional bowel symptoms, fibromyalgia and fatigue: a food induced triad?» . Some of the observed characteristics with the IBS-patients is that most of them are women, the average age is 37 years, BMI tends to be high, joint pain is common, and IBS-patients often suffer from Chronic Fatigue.

Berstad describes it like this: IBS-patients have a paralysis in their gut. He refers to his own research that shows that patients who are given lactulose will have a higher absorbtion of fluid in the small intestine, compared to healthy controls.

The cause of this paralysis is unknown, more research has to be done. For the time being only Berstand and his co-workers are looking into this connection.

Berstad presented his research that suggests a lack of serotonin as the root cause to the problems seen in IBS-patients. Normally 95 % of the serotonin in the body is in the gut where it is very important for the gut-peristaltic, while 5 % is in the brain, important to our memory/ability to concentrate and our mood.

A lot of complicated bio chemistry was presented around the connection between tryptofan, serotonin and IBS-problems; tryptofan being an essential amino acid necessary in the production of serotonin, and according to Berstad IBS-patients have an increased or higher breaking down of tryptofan than healthy patients.

Therefore, IBS-patients probably suffer from a lack of serotonin. The result of the strong breaking down of tryptofan has a lot of different consequences.

The IBS-patient may feel hyper sensitivie, have brain fog, be forgetful, do not sleep well and may also have a sweet hunger. Oxidative stress contributes to fibromyalgia. Auto immunity may result in Chronic Fatigue. Furthermore, you get a weakened motility in the gut, in other words a paralysis in the gut. You may read more about this in the article ´Tryptophan: ´essential´for the pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome?´.

Most of what he said during the seminar is well known to us, but I find his «serotonin-theory» interesting. Oh, I forgot one important thing: He thinks the primary cause to IBS are bacteria, probably staphylococus.

Lilja

Lilja · Post by **Lilja** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 9:20 am

Hi
I'm astonished to see that the article uses the expression "IBS" when Berstad actually is talking about IBD!

Lilja

Post by **tex** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 10:01 am

Lilja,

I could be wrong, but I believe that he uses the term "IBS" because he actually means "IBS". But you are correct — his comments about his own research using lactulose to reveal increased gut permeability, describe the leaky gut syndrome, and this is a symptom of IBD (not IBS). IMO he is simply confused (like most GI specialists) because MC and celiac disease are so commonly misdiagnosed as "IBS". Many doctors actually believe (or pretend to believe) that "IBS" is a disease. It's not — it's either the early stages of IBD, or a misdiagnosed case of IBD (usually MC or celiac disease).

Tex

Lilja · Post by **Lilja** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 10:27 am

tex wrote:Lilja,

I could be wrong, but I believe that he uses the term "IBS" because he actually means "IBS". But you are correct — his comments about his own research using lactulose to reveal increased gut permeability, describe the leaky gut syndrome, and this is a symptom of IBD (not IBS). IMO he is simply confused (like most GI specialists) because MC and celiac disease are so commonly misdiagnosed as "IBS". Many doctors actually believe (or pretend to believe) that "IBS" is a disease. It's not — it's either the early stages of IBD, or a misdiagnosed case of IBD (usually MC or celiac disease).

Tex

I think you are right. But, you did not comment on his serotonin-theory. Maybe that is old news to the board, but to me it was an interesting thought that I've never heard of.

Lilja

Post by **tex** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 12:40 pm

I'm sorry. I thought it was common knowledge that the intestines contain most of the body's supply of serotonin. That's the reason why anti-depressants trigger MC for so many people. If you will click on the link at the very top of this page (where it says, "Go to Home Page") and then scroll down that page to where it says, "Insights and Ponderings" you can read some of my thoughts on this issue. And there is a link in that post to a 2005 New York Times article that provides some background information on this topic, if you are interested in reading more about it.

The bottom line is that a few people (mostly those who have a digestive system with slower-than-normal motility, or irregular motility) find that certain antidepressants (such as small doses of 10–15 mg of amitriptyline) will help their motility to stabilize. For many/most of us though, antidepressants tend to promote MC reactions. The problem is that when we start fiddling with serotonin levels, it's not easy to find a proper balance. That's why antidepressant dosing is so critical, even when treating depression. And the tendency of antidepressants to create a dependency in the body can also generate serious long-term consequences.

Tex

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 5:10 pm

Lilja
the seratonin link to gut issues has been known for a while -

the link that gut issues and inflammation would be at the root cause of most health issues is not widely acknowledged.

One thing we have learnt in the past 12 months is what causes the imbalances with the brain chemicals,
- ongoing chronic inflammation, causes leaky gut, and allows toxins to lodge in the body
- ongoing chronic inflammation depletes key nutrients from our cells and impact the bodies ability to clear toxins etc
- if you google 'Methylation Cycle' and do some reading - this operation of our body is also linked to using key nutrients and cell health properly. (issues with this are made worse by ongoing inflammation)
- the methylation cycle is also linked to thyroid issues - which affects the adrenals, lymphathatic system, endocrine systems -

treat the root cause of the issues, and the body and its complex systems can operate properly and not need medications to 'fix' symptoms.

minimise inflammation, heal leaky gut, fix mineral/vitamin deficiencies, clear toxins, optimise cell health.
(and yes, it is easier said than done..)

Lilja · Post by **Lilja** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:40 am

Hi again,

In the film, dr Berstad says something about sauerkraut and fermented food & beverages, and that this is good for our gut flora, and that people with IBD should not be so afraid of fermented food. He calls IBD for an ecological problem in the gut ...

I have been on a very strict diet for a long time, and haven't had the courage to do any experiments, at least not in fermenting.

Have any of you experienced that fermented food is beneficial?

Lilja

Post by **tex** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 10:30 am

Hi Lilja,

After I was in remission (but still healing) I was able to tolerate sauerkraut, but I couldn't tell whether or not it was helping. Back in those days we were unaware of the histamine problem with fermented foods. But like many of us here, I doubt that I could tolerate very much of it now, because of the high-histamine content of all fermented foods. Dr. Berstad is apparently unaware of the histamine problem experienced by many people who have an IBD.

In my case for example, a little too much of a high-histamine food will cause cause hives and a rash on my lower legs and arms. A lot too much will also cause me to have D, and other MC symptoms (such as a stiff, sore, back and neck).

Tex

Lilja · Post by **Lilja** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 7:05 am

tex wrote:Hi Lilja,

After I was in remission (but still healing) I was able to tolerate sauerkraut, but I couldn't tell whether or not it was helping. Back in those days we were unaware of the histamine problem with fermented foods. But like many of us here, I doubt that I could tolerate very much of it now, because of the high-histamine content of all fermented foods. Dr. Berstad is apparently unaware of the histamine problem experienced by many people who have an IBD.

In my case for example, a little too much of a high-histamine food will cause cause hives and a rash on my lower legs and arms. A lot too much will also cause me to have D, and other MC symptoms (such as a stiff, sore, back and neck).

Tex

Thank you, Tex!
I think I'll pass. Better safe than sorry. I had made a salsa with whey to ferment for a while, and thought I would ask here first before tasting it.

Lilja

Post by **tex** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:36 am

Lilja,

There are no food sensitivity tests for the protein in whey, but I'm pretty sure that most of us who are sensitive to casein are also sensitive to whey. That's just a guess of course, with no scientific research data to back it up.

Tex

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:57 am

Lilja,

I make my own sauerkraut but only for about the last 6 months. For 2 years before that I avoided it as I did all high histamine foods. Now my histamine tolerance seems fairly high so I can eat fermented foods again. I make mine using only cabbage and salt to ferment it (plus caraway seeds). I know a lot of internet fermentation recipes use whey but I have made a lot of fermented foods and never used whey, just salt. It works well if you can tolerate the histamine in fermented foods.

Jean

ldubois7 · Post by **ldubois7** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 11:36 am

http://vimeo.com/user20863995/review/90 ... a91b3b2a44

Was just listening to this....he mentions a lack of serotonin produces depression. It's a decent audio that explains the methylation cycle/homocysteine levels in an easy to understand if format if anyone is interested.

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 12:39 pm

Lilja,
I've had some success with fermenting. First I made water kefir, then saurkraut. I've learned that with IBD it's important to make sure we do anaerobic fermentation (oxygen-free jars), and it's even safer to use a starter culture, to know which bacteria you are growing. For some reason I'm not able to tolerate multi-strain probiotic pills, but I can eat a half cup of fermented sauerkraut or a bottle of kombucha with no problem. I suspect my MC is an attack on one of the friendly bacteria contained in those formulations. But I seem to have a higher histamine tolerance than most people here.