Saffron - Eat the Stigma

I was just following up from a Dr Amen piece on Instagram, I was reading about the really wide ranging effects of the Ayurvedic herb Saffron particularly for eye health as I’m finding my eyes are sore a lot from screens & they water in sunshine since going into presbyopia a couple of years ago. So I remembered the brain eye link, that eyes are really visible bits of brain so that’s all nervous system & Saffron is highly neuro protective, a very valid attribute by itself but there’s much more.

It has particular positive gut relaxation benefits & generally reduces inflammation & all cause oxidative stress in the brain & nervous system, making it especially likely for Alzheimer’s & ADHD, it promises cognitive & mood improvement as well as physiologically enhancing overall experience of sex for both genders, really, what’s not to like 😂😉

So I thought to check for my daughter who has Fibromyalgia & has low mood & anxiety way too much of the time but can’t be coaxed into any therapy atm & sure enough its a really good bet for Fibromyalgia support.

And I just thought personality disorder management and searched for articles & sure enough Psychology Today covered it among others.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inner-source/201601/saffron-emotional-health

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9781906/

https://drtorihudson.com/general/consider-saffron-for-fibromyalgia/

https://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2016/7/saffron-improves-vision-in-aging-humans

A quick search showed Swanson do a nice pure stigma product 15mg very cheap & I was so thrilled by the irony of dual word meaning 🤷‍♀️ I find those irresistible, that I felt I had to post it on here. You wouldn’t want more than 1 cap twice a day - I will go in at just one a day & see how I feel, I might not need it but I do like to try things.

Neat Poly Vagal Graphic

 Poly Vagal theory is so damn helpful - I’ve had great success with my over all nervous system integrity with some really simple exercises, also the fascia release from Human Garage that I posted - I did it as proscribed a couple of times, def felt benefits then adapted it to a simplified version I can do daily or when I’m anxious - fabulous stuff 

Chiropractic for Nervous System Repair

This is so obvious an approach to throw at mental illness/nervous system dysfunction at the precise same time as being rather left field & unlikely.

And I am well up for it. I love my chiropractor, I don’t need to see him very often but he performs real miracles as far as my hips & shoulders are concerned & just from the perspective of not being in physical pain constantly mental health is improved but apparently there is more.

Here is Russell on his Awakening with Russell YouTube channel talking to his own Chiropractor Dr Jerome Poupel as well as Phd neurophysiologist (I want that qualification 😍 but 7 yrs study 😔) Dr Heidi Haavik.

I encourage you to bear with it & watch the whole thing as Jerome gets a bit woo woo in his description early on & I thought that may put some people off, which is a shame because as Heidi then explains it is not woo woo at all. 🙌

The second video is a really concise 3 min explanation of the reasons why this works 🩷

7 Ways to Heal Trauma

These guys - Dr Rangan Chatterjee talking to the amazing Dr Bessel Van Der Kolk of The Body Keeps the Score legendary fame.

This is a long chat/discussion at 1.5 hrs but I ended up enjoying it so much I felt to share it. 

I particularly love Bessel casually exposing the corporate corruption & biases that cannot help but occur in the fields of science & research precisely because Money is necessary to pursue anything with potential & therefore Money gets to chose what moves. This is something I’ve been aware of for a very long time & seems absolutely obvious & yet far too many on the political left are still sadly completely oblivious & unwilling to explore the unobscured facts of.

I picked up the fact this week that 70% of research is privately funded & overwhelmingly brings back a result favourable to its financial sponsor - just start there if you want to explore that subject, it’s fascinating & terrifying in equal measure & will put you off many common prescription drugs for life.

How to reset your body from chronic stress - Gabor Mate Lecture

 

This is an hour long but Gabor is always an easy listen in my experience- I’m not sure that the title explains the content but it’s definitely a very needed explanation of the progression of & chronic stress relatedness of so called physical illness. 🙌

EMDR is as Simple & as Natural as walking & DIY works wonders for day to day triggers

Here is a good thorough overview about EMDR, it’s a recent article on ADDitudemag.com.

https://www.additudemag.com/emdr-therapy-eye-movement-desensitization-trauma-adhd/?utm_source=eletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=treatment_july_2023&utm_content=072723&goal=0_d9446392d6-d55c617ff8-300024141

I want to emphasise what I’ve titled above. EMDR is undoubtedly the most powerful nervous system tech of modern times. It is also as logical, natural & beneficial, more so even than walking, which as I’ve mentioned is soft EMDR in & of itself. 

I extremely disgruntled with articles that seem to seek to take this simple & yet proven therapy out of the hands of those who need it most, the dx & undx mentally ill, the traumatised, drug addicts, alcoholics, addicts of all kinds. 

It goes without saying that doing EMDR regularly with a trained therapist is going to be plenty more powerful that diy, but at 100£ per hour that is completely out of reach for, I would say the absolute majority of the people with nervous system dysfunction who need it.

EMDR is going to improve the lives of everyone who gets to do it with or without professional support, & professional support is massively beneficial in its own right for multiple reasons. 

In UK you need a 3/4yr professional psychotherapy qualification to be able to add on EMDR which I think is what is driving the high prices being charged here. I think that if you charge 100£ an hour for EMDR you should take on a number of free clients from the groups I mentioned above ie those that need it most, those that can’t house themselves, support themselves or free themselves from harmful influences - these are the true traumatised, for no fault if their own in the first instance probably without exception.

For the many of us that can’t get it free or affordably there is a link in my sidebar to a simple DIY explainer although I myself just do it when I’m stressed, triggered or having mental weirdness of any kind to great affect. I do it with my eyes closed anywhere bar driving & I always endeavour to engage with any direct body sensations as i go, which is a healing act in itself when achieved without too much mental twisting or judgement.

Dr Pete Levine - Beyond Theory Podcast S2 episodes 13 & 14

I read Dr Levine’s book Healing Trauma in the autumn last year. It’s a very small concise book with simple exercises at the back - I recommend having it to anyone with any long standing mental/nervous system dysfunction inc problems with addiction etc. It simply sets out the basic premise of Somatic Therapy for healing trauma. 

Peter is a very early pioneer of body first trauma therapy & remains an exceptional resource for healing mental health issues of all types.

I love listening to Dr Levine and could listen all day but I know not everyone wants or needs all the nuts & bolts & just wants to get in the car & go so I will be finding some short, more potent videos to post here ASAP but these are wonderful in their own right. The 2 podcasts make an hour so maybe listen whilst driving or something & just let it wash over you as a subject. 🩷🤗✊

The Human Garage - Anti Stress - Anti-Gravity Full Spinal decompression Fascial Manoeuvre

 

Oh I love the effects of this exercise - I’m conked out needing a nap it’s made me sooooo relaxed! That’s a great thing, most of us have no idea how to unwind & this is literally that; unwinding at a deep level. 👌👍 Additionally recommended as hormone balancing due to hormone imbalance being a side effect of nervous system imbalance/held trauma.

L-Glutamine & the Gut-Brain Connection

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213453021000112

I put my daughter on L-Glutamine for her Fibromyalgia plus cPTSD.

Here is the abstract of the above research article

“Recent research has shown that the amino acid glutamine can positively affect gut health by supporting the gut microbiome, gut mucosal wall integrity, and by modulating inflammatory responses. As modulated by the vagus nerve, via the enteric nervous system, the gut-brain connection can impact the brain's neurochemical environment. Poor gut health can disrupt the balance of neurotransmitters, which can result in neuropsychiatric based conditions such as depression. Glutamine supplementation may provide significant adjunctive nutritional support in cases of depression by promoting proper gut health and function.”

Really there is basically no one who’s gut wall integrity has not been damaged to a greater or lesser extent by modern commercial wheat with its hyper hybridised too large protein molecules so this is a general health conversation for all imo. This fact alone may in & of itself account somewhat for the extraordinary rates of auto-immune & mental illness we see in children & teens. 🤷‍♀️

I’m sensitive to ordinary gluten, it makes me super tired & very grumpy but I find I can eat non-commercial sour dough bread & be fine thanks to the gluten softening/digesting capacity of the natural bacteria.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32224923/

Here’s a recent research article suggesting that Glutamine supplementation protects the brain from damaging affects of chronic stress.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30266598/

And here is one about Glutamine as Glutamate precursor = Anti-Depressant affect.