The Autoimmune Doc Podcast w/ Dr. Taylor Krick - 045 - How to Support Your Brain - Part 1 of 4 - Brain Overview

045 - How to Support Your Brain - Part 1 of 4 - Brain Overview

10/12/22 • 39 min

The Autoimmune Doc Podcast w/ Dr. Taylor Krick

Anxiety, Mast Cell Activation, and LPS (video)
Cell Danger Response and Limbic System Dysfunction (video)
Anxiety, Neuroinflammation, and Autoimmunity (podcast)
Your brain is the most complex organ in an incredibly complex body, and it's running the show. I continue to see a massive uptick in brain-based symptoms coming into my clinic (and everyone else's), such as depression, anxiety, depersonalization, derealization, dizziness, vertigo, fatigue, brain fog, memory loss, panic attacks, bipolar episodes, nausea, pain syndromes, and so much more.
I have a lot of brain-related content available, and I linked some at the top of the show notes for this episode. My goal with this series is to help people understand how all these puzzle pieces fit together - neurotransmitters, brain regions, how to use all of the different tools available. Today's episode is an overview of some of the more important concepts in the brain, and reviewing what a healthy brain needs:

Neurotransmitter Activity - serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, epinephrine/norepinephrine, GABA
Adequate Oxygen - good blood flow, no anemia
Steady Fuel - no hypoglycemia, and no insulin resistance
Proper Lipid Morphology - omega 3s, DHA, phosphatidylcholine
Healthy Stimulation - learning, fun, skills, memory, coordination, visual complexity, connecting with other humans
Hormone Balance - estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, cortisol (steroid hormones), thyroid
Gut-Brain Connection - good micro biome, bacterial diversity and abundance, no infections/overgrowths, good vagus nerve activity
Healthy Circadian Rhythms - good light exposure, good sleep....

I also briefly talk through a patient's case history and some of her symptoms, lab findings, and how we have kept her brain healthy and kept her symptoms under control over the past several years. The next several episodes will be more of this, teaching you how to solve your own puzzle!

Neurotransmitter Activity - serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, epinephrine/norepinephrine, GABA
Adequate Oxygen - good blood flow, no anemia
Steady Fuel - no hypoglycemia, and no insulin resistance
Proper Lipid Morphology - omega 3s, DHA, phosphatidylcholine
Healthy Stimulation - learning, fun, skills, memory, coordination, visual complexity, connecting with other humans
Hormone Balance - estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, cortisol (steroid hormones), thyroid
Gut-Brain Connection - good micro biome, bacterial diversity and abundance, no infections/overgrowths, good vagus nerve activity
Healthy Circadian Rhythms - good light exposure, good sleep....

Previous Episode

044 - COVID, Autoimmunity, and why SARS-CoV-2 is dubbed "The Autoimmune Virus"

Long Haulers UPDATED (video)

Long Haulers Mechanisms (video)
SARS-CoV-2 and the gut-brain-lung axis (video review of a research paper)
From the onset of the pandemic through the last (almost) 3 years, we have continued to find out new things about how people respond after coronavirus infection. Not surprisingly, there is more and more research coming out indicating that an increased autoimmune response may be responsible for many of the lingering symptoms.
Early on in the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 was nicknamed "The Autoimmune Virus" because it appeared to be triggering more of an autoimmune response than other viral infections. As science has continued to evolve our understanding, it turns out that COVID infection is absolutely associated with increased autoimmunity - both exacerbation of existing autoimmunity as well as new autoimmunity.
Autoimmunity is the process in which the body "loses self tolerance" for tissues of the body and begins to initiate an immune "attack" against self-tissue (thyroid, joints, brain, gut, etc) as if they were a foreign invader - which leads to chronic inflammation, tissue damage, and a gradual loss of function, and can eventually become a diagnosed autoimmune "disease" like Type 1 Diabetes or Rheumatoid Arthritis.
One of the ways that viruses can trigger autoimmunity is by means of "molecular mimicry", or what can be described as a case of "mistaken identity". In this podcast I describe it like this - I have a blue F150 pickup truck, extended cab, long bed. There are many blue F150s on the road, so what if the police were looking for a blue F150 and they accidentally pull ME over instead of the bad guy they are looking for? That's a case of mistaken identity. Well COVID antibodies can also misdirect their immune attack, and they can accidentally attack many tissues, and in this episode I go through dozens of different autoantibodies that have now been associated with COVID - - thyroid autoantibodies, neurological autoantibodies, mitochondrial autoantibodies, and more.
We now know that COVID infection can lead to a myriad of symptoms, and they can all be described as the "long-haul", but the mechanisms can be all quite different, so they are NOT all the same thing, and it's not fair to group everyone together as "long-haulers". You could have POTS, dysautonomia, clotting/coagulation, neurological (depression, brain fog, and TONS of anxiety...), digestive changes, fatigue, or you could develop post-COVID diabetes or arthritis.....as science continues to learn more are we going to find that it's ALL autoimmune in nature?? Only time will tell, but I believe that treating any condition as if it were an autoimmune case is never a bad approach - decrease inflammation, balance the immune system, and look for (and remove) any root cause triggers!

Next Episode

046 - How To Support Your Brain - part 2 of 4 - NEUROTRANSMITTERS

One of the most important things a healthy brain needs is appropriate neurotransmitter activity. Neurotransmitters regulate our brain function, our energy, our focus, our mood, and our lives. Imbalances in neurotransmitters can come from many things, including past trauma, unhealthy relationships, bad habits, chronic stress, poor gut health, crappy diet, toxins, autoimmunity, neuroinflammation....the list goes on and on, but it can be helpful to know which neurotranmitters are imbalanced in the hopes of supporting your specific brain functions and symptoms. The most important neurotransmitters, which I discuss in this podcast, are:
Serotonin - regulates some aspects of mood, appetite, happiness, enjoyment of activities, appreciation of art.
Acetylcholine - regulates working memory, computation, muscle contractions, and parasympathetic nervous system (vagus nerve) activity to the gut.
Dopamine - important for motivation, pleasure, focus, mood, addiction, thrill-seeking.
Epinephrine/Norepinephrine - aka "adrenaline", stimulates "fight or flight" stress response centrally in the brain and also peripherally from the adrenal glands.
GABA - the primary "calming" neurotransmitter, GABA is inhibitory and is often inadequate in symptoms of anxiety, depression, and neuroexcitation.
These neurotransmitters can all be modulated with lifestyle strategies and targeted nutraceuticals, whether it be providing the building blocks for the neurotransmitters itself (tyrosine for dopamine for example), or impacting the receptor sensitivity (L-theanine for GABA), or using nutrients to support certain pathways like the Kynurenine Pathway, Dopamine Beta Hydroxylase, or other genetic pathways (COMT, MTHFR, MAO) of neurotransmitter metabolism. Supporting neurotransmitter metabolism can be a game changer when supporting brain function, and my goal is to teach people how to solve their own puzzles, so I hope this is helpful, next episode is part 3/4, brain regions!