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Comment by jimmySixDOF | Hacker News Reader

There was something about the vegus nerve being influenced by gut microbiota so it's also the parasympathetic not just the enteric nervous system but this is all hard to study I subscribed to u-Boime for a couple of years until that imploded spectacularly and the few snapshots I had are not enough of a sample size this whole field is so data poor and uncertain.

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Then there's something about Heart Rate Variability (HRV), the vagus nerve, parasympathetic nervous system, and gut biome all being connected. I can measure one of those relatively easily with a chest strap.

It seems like the only thing we do know at this point is that we don't know anything. This is an interesting TEDx talk from Eran Segal "What is the best diet for humans?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z03xkwFbw4

My current conjecture / conspiracy theory / understanding includes:

* Bacteria near the roots of plants generate electricity.

* Plants grow faster in electrified soil.

* Electrical brain stimulation can enhance brain function.

* There are processes and interactions happening in our gut that we really don't understand yet.

* Many ubiquitous things in our environment wreak havoc on our gut biomes (e.g. chlorine, emulsifiers).

* There may be more to establishing and maintaining a healthy gut biome than simply consuming foods rich in pre/probiotics. The right kind of exercise and stress may play essential role in keeping it all humming along.

The vagus nerve is the weirdest thing. Had to dig into it a bit to figure out my acid reflux.

Basically if I eat stuff that doesn't digest well, my stomach bloats and causes a mild hiatal hernia, which in turn presses on the vagus nerve that travels right next to it.

This causes the _exact_ same symptoms as a panic attack. Cold hands and feet, the feeling of an increased heart rate etc. Not super fun when you have a history of actual panic attacks.

Then I take some medicine to forcibly relax the esophageal sphincter on top of the stomach and within 10-15 minutes I can literally feel the warmth getting back to my limbs just because of the decreased vagus nerve pressure...

Hi - this sounds exactly like what my GF is figthing with bloating, really cold hands and feet and anxiety attacks. She used to have a severe reflux issue.

Can I ask you, what medicine do you take to relax the esophageal sphincter?

When it comes to food, have you found a pattern in what to avoid or do just stick to some basic kinds to avoid?

Metamizole[0] is the one I take, it's _really_ sketchy and actually banned in some. Looks like it's banned for human use in the US :D

But hey, it works and I usually need like 0,5-1 tablets a year so I'm not personally worried about any adverse effects.

As for foods, during the worst reflux times I ate pretty much just unseasoned chicken and rice and drank only water just to let my stomach and esophagus time to heal a bit from the constant acidic assault.

Then it was a matter of slowly adding stuff I ate regularly one at a time and see which cause issues. Weirdly I could eat spicy Indian food and it actually helped my symptoms :D

Because of the elimination diet I dropped red meat from my diet. So no beef or pork, those seem to be the worst ones as far as digestion goes. I have a theory that my stomach acids aren't strong enough to digest red meat and it just sits there slowly dissolving instead of moving on like it should -> acid reflux and bloated stomach -> boom, vagus nerve angry.

Currently I'm feeling a lot better than 10-15 years ago and I can have the odd hot dog, some bacon and pepperoni on my pizza, but I stay away from steaks, briskets and all that - and if I _have_ to eat red meat in quantities, I don't eat much for the rest of the day, just to give it time to digest.

The usual reflux suspects are wheat, sugar, coffee and milk. Those went out too in the beginning, but nowadays I can have them in moderation and the result is just bloating unless I overdo it.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamizole

Thank you <3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roemheld_syndrome

> Basically if I eat stuff that doesn't digest well, my stomach bloats and causes a mild hiatal hernia, which in turn presses on the vagus nerve that travels right next to it.

What do you base this claim on?

I have been diagnosed with the reflux disease an a medium sized hiatal hernia. I survive with the proton pump inhibitors, but I have to take them constantly. As far as I know, a hiatal hernia can't be healed and it contributes to the acid reflux rather than the acid reflux causing it.

Thus: "mild hiatal hernia". It doesn't full on push the stomach through the diaphragm like a proper hernia.

For understandable reasons I can't physically see what's happening in there, but the best guess I have so far is that extreme bloating pushes the stomach further into the diaphragm causing the "mild hernia" that goes away when the bloating goes away - which it can't because the whole stomach is blocked. If I end up in that situation I can't burp for example, during my worst times I was completely unable to burp for a good six months. Carbonated drinks caused physical pain.

This combined with the fact that my initial bout of reflux went away when I went in for a gastroscopy. My theory is that the camera they shoved into my stomach pushed in whatever was stuck and "fixed" it.

Nowadays I survive by avoiding any situations where I become extremely satiated and bloated at the same time.

The very few times I get severe symptoms I use Metamizole to forcibly relax the internal muscles and the symptoms go away.

"Gastrocardiac syndrome" might be considered outdated in the medical world (not sure what they mean by that), but it's been a real thing for me. I started getting clued up on the vagus nerve because of frequent weird heartbeats (which turned out to be PVCs and PACs that my cardiologist diagnosed after I bought my own portable ECG thingy to catch them), especially when I bent over or lay on my side. After finding out I had a hiatal hernia and starting on omeprazole, those odd heartbeats dropped a ton, like by 90%.

I almost ran out of breath at the end there

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