Navigating Uterine Cancer: What Every Woman Should Know

Single components of wellness are incomplete. Have you been taking all the right supplements, eating a perfect diet of whole, real foods and maybe even doing naturopathic treatments, but you still aren’t healing? Maybe your labs are all normal and you and your doctors can’t figure out what is wrong. Are you wondering why you aren’t responding to treatments or feeling better? Are you having lots of debilitating side effects from treatments? You ask yourself, what could be missing? 

What might be missing is that you have a dysregulated nervous system.

The majority of cancer patients focus on the physical things they can do to get well, but I’m here to tell you this may not be enough. We all have the capability to be our own healers rather than look for something outside. We have something powerful within us and it’s our mind.

The mind body connection is a crucial component of our health and something we all need to know about! Whether it’s your body telling your brain something or vice versa, there will be a physical response. We are naturally programmed for wellness, not illness, but our thoughts, emotions and feelings can hinder us. Our thoughts can literally promote health or promote illness.   

In this first post I want to tell you about the nervous system and the vagus nerve and how these relate to the mind body connection. In my next post I will tell you how to use this knowledge to your advantage so you can heal. 

First, a brief outline of our amazing nervous system.

CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS) 

The CNS is composed of the brain and spinal cord.

LIMBIC SYSTEM

The limbic system is a group of structures located in the brain including the hypothalamus, pituituary, amygdala, hippocampus and thalamus. It is responsible for our feelings, reactions and behaviors and affects all bodily and organ systems. 

The limbic system is where we learn, create memories, process information coming in, regulate emotions, produce hormones that regulate appetite, sex drive, growth and more. It is especially impacted by things (especially bad) that happen to us. Our limbic system is trying to protect us and everything gets filtered through it as safe or unsafe. It’s where we have our unconscious built in “survival program”. 

Through the hypothalamus to pituitary axis (HP), the limbic system communicates with the adrenal glands (HPA) and the thyroid gland (HPT). The HP axis plays a critical role in the endocrine system to maintain homeostasis throughout the body.  Most people with chronic illness have some level of HP axis dysfunction, which must be addressed for optimal recovery. 

PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (PNS)

The PNS is made up of all the nerves that branch out from the brain and spinal cord to our organs, muscles and tissues. The peripheral nervous system has sensory inputs and motor (action) outputs. It is composed of two parts. 

SOMATIC NERVOUS SYSTEM 

The somatic nervous system includes muscles and the nerves that carry information from our senses including taste, sound, touch and smell to the brain. The somatic nervous system is what controls our voluntary movements and processes sensory information. 

AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM (ANS)

The ANS is the part of the peripheral nervous system that regulates involuntary physiologic processes. These include heart rate, blood pressure, digestion and respiration among other things. The ANS is comprised of three parts. 

SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

The sympathetic nervous system is also known as our “fight or flight” center. It prepares the body for stressful situations. With activation of this system, heart rate, breathing and blood pressure increase and digestion is slowed or stopped. Key neurotransmitters are cortisol, insulin, epinephrine and norepinephrine.

PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM 

This system is also known as our “rest and digest” center. Once a stressful situation is over and we are no longer threatened, our body restores balance by slowing the heart rate and breathing and restoring digestion and blood flow to the brain and liver. The parasympathetic nervous system creates energy reserves, promotes optimal organ function and immune function and calms us down.

ENTERIC NERVOUS SYSTEM 

The enteric nervous system is composed of millions of nerve cells that line the digestive tract from the esophagus to the rectum. It is what controls swallowing, digestion, peristalsis, regulating the release of enzymes and hormones and controlling blood blow to the intestines. This system helps maintain the mucosal barrier of the intestinal tract. It also interacts with the immune system and helps with nutrient absorption. 

Did you know that 70-80% of our immune system is found in the gut? Not only that, but the mood hormones, dopamine and serotonin are produced by microbes in the gut. This system is so elaborate and important that it is often called the 2nd brain or the gut-brain axis. 

THE VAGUS NERVE

The vagus nerve (also called the 10th cranial nerve), arises from the brainstem at the base of the skull. Vagus is latin for “wandering” because this nerve connects the brain and its components to almost every organ in the body. It is the longest and most complex nerve and the most obvious physical representation of the mind body connection. In fact, it is now known that vagus nerve dysfunction is a key feature in symptoms of trauma. 

All of the systems I outlined above communicate with one another via the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the king of the parasympathetic nervous system. It regulates many bodily functions including heart rate, digestion and our immune response. It has both sensory inputs and motor outputs.

Have you ever had a “gut feeling” or “heart felt emotions?” These are real mental and physiological responses due to your vagus nerve and its impact on the limbic system, the heart and the gut. Now you know why it is so important! 

WHICH SYSTEM IS DOMINANT IN YOU?  

The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems work in opposition. When one is turned on, the other is turned off. In a healthy body, these two systems act synergistically and create a state of equilibrium known as homeostasis.

When our parasympathetic nervous system is dominant, we have healthy digestion, we are calm and relaxed, we sleep well and our immune system is functioning as it should to keep infections and cancer at bay. Unfortunately, for most of us this isn’t the case.  

Stress has become normalized in our society. As a result, most of us have a sympathetic nervous system that is always turned on. We are constantly in fight or flight mode with excess cortisol and adrenaline being released. As a result, our parasympathetic nervous system has become weak and ineffective. We are unable to restore balance and homoeostasis and our poor nervous system is overworked and exhausted.

A dysregulated nervous system hinders healing. We desperately need to shift our set-point from sympathetic to parasympathetic dominance to optimize our health, both physical and emotional, and we can do this through the vagal nerve. 

SYMPTOMS OF A DYSREGULATED NERVOUS SYSTEM

• Chronic inflammation

• Impaired digestion and malabsorption of nutrients

• Leaky gut

• Gut motility impacted leading to diarrhea and/or constipation 

• Gastroesophageal reflux disease, delayed gastric emptying

• Irritable bowel syndrome

• Tension and anxiety

• Panic attacks

• Insomnia

• Fatigue

• Food sensitivities and allergies

• Liver function problems

• Autoimmune conditions

• Hypersensitivity to sounds, lights, scents or other stimuli

• Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)

• Headaches and migraines

• Inability to regulate body temperature. Unusually hot or cold for no reason

• Large blood pressure and heart rate fluctuations (bradycardia and tachycardia) in response to environmental triggers

• Mood swings (irritability, constantly on edge)

• Depression

• Suppressed immune function

• Swallowing  and coughing problems

• Cardiovascular disease

• Obesity

• Problems with blood sugar regulation and insulin resistance (diabetes)

• Thyroid hormone imbalances

• Behavioral disorders – OCD, ADHD, Autism, PTSD

• Memory loss

• Chronic pain

• Extreme appetite changes and cravings

• Skin conditions like eczema

• Highly sensitive to other people’s emotional states (an empath)

• B12 deficiency due to inhibited intrinsic factor in the gut

• Seizures

VAGAL TONE AND HOW THIS IMPACTS HEALTH

The tone of the vagus nerve is significant to the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. The vagus nerve is responsible for down-regulating stress responses, restoring order to our organs and tissues and psychological calm. When the vagal nerve is disrupted, we get sick.

HIGH VAGAL TONE  

High vagal tone is associated with better general health. It leads to better blood sugar regulation, improved immune system function, reduced risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease, healthier digestion and reduction in migraines. It is also associated with increased emotional stability, resilience and longevity. When the brain relaxes so does the body. 

Depression is a sign that the HP axis is out of whack and higher vagal tone can reduce depression. When we have good vagal tone, we have optimal stomach acidity, gut motility and bile production. It keeps inflammation in check and modulates histamine production. Other benefits of good vagal tone include a normalized appetite and weight, healthy sleep, improved learning and memory and relief of stress induced conditions such as asthma, eczema, irritable bowel syndrome and more. 

LOW VAGAL TONE

Low vagal tone is associated with poor general health and all of the conditions I listed above. 

HEART RATE VARIABILITY (HRV)

So how do we know if our vagal tone is good or not to tell us if we are in a parasympathetic state? One of the best ways to know what our vagal tone is doing is through measuring heart rate variability. As we breathe in, our heart rate speeds up and as we breathe out, it slows down. These changes are very small, but significant. The higher our vagal tone, the greater the difference between these two heart rates and the higher our HRV. The higher the HRV and vagal tone, the more efficient we are at relaxing and activating our parasympathetic nervous system. 

Learning how to support our vagus nerve allows us to holistically heal from all the negative impacts of stress and adversity. We can literally retrain our nervous system to heal from disease and trauma by hacking this nerve in ways I will tell you about in my next post.  

THE MIND BODY CONNECTION: HOW OUR THOUGHTS AFFECT THE NERVOUS SYSTEM AND OUR HEALTH

The vagus nerve acts as a pathway. It transmits sensory information from our organs, our heart and the gut to the brain stem, where it reaches the limbic system, including the hypothalamus. Remember the HP axis I talked about earlier? 

The limbic system processes the  information from the vagus nerve along with our emotions, thoughts, feelings and memories and triggers appropriate (or inappropriate) responses based on the body’s state. This bi-directional pathway between the mind and the body, is how our mental and emotional states directly affect our immune function, gut function, heart rate, blood pressure, thyroid hormones and so much more.

CORTISOL

If there is a threat, the HP axis takes this information and signals the adrenal glands to produce more cortisol. Although cortisol is our main stress hormone, we can’t live without it, so it’s not the enemy. The problem is that it is being released far more than normal by perceived threats and we are getting stuck in a chronic sympathetic state. This becomes a vicious cycle because the more cortisol we produce, the more stress we feel, the more cortisol we produce and it’s never ending.

NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

One of the main things that affects the nervous system are our thoughts. According to Dr. Fred Luskin at Stanford University, the average human being has over 60,000 thoughts per day, 90% of which are negative! 

We tend to remember and ruminate on the negative things more than the positive as a means of self-preservation, but this can become a vicious cycle. If we’re always thinking about negative things, (why is nothing working out in my life, why am I always sick, why are my relationships not working, what is wrong with me, I’m not good enough, no one cares about me, I can’t do this, etc.) then we are in a negative feedback loop. 

The more negative thoughts we have, the more things go wrong and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading us to have more negative thoughts. I know I have been stuck in this cycle and am working very hard to correct it! 

Sometimes we get stuck in these negative loops and start to catastrophize and generalize. We may believe we are unsafe and that something is a disaster when in reality, it may just be uncomfortable and temporary. Prolonged negative mental states, which produce negative emotions, affect our limbic system and our vagal nerve sending wrong messages from the body to the brain and vice versa. This leads to a cascade of unwanted physiological responses.

If your mind is stuck in a toxic cycle and you’re having negative thoughts and beliefs it is just as detrimental, if not more, than an unhealthy diet. 

There is a quote by Deepak Chopra that says, “every cell in your body is eavesdropping on your thoughts.” What are you telling yourself? What are you saying to your body?

PAPER TIGERS

We are living today with “paper tigers”. Our bodies evolved in ancient times to be able to escape from life-threatening situations through our sympathetic nervous system. Today it’s rare that we have life-threatening situations and yet our sympathetic nervous system is ramped up and on overdrive most of the time! These perceived threats are paper tigers and they are everywhere.

EXAMPLES OF PAPER TIGERS

The news on TV

Public speaking

Loud music

An argument with your spouse

Traffic jams

Your boss yelling at you

Deadlines

Tests you have to take

Long lines in the grocery store

Lab tests and scans

Divorce

Financial struggles

Unresolved trauma or emotional pain from our past

You may feel that stress is a direct consequence of a stressful event or trigger. However, every situation (like the ones above) is neutral. It is the meaning that we apply to anything that is the stress response. If we have a set of filters that tell us that it is stressful or negative that is how we see it. Someone else might not see it that way at all.

It is actually our thoughts that are producing our stress. Read that again.

Each of us has a certain capacity for managing stress and trauma, but it becomes cumulative. You may not even remember a traumatic event from your past, but your body does. Once we have reached capacity, we can no longer manage ongoing stress and we become overwhelmed and often hyper-reactive to even little things. In this hyper-vigilant state we are always looking for the next stressor. 

Unfortunately, our limbic system and our vagal nerve do not know the difference between a real threat and a paper tiger. It is all the same in our body and brain. Our limbic system is trying to protect us and if it feels unsafe, then there will be physiological consequences.

Here is an example of what can happen: Your sympathetic nervous system is chronically activated because you are stressed and anxious and thinking negative thoughts all day. Your body diverts blood away from your gut and shuts down digestion. Your muscles are tense, you’re not sleeping well and your immune function is impaired. Now imagine eating food in this state? If you eat in this state, your immune system is not able to delineate what is good or bad in the gut. This affects the gut-brain axis and leads to malabsorption, leaky gut and gut motility issues, all hallmarks of irritable bowel syndrome. 

IN CONCLUSION

I hope you have learned a lot about how important our nervous system is when it comes to health and how our thoughts profoundly impact this system. This is a huge part of your wellness that you don’t want to neglect!

The key to healing the body is to heal the mind.

In my next post I will talk about ways to change your thinking and share some vagal nerve hacks to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. Stay tuned! 

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“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”  ~Jack Canfield