Inflamed vagus nerve
#353256 - 12/16/09 02:21 PM
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renee21
Reged: 06/02/05
Posts: 486
Loc: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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I have been told by two different people working on my body that my vagus nerve feels inflamed. And the area where it connects to the gut is where I tend to cramp up. I know the vagus nerve regulates activity between the brain and gut - but is inflammation of this nerve common to IBS? What might this mean?
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IBS-C, lots of spasm and trapped gas.
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I know that the vagus nerve controls signals to stomach and intestines and malfunctioning of it can cause gastroparesis, or delayed stomach emptying. I believe the inflammation is caused by the emotional mind, as in Dr. Sarno's theory. I don't think it's any surprise that I have both gastroparesis and IBS since they are both affected by the vagus nerve. I'm guessing mine is probably inflamed as well.
How did the people who worked you know about the inflammation?
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Thanks Frygurl. I am pretty sure I also have gastroparesis. And yes of course it is all connected to emotions. I am now seeing a shrink twice a week....
My yoga teacher (who has colitis/chrohn's) was giving me a tummy massage and remarked on it. And the week prior, my naturopath had noticed it when she was doing her energy reading on my body (which involves sensing the area over the gut without touching the skin). Here is what she later said about it:
"I am aware of the inflammation, I just haven't had any direction on what to do about it. A quick metaphysical check in would prompt me to ask you to be aware of anger at 'that which gives you life'...b/c that is what the vasovagal nerve does...regulates your respiration."
Something to think about...
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IBS-C, lots of spasm and trapped gas.
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That is interesting. Things tend to come in 3's , so be on the lookout for a third sign.
What symptoms do you have of gastroparesis? In it's more severe form, it causes vomiting after eating, but for me I just have a lot of tummy discomfort.
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I had a test done a few years ago, where I swallowed some stuff (barium? can't remember) and they timed how long it took to work through my stomach/small intestine. It took me over 4 hours which was longer than everyone else who was doing the test that day. I've always assumed it was the result of the eating disorder I had previously - my stomach now hangs on to food as long as possible. I actually took domperidone for it and for a while it helped my motility everywhere (large intestine too).
That was a while back, though, so not sure if it's still a problem. Come to think of it - it takes me about 3-4 hours after a meal until I feel my stomach is empty, which seems about right, no?
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IBS-C, lots of spasm and trapped gas.
Edited by renee21 (12/16/09 04:55 PM)
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I'm not sure how long your stomach should take to empty - I would think it would vary based on how much food and the types of food (fat is the slowest to digest). My stomach emptying test also showed that mine was slow, but I don;t know to what degree, except as I said that I don't vomit after eating, so it's not so bad.
I have a lot of symptoms due to this situation including sudden fullness after eating a small amount, lots of nausea before or after eating, sour stomach, heartburn/reflux, immediate bloating and gas upon eating, and just a general feeling almost nothing sits well in my stomach. I've generally learned to ignore any communication from my stomach because I have to eat and my appetite is really fickle due to all these symptoms. But it's frustrating to have these symptoms pretty much all the time, in addition to lower digestive symptoms.
I didn't realize the vagus nerve is something you can feel in a massage. Of course, I never let anyone massage my abdomen because I hate any pressure on it. But I am interested to know more about what your practitioners tell you about this.
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I have some upper-GI discomfort - belching etc, but definitely not the symptoms you have.
Re: vagus nerve, there is a "right vagus" and a "left vagus" that extend into the colon. The area that they felt was inflamed was the right vagus - underneath ribcage, at the transverse colon, slight to the right.
Here is something from a yoga website I just found: "The Vagus Nerve, also known as the tenth Cranial Nerve, originates from the medulla oblongata and touches most of the internal organ: the lungs, the heart, the stomach, the liver, the pancreas, the kidneys, the small and large intestines. The Vagus Nerve runs through the diaphragm. Deep diaphragmatic breathing stimulates the Vagus Nerve and communicates that everything is going to be alright. This in turn has the effect of slowing down the heart, relaxing the bronchi of the lungs, lowering the blood sugar and increasing digestion. Amazing."
Re: massage, interesting that you can't stand pressure, and I crave it! I am very into abdominal massage - I do self massage every evening, and whenever I go do my massage therapist I ask her to do some. Helps me with constipation, gas relief, also just instinctively when I have a cramp I want to rub it. But to each his/her own 
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IBS-C, lots of spasm and trapped gas.
Edited by renee21 (12/16/09 06:41 PM)
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I have heard about the deep breathing for the Vagus nerve.
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Renee, I have energy work done also. I love my sessions. My worker uses the Biomat, and it is so relaxing.
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Hi Jennifer,
A well-trained massage therapist will use warm oil on the tummy area, if not all over. This person does not apply pressure on the abdomen the same way he/she applies pressure on other muscular parts of the body that have tight knots.
I've often brought my own massage oil along pre-warmed and wrapped in a hot pack if the therapist doesn't use warm oil. K-Mart has a great massage oil that is reasonably priced and in my opinion is even better than expensive massage oils. My previous massage therapist in the Bay Area used to stow her massage oil in a small crock pot of warm water, keeping the pot on low so that the oil remained warm throughout all of her sessions for the day.
When massaging your own tummy at home with warm oil, work from up your right side (ascending colon), across the middle, and then downward on the left side (descending colon), with gentle slow strokes. You can increase the pressure after a few rounds of gentle touch, for a few more rounds. If you can't tolerate more pressure, then stop.
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Senior female, IBS-D, presently stable thanks to Heather & Staff
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