This is Dr. Lam from DrLam.com and Adrenal Fatigue Center.
Today we're going to talk about what happens to people when they're under stress in terms
of their bowels.
Some people can have tight bowel movement or constipation while other people can have
loose bowel movements when they are under stressful situations.
All this is part of the flight or fight response that the body has.
Now, this flight or fight response is built in into the system that we have as part of
our DNA.
It is regulated by the autonomic nervous system.
Now, when the person is under stress, the autonomic nervous system usually is under
control and try to remove the stress.
The adrenal system is primarily the first responder.
When this fails, the body goes into an adrenaline response and as a last resort to help the
body survive.
This response is characterized by several hormones including epinephrine, or adrenaline,
as well as norepinephrine.
In addition to the sympathetic nervous system, which is a part of the autonomic nervous response,
there is also another branch called the parasympathetic nervous system that is involved as well.
The neurotransmitter responsible is what we call acetylcholine in this particular branch.
Now normally, the sympathetic system is kept at bay and well balanced by the parasympathetic
nervous system.
In times of stress however, these two systems, which normally balance each other, may be
out of whack so to say.
If the sympathetic system is too strong and the parasympathetic system is too weak, then
one would experience constipation.
On the other hand, if the parasympathetic system becomes overwhelming relative to the
sympathetic system, then the bowel relaxes and the body can have diarrhea.
Such is the case with irritable bowel syndrome.
When the body’s autonomic responses and the parasympathetic and the sympathetic systems
are not well controlled in terms of balancing each other.
One can have bouts of alternating diarrhea or constipation as the case may be.
Everybody is different.
Some people have predominant constipation.
Some people have predominant diarrhea.
These are all part of the flight or fight response.
So the best thing to do if you want to avoid such gastric discomfort and irregularity is
to have a healthy autonomic response.
Now remember that the autonomic response is a last resort.
Fight or flight mechanism is only activated when the body has overwhelming stress it cannot
deal with.
So if you trace the problem to the root, reducing stress seems a logical and is in fact one
of the best ways to rebalance the autonomic nervous system.
Now, once the stress is removed, it has to be removed at the root level and not being
symptomatically controlled by medications as well as natural compounds, then the autonomic
nervous system will be able to self-regulate.
Once its self-regulation process kicks in, then the diarrhea or constipation or muscle
spasms or sweaty palms or flickering eyes or twitching muscles, all representing imbalances
will tend to calm down.
Heart pounding and arrhythmias will also subside.
Insomnia will be much better under control.
In other words, the root of these GI symptoms really points to an autonomic dysfunction.
In the case of adrenal fatigue, this is quite evident.
The more advanced the adrenal fatigue is, the more vulnerable a person is to these types
of symptoms.
So fixing and helping the adrenal to sustain itself and heal itself remains the most fundamental
and the most beneficial way to regulate the autonomic nervous system.
The good news is that this can often be done but it does require patience.
It does require a practitioner who really knows what they’re doing in order not to
give the body symptomatic patches that mask the underlying problem.
The body does have a tremendous ability to self-heal if only given a chance.
The right way to do it can make a big difference because the wrong way of doing it not only
can make matters worse but then will give you a lot of fragility and allow the body
to be in the state of disrepair over
a time period.