understanding brain fog the acetylcholine connection

[Guest guest]

My passion and my concentration for my graduate studies in

counseling over the last years have focused upon the effects of

trauma to a person's emotional well-being. Today is really the

first day that I have clearly made the connection of what is

happening to me (and all of us, really) regarding brain fog.

When a person is traumatized (either physically or emotionally) one

of the many substances released by the body is norepinephirine

(often called adrenaline) which in turn releases acetycholine

(ACh). This ACh is the body's natural analgeasic (pain releiver)

which it releases in areas of pain but also in the brain where

thinking and remembering are thought to take place. (Think of ACh

as the body's natural morphene - people on morphene often remember

little.)

http://home.comcast.net/~john.kimball1/BiologyPages/S/Synapses.html#a

cetylcholine

" Acetylcholine(ACh):

A) Widely used at synapses in the peripheral nervous system.

Released at the terminals:

1. of all motor neurons activating skeletal muscle.

2. of all preganglionic neurons of the autonomic nervous system

3. of the postganglionic neurons of the parasympathetic branch of

the autonomic nervous system.

Also mediates transmission at some synapses in the brain. These

include synapses involved in the acquisition of short-term memory.

Drugs that enhance ACh levels — acetylcholinesterase inhibitors —

are now used in elderly patients with failing memory (e.g.,

Alzheimer's patients). "

Sadly, for those with lots of pain, ACh also works to inhibit

thinking (chiefly in the preganglionic neurons of the autonomic

nervous system - this is where the brain fog comes from). Further,

not all of the memory problems disappear overnight even if pain is

resolved for a few hours. The chemical reactions that take place in

the brain when one's systems is under stress can cause structural

damage to one's brain (neurons) - making remembering and thinking

difficult as well as making it more difficult to deal with trauma

the next time. This is tied in with one's body being in the fight,

flight (or freeze) response.

Think back to a difficult time when you were angry with someone or

you were really frightened. You may remember that you could not

actually remember many of the facts - you just remember that you

were really mad or you wanted to get away. If you were having an

argument, you may not even remember what the argument was about.

This is all for a good purpose, your body has dumped chemicals into

its system that allows it to survive the moment. It does not need

resources (blood) for the digestive tract the SKIN or in the

thinking portion of the brain. It shuts these things down. The

trachea, bronchi dilate, as do the eyes (of interest for those with

iritis). The muscles get the resources and we have increased heart-

rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar. This fight or flight

response served humans very well when they were hunter gatherers

needing to flee from preditors every now and then - but not every

hour of every day! Now, with our complex societies interacting in

ever-stressful situations, even people without PA have problems

dealing with stress anxiety, norepinephirine and ACh. The nightly

news does not help, either.

Sadly, for those of us with chronic pain, our bodies are constantly

fighting with us and many of us probably have high levels of ACh.

Note that emotional stress also causes the release of this chemical,

and it can be a vicious cycle of pain, brainfog, anxiety, brainfog,

increased anxiety...increased brain fog...increased muscle tension,

more pain... WHEW! Time for a nap! ...We know the routine.

When I look at chronic pain, norepinephirine, ACh and associated

responses, I am seeing relationships between diabetes, our GI

tracts, our eyes and our skin, etc.. With pain inciting increased

blood pressure and increased glucose for many of us, some of our

pancreases must be taking a hit. Further, with pain causing our

systems to take blood way from our digestive tracts, many of us

would have problems with our stomachs and intestines - let alone the

fact that our meds are often hard on these organs (possibly partly

because we have inhibited peristalsis - another vicious circle).

I am posting this in the rough right now. I will research this

topic further in the next short while and if I find no one else has

written about it from the point of view of a PA sufferer/survivor,

I will write about it again in a clear and cogent manner so that you

good people may use this to help explain to yourselves and others

what may be happening for you. I will also write more about

the " freeze response " with which humans often have a hard time. (The

freeze response is a mammalian response tied to the more basic

reptilian fight or flight response when danger is present). It could

also be part of some of our problems - particularly those of us who

have endured severe trauma (MVAs, sexual abuse, etc.).

Bye for now..... brent