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Brain viruses behind bowel problems
Sometimes bowel problems pop up out of the blue. You haven’t changed anything in your diet. You’re not under any extra stress. You haven’t taken antibiotics or any other medications recently.
But suddenly you have diarrhea or constipation… and it won’t go away.
If you go to the doctor’s office and they can’t find anything else wrong, they may diagnose you with irritable bowel syndrome and send you on your way. But there could be something stranger behind your bowel trouble…
Your bowel could be infected by a virus that typically attacks the brain. A virus that totally flew under your doctor’s radar.
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Neurological viruses attack the neurons in your gut
A study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis uncovered a possible cause for sudden and mysterious bowel trouble — West Nile, Zika, Powassan, Kunjin or other neurological viruses.
These researchers found that viruses that typically affect the brain or spinal cord can also attack the body’s “second brain” a.k.a. the gut.
Now, in case you didn’t know, your gut contains about 100 million neurons. That’s more than your spinal cord or peripheral nervous system. And in mice, neurological viruses can infect these gut neurons and cause digestive issues.
Mice infected with the West Nile virus, for example, developed blockages in their intestines. These types of blockages could cause ongoing abdominal pain and constipation.
Researchers believe that when mice (and possibly people) become infected with one these viruses, it goes after the neurons in the gut. The immune system then attacks the neurons affected by the virus to get rid of the virus. The result is an unhappy belly.
In their study, researchers confirmed that West Nile, Zika, Powassan, and Kunjin viruses can all have this negative impact on the guts of mice.
Now, because of where you live, you may not feel that any of these exotic viruses (though Nile and Zika have made it to the US) are a threat to you, thankfully. But the researchers suspect that other viruses that impact the nervous system — like common enteroviruses and herpesviruses — could have the same effect.
The good news is, the mice recovered within eight weeks. Their guts went back to normal. The bad news is, the gut issues caused by these viruses can be triggered again. As soon as their immune system became active again (due to an unrelated virus, stress or an immune stimulant), their gut issues were back. Researchers think this may be why some people deal with chronic bowel issues that come and go.
“It’s amazing that the nervous system of the gut is able to recover and re-establish near normal motility (movement of the digestive system), even after taking a pretty big hit and losing a lot of cells,” said Thaddeus S. Stappenbeck, MD, Ph.D., the Conan Professor of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine and the study’s co-senior author. “But then, it’s really just barely functioning normally, and when you add any stress, it malfunctions again.”
Stopping viruses before they cause bowel trouble
This research was done on mice, so it’s hard to say if it will hold true for humans. But, if you have sudden gut problems with no known cause, getting tested for neurological viruses may be something to consider (if you can get your doctor to go along with the idea).
Regardless, make your body virus-proof by keeping your immune system in tip-top shape. That’ll reduce the odds of a virus taking hold and causing neurological or digestive issues. Start by:
- Sleeping enough. Sleep keeps your immune system strong.
- Staying hydrated. Dehydration puts your body under stress and weakens your immune system.
- Sitting in the sun for 15-20 minutes daily. Time spent in the sun helps your body create vitamin D, which is essential to your immune health.
- Avoiding sugar. The sweet stuff suppresses your immune system.
- Adding immune boosters to your meals. Garlic, ginger, turmeric, and mushrooms all make your immune system more effective.
- Get plenty of vitamin C. Whether you get it through a supplement (I get mine from camu camu or amla berry supplements) or you get it through foods (like citrus fruits, tomatoes, and leafy greens), vitamin C is the ultimate immune-supporter.
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Sources:
- Think Twice: How the Gut’s “Second Brain” Influences Mood and Well-Being — Scientific American
- Viruses in blood lead to digestive problems — MedicalXpress
- How to make your body flu-proof — Easy Health Options
By Jenny Smiechowski
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