September 16, 2025 • 25 mins
Have you ever wondered why your digestion seems to have gone haywire after a concussion? You're not alone, and there's a neurological explanation behind those new food sensitivities and stomach troubles.
The brain-gut connection is far more profound than most of us realize. Through the vagus nerve—a critical communication pathway—your brain and digestive system maintain constant dialogue. When a concussion disrupts this delicate system, the consequences ripple throughout your entire digestive process. Your vagal nerve signaling weakens, stomach acid production falters, and gut motility becomes irregular. What's particularly fascinating is how brain inflammation can directly alter your gut microbiome, creating a cascade of digestive symptoms that seem disconnected from your head injury.
The mechanisms behind this connection are multifaceted. First, concussions often trigger autonomic nervous system imbalances that shift your body into fight-or-flight mode, diverting blood away from digestion. Second, inflammatory messengers produced in your injured brain enter circulation and increase gut permeability. Third, the protective barriers in both your brain and gut begin to leak in tandem, allowing harmful substances to cross where they shouldn't. Finally, the stress hormones and sleep disruption that follow concussions further compromise your digestive health by thinning the gut lining and disrupting your microbiome.
If you've developed mysterious food sensitivities, especially to gluten, dairy, or histamine-rich foods, understanding these connections is crucial. Standard elimination diets might not work as expected because many foods cross-react with gluten, including oats, corn, and rice. Additionally, the glyphosate residue in non-organic grains may be exacerbating your symptoms, which explains why some people can tolerate bread in Europe but not at home. Healing requires patience—sometimes 3-6 months rather than just weeks—and a comprehensive approach that addresses both brain and gut simultaneously. By supporting your digestive health, you're also creating the optimal environment for your brain to recover, turning a vicious cycle of inflammation into a virtuous cycle of healing.
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Dr. Wolf's book Concussion Breakthrough: Discover the Missing Pieces of Concussion Recovery is now available on Amazon!
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Website: lifeafterimpact.com
Medical disclaimer: this video or podcast is for general informational purposes only, and does not constitute the practice of medicine or other professional healthcare services, including the giving of medical advice. No doctor patient relationship is formed. The use of this information and materials included is at the user's own risk. The content of this video or podcast is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice diagnosis or treatment. Consumers of this information should seek the advice of a medical professional for any and all health related issues.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Life After Impact the concussion recovery
podcast.
I'm Dr Ayla Wolf and I will behosting today's episode where we
help you navigate the oftenconfusing, frustrating and
overwhelming journey ofconcussion and brain injury
recovery.
This podcast is your go toresource for actionable
information, whether you'redealing with a recent concussion
(00:22):
, struggling with postconcussion syndrome or just
feeling stuck in your healingprocess.
In each episode we dive deepinto the symptoms, testing
treatments and neurologicalinsights that can help you move
forward with clarity andconfidence.
We bring you leading experts inthe world of brain health,
functional neurology andrehabilitation to share their
(00:44):
wisdom and strategies.
So if you're feeling lost,hopeless or like no one
understands what you're goingthrough, know that you are not
alone.
This podcast can be your guideand partner in recovery, helping
you build a better life afterimpact.
Hello and welcome back to LifeAfter Impact the concussion
(01:05):
recovery podcast.
I'm your host, Dr Ayla Wolf,and I am recording this episode
from Toronto where I am teachinga private invite-only workshop
this week.
Today I am going to do mysecond ever solo cast from this
very cute Airbnb that I'm at.
Before we get started, I wantedto remind listeners far and
(01:26):
wide, but for sure all of youlocal to Minneapolis, st Paul,
minnesota, that you are sowelcome to join me for my book
release party October 24th atthe Schmidt Artist Lofts in St
Paul, from 630 to 830.
From 630 to 830.
(01:50):
Please RSVP to lifeafterimpactat gmailcom so we can plan
accordingly regarding our gutand brain friendly catering here
.
Okay, let's get to our topic athand.
When you think of concussionsymptoms, the first things that
come to mind are often headaches, nausea, dizziness, maybe brain
fog, confusion.
But the truth is, concussionscan impact the body in ways you
(02:12):
might never expect, and this iswhat we're going to talk about
today.
I want to walk you through oneparticular issue that can happen
as a result of a concussionthat often flies under the radar
, in the sense that a person maynot even realize that this
thing they're dealing with is adownstream effect of an injured
(02:32):
brain, and my goal is to helpyou connect the dots between
seemingly random struggles andwhat may actually be a deeper
neurological root cause.
So if you've been dealing withdigestive symptoms, this episode
is for you, and in the futurewe might also tackle some other
issues kind of in this same veinthings that people often deal
(02:55):
with that they might not evenrealize is from their concussion
.
But today we're focusing ondigestion.
So one of the most common butleast recognized effects of
concussion is digestivedysfunction.
Many people after a concussioncan develop new food
(03:16):
sensitivities, irritable boweltype symptoms, bloating after
meals and other types ofdigestive symptoms, and it's not
just a coincidence.
Here's why we're going to breakthis down.
Your brain and your gut are inconstant communication through
(03:36):
the vagus nerve, which is aparasympathetic nerve, and 80%
of the information from thatvagus nerve goes from your gut
to the brain, and then 20% ofthe information is going from
your brain to your gut.
So, even though it's biasedmore towards sensory information
going to the brain, that 20% ofoutput from the brain is
(03:59):
extremely important and we'llget to that in a little bit more
detail here in a minute.
So when the vagus nerve isn'tfiring properly after a
concussion, digestion can slowdown.
Stomach acid can drop.
Many people when they haveheartburn, they're actually
experiencing heartburn becausethey don't have enough stomach
(04:21):
acid to break down and digesttheir food in the appropriate
amount of time and therefore itsits in their stomach for too
long and it ferments in thestomach and it creates
irritation of the stomach liningso that then the next time they
go to eat, their irritatedstomach lining actually takes
the digestive acid they do haveand sends it upwards because it
(04:45):
wants to get it away from thestomach lining, and so that
actually is causing theheartburn that many people
experience.
Another just kind of a littlebit of a side tangent there, but
in many cases heartburn isactually not enough stomach acid
.
It's not a matter of too muchstomach acid.
So okay, so that's one of thethings.
And then motility becomesirregular as well.
(05:09):
When people have motilityissues, they can either develop
constipation or they can havealternating diarrhea and
constipation in kind of one ofthose ear to bowel type
scenarios.
On top of that, inflammation inthe brain can ripple outward and
disrupt the gut microbiome.
You heard me right.
Inflammation in the brain hasdownstream consequences that
(05:32):
affect the gut health.
So let's get into that a littlebit in more detail here.
One of the ways that this canhappen is through vagal nerve
dysfunction.
The vagus nerve is the mainsuperhighway between the brain
and the gut and the gutmicrobiome, so that's really
important.
We often talk about the gutbrain axis, but what we really
(05:54):
need to be including in thatequation is the gut microbiome,
so more appropriately we shouldsay the gut microbiome,
gut-brain axis.
And after a concussion, braininflammation can impair vagal
signaling Remember that 20% ofmotor output leaving the brain
(06:15):
going down to the body throughthat vagus nerve so that
particular pathway can beimpacted.
This reduced vagal tone meansslower gut motility, leading to
things like constipation,bloating and weaker regulation
of stomach acid and the releaseof digestive enzymes and a
(06:36):
sluggish gut environment thatthen allows certain bacteria to
overgrow while beneficialmicrobes decline.
So that's one way.
The next way, which is stillvery much intertwined with the
first way, is through, we wouldjust say, some autonomic nervous
system imbalance.
So concussions often triggerdysautonomia to some degree,
(06:58):
whether that is mild, moderateor severe.
And so when sympatheticactivity dominates what we often
refer to as fight or flight andparasympathetic activity is
reduced, the outcome of that isthat blood flow to the gut
decreases, motility slows downand digestive secretions decline
(07:19):
, and this can starve themicrobiome of nutrients and
oxygen and promote dysbiosis,which is just a fancy way of
saying an imbalanced microbialcommunity in the gut.
The third way that braininflammation can impact the gut
is because of systemicinflammatory signaling, so
(07:41):
neuroinflammation doesn'tnecessarily stay locked inside
the skull Cytokines, which wecan just maybe describe them as
inflammatory messengers.
When they are produced in thebrain, they can still enter your
circulation and influenceimmune cells in the gut, and
these circulating cytokinesincrease gut permeability, or
(08:03):
what we like to call a leaky gut, and this further alters the
microbiome and it creates afeedback loop for more
inflammation.
Number four we have blood-brainbarrier and gut barrier
crosstalk, so the endothelialcells that line the gut and the
(08:25):
cells that line the blood-brainbarrier.
They behave in very similarways and concussions can
temporarily cause increasedpermeability of the blood-brain
barrier, and this is normal ifit lasts for like a week or two
after a concussion.
But sometimes this doesn'tresolve quickly and it becomes
(08:46):
more of a long-term systemicproblem, causing systemic
inflammation that weakens thegut barrier as well.
So when both barriers are leaky, immune cells and microbial
products lipopolysaccharide isone of them they can cross into
circulation and go to placeswhere they don't belong and
(09:08):
cause more inflammation.
And so this creates acompounded problem where brain
inflammation worsens gutdysbiosis and gut dysbiosis then
sends more inflammatory signalsback to the brain in this very
vicious loop that we don't wantto have happen.
And then, lastly, this iscompounded by stress hormones
(09:30):
and sleep disruption.
So concussion-related stress,physical pain, say from
headaches and neck pain or otherinjuries that aren't healing,
and poor sleep.
All elevate cortisol and highcortisol levels actually thin
the gut lining, suppress goodbacteria and encourage the
overgrowth of opportunisticspecies that we don't want to
(09:53):
have overgrowing in the gut.
We don't want to haveovergrowing in the gut.
So over time this shifts themicrobiome away from a diverse
resilient state towards one thatactually perpetuates
inflammation.
So these are all the reasonswhy you may suddenly start
reacting to foods that you neverhad an issue with before the
(10:14):
concussion.
And this can also kind of comeon gradually, in the sense that
you might not necessarily beaware of this within the first
couple of weeks after aconcussion, but possibly within
six months to a year.
This problem with foodsensitivities and digestive
issues might actually becomemore problematic over time.
(10:37):
So that's one of the reasonswhy this is kind of a sneaky
issue that people often don'ttrace back to a concussion is
because it might actually take alittle while to really fully
develop into a full-blown issue.
So if you're suddenly reactingto foods like dairy gluten or
histamine-rich foods, it may notjust be your stomach, it could
(11:01):
actually be your brainstruggling to regulate digestion
.
And the longer this goesunchecked, then the more gut
dysbiosis it can create overtime.
(12:23):
So what can people do?
Well, food elimination dietsare a legitimate way to
determine whether or not yourbody is reacting to a specific
food, but there's some nuancesto that that we're going to get
into.
But let's use a really simpleexample.
So let's say you cut out corn100% of your diet.
(12:44):
You cut out all corn for threefull weeks.
So no corn, no corn chips, nocorn syrup, no corn at all.
Then on day 22, you eat a tonof corn.
You have corn pops forbreakfast, mexican street corn
with lunch, corn tortilla chipsand guacamole for dinner.
Whatever, if your body has anissue with corn, you're probably
(13:08):
going to have some sign whenyou eat all that corn in one day
, when you haven't had it forthree weeks, and that might be
stomach pain, it might beintestinal cramping, it could be
bloating, gas, diarrhea, loosestools or, if you're like me, my
nose starts running like crazywhen I eat yellow corn, not blue
(13:28):
corn though Me and blue cornare super cool with each other,
but yellow corn chips and mynose will just start running
like crazy.
So because I'm pretty in tunewith my body.
I've kind of figured out theseweird little signals that my
body gives me to tell me whatfoods it is responding to in a
negative way.
Tell me what foods it isresponding to in a negative way.
(13:50):
But so that's the concept of afood elimination diet is you cut
the food out for three weeksand then you actually eat a lot
of it in one day and you see ifyou react to it.
Now, obviously, if you knowthat you have a food allergy,
you don't need to do this.
But what?
Food allergies and foodsensitivities are different.
So we're not necessarilytalking about true food
(14:10):
allergies.
We're talking aboutsensitivities to foods that can
develop in the picture ofinflammation.
So here's where things can gettricky, and that's when we start
talking about gluten, because Ihave heard from a lot of people
that they have gone off ofgluten for three weeks and then,
(14:31):
when they added it back in wellA, they didn't notice any
improvement.
Like they went off the glutenfor three weeks, they didn't
notice any improvement in theirsymptoms, and so therefore, they
were like, well, that didn't doanything.
So I guess I'm just going tokeep going back to eating gluten
.
Here's why gluten is a bit of aproblem.
Gluten cross reacts with manyother foods like oats, corn,
(14:55):
rice, barley, sorghum, evencoffee and chocolate for some
people.
So when somebody does cut outall bread and flour products but
instead they're still eating,say, gluten-free oatmeal, oat,
cereal, rice, corn and all ofthe gluten-free processed foods
that contain, like tapioca flouror cassava flour, they're
(15:18):
likely still consuming foodsthat are keeping them inflamed
and this is why they don'tactually feel any better and
don't notice a difference goingoff of gluten.
So my advice to people with alot of digestive issues and
brain fog and fatigue is to justcut out all grains for a while,
do a strict food eliminationdiet and then slowly add back in
(15:42):
, one thing at a time to see howyou tolerate it, one thing at a
time to see how you tolerate it.
For me, after cutting out gluten, it became really obvious that
I also really strongly reactedto oats, and I love granola, but
for many, many years I couldn'teat it.
I literally just couldn't buyit, couldn't have it in the
house, didn't eat it.
If I did have it, it would makeme very tired and it would give
(16:05):
me stomach pains prettyimmediately.
And rice is also a big problemfor me.
It gives me the worst brain fogthat will literally last into
the next day.
So what's interesting is thatwithin the last four years, as
my gut and brain have gottenhealthier, I've been able to add
back in about one to twoservings of granola per week
(16:29):
into my diet with no ill effects.
But the opposite is actuallytrue for rice.
I feel like I've become morereactive to it, or it's more
obvious to me that when I eatrice, it gives me such bad brain
fog and fatigue that I'mactually avoiding it a lot more
now than I was even 10 years ago.
Okay, but wild rice is actuallyan exception, because wild rice
(16:53):
is actually a seed, it's not agrain, and therefore people
tolerate it pretty well becauseit doesn't cross-react with
gluten like white rice or brownrice can.
So many people can actually dowild rice and they're okay with
that.
If you want to actually do atest to try to figure out what
(17:15):
foods you might becross-reacting to in terms of
how gluten has impacted yoursystem, cyrex Labs has a
specific blood panel.
They run that tests for foodsthat cross-react to gluten.
So if you're highly curiousabout diving deeper into that,
you could find a functionalmedicine provider who works with
(17:36):
Cyrex Labs and you can actuallyorder these tests and get to
the bottom of your personalreaction to different foods that
may be cross-reacting to glutenwhen you eat them.
So you can actually do somefurther testing to get into this
.
But for some people, you know,I do think that when you take
(17:58):
gluten out of the equation andyou take most grains out of the
equation, it's kind of likegetting rid of all of the white
noise, so that when you do startbringing things back into your
bubble, your body will tell youwhether it can handle it or not.
Some people are really in tunewith their bodies, other people
are not, and for those peoplemaybe just running the Cyrex
(18:21):
panel is the way to go.
But just to let you know, likethat does exist, we can actually
test for these things.
So the cross reactivity must betaken into account here.
And then I have two other thingsthat I want to say about gluten
in particular.
One when people are reallyinflamed in their gut, it really
(18:42):
truly can take longer thanthree weeks to bring that
inflammation down.
So going off of gluten forthree weeks simply may not be
long enough to see benefits.
For three weeks simply may notbe long enough to see benefits,
especially if both the brain andthe gut are inflamed.
It really may need to be more,like three to six months.
And then, lastly, we have totalk about glyphosate.
(19:03):
Many people will say to me whenI talk about going grain-free,
or at least gluten-free, theywill jump in and they'll say
well, I've been tested and Idon't have a gluten problem.
Even if that's true, eatinggluten every day also means you
are consuming its evil twin,glyphosate.
So gluten is a protein found infoods themselves.
(19:27):
Glyphosate is a chemical thatgets sprayed onto crops that
ends up as a residue in foods,and the foods that have the
highest glyphosate residuecontent are typically wheat,
especially non-organic wheatoats.
So think oat-based cereals.
I'm pretty sure Cheerios ismade of oat flour, for example.
(19:49):
Granola and many snack barshave oat flour in them.
So even a bar that you mightthink is a healthy, like a
protein bar or something likethat, if it has oat flour as one
of the main ingredients, itactually is testing pretty high
for glyphosate residue.
Barley, rye and corn are alsokind of at that top of that list
(20:13):
of foods that tend to have alarger glyphosate residue.
When they test for these foods,the United States uses the
largest amount of Roundup in theworld, continue to increase in
(20:36):
our food supply because of ouruse of Roundup.
The US government has continuedto raise the allowable amount
of glyphosate in our food supply.
So rather than saying, ooh, youknow, the glyphosate residue in
our food supply is increasing,we need to put some restrictions
in place on the amount ofRoundup that can be sprayed onto
the food.
Instead of doing that, they'rebasically just saying well,
let's just say that this is nowokay, that the amount of
(20:59):
glyphosate residue in our cerealis much higher than it used to
be.
So that's really the truth ofwhat is happening, and our
allowable amounts of glyphosatein our food is much higher than
what is allowed in Canada andEurope and other parts of the
(21:19):
world.
So many people who aregluten-free in the US I hear
this all the time they go toEurope and they say I can eat
the bread here, I'm totally fine.
And it's likely that it's notjust because of, say, the type
of flower.
Maybe they're using someheirloom flower, maybe they're
not.
It's likely that glyphosate isplaying just as big of a role as
(21:44):
whatever type of flower it isthat they're using that is
somehow different from whatwe're using here.
So I really think that theglyphosate is a bigger problem
than people realize and as soonas people come back home from
their European trip, they goright back to having, you know,
their gut issues or digestiveissues unless they're completely
(22:05):
gluten free.
And again, I think a big partof that is the fact that we are
exposed to so much glyphosateresidue in our food supply here,
unless you're eating 100%organic and really limiting the
amount of grains that youconsume.
I know we've covered a lot ofinformation, so let me just
(22:26):
recap here.
We've talked about howconcussions don't just affect
the brain.
They ripple all the way downinto the gut, from vagus, nerve
dysfunction and autonomicimbalance to systemic
inflammation, barrierpermeability of both the gut
lining and the brain lining, theblood brain barrier, and then
(22:47):
even the impact of stresshormones and environmental
chemicals like glyphosate stresshormones and environmental
chemicals like glyphosate.
So it's clear that digestiveissues after concussions.
They're not random.
They're part of this bigger gutmicrobiome, gut-brain axis that
has become dysregulated as aresult of the concussion to the
(23:10):
point where, if somebody couldhandle glyphosate and gluten and
eat whatever they wanted,sometimes a concussion can throw
them over the edge and causeenough dysfunction that, all of
a sudden, they can no longertolerate these foods.
That are creating moreinflammation.
Due to the leaky gut and theleaky blood-brain barrier and
(23:34):
the crosstalk between the two,if you feel like you have
developed food sensitivities,irritable bowel syndrome-like
symptoms or unexplained fatigueafter eating certain foods, it
may not just be your stomach.
Your brain injury may haveactually set the stage for these
changes to occur, and foodelimination diets can be helpful
(23:57):
.
Paying attention to glutencross-reactivity is helpful, and
reducing exposure toglyphosate-heavy foods is, I
think, much more important thanwe're giving it credit for.
So the key takeaway is thisyour digestive struggles aren't
in your head, but they do startwith your brain, and the gut and
(24:19):
the brain are truly inseparablepartners in healing, and the
encouraging part is that bysupporting your gut, you are
also supporting your brain'srecovery.
Thank you so much for listening.
If this episode resonated withyou, please share it with
somebody else who might bedealing with some unexplained
digestive issues after aconcussion, and remember there
(24:43):
are always missing pieces we canuncover and pathways forward to
better health.
Thank you so much for listening.
If there are specific topicsyou want us to cover, please
email us at lifeafterimpact atgmailcom or you can click the
send us a text link in the shownotes.
Medical disclaimer.
(25:08):
This video or podcast is forgeneral informational purposes
only and does not constitute thepractice of medicine or other
professional health careservices, including the giving
of medical advice.
No doctor patient relationshipis formed.
The use of this information andmaterials included not intended
(25:31):
to be a substitute for medicaladvice, diagnosis or treatment,
and consumers of thisinformation should seek the
advice of a medical professionalfor any and all health-related
issues.
A link to our full medicaldisclaimer is available in the
notes.
Welcome to Life After Impact the concussion recovery
podcast.
I'm Dr Ayla Wolf and I will behosting today's episode where we
help you navigate the oftenconfusing, frustrating and
overwhelming journey ofconcussion and brain injury
recovery.
This podcast is your go toresource for actionable
information, whether you'redealing with a recent concussion
(00:22):
, struggling with postconcussion syndrome or just
feeling stuck in your healingprocess.
In each episode we dive deepinto the symptoms, testing
treatments and neurologicalinsights that can help you move
forward with clarity andconfidence.
We bring you leading experts inthe world of brain health,
functional neurology andrehabilitation to share their
(00:44):
wisdom and strategies.
So if you're feeling lost,hopeless or like no one
understands what you're goingthrough, know that you are not
alone.
This podcast can be your guideand partner in recovery, helping
you build a better life afterimpact.
Hello and welcome back to LifeAfter Impact the concussion
(01:05):
recovery podcast.
I'm your host, Dr Ayla Wolf,and I am recording this episode
from Toronto where I am teachinga private invite-only workshop
this week.
Today I am going to do mysecond ever solo cast from this
very cute Airbnb that I'm at.
Before we get started, I wantedto remind listeners far and
(01:26):
wide, but for sure all of youlocal to Minneapolis, st Paul,
minnesota, that you are sowelcome to join me for my book
release party October 24th atthe Schmidt Artist Lofts in St
Paul, from 630 to 830.
From 630 to 830.
(01:50):
Please RSVP to lifeafterimpactat gmailcom so we can plan
accordingly regarding our gutand brain friendly catering here
.
Okay, let's get to our topic athand.
When you think of concussionsymptoms, the first things that
come to mind are often headaches, nausea, dizziness, maybe brain
fog, confusion.
But the truth is, concussionscan impact the body in ways you
(02:12):
might never expect, and this iswhat we're going to talk about
today.
I want to walk you through oneparticular issue that can happen
as a result of a concussionthat often flies under the radar
, in the sense that a person maynot even realize that this
thing they're dealing with is adownstream effect of an injured
(02:32):
brain, and my goal is to helpyou connect the dots between
seemingly random struggles andwhat may actually be a deeper
neurological root cause.
So if you've been dealing withdigestive symptoms, this episode
is for you, and in the futurewe might also tackle some other
issues kind of in this same veinthings that people often deal
(02:55):
with that they might not evenrealize is from their concussion
.
But today we're focusing ondigestion.
So one of the most common butleast recognized effects of
concussion is digestivedysfunction.
Many people after a concussioncan develop new food
(03:16):
sensitivities, irritable boweltype symptoms, bloating after
meals and other types ofdigestive symptoms, and it's not
just a coincidence.
Here's why we're going to breakthis down.
Your brain and your gut are inconstant communication through
(03:36):
the vagus nerve, which is aparasympathetic nerve, and 80%
of the information from thatvagus nerve goes from your gut
to the brain, and then 20% ofthe information is going from
your brain to your gut.
So, even though it's biasedmore towards sensory information
going to the brain, that 20% ofoutput from the brain is
(03:59):
extremely important and we'llget to that in a little bit more
detail here in a minute.
So when the vagus nerve isn'tfiring properly after a
concussion, digestion can slowdown.
Stomach acid can drop.
Many people when they haveheartburn, they're actually
experiencing heartburn becausethey don't have enough stomach
(04:21):
acid to break down and digesttheir food in the appropriate
amount of time and therefore itsits in their stomach for too
long and it ferments in thestomach and it creates
irritation of the stomach liningso that then the next time they
go to eat, their irritatedstomach lining actually takes
the digestive acid they do haveand sends it upwards because it
(04:45):
wants to get it away from thestomach lining, and so that
actually is causing theheartburn that many people
experience.
Another just kind of a littlebit of a side tangent there, but
in many cases heartburn isactually not enough stomach acid
.
It's not a matter of too muchstomach acid.
So okay, so that's one of thethings.
And then motility becomesirregular as well.
(05:09):
When people have motilityissues, they can either develop
constipation or they can havealternating diarrhea and
constipation in kind of one ofthose ear to bowel type
scenarios.
On top of that, inflammation inthe brain can ripple outward and
disrupt the gut microbiome.
You heard me right.
Inflammation in the brain hasdownstream consequences that
(05:32):
affect the gut health.
So let's get into that a littlebit in more detail here.
One of the ways that this canhappen is through vagal nerve
dysfunction.
The vagus nerve is the mainsuperhighway between the brain
and the gut and the gutmicrobiome, so that's really
important.
We often talk about the gutbrain axis, but what we really
(05:54):
need to be including in thatequation is the gut microbiome,
so more appropriately we shouldsay the gut microbiome,
gut-brain axis.
And after a concussion, braininflammation can impair vagal
signaling Remember that 20% ofmotor output leaving the brain
(06:15):
going down to the body throughthat vagus nerve so that
particular pathway can beimpacted.
This reduced vagal tone meansslower gut motility, leading to
things like constipation,bloating and weaker regulation
of stomach acid and the releaseof digestive enzymes and a
(06:36):
sluggish gut environment thatthen allows certain bacteria to
overgrow while beneficialmicrobes decline.
So that's one way.
The next way, which is stillvery much intertwined with the
first way, is through, we wouldjust say, some autonomic nervous
system imbalance.
So concussions often triggerdysautonomia to some degree,
(06:58):
whether that is mild, moderateor severe.
And so when sympatheticactivity dominates what we often
refer to as fight or flight andparasympathetic activity is
reduced, the outcome of that isthat blood flow to the gut
decreases, motility slows downand digestive secretions decline
(07:19):
, and this can starve themicrobiome of nutrients and
oxygen and promote dysbiosis,which is just a fancy way of
saying an imbalanced microbialcommunity in the gut.
The third way that braininflammation can impact the gut
is because of systemicinflammatory signaling, so
(07:41):
neuroinflammation doesn'tnecessarily stay locked inside
the skull Cytokines, which wecan just maybe describe them as
inflammatory messengers.
When they are produced in thebrain, they can still enter your
circulation and influenceimmune cells in the gut, and
these circulating cytokinesincrease gut permeability, or
(08:03):
what we like to call a leaky gut, and this further alters the
microbiome and it creates afeedback loop for more
inflammation.
Number four we have blood-brainbarrier and gut barrier
crosstalk, so the endothelialcells that line the gut and the
(08:25):
cells that line the blood-brainbarrier.
They behave in very similarways and concussions can
temporarily cause increasedpermeability of the blood-brain
barrier, and this is normal ifit lasts for like a week or two
after a concussion.
But sometimes this doesn'tresolve quickly and it becomes
(08:46):
more of a long-term systemicproblem, causing systemic
inflammation that weakens thegut barrier as well.
So when both barriers are leaky, immune cells and microbial
products lipopolysaccharide isone of them they can cross into
circulation and go to placeswhere they don't belong and
(09:08):
cause more inflammation.
And so this creates acompounded problem where brain
inflammation worsens gutdysbiosis and gut dysbiosis then
sends more inflammatory signalsback to the brain in this very
vicious loop that we don't wantto have happen.
And then, lastly, this iscompounded by stress hormones
(09:30):
and sleep disruption.
So concussion-related stress,physical pain, say from
headaches and neck pain or otherinjuries that aren't healing,
and poor sleep.
All elevate cortisol and highcortisol levels actually thin
the gut lining, suppress goodbacteria and encourage the
overgrowth of opportunisticspecies that we don't want to
(09:53):
have overgrowing in the gut.
We don't want to haveovergrowing in the gut.
So over time this shifts themicrobiome away from a diverse
resilient state towards one thatactually perpetuates
inflammation.
So these are all the reasonswhy you may suddenly start
reacting to foods that you neverhad an issue with before the
(10:14):
concussion.
And this can also kind of comeon gradually, in the sense that
you might not necessarily beaware of this within the first
couple of weeks after aconcussion, but possibly within
six months to a year.
This problem with foodsensitivities and digestive
issues might actually becomemore problematic over time.
(10:37):
So that's one of the reasonswhy this is kind of a sneaky
issue that people often don'ttrace back to a concussion is
because it might actually take alittle while to really fully
develop into a full-blown issue.
So if you're suddenly reactingto foods like dairy gluten or
histamine-rich foods, it may notjust be your stomach, it could
(11:01):
actually be your brainstruggling to regulate digestion
.
And the longer this goesunchecked, then the more gut
dysbiosis it can create overtime.
(12:23):
So what can people do?
Well, food elimination dietsare a legitimate way to
determine whether or not yourbody is reacting to a specific
food, but there's some nuancesto that that we're going to get
into.
But let's use a really simpleexample.
So let's say you cut out corn100% of your diet.
(12:44):
You cut out all corn for threefull weeks.
So no corn, no corn chips, nocorn syrup, no corn at all.
Then on day 22, you eat a tonof corn.
You have corn pops forbreakfast, mexican street corn
with lunch, corn tortilla chipsand guacamole for dinner.
Whatever, if your body has anissue with corn, you're probably
(13:08):
going to have some sign whenyou eat all that corn in one day
, when you haven't had it forthree weeks, and that might be
stomach pain, it might beintestinal cramping, it could be
bloating, gas, diarrhea, loosestools or, if you're like me, my
nose starts running like crazywhen I eat yellow corn, not blue
(13:28):
corn though Me and blue cornare super cool with each other,
but yellow corn chips and mynose will just start running
like crazy.
So because I'm pretty in tunewith my body.
I've kind of figured out theseweird little signals that my
body gives me to tell me whatfoods it is responding to in a
negative way.
Tell me what foods it isresponding to in a negative way.
(13:50):
But so that's the concept of afood elimination diet is you cut
the food out for three weeksand then you actually eat a lot
of it in one day and you see ifyou react to it.
Now, obviously, if you knowthat you have a food allergy,
you don't need to do this.
But what?
Food allergies and foodsensitivities are different.
So we're not necessarilytalking about true food
(14:10):
allergies.
We're talking aboutsensitivities to foods that can
develop in the picture ofinflammation.
So here's where things can gettricky, and that's when we start
talking about gluten, because Ihave heard from a lot of people
that they have gone off ofgluten for three weeks and then,
(14:31):
when they added it back in wellA, they didn't notice any
improvement.
Like they went off the glutenfor three weeks, they didn't
notice any improvement in theirsymptoms, and so therefore, they
were like, well, that didn't doanything.
So I guess I'm just going tokeep going back to eating gluten
.
Here's why gluten is a bit of aproblem.
Gluten cross reacts with manyother foods like oats, corn,
(14:55):
rice, barley, sorghum, evencoffee and chocolate for some
people.
So when somebody does cut outall bread and flour products but
instead they're still eating,say, gluten-free oatmeal, oat,
cereal, rice, corn and all ofthe gluten-free processed foods
that contain, like tapioca flouror cassava flour, they're
(15:18):
likely still consuming foodsthat are keeping them inflamed
and this is why they don'tactually feel any better and
don't notice a difference goingoff of gluten.
So my advice to people with alot of digestive issues and
brain fog and fatigue is to justcut out all grains for a while,
do a strict food eliminationdiet and then slowly add back in
(15:42):
, one thing at a time to see howyou tolerate it, one thing at a
time to see how you tolerate it.
For me, after cutting out gluten, it became really obvious that
I also really strongly reactedto oats, and I love granola, but
for many, many years I couldn'teat it.
I literally just couldn't buyit, couldn't have it in the
house, didn't eat it.
If I did have it, it would makeme very tired and it would give
(16:05):
me stomach pains prettyimmediately.
And rice is also a big problemfor me.
It gives me the worst brain fogthat will literally last into
the next day.
So what's interesting is thatwithin the last four years, as
my gut and brain have gottenhealthier, I've been able to add
back in about one to twoservings of granola per week
(16:29):
into my diet with no ill effects.
But the opposite is actuallytrue for rice.
I feel like I've become morereactive to it, or it's more
obvious to me that when I eatrice, it gives me such bad brain
fog and fatigue that I'mactually avoiding it a lot more
now than I was even 10 years ago.
Okay, but wild rice is actuallyan exception, because wild rice
(16:53):
is actually a seed, it's not agrain, and therefore people
tolerate it pretty well becauseit doesn't cross-react with
gluten like white rice or brownrice can.
So many people can actually dowild rice and they're okay with
that.
If you want to actually do atest to try to figure out what
(17:15):
foods you might becross-reacting to in terms of
how gluten has impacted yoursystem, cyrex Labs has a
specific blood panel.
They run that tests for foodsthat cross-react to gluten.
So if you're highly curiousabout diving deeper into that,
you could find a functionalmedicine provider who works with
(17:36):
Cyrex Labs and you can actuallyorder these tests and get to
the bottom of your personalreaction to different foods that
may be cross-reacting to glutenwhen you eat them.
So you can actually do somefurther testing to get into this
.
But for some people, you know,I do think that when you take
(17:58):
gluten out of the equation andyou take most grains out of the
equation, it's kind of likegetting rid of all of the white
noise, so that when you do startbringing things back into your
bubble, your body will tell youwhether it can handle it or not.
Some people are really in tunewith their bodies, other people
are not, and for those peoplemaybe just running the Cyrex
(18:21):
panel is the way to go.
But just to let you know, likethat does exist, we can actually
test for these things.
So the cross reactivity must betaken into account here.
And then I have two other thingsthat I want to say about gluten
in particular.
One when people are reallyinflamed in their gut, it really
(18:42):
truly can take longer thanthree weeks to bring that
inflammation down.
So going off of gluten forthree weeks simply may not be
long enough to see benefits.
For three weeks simply may notbe long enough to see benefits,
especially if both the brain andthe gut are inflamed.
It really may need to be more,like three to six months.
And then, lastly, we have totalk about glyphosate.
(19:03):
Many people will say to me whenI talk about going grain-free,
or at least gluten-free, theywill jump in and they'll say
well, I've been tested and Idon't have a gluten problem.
Even if that's true, eatinggluten every day also means you
are consuming its evil twin,glyphosate.
So gluten is a protein found infoods themselves.
(19:27):
Glyphosate is a chemical thatgets sprayed onto crops that
ends up as a residue in foods,and the foods that have the
highest glyphosate residuecontent are typically wheat,
especially non-organic wheatoats.
So think oat-based cereals.
I'm pretty sure Cheerios ismade of oat flour, for example.
(19:49):
Granola and many snack barshave oat flour in them.
So even a bar that you mightthink is a healthy, like a
protein bar or something likethat, if it has oat flour as one
of the main ingredients, itactually is testing pretty high
for glyphosate residue.
Barley, rye and corn are alsokind of at that top of that list
(20:13):
of foods that tend to have alarger glyphosate residue.
When they test for these foods,the United States uses the
largest amount of Roundup in theworld, continue to increase in
(20:36):
our food supply because of ouruse of Roundup.
The US government has continuedto raise the allowable amount
of glyphosate in our food supply.
So rather than saying, ooh, youknow, the glyphosate residue in
our food supply is increasing,we need to put some restrictions
in place on the amount ofRoundup that can be sprayed onto
the food.
Instead of doing that, they'rebasically just saying well,
let's just say that this is nowokay, that the amount of
(20:59):
glyphosate residue in our cerealis much higher than it used to
be.
So that's really the truth ofwhat is happening, and our
allowable amounts of glyphosatein our food is much higher than
what is allowed in Canada andEurope and other parts of the
(21:19):
world.
So many people who aregluten-free in the US I hear
this all the time they go toEurope and they say I can eat
the bread here, I'm totally fine.
And it's likely that it's notjust because of, say, the type
of flower.
Maybe they're using someheirloom flower, maybe they're
not.
It's likely that glyphosate isplaying just as big of a role as
(21:44):
whatever type of flower it isthat they're using that is
somehow different from whatwe're using here.
So I really think that theglyphosate is a bigger problem
than people realize and as soonas people come back home from
their European trip, they goright back to having, you know,
their gut issues or digestiveissues unless they're completely
(22:05):
gluten free.
And again, I think a big partof that is the fact that we are
exposed to so much glyphosateresidue in our food supply here,
unless you're eating 100%organic and really limiting the
amount of grains that youconsume.
I know we've covered a lot ofinformation, so let me just
(22:26):
recap here.
We've talked about howconcussions don't just affect
the brain.
They ripple all the way downinto the gut, from vagus, nerve
dysfunction and autonomicimbalance to systemic
inflammation, barrierpermeability of both the gut
lining and the brain lining, theblood brain barrier, and then
(22:47):
even the impact of stresshormones and environmental
chemicals like glyphosate stresshormones and environmental
chemicals like glyphosate.
So it's clear that digestiveissues after concussions.
They're not random.
They're part of this bigger gutmicrobiome, gut-brain axis that
has become dysregulated as aresult of the concussion to the
(23:10):
point where, if somebody couldhandle glyphosate and gluten and
eat whatever they wanted,sometimes a concussion can throw
them over the edge and causeenough dysfunction that, all of
a sudden, they can no longertolerate these foods.
That are creating moreinflammation.
Due to the leaky gut and theleaky blood-brain barrier and
(23:34):
the crosstalk between the two,if you feel like you have
developed food sensitivities,irritable bowel syndrome-like
symptoms or unexplained fatigueafter eating certain foods, it
may not just be your stomach.
Your brain injury may haveactually set the stage for these
changes to occur, and foodelimination diets can be helpful
(23:57):
.
Paying attention to glutencross-reactivity is helpful, and
reducing exposure toglyphosate-heavy foods is, I
think, much more important thanwe're giving it credit for.
So the key takeaway is thisyour digestive struggles aren't
in your head, but they do startwith your brain, and the gut and
(24:19):
the brain are truly inseparablepartners in healing, and the
encouraging part is that bysupporting your gut, you are
also supporting your brain'srecovery.
Thank you so much for listening.
If this episode resonated withyou, please share it with
somebody else who might bedealing with some unexplained
digestive issues after aconcussion, and remember there
(24:43):
are always missing pieces we canuncover and pathways forward to
better health.
Thank you so much for listening.
If there are specific topicsyou want us to cover, please
email us at lifeafterimpact atgmailcom or you can click the
send us a text link in the shownotes.
Medical disclaimer.
(25:08):
This video or podcast is forgeneral informational purposes
only and does not constitute thepractice of medicine or other
professional health careservices, including the giving
of medical advice.
No doctor patient relationshipis formed.
The use of this information andmaterials included not intended
(25:31):
to be a substitute for medicaladvice, diagnosis or treatment,
and consumers of thisinformation should seek the
advice of a medical professionalfor any and all health-related
issues.
A link to our full medicaldisclaimer is available in the
notes.
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