This concept has recently been addressed in a documentary series by Mark Hyman, MD called Broken Brain. He and many experts in various fields explore and discuss the importance of looking at the body as whole and how the whole significantly impacts the health and function of your brain.

Is Your Brain Broken?

• Brain-fog / difficulty concentrating

• Poor memory

• Insomnia

• ADD / ADHD

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Alzheimer’s disease

• Parkinson’s disease

• Lack of motivation

• Etc.

So how is your brain affected by other systems in your body? One very important system to consider is your digestive system. Your brain and digestive tract are “talking” to each other constantly; sending very important “status messages” back and forth every second of every day. We are all very familiar with brain that resides behind our eyeballs, but are you aware of the fact that you have a “second brain” located in and around your digestive tract? We call this nervous system the enteric nervous system (the word enteric means relating to or occurring in the intestines). Both of these brains have many things in common and are therefore subject to many of the same imbalances and dysfunction. One very important commonality is the fact that they have a protective barrier that keeps them safe from unwanted chemicals, toxins and inflammatory agents. Let’s look at these two different yet similar barriers in more detail.

Leaky Gut Syndrome

You digestive or “gut” barrier prevents food allergens / sensitivities, bacteria and harmful chemicals from reaching the delicate nervous system of your gut. When this barrier become damaged we call it “leaky gut syndrome.” It is called a syndrome because it has been linked to many different health problems including pain, inflammation, headaches, migraines, allergies, autoimmune disease, fatigue etc.

So what causes leaky gut syndrome? There are many potential causes, but some of more common include silent gut infections, stress, food allergies or sensitivities, cortisol balances due to adrenal gland stress, antibiotics, antacids and over the counter pain medications. These causative factors break-up and compromise the layer of cells that are supposed to keep harmful substance away from your blood stream, nervous system and immune system.

The important thing to remember is that a leaky gut will cause havoc with your immune system and your nervous system!  If your health problems are due to leaky gut syndrome, you will not get better until this is addressed and healed.

Leaky Brain Syndrome

If you have a leaky gut, then you also have a leaky brain. The brain also has a protective barrier called the blood-brain barrier (BBB). It separates your blood (and everything your blood is transporting; the good and the bad) from you’re your delicate brain. This barrier, just like the barrier in your gut, is designed to be highly selective and only permit “good” things to cross it. Having a leaky brain can cause problems like inflammation, fatigue, poor concentration, mood swings, anger, depression, anxiety, insomnia, etc.

If you want to feel better and restore your health, both the brain barrier and your gut barrier MUST be healed and restored.

Healing Your Brain

There are not any medications that can heal these barrier problems. They must be addressed using a functional medicine approach. This because not everyone develops barrier disorders for the same reasons. The underlying cause of your leaky barrier problem must first be determined and then addressed; in that sequence.

I see many people who try to “fix” this problem themselves by taking a probiotic or eating “less” gluten. Sometimes this helps but many times this not enough to heal the gut and restore function once again.

The reason this does not work for many people is because there are additional factors that perpetuate the barrier problem.

Understanding the various causes of leaky barriers and how to treat them effectively is essential to restoring your health healing your broken brain.  At our Naperville office, I help my patients with this problem on a daily basis. We can help you determine the underlying cause of your leaky barriers and how to repair them. Only then, can you restore health to your brain.

You don’t need to live with a “broken brain.”

If you would like more information about leaky gut or leaky brain syndrome and functional medicine or Dr. Sexton go to www.napervilleintegratedwelness.com

Do your own research, inform yourself and ask lots of questions. When collecting information you MUST consider the source. There is no shortage of false, misleading, outdated, profit-driven and utterly biased information in healthcare today; even from the most respected sources and organizations.

This approach to healthcare is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate, or prevent any disease. Why is this? The FDA enforces its position that these words can only be used with drugs. This approach does not use drugs.