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there's actually quite a bit of scientific study backing up vagus nerve stimulation with DC micro-current, especially when utilizing other modalities. There still needs to be more case studies as well. Acumed Medical in Toronto is a good source for information. They sell a Vagus nerve stimulator with their MPS Dolphin micro-current devices which works extremely well. I use it with my patients for quite a lot of different issues and get great results, much better results than when not using the devices. We use the different sides of tbe body along with different polarities of the DC microcurrent to get different results.
I studied vagal tone as part of my dissertation, and it became quickly clear that the vagus nerves are extremely nuanced in function. I wouldn’t take the vast majority of stuff on social media seriously.
@ It depends on what you really want to learn about the vagus nerves, because you can read a lot of papers about it and not really compile enough findings to get a sense of solid ground anywhere. I recommend literature reviews and meta-analyses, assuming you're comfortable with those forms of scientific writing. You can approach it from several avenues, but I started off with learning about how vagal tone is tied to various heart rate metrics and respiration.
I feel like I need a sci show video debunking all weird social media medical advice - this is also much more interesting than the vague Instagram graphics
Nowadays when I see "Doctors hate this one weird trick" or whatever it might be, I think "yea, because you're being stupid and potentially going to hurt yourself or worse"
Yes! Also, "Things (insert profession here) don't want you to know!" LOL! As if there's some mass conspiracy in various professions to keep the rest of us from knowing some piece of life altering information. People don't keep secrets that well! haha!
It’s refreshing to hear someone speaking intelligently on the topic. As someone living with dysautonomia while this is such a hot topic, I feel like I can’t make it through a social event without a stranger recommending a new method on how to “reset your vagus nerve” 😂
billpetersen298 -- No need to go that far, just switch it off and back on. Works everytime! But if for some reason it doesn't, putting it into Airplane Mode for 10-15 seconds might help.
My one run in with my vagus nerve was when I strained super hard on the toilet and nearly passed out. The EMTs were very kind and explained I'd probably just pinched the vagus nerve and I wasn't actually dying. Now I'm a lot more careful when I poop.
Yeah, kind of embarrassing when that happens. 😊 In my case, I listened to my crazy chiropractor BIL and leaned to my right side while defecating; about 10 seconds later I was on the floor thinking I was having a heart attack. Trip to the ER & I was introduced to vagus nerve stimulation and bradycardia (slowed heart rate, for those who don't google). So...try and keep your bowel movements regular and don't listen to crazy chiropractor brothers in law. 🫡
If it's any consolidation, I was taking a big gulp of water to down my morning meds after stepping out of the shower. Triggered the nerve and felt like a mule kicked me in the chest.
Doctor here: carotid sinus massage is, as stated in the video, potentially dangerous. It can dislodge "plaques" lining the carotid artery and get carried along to the smaller arteries in the brain - blocking them and causing an ischaemic stroke. If you really, really want to do a vagal manoeuvre for some reason, the valsalva manoeuvres are the least risky - it's basically what you do to unblock your ears on a plane. We use the dive reflex if we need to do vagal manoeuvres on younger kids, since they can't do valsalva
Fascinating, thanks for the info. What do you think about when people get massages, such as deep tissue massage? I get them and my neck gets a very deep rub, is that dangerous if someone has heart problems?
@@mommar4858 as a RN I can say yes if they weren't properly trained, they should never do deep tissue work on the front of the neck or near the lower area collar bone region. That area is highly vascular, it contains the carotid and subclavain arteries.
@@mommar4858 Massage therapist here. They do train us that the anterior triangle of the neck is an endangerment site. They make sure whe know how to avoid causing issues with the nerves, soft tissues and *especially* the coratid artery. That being said, heart problems do have some contraindications associated with massage. It is important that you tell your LMT what heart condition(s) you are diagnosed with and to tell your doctor before you start getting massages (just like before starting a new exercise regimen, and for a lot of the same reasons). The LMT may want a release from your doctor depending on the condition. For instance, I would need a doctor to tell me that a potential client's hypertension is controlled and give me a release to administer massage. Insurance is great. Ethics are better. Both are necessary. Some people's training is better than others, unfortunately. I would also be interested to get a doctor's take on your question.
When I went to college for law enforcement, I was taught the "sleeper hold" during hand to hand combat. It was explained that air or blood chokes were much more dangerous. So we learned a nerve choke. Vagus nerve. That basically tells your brain to drop your blood pressure... until you pass out. For reference, I'm 6'3" and my professor was 5'2". I was 200 pounds and he was 120. He picked me because I was big for the demonstration... and I volunteered. I took a knee so he could engage without a real fight. He got his position and told me to resist. I stood up, which picked him off the ground. I grayed out in under 2 seconds after that and tapped. A real fight, I might've had it with reach or weight. Once he had a good position, not a chance.
I have vasovagal syncope, it's super inconvenient. Cough? Now you've passed out. Sneeze a bit aggressively? Here comes the floor. Want to exercise? Hahahaha nope. Going for a swim? You'd better not want to get out of the pool. That food was a little spicy! Lights out. Deep breaths? Oops, night night!
For a year after a moderate COVID case, I had POTS & would pass out every time I gave myself a brain freeze. After about 3x, I gave up on thick berry smoothies...
I have postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and know from experience that vagus nerve activity is not always what you want! Mine is wonderfully efficient at dropping my blood pressure. Dropping it right down to the floor, along with my body.
100% true! if the nerve isn't functioning correctly, it's because the nerve is compromised, stimulating the nerve is just stimulating - doesn't fix the problem.
Vast neurodivergent mess here. I am a Long Covid patient with mostly neurological issues. A year ago I received a stellate ganglion block on the left and right side. These are node along the vagus nerve around C6 that get a shot of cortisone. The VA Long Covid clinic has been using this for brain fog and anxiety. After the first shot (they are given on separate days) I was pessimistically optimistic with the results. After the second inject my decades long issues with an over active bowel settled down, my brain fog and anxiety improved, and the crazy nerve pain I was feeling all across my body (and particularly on a tattoo on my left thigh) reduced to nearly nothing. \
also LC person here, I've been looking in to this as a possibility and am very excited at how much it's helping so many of us! Congrats on some really good results!
I struggle with chronic multi system inflammation (honestly I'm not sure if I can say it's long covid because while I'm sure covid didn't help, I was already experiencing most of my symptoms). Asked my new doctor what main steps she recommended I take to lower inflammation. She asked me when was the last time I got my cleaned. Finally got a deep descaling done last week and the difference was immediatsly noticeable. My joint pain is reduced by probably 90% and I have not experienced any hot flashes, heartburn, or ibs flares since. 🎉It was a shot in the dark and I figured it would be a step in the right direction but I did not expect it to be so immediate and obvious.
Vagal tone and microbiome stuff are two things I am REALLY curious to find out what we think if as "obvious" in 50 years or so. I find a lot of the polyvagal theory stuff so frustrating because some of it is just completely unsupported by science, but a lot of the practical things practitioners recommend are really helpful to a lot of people. Things like humming, deep breathing, yoga, getting into nature, and putting a cold wash cloth on your neck can be really soothing! But we don't really understand why.
My therapist once recommended singing and gently massaging my neck to stimulate the vagus nerve during panic attacks. Tried it during a bad one and collapsed before the end of the song
Re: humming being helpful to stimulate the vagus nerve: Am I the only one who thought of the potential parallel with another combo of sound + vibration a different mammalian species makes for reasons that are still mostly unknown to us but are pretty much definitely connected to healing effects both for themselves _and_ for us? I'm talking, of course, of a cat's purring.
I also made a link to my vocal stims when I do something that causes me anxiety (but not a bad enough event to set off a panic attack). Particularly I do this hum sound at a frequency that allows for high vibration in my throat, and that reduces the anxiety a bit. I've done this for years but only just now connected that I learnt to stimulate my vagus nerve without knowing I was.
@@LaVieBoheme1102 Well, are you certain that what you're doing is stimulating your vagus nerve? I'm not saying that you definitely weren't, just that it seems like a bit of a big leap to read a few RUclips comments and think, "Wow I guess I was stimulating my vagus nerve the whole time!" Not trying to be rude, I'm just...wary, when people make these kinds of self-diagnoses/etc.
My favourite fact about the vagus nerve is that all mammals have them and they all have that loop around the aorta to the larynx... Even giraffes... It runs from the brain all the way down the neck to the aorta, loops under and all the way back up to the larynx. And that is how I know intelligent design did not occur.
So I guess the useless loops of wires that go around parts they don't have to in cars are proof they weren't intelligently designed either. If you have ever rebuilt a wire harness wire by wire you would know what I mean. There probably is a good biological reason for it. We just haven't figured out what that is yet.
@@nathankeller7471 Nah, it's that way in cars for the same reason as in animals: it is an iterative process. Try something until it works "well enough", and just changing the things already in place instead if making bespoke systems every time. The idea of intelligent design is that things were designed, as is, in the best possible way, which is not reflected in nature. No iteration.
All those symptoms of "vagal nerve dysfunction" are also signs of Fibromyalgia, CFS/ME, Celiac disease, and several other chronic health issues. I don't think they could have gotten anymore vague and generalized.
Yep, I have major depression and PTSD from childhood issues and also have significant digestive issues. I have had two serious instances where I could not stop vomiting over several hours, resulting in dehydration and even more serious symptoms (delirium, unable to walk or speak correctly, high blood pressure and high blood sugar). The last time, I went to the ER, where they, of course, assumed a drug overdose, and it was a complete nightmare for me. To avoid such occurrences, I have to watch what I eat very carefully and eat regularly, not drink any alcohol or coffee (miss the coffee!), and make sure to drink enough plain water. I also see a therapist regularly and use diaphragmatic breathing and vagus nerve stimulation exercises to help relax. Those of us in constant "fight or flight" mode need some help getting to the "rest and digest" state.
Yeah PTSD is a monster. Watching what goes into your stomach helps, therapy helps, various exercises and techniques help... but none of that worked at all until I got on the right antidepressant. Then everything clicked and started working. I stopped flipping from "rest and digest" to an immediate "fight or flight" in inappropriate situations, I slept without panic attacks, etc. We definitely need all the help we can get!!
Ptsd is a beast! I can't do much exercise or I get dysautonomia symptoms because the added stress is too much. Fortunately therapy is starting to help but who knows how much.
I've had refractory epilepsy for decades, and about a year ago my neurologist brought up the possibility of getting a vagus nerve stimulator to help. They don't work for everyone, but he thinks I'm a good candidate and I'm really curious to give it a try. I'm definitely going to bring it up again at our next appointment!
8:53 "your doctor would know to investigate" Oh you sweet summer child, I wish that were true. Also surprised EDS never got mentioned. All those symptoms and more are pretty normal for me having EDS and I wish you could see how much doctors do not know to investigate this kinda vague systemic dysfunction.
Hello fellow EDS peeps. I got the hEDS variant. I don’t have pots tho, but I do have IST. Its possible that since I was being treated for that with beta blockers, they never would have known if I had POTS tho.
Isn't EDS a connective tissue disorder though? I don't know if that's on topic if we're talking about what the vagus nerve(s) can and can't do. The comment about "doctors would know to investigate" was, I believe, referring specifically to the jaw pain, difficulty with swallowing/throat spasms. From what I understand, the standard when someone is experiencing that is to check the nerves and muscles. Granted, that doesn't mean every doctor knows. Where you are can absolutely cause a lot of variation in access to care and quality of care. i grew up in a really rural area so I've seen some of that in action and it sucks.
@@ajchapeliere It is a connective tissue disorder but it has an extremely high comorbidity with POTS specifically. Reason for that isn’t well understood.
I'm glad you got into breathwork. I have used breathwork based on heart rate variability biofeedback for many years to regulate my emotions. It really works like magic. If I do my breathing practice my stress and anxiety and doomerism reduce and my motivation and joy increase, simple as that. It's like getting enough sleep or not, being hydrated or not, having an active lifestyle or not, eating healthy or not, it's a fundamental element. If you make it a habit and use it when you're stressed it will always help you deal with that moment. To get the benefit, slow and deepen your breathing. The hard part is remembering to do it when you're freaking out, thus the daily practice to make it a habit.
@@mikairu2944 You can, but it takes practice. I started with HRV breathing youtube videos. Then I got a Polar H7 chest heart rate monitor and Elite HRV app and palyed around with the biofeedback until I had a good rhythm for me. 5\2\7\2 inhale\hold\exhale\hold. I like to use the free Paced Breathing android app to follow that rhythm while playing video games since they can cause stress. It's good practice to try to follow the timer while doing something stressful.
Had a really close friend that passed with Primary Immune Deficiency, an inherited genetic autoimmune disorder passed down at birth. She dealt with seizures everyday from other health complications in addition to her autoimmune disorders which she gradually inherited more over time in her life as is common for people with autoimmune disorders. She had a magnet attached to her vagus nerve on her chest and a car keychain with another magnet you were supposed to use whenever she would have really really bad seizures to try and encourage her body to not have them at least as severely. I don't know how effective it was in practice to be honest as she had seizures everyday and it was just a part of her daily life but that's my limited exposure to learning about the vagus nerve.
I was in an out patient rehab in 2019, and the therapist would always talk about the vagus nerve. Also I'm a paraplegic from birth and was diagnosed several years ago with gastroparesis so that part I found extra fascinating.
I have neuro-disautonomic syncope; my vagus nerve sends the wrong signals to my heart and other organs to the point that my blood pressure drops. And this was finally diagnosed by a specialist cardiologist because for years my random symptoms (which even included gastrointestinal things) were a complete mystery to multiple doctors I visited. I'm taking some meds and I'm happy to share that it's helping. I can confirm that saying those nerve functions are nuanced is an understatement.
@BINCHICKENS. If I see it, yes. But by now it's routine for me. I just have to avoid seeing the needle go in, not think too much about it and control my breathing.
I have the same condition. I have a pacemaker and found that I can’t do long distance cycling or running. I also have to hydrate with electrolytes and I found that building muscle helped some. Exercise of choice is rock climbing (I am 65). It’s a total body workout and regulates my breathing. Meds helped for a short while and then they didn’t. I also watch the foods I eat so it helps with gut issues. Daily walking outdoors help but this is more about going outside with my dog and enjoying fresh air daily.
@@LilDeb I'll keep your experience in mind, thanks. I've also found that drinks with electrolytes help a great deal, but haven't yet started to exercise for muscle building. I'm only 41 years old 😅
Ok well thank you Scishow… I have POTS and had NO IDEA difficulty swallowing or inappropriate gag reflex can be related to the Vagus nerve. Like seriously thank you. This gives me something to ask my doctor about to find the reason behind all my OTHER symptoms.
As someone with POTs, chronic pain from Heds, and autism, I’m curious how many of the people who claimed vagus nerve stimulation was a treatment for anxiety actually had undiagnosed autism or dysautonomia. In my experience these things kind of co-occur a lot, and it would make a lot of sense if there was indirect treatment happening.
One not weird trick that helps me during episodes is sitting/laying down, it helps my bp to even out and takes the short trip to the ground from the possibility of harm (fainting), I hate how stigmatized it is to lay your own boundaries when facing these issues if it was easily cured I'm sure everyone would take that route, I do not enjoy dripping sweat and feeling faint over simple tasks
I've hadn't heard of most of these strange claims! I grew up learning that inhaling deeply "triggers the vagus nerve" and will calm you down. Was in band throughout school so it was taught to improve tone and reduce performance anxiety, and for anxiety reduction in general. I love learning new things!
Sometimes I get extremely strong hunger pangs and then a weird wave of nausea for just a few seconds, then I explode into a sneezing fit, bent over double with no space between sneezes, after which i feel fine and not even hungry. I blame my vagus nerve
OH THANK YOU for laying out the information in the typical fantastic Sci Show way. I have had several epigastric and abdominal surgeries, including on vagal nerve branches. After working with surgeon and interventional radiologists, I see how little they understand about how the vagus nerve works. It's so complicated, affects so many important functions in the body, and like most anatomy, has variations across individuals. Investiate your sources before trying anything, please! And take care everyone.
THANK YOU for first clarifying that there are two of them. I'm unhappily familiar with gastroparesis in particular - because among all the other havoc diabetes can wreak on you, NERVE DAMAGE is a big one - and the vagus nerve can be one of the early victims, affecting the gut in particular. (To be clear: high blood sugar damages ALL your capillaries, and if there happen to be nerve endings in the same area, those tiny little knife-like sugar molecules can also slice up the nerve tissue. That's a big reason for neuropathy in the extremities.) For a very long time though, I thought there were about a dozen vagus nerves, so the clarification of just how/where the nerves run was helpful too. Fun thing - the very first time I heard the word was in relation to "brain freeze" because apparently that, too, stimulates the very same nerve!
Is gastroparesis always caused by vagus nerve issues or is that only in certain cases, like diabetic gastroparesis? How does it relate with dysautonomia? What about people who get gastroparesis after an illness or as a result of a connective tissue disorder?
Vagus Nerve massage for my abdomen helped me heal my digestive tract problems. A gentle message in a clockwise motion. Now that I'm healthier again I don't need it do it as much.
I have arthritis and I'm so excited for the research about the vagus never stimulator. Phase 3 results read out positive for RA. I'm hoping they start more trials in other types of arthritis soon
I agree with everything said in the video (and I mean, I’m not qualified to agree or disagree on the science pieces). I also think TikTok is a bad place for medical advice (actually, I think all social media is bad for society) But I will point out that the reason studies are done against placebo isn’t because placebos don’t work, it’s because they *do* Do enough ‘research’ to make sure that the things you are trying are safe to try, but after that, rolling the dice on many placebos as possible will increase your chances of recovery.
Pretty much all of this addresses vagus nerves with low activity. My issues is the opposite. It's overactive and causes vasovagal syncope, which means that triggers I may have had earlier in life are worse (or, to be more accurate, I'm far more sensitive to the triggers and certain things that didn't really cause a reaction may cause them now). I've noticed that depression has been worse since this started sometime last year as well. There isn't some Tik Tok cure to this either (or I'd be interested). Medication so far hasn't helped at all, so it could be something I'll have for the rest of my life with nothing to help it. If there was a cause for the vagus nerve being overactive, I could address that, but the cardiologist hasn't pointed to anything. It's an interesting thing, the vagus nerve. Slows the heart rate and lowers blood pressure...until it freaks out and drops them both so low that you can't remain conscious.
It's not just influencers pedalling these sorts of vagus nerve health pseudoscience. I was having appointments with a trained and certified psychologist who taught me various "vagus nerve stimulation techniques ".
Had to actually learn how to do a lot of these vagus nerve maneuvres to deal with a heart condition which was sort of like AVNRT, because my heart would race to 200-250bpm suddenly. Ice water, lying on my side, creating pressure in my chest and then lying back with my feet up in the air all generally reset my heart rhythm. Though I don't recommend the creating pressure in your chest one, because more than once it actually increased my heart rate, so I only did that with paramedics after discovering that. So that was vagus nerve stimulation for a specific medical reason, but now I've had heart surgery everything's well again.
Interesting. When I was a kid I noticed that when I went diving, I could stay down longer if I tried to exhale without actually letting my breath out. I thought it was because the increased pressure in my lungs helped to force oxygen into my blood, but maybe it was just because my vagus nerve was slowing my heart rate.
This video was just the one I needed! Ive fainted due to vasovagal syncope a couple times. It sucks. The solution? Actually hydrating and eating well, which in turn resulted in better gut health. Who wouldve thunk? 🤷
My endocronologist told me that stress reduction is the best medicine for every disease. And stress reduction is the same as reducing the sympathetic nerve system. And that's equal with activating the vagus nerves.
That was really interesting. There's so much interesting stuff to read about the gut brain axis these days from legitimate sources of course. Also, that is an awesome top.
As someone who DOES have medically diagnosed tachycardia (Specifically, POTS), I've found that taking deep breaths (specifically the in for 4 out for 4 method) can help when I'm in the middle of a flare/episode! I never really knew why, just that it helped. This is super interesting!
I have a Vagus nerve stimulator to treat my autoimmune epilepsy. I've had it for 2 years and haven't had a seizure since I got it. They sent my case to Mayo clinic to figure out what the best treatment for me would be.
This is a real blind spot in my medical education so I really appreciate it. Also your fashion is always on point, and I want that dinosaur shirt so bad
Great video! I'll add that I was part of a clinical trial using a hand-held vagus nerve stimulator for migraine prevention. It was this cool gizmo about the size and shape of an electric razor that I'd hold to my neck a prescribed amount of time a few times a day. My results were marginal improvement in migraine intensity. I'm not sure if the device met FDA approval.
I have chronic migraines and such. My Dr prescribed the Gammacore stimulator. It's week 1 with it and it's weird but seems to kinda help. Mine is not an implant. It's handheld and pretty neat.
My vagus nerve is what makes me sneeze and cough when I touch my right inner ear, apparently it's also compressed when I eat, I can hear my artery in my right ear too, and then there's also the whole fainting thing because pots
This! It never happens on the left, but on the right ear, even a light touch or the doctor checking it will send me into a coughing fit. Not to even mention the pain.
@astralb.2647 I've always had it and I thought everyone did at first and then a boyfriend licked me there and I coughed so hard I almost threw up lmfao. Damn nerves been annoying my whole life
I sneeze when the inside of my nose has any pressure applied, which I’ve always been told was weird. I thought it was normal to sneeze when someone sticks something up your nose. *Thinks back to covid test nosebleeds and sneeze fests*
@mebreevee ooooh I remember that... covid tests were so painful to me, my vagus nerve is very overactive with sending wrong impulses. At the throat swab part of the covid test, I'm pretty sure I nearly bit that poor lady. The nasal swab was slightly better, but extremely painful on the right side and an embarrassing amount of tears and sneezing lol
There's also plenty of handheld vagus nerve stimulation devices which are covered by insurance. Usually prescribed for migraine treatment but they were also used for things like epilepsy, gastroparesis, nausea, and the VA used them for tachycardia in covid patients.
I work for a video-focused medical education company and the, "And it's our video and we're gonna do what we want to" at the start cracked me up... because, exactly. Lol
Some vagus nerve stimulation helped me when I was first having some tachycardia issues. In some of these cases, even my anxiety medication didn't help, but some simple neck and facial pressure points helped relax me enough to get my heart rate back down. What was really interesting was while doing these, I could actually feel the muscles in the area relax with the fingers I was pressing with. And the reduced tension made me feel more relaxed. I can't say if it was the vagus nerve or not, but doing these "vagus nerve" maneuvers felt relaxing and relaxed me. All of ones I did were safe to do.
SciShow did an episode 3 years ago called "Why Does Rubbing Tired Eyes Feel Good?" Which shows you how to "hack" your vagus nerve. Don't know why the red herring of this episode. Just confused.
My right side vagus nerve suffered damage somehow (suspected viral infection) and now currently suffer from achalasia type 2 along with a chronic spot under my shoulder blade that feels like it's burning. Don't go poking around your nervous system for fun kids.
I worked w a lady who had a vagus nerve implant. It came with a magnetic wrist band that she would swipe across her heart when she thought she was going to have a seizure. Sometimes it didn’t work. But it’s hard to know if it didn’t work at all. You could tell when she would be stressed she would be swiping away with it.
No wonder I have the VNS on my left side since I have seizures from my right side of my brain even though I already had brain surgery done to have less seizures.
I want to know more about Vegus nerve stimulation and its effect on Tourette’s syndrome. Doing a search on RUclips brought up only a couple of results (although RUclips search sucks)
A very recent youtube video by Dr. Ford Brewer mentions that "4-4-8" breathing can lower blood pressure (inhale for 4 counts, hold for 4 counts, and exhale for 8 counts). He's an emergency physician, and teacher at Johns Hopkins (i.e., not a chiropractor, lol). I suspect it would have something to do with the vagus nerve.
I only remembered the vagus nerve as the thing that made my voice mysteriously nearly dissappear when it got squarshed by my lymphoma mass because it takes a funky path. Cool to find out what else it does + learn it would have specifically been the left recurrent laryngeal nerve getting squished.
I became aware of the vagus nerve due to its possible connection with restless leg syndrome and akathisia. I had no idea it was being promoted as a cure for everything under the sun!
I had a heart transplant as a child. My vagus nerves to the heart were severed and as a consequnce my resting HR is higher than average. Usually 80-100bpm. My heart is also slower to respond to exertion and takes longer to return to resting after exertion. Basically input lag
I did a vagus nerve stimulation study for my BSc in Psychology. We tried to influence the vagus nerve via the ear and measured blood pressure, heart rate, psychometrics, etc. We found no difference 😂
Year ago my friend died due to medical malpractice. Doctors cut his vagus nerve when removing vascular port from his body. He died within several hours afterwards both puking and passing out multiple times and messaging loved ones.
My Dad is one of 25k people to have an Angelchik prosthesis implanted around the esophagus at the top of the stomach. His GORD most likely caused damage to the Vagus nerve and his body occasionally makes him feel like he's gonna die. Weak, rapid pulse, feeling cold, and if it gets bad enough feeling like he's going to pass out. It's been like this for years, but got worse while he was lifting something when covid started. He's been in an ambulance quite frequently over the years.
I slide down the stairs on my butt about 5 years ago, and about 10 minutes after the fall I uncontrollably needed to poo. While pooing, the combo of the fall and the pooing over loaded my vagus nerve and I lost consciousness and passed out on the bathroom floor. Went to the ER to make sure I was okay and the nurse explained what had happened to me.
In anesthesia we use the term vagal tone often when getting patients ready for intubation. Basically using the term in reference to the patients ability to do things like blink, swallow or breathe. Too much vagal and you need more medications, not enough vagal tone and your patient might be overdosing on the anesthesia
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there's actually quite a bit of scientific study backing up vagus nerve stimulation with DC micro-current, especially when utilizing other modalities. There still needs to be more case studies as well. Acumed Medical in Toronto is a good source for information. They sell a Vagus nerve stimulator with their MPS Dolphin micro-current devices which works extremely well. I use it with my patients for quite a lot of different issues and get great results, much better results than when not using the devices. We use the different sides of tbe body along with different polarities of the DC microcurrent to get different results.
mind your own business na zi stop violating patients HIPAA rights
I studied vagal tone as part of my dissertation, and it became quickly clear that the vagus nerves are extremely nuanced in function. I wouldn’t take the vast majority of stuff on social media seriously.
So... What can I do find more info?
@@edrozenrozen9600 Go to school, and do your own doctoral degree.
@@shakeyj4523 or, y'know, look at some papers about it?
@ It depends on what you really want to learn about the vagus nerves, because you can read a lot of papers about it and not really compile enough findings to get a sense of solid ground anywhere. I recommend literature reviews and meta-analyses, assuming you're comfortable with those forms of scientific writing. You can approach it from several avenues, but I started off with learning about how vagal tone is tied to various heart rate metrics and respiration.
@ Yes, dissertations usually include papers. Anything else?
I feel like I need a sci show video debunking all weird social media medical advice - this is also much more interesting than the vague Instagram graphics
I can do that too! Social media medical advice is all lies, you're stupid to believe them. Done.
Nowadays when I see "Doctors hate this one weird trick" or whatever it might be, I think "yea, because you're being stupid and potentially going to hurt yourself or worse"
Classic click bait
Absolutely. It's the same psychological trick car salesman use: "I'm on your side. It's us versus them."
Every time the YT algorithm tries to feed me that cr@p, I click "not Interested" so fast.
Yes! Also, "Things (insert profession here) don't want you to know!" LOL! As if there's some mass conspiracy in various professions to keep the rest of us from knowing some piece of life altering information. People don't keep secrets that well! haha!
It’s refreshing to hear someone speaking intelligently on the topic. As someone living with dysautonomia while this is such a hot topic, I feel like I can’t make it through a social event without a stranger recommending a new method on how to “reset your vagus nerve” 😂
Have you tried unplugging it, for a minute or two?
billpetersen298 -- No need to go that far, just switch it off and back on. Works everytime! But if for some reason it doesn't, putting it into Airplane Mode for 10-15 seconds might help.
@@iprobablyforgotsomething Airplane mode to Bali from Vancouver, is about 19 hours. It sucks, but definitely worth it.
Vagus nerve? More like, vague use nerve
Ba zing
Get out
Got 'em!
Contrary to the marketing campaign, what happens in the vagus *doesn’t* stay in the vagus.
Booooo, lol
My one run in with my vagus nerve was when I strained super hard on the toilet and nearly passed out. The EMTs were very kind and explained I'd probably just pinched the vagus nerve and I wasn't actually dying. Now I'm a lot more careful when I poop.
Yeah, kind of embarrassing when that happens. 😊
In my case, I listened to my crazy chiropractor BIL and leaned to my right side while defecating; about 10 seconds later I was on the floor thinking I was having a heart attack. Trip to the ER & I was introduced to vagus nerve stimulation and bradycardia (slowed heart rate, for those who don't google). So...try and keep your bowel movements regular and don't listen to crazy chiropractor brothers in law. 🫡
If it's any consolidation, I was taking a big gulp of water to down my morning meds after stepping out of the shower. Triggered the nerve and felt like a mule kicked me in the chest.
Doctor here: carotid sinus massage is, as stated in the video, potentially dangerous. It can dislodge "plaques" lining the carotid artery and get carried along to the smaller arteries in the brain - blocking them and causing an ischaemic stroke.
If you really, really want to do a vagal manoeuvre for some reason, the valsalva manoeuvres are the least risky - it's basically what you do to unblock your ears on a plane. We use the dive reflex if we need to do vagal manoeuvres on younger kids, since they can't do valsalva
I've heard Splashing Cold water On your face lowers blood pressure
@@DesmoraDays That's what the mammalian dive reflex is, which the post above you mentioned.
Fascinating, thanks for the info. What do you think about when people get massages, such as deep tissue massage? I get them and my neck gets a very deep rub, is that dangerous if someone has heart problems?
@@mommar4858 as a RN I can say yes if they weren't properly trained, they should never do deep tissue work on the front of the neck or near the lower area collar bone region. That area is highly vascular, it contains the carotid and subclavain arteries.
@@mommar4858 Massage therapist here. They do train us that the anterior triangle of the neck is an endangerment site. They make sure whe know how to avoid causing issues with the nerves, soft tissues and *especially* the coratid artery.
That being said, heart problems do have some contraindications associated with massage. It is important that you tell your LMT what heart condition(s) you are diagnosed with and to tell your doctor before you start getting massages (just like before starting a new exercise regimen, and for a lot of the same reasons). The LMT may want a release from your doctor depending on the condition. For instance, I would need a doctor to tell me that a potential client's hypertension is controlled and give me a release to administer massage. Insurance is great. Ethics are better. Both are necessary.
Some people's training is better than others, unfortunately. I would also be interested to get a doctor's take on your question.
When I went to college for law enforcement, I was taught the "sleeper hold" during hand to hand combat. It was explained that air or blood chokes were much more dangerous. So we learned a nerve choke. Vagus nerve. That basically tells your brain to drop your blood pressure... until you pass out.
For reference, I'm 6'3" and my professor was 5'2". I was 200 pounds and he was 120. He picked me because I was big for the demonstration... and I volunteered.
I took a knee so he could engage without a real fight. He got his position and told me to resist. I stood up, which picked him off the ground. I grayed out in under 2 seconds after that and tapped.
A real fight, I might've had it with reach or weight. Once he had a good position, not a chance.
Live long and prosper ✋
I have vasovagal syncope, it's super inconvenient. Cough? Now you've passed out. Sneeze a bit aggressively? Here comes the floor. Want to exercise? Hahahaha nope. Going for a swim? You'd better not want to get out of the pool. That food was a little spicy! Lights out. Deep breaths? Oops, night night!
Oh that sounds really annoying to manage. Take care!
I have a mild form and it’s still super annoying! I can’t imagine this level of
That seems a bit extreme. I only pass out when I twist my ankles, whack my elbow on something or have something injected into me.
That's gotta get annoying real quick
For a year after a moderate COVID case, I had POTS & would pass out every time I gave myself a brain freeze. After about 3x, I gave up on thick berry smoothies...
I have postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and know from experience that vagus nerve activity is not always what you want! Mine is wonderfully efficient at dropping my blood pressure. Dropping it right down to the floor, along with my body.
Oh, a fellow Potsie, hi!
haha, SAME.
POTs is the worst
POTS gang checkin in! My wife sends her regards... or will, when she regains consciousness after a shower that was slightly too warm.
POTS crew checking in! Mine forced me to stay home sick today!
@ That was me on Tuesday lol. POTS and new meds have got me down
What happens in Vagus stays in Vagus
100% true! if the nerve isn't functioning correctly, it's because the nerve is compromised, stimulating the nerve is just stimulating - doesn't fix the problem.
😂😂😂😂
Vast neurodivergent mess here. I am a Long Covid patient with mostly neurological issues. A year ago I received a stellate ganglion block on the left and right side. These are node along the vagus nerve around C6 that get a shot of cortisone. The VA Long Covid clinic has been using this for brain fog and anxiety. After the first shot (they are given on separate days) I was pessimistically optimistic with the results. After the second inject my decades long issues with an over active bowel settled down, my brain fog and anxiety improved, and the crazy nerve pain I was feeling all across my body (and particularly on a tattoo on my left thigh) reduced to nearly nothing.
\
Glad it helped.
You had me at 'vast neurodivergent mess'. Welcome my world.
That's awesome man, happy for you
also LC person here, I've been looking in to this as a possibility and am very excited at how much it's helping so many of us! Congrats on some really good results!
I struggle with chronic multi system inflammation (honestly I'm not sure if I can say it's long covid because while I'm sure covid didn't help, I was already experiencing most of my symptoms). Asked my new doctor what main steps she recommended I take to lower inflammation. She asked me when was the last time I got my cleaned. Finally got a deep descaling done last week and the difference was immediatsly noticeable. My joint pain is reduced by probably 90% and I have not experienced any hot flashes, heartburn, or ibs flares since. 🎉It was a shot in the dark and I figured it would be a step in the right direction but I did not expect it to be so immediate and obvious.
Vagal tone and microbiome stuff are two things I am REALLY curious to find out what we think if as "obvious" in 50 years or so.
I find a lot of the polyvagal theory stuff so frustrating because some of it is just completely unsupported by science, but a lot of the practical things practitioners recommend are really helpful to a lot of people. Things like humming, deep breathing, yoga, getting into nature, and putting a cold wash cloth on your neck can be really soothing! But we don't really understand why.
You voiced exactly the things I was thinking!
My therapist once recommended singing and gently massaging my neck to stimulate the vagus nerve during panic attacks. Tried it during a bad one and collapsed before the end of the song
I mean, it did eventually stop your panic attack i guess? 😂
What did they say when you told them about it? I hope they made a demonstration at some point...
Ok but they didn’t expect you to sing To the Hellfire by Lorna Shore
Forgive me, that story made me giggle.
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Re: humming being helpful to stimulate the vagus nerve:
Am I the only one who thought of the potential parallel with another combo of sound + vibration a different mammalian species makes for reasons that are still mostly unknown to us but are pretty much definitely connected to healing effects both for themselves _and_ for us? I'm talking, of course, of a cat's purring.
I seem to remember a Sci show video about that...
@@nariu7times328oh really? 😅 I'll have to look around then, hopefully they have their content organized somehow...
I also made a link to my vocal stims when I do something that causes me anxiety (but not a bad enough event to set off a panic attack). Particularly I do this hum sound at a frequency that allows for high vibration in my throat, and that reduces the anxiety a bit. I've done this for years but only just now connected that I learnt to stimulate my vagus nerve without knowing I was.
@@LaVieBoheme1102 Well, are you certain that what you're doing is stimulating your vagus nerve? I'm not saying that you definitely weren't, just that it seems like a bit of a big leap to read a few RUclips comments and think, "Wow I guess I was stimulating my vagus nerve the whole time!"
Not trying to be rude, I'm just...wary, when people make these kinds of self-diagnoses/etc.
And elephants maybe?
My favourite fact about the vagus nerve is that all mammals have them and they all have that loop around the aorta to the larynx... Even giraffes... It runs from the brain all the way down the neck to the aorta, loops under and all the way back up to the larynx. And that is how I know intelligent design did not occur.
One of Richard dawkins atheistic point
Absolutely right.
So I guess the useless loops of wires that go around parts they don't have to in cars are proof they weren't intelligently designed either. If you have ever rebuilt a wire harness wire by wire you would know what I mean. There probably is a good biological reason for it. We just haven't figured out what that is yet.
@@nathankeller7471are there useless loops that are common in every single car?
@@nathankeller7471 Nah, it's that way in cars for the same reason as in animals: it is an iterative process. Try something until it works "well enough", and just changing the things already in place instead if making bespoke systems every time.
The idea of intelligent design is that things were designed, as is, in the best possible way, which is not reflected in nature. No iteration.
All those symptoms of "vagal nerve dysfunction" are also signs of Fibromyalgia, CFS/ME, Celiac disease, and several other chronic health issues. I don't think they could have gotten anymore vague and generalized.
Color me shocked, TikTok giving incorrect medical information
Yep, I have major depression and PTSD from childhood issues and also have significant digestive issues. I have had two serious instances where I could not stop vomiting over several hours, resulting in dehydration and even more serious symptoms (delirium, unable to walk or speak correctly, high blood pressure and high blood sugar). The last time, I went to the ER, where they, of course, assumed a drug overdose, and it was a complete nightmare for me. To avoid such occurrences, I have to watch what I eat very carefully and eat regularly, not drink any alcohol or coffee (miss the coffee!), and make sure to drink enough plain water. I also see a therapist regularly and use diaphragmatic breathing and vagus nerve stimulation exercises to help relax. Those of us in constant "fight or flight" mode need some help getting to the "rest and digest" state.
I do EMDR for my CPTSD. It really helps.
Yeah PTSD is a monster. Watching what goes into your stomach helps, therapy helps, various exercises and techniques help... but none of that worked at all until I got on the right antidepressant. Then everything clicked and started working. I stopped flipping from "rest and digest" to an immediate "fight or flight" in inappropriate situations, I slept without panic attacks, etc. We definitely need all the help we can get!!
Ptsd is a beast! I can't do much exercise or I get dysautonomia symptoms because the added stress is too much. Fortunately therapy is starting to help but who knows how much.
I've had refractory epilepsy for decades, and about a year ago my neurologist brought up the possibility of getting a vagus nerve stimulator to help. They don't work for everyone, but he thinks I'm a good candidate and I'm really curious to give it a try. I'm definitely going to bring it up again at our next appointment!
Thanks!
"Meander" and "wandering" gave me flashbacks to the wandering uterus 💀
don't get all hysterical now
8:53 "your doctor would know to investigate" Oh you sweet summer child, I wish that were true. Also surprised EDS never got mentioned. All those symptoms and more are pretty normal for me having EDS and I wish you could see how much doctors do not know to investigate this kinda vague systemic dysfunction.
I have EDS and gastroparesis and honestly I'm sick of the medical system, get me outta here
Hello fellow EDS peeps. I got the hEDS variant.
I don’t have pots tho, but I do have IST. Its possible that since I was being treated for that with beta blockers, they never would have known if I had POTS tho.
Bingo lol
Isn't EDS a connective tissue disorder though? I don't know if that's on topic if we're talking about what the vagus nerve(s) can and can't do. The comment about "doctors would know to investigate" was, I believe, referring specifically to the jaw pain, difficulty with swallowing/throat spasms. From what I understand, the standard when someone is experiencing that is to check the nerves and muscles. Granted, that doesn't mean every doctor knows. Where you are can absolutely cause a lot of variation in access to care and quality of care. i grew up in a really rural area so I've seen some of that in action and it sucks.
@@ajchapeliere It is a connective tissue disorder but it has an extremely high comorbidity with POTS specifically. Reason for that isn’t well understood.
I'm glad you got into breathwork. I have used breathwork based on heart rate variability biofeedback for many years to regulate my emotions. It really works like magic. If I do my breathing practice my stress and anxiety and doomerism reduce and my motivation and joy increase, simple as that. It's like getting enough sleep or not, being hydrated or not, having an active lifestyle or not, eating healthy or not, it's a fundamental element. If you make it a habit and use it when you're stressed it will always help you deal with that moment. To get the benefit, slow and deepen your breathing. The hard part is remembering to do it when you're freaking out, thus the daily practice to make it a habit.
+1, wish I could have deep breaths as my default
@@mikairu2944 You can, but it takes practice. I started with HRV breathing youtube videos. Then I got a Polar H7 chest heart rate monitor and Elite HRV app and palyed around with the biofeedback until I had a good rhythm for me. 5\2\7\2 inhale\hold\exhale\hold. I like to use the free Paced Breathing android app to follow that rhythm while playing video games since they can cause stress. It's good practice to try to follow the timer while doing something stressful.
Had a really close friend that passed with Primary Immune Deficiency, an inherited genetic autoimmune disorder passed down at birth. She dealt with seizures everyday from other health complications in addition to her autoimmune disorders which she gradually inherited more over time in her life as is common for people with autoimmune disorders. She had a magnet attached to her vagus nerve on her chest and a car keychain with another magnet you were supposed to use whenever she would have really really bad seizures to try and encourage her body to not have them at least as severely. I don't know how effective it was in practice to be honest as she had seizures everyday and it was just a part of her daily life but that's my limited exposure to learning about the vagus nerve.
I was in an out patient rehab in 2019, and the therapist would always talk about the vagus nerve. Also I'm a paraplegic from birth and was diagnosed several years ago with gastroparesis so that part I found extra fascinating.
I have neuro-disautonomic syncope; my vagus nerve sends the wrong signals to my heart and other organs to the point that my blood pressure drops. And this was finally diagnosed by a specialist cardiologist because for years my random symptoms (which even included gastrointestinal things) were a complete mystery to multiple doctors I visited. I'm taking some meds and I'm happy to share that it's helping.
I can confirm that saying those nerve functions are nuanced is an understatement.
Did you get nauseous when getting blood drawn? I have been having trouble with it when ANY Iv ect happens ( not scared )
@BINCHICKENS. If I see it, yes. But by now it's routine for me. I just have to avoid seeing the needle go in, not think too much about it and control my breathing.
I have the same condition. I have a pacemaker and found that I can’t do long distance cycling or running. I also have to hydrate with electrolytes and I found that building muscle helped some. Exercise of choice is rock climbing (I am 65). It’s a total body workout and regulates my breathing. Meds helped for a short while and then they didn’t. I also watch the foods I eat so it helps with gut issues. Daily walking outdoors help but this is more about going outside with my dog and enjoying fresh air daily.
@@LilDeb I'll keep your experience in mind, thanks. I've also found that drinks with electrolytes help a great deal, but haven't yet started to exercise for muscle building. I'm only 41 years old 😅
Got myself a bad case of POTS so as soon as I hear “vagus nerve” I am LISTENING.
THANK YOU!!! I have been curious about the validity of all of these vagus nerve videos for quite some time now! I appreciate this clarification!
Ok well thank you Scishow… I have POTS and had NO IDEA difficulty swallowing or inappropriate gag reflex can be related to the Vagus nerve. Like seriously thank you. This gives me something to ask my doctor about to find the reason behind all my OTHER symptoms.
Pots is basically over active vagus nerve, right?
POTS is caused by ANS(vagus nerve) dysfunction, so it goes along with pots.
As someone with POTs, chronic pain from Heds, and autism, I’m curious how many of the people who claimed vagus nerve stimulation was a treatment for anxiety actually had undiagnosed autism or dysautonomia. In my experience these things kind of co-occur a lot, and it would make a lot of sense if there was indirect treatment happening.
One not weird trick that helps me during episodes is sitting/laying down, it helps my bp to even out and takes the short trip to the ground from the possibility of harm (fainting), I hate how stigmatized it is to lay your own boundaries when facing these issues if it was easily cured I'm sure everyone would take that route, I do not enjoy dripping sweat and feeling faint over simple tasks
I've hadn't heard of most of these strange claims! I grew up learning that inhaling deeply "triggers the vagus nerve" and will calm you down. Was in band throughout school so it was taught to improve tone and reduce performance anxiety, and for anxiety reduction in general. I love learning new things!
4:06 I have a vagus nerve stimulator implant for my bipolar depression and it works *wonders*!
Thank you! I hear so much about this in the spaces I frequent that it is nice to get clarity on what we do and do not know.
Sometimes I get extremely strong hunger pangs and then a weird wave of nausea for just a few seconds, then I explode into a sneezing fit, bent over double with no space between sneezes, after which i feel fine and not even hungry. I blame my vagus nerve
Same! No one has ever believed me when I tell them. I'll even dry heave a few times before the sneezes.
Same!!! Came to the comments to see if I could find anyone else. Everyone looks at me oddly when I say it irl.
Oh wait, you get those hunger nausea pangs too? I thought I was just weird!
@@mebreevee Are yours also followed by a sneezing fit and then relief? I'm absolutely fascinated by this.
@ No, its generally followed by vomiting if I don’t eat, or relief if I eat. Idk what purpose my body would have vomiting from hunger tho >.>
OH THANK YOU for laying out the information in the typical fantastic Sci Show way. I have had several epigastric and abdominal surgeries, including on vagal nerve branches. After working with surgeon and interventional radiologists, I see how little they understand about how the vagus nerve works. It's so complicated, affects so many important functions in the body, and like most anatomy, has variations across individuals. Investiate your sources before trying anything, please! And take care everyone.
That explains the Vulcan death grip.
THANK YOU for first clarifying that there are two of them. I'm unhappily familiar with gastroparesis in particular - because among all the other havoc diabetes can wreak on you, NERVE DAMAGE is a big one - and the vagus nerve can be one of the early victims, affecting the gut in particular. (To be clear: high blood sugar damages ALL your capillaries, and if there happen to be nerve endings in the same area, those tiny little knife-like sugar molecules can also slice up the nerve tissue. That's a big reason for neuropathy in the extremities.)
For a very long time though, I thought there were about a dozen vagus nerves, so the clarification of just how/where the nerves run was helpful too.
Fun thing - the very first time I heard the word was in relation to "brain freeze" because apparently that, too, stimulates the very same nerve!
Great video, as always. Love the orange glasses look, too!
I guess the lack of clarity on its functions is why it's called the Vagus Nerve, rather than Specificus Nerve...
Is gastroparesis always caused by vagus nerve issues or is that only in certain cases, like diabetic gastroparesis? How does it relate with dysautonomia? What about people who get gastroparesis after an illness or as a result of a connective tissue disorder?
Vagus Nerve massage for my abdomen helped me heal my digestive tract problems. A gentle message in a clockwise motion. Now that I'm healthier again I don't need it do it as much.
I have arthritis and I'm so excited for the research about the vagus never stimulator. Phase 3 results read out positive for RA. I'm hoping they start more trials in other types of arthritis soon
Excellent presentation
I agree with everything said in the video (and I mean, I’m not qualified to agree or disagree on the science pieces).
I also think TikTok is a bad place for medical advice (actually, I think all social media is bad for society)
But I will point out that the reason studies are done against placebo isn’t because placebos don’t work, it’s because they *do*
Do enough ‘research’ to make sure that the things you are trying are safe to try, but after that, rolling the dice on many placebos as possible will increase your chances of recovery.
So it's not the Las Vegas nerve?
What happens in the vagus nerve, stays in the vagus nerve.
Pretty much all of this addresses vagus nerves with low activity. My issues is the opposite. It's overactive and causes vasovagal syncope, which means that triggers I may have had earlier in life are worse (or, to be more accurate, I'm far more sensitive to the triggers and certain things that didn't really cause a reaction may cause them now). I've noticed that depression has been worse since this started sometime last year as well. There isn't some Tik Tok cure to this either (or I'd be interested). Medication so far hasn't helped at all, so it could be something I'll have for the rest of my life with nothing to help it. If there was a cause for the vagus nerve being overactive, I could address that, but the cardiologist hasn't pointed to anything. It's an interesting thing, the vagus nerve. Slows the heart rate and lowers blood pressure...until it freaks out and drops them both so low that you can't remain conscious.
That was great - do Cortisol next
It's not just influencers pedalling these sorts of vagus nerve health pseudoscience. I was having appointments with a trained and certified psychologist who taught me various "vagus nerve stimulation techniques ".
Had to actually learn how to do a lot of these vagus nerve maneuvres to deal with a heart condition which was sort of like AVNRT, because my heart would race to 200-250bpm suddenly. Ice water, lying on my side, creating pressure in my chest and then lying back with my feet up in the air all generally reset my heart rhythm. Though I don't recommend the creating pressure in your chest one, because more than once it actually increased my heart rate, so I only did that with paramedics after discovering that. So that was vagus nerve stimulation for a specific medical reason, but now I've had heart surgery everything's well again.
Interesting. When I was a kid I noticed that when I went diving, I could stay down longer if I tried to exhale without actually letting my breath out. I thought it was because the increased pressure in my lungs helped to force oxygen into my blood, but maybe it was just because my vagus nerve was slowing my heart rate.
This video was just the one I needed! Ive fainted due to vasovagal syncope a couple times. It sucks. The solution? Actually hydrating and eating well, which in turn resulted in better gut health. Who wouldve thunk? 🤷
OMG I LOVE YOUR SWEATSHIRT ❤❤❤❤
My endocronologist told me that stress reduction is the best medicine for every disease.
And stress reduction is the same as reducing the sympathetic nerve system.
And that's equal with activating the vagus nerves.
That was really interesting. There's so much interesting stuff to read about the gut brain axis these days from legitimate sources of course. Also, that is an awesome top.
As someone who DOES have medically diagnosed tachycardia (Specifically, POTS), I've found that taking deep breaths (specifically the in for 4 out for 4 method) can help when I'm in the middle of a flare/episode! I never really knew why, just that it helped. This is super interesting!
I have a Vagus nerve stimulator to treat my autoimmune epilepsy. I've had it for 2 years and haven't had a seizure since I got it. They sent my case to Mayo clinic to figure out what the best treatment for me would be.
Good information thanks!
This is a real blind spot in my medical education so I really appreciate it. Also your fashion is always on point, and I want that dinosaur shirt so bad
Great video! I'll add that I was part of a clinical trial using a hand-held vagus nerve stimulator for migraine prevention. It was this cool gizmo about the size and shape of an electric razor that I'd hold to my neck a prescribed amount of time a few times a day. My results were marginal improvement in migraine intensity. I'm not sure if the device met FDA approval.
I have chronic migraines and such. My Dr prescribed the Gammacore stimulator. It's week 1 with it and it's weird but seems to kinda help. Mine is not an implant. It's handheld and pretty neat.
Vagus nerve management absolutely has a role in many chronic conditions. Years of experience in patient management has shown me this.
Wish they could just say "influencers are worse than influenza"
My vagus nerve is what makes me sneeze and cough when I touch my right inner ear, apparently it's also compressed when I eat, I can hear my artery in my right ear too, and then there's also the whole fainting thing because pots
This! It never happens on the left, but on the right ear, even a light touch or the doctor checking it will send me into a coughing fit. Not to even mention the pain.
@astralb.2647 I've always had it and I thought everyone did at first and then a boyfriend licked me there and I coughed so hard I almost threw up lmfao. Damn nerves been annoying my whole life
I sneeze when the inside of my nose has any pressure applied, which I’ve always been told was weird. I thought it was normal to sneeze when someone sticks something up your nose.
*Thinks back to covid test nosebleeds and sneeze fests*
@mebreevee ooooh I remember that... covid tests were so painful to me, my vagus nerve is very overactive with sending wrong impulses. At the throat swab part of the covid test, I'm pretty sure I nearly bit that poor lady. The nasal swab was slightly better, but extremely painful on the right side and an embarrassing amount of tears and sneezing lol
Wait that’s why the sneezing happens?!
There's also plenty of handheld vagus nerve stimulation devices which are covered by insurance. Usually prescribed for migraine treatment but they were also used for things like epilepsy, gastroparesis, nausea, and the VA used them for tachycardia in covid patients.
"Sort of." My favorite answer!
Great video!
I work for a video-focused medical education company and the, "And it's our video and we're gonna do what we want to" at the start cracked me up... because, exactly. Lol
Some vagus nerve stimulation helped me when I was first having some tachycardia issues. In some of these cases, even my anxiety medication didn't help, but some simple neck and facial pressure points helped relax me enough to get my heart rate back down.
What was really interesting was while doing these, I could actually feel the muscles in the area relax with the fingers I was pressing with. And the reduced tension made me feel more relaxed. I can't say if it was the vagus nerve or not, but doing these "vagus nerve" maneuvers felt relaxing and relaxed me. All of ones I did were safe to do.
Sounds like maybe myofacial release?
i felt the same after doing yoga.
Great info! Thank you
SciShow did an episode 3 years ago called "Why Does Rubbing Tired Eyes Feel Good?"
Which shows you how to "hack" your vagus nerve. Don't know why the red herring of this episode. Just confused.
I've seen a pacemaker for the vagus nerve for gastroparesis exactly once. It did seem to help the patient, who otherwise had no gut movement.
My right side vagus nerve suffered damage somehow (suspected viral infection) and now currently suffer from achalasia type 2 along with a chronic spot under my shoulder blade that feels like it's burning. Don't go poking around your nervous system for fun kids.
Yes, the slow deep breaths was the best advice she could have given.
Sorry about that burning pain. Nerve pain is intense.
2:06 “whatever, whatever! I do what I want!”
I worked w a lady who had a vagus nerve implant. It came with a magnetic wrist band that she would swipe across her heart when she thought she was going to have a seizure. Sometimes it didn’t work. But it’s hard to know if it didn’t work at all. You could tell when she would be stressed she would be swiping away with it.
This is incredible 💚
I’ve learned so much about this because of my dysautonomia 😭 random throwing up, high heart rate, high blood pressure, and other random fun things.
No wonder I have the VNS on my left side since I have seizures from my right side of my brain even though I already had brain surgery done to have less seizures.
I want to know more about Vegus nerve stimulation and its effect on Tourette’s syndrome. Doing a search on RUclips brought up only a couple of results (although RUclips search sucks)
I have Gastroparesis, and my vagus never makes it feel like I'm going to die when I poop. 😮💨
Mammalian diving reflex can help, but still.
haha This is good to know in case I come across any of the videos! Thanks for another great video!
So good! Thank you
A very recent youtube video by Dr. Ford Brewer mentions that "4-4-8" breathing can lower blood pressure (inhale for 4 counts, hold for 4 counts, and exhale for 8 counts). He's an emergency physician, and teacher at Johns Hopkins (i.e., not a chiropractor, lol). I suspect it would have something to do with the vagus nerve.
¡Viva Las Vagus!
Im pretty sure im experiencing all the symptoms at 7:50 thanks to me using my adhd meds a bit more during exams
I only remembered the vagus nerve as the thing that made my voice mysteriously nearly dissappear when it got squarshed by my lymphoma mass because it takes a funky path. Cool to find out what else it does + learn it would have specifically been the left recurrent laryngeal nerve getting squished.
Well, I have several of the medical issues research support, so I guess now I get to find out if I need to undergo testing for this, too.
I became aware of the vagus nerve due to its possible connection with restless leg syndrome and akathisia. I had no idea it was being promoted as a cure for everything under the sun!
I’ve had vasovagal syncope 4 episodes times last year, terrifying first time around, still terrifying after
I had a heart transplant as a child. My vagus nerves to the heart were severed and as a consequnce my resting HR is higher than average. Usually 80-100bpm. My heart is also slower to respond to exertion and takes longer to return to resting after exertion. Basically input lag
I did a vagus nerve stimulation study for my BSc in Psychology. We tried to influence the vagus nerve via the ear and measured blood pressure, heart rate, psychometrics, etc. We found no difference 😂
No result is still a result!
Year ago my friend died due to medical malpractice. Doctors cut his vagus nerve when removing vascular port from his body. He died within several hours afterwards both puking and passing out multiple times and messaging loved ones.
My Dad is one of 25k people to have an Angelchik prosthesis implanted around the esophagus at the top of the stomach. His GORD most likely caused damage to the Vagus nerve and his body occasionally makes him feel like he's gonna die. Weak, rapid pulse, feeling cold, and if it gets bad enough feeling like he's going to pass out. It's been like this for years, but got worse while he was lifting something when covid started. He's been in an ambulance quite frequently over the years.
All the research and knowledge found about nerves gives me hope that in the future more things will be known about ACNES.
All I can say is the maneuvers for high blood pressure are very effective in bringing it down when you're between medications allowed. 🤷♀️
I slide down the stairs on my butt about 5 years ago, and about 10 minutes after the fall I uncontrollably needed to poo. While pooing, the combo of the fall and the pooing over loaded my vagus nerve and I lost consciousness and passed out on the bathroom floor. Went to the ER to make sure I was okay and the nurse explained what had happened to me.
In anesthesia we use the term vagal tone often when getting patients ready for intubation. Basically using the term in reference to the patients ability to do things like blink, swallow or breathe. Too much vagal and you need more medications, not enough vagal tone and your patient might be overdosing on the anesthesia
Thank you for debunking several myths❤