Constipation – A Simple Trick for a Sluggish Colon

Stubborn Constipation – A Surprising Gargle Remedy

After researching remedies for chronic constipation that just haven’t helped the problem, I stumbled onto this simple “exercise”. Practicing it many times per day helps get the nervous system functioning normally. Kick start the motility in the colon.

Even though she  was eating healthy food which takes a lot of stress off of her gastrointestinal (GI) tract, that stubborn constipation persisted. And by avoiding inflammatory food she was giving her gut a chance to heal.

But that stubborn, painful constipation remained. The associated bloat/gas made the pain worse. As I was researching more about healing the gut I found Dr. Datis Kharrazian, MD, a brilliant doctor. He’s found some amazing information about how the brain and gut work together. In his research he discovered a simple exercise that you can try to see if you can get things moving.

The gut and brain interact to stimulate bowel motility. Head trauma can cause decreased gut motility and can cause the ileocecal (IC) valve  to relax and stay open. Normally it closes after the bowel contents move from the small intestine to the colon. That valve should separate the colon contents from the small intestinal contents. But the head trauma causes dysfunction in the nerve control of the valve. So it stays partially open which allows bacteria to leak into the small intestine where they do not belong.

With bacteria in the small intestines you can develop lots of uncomfortable gas and distention if you eat carbs like; beans and grains or refined carbohydrates. Even ingesting gut-healing products like probiotics, prebiotics, and/or fiber can cause your gut to “blow up” with gas . That distention opens the IC valve even more. That open door allows more leak of bacteria into the small intestine which creates inflammation to the gut, brain and other organs. What a vicious cycle.

Or that cycle may work in reverse. The gut gets inflamed first, causing a sloppy IC valve with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). Then inflammatory substances produced by the bacteria in the wrong place affect the brain in a vicious cycle between the gut and brain.

Resolution:

Work on the brain

1. Gargle 3 large glasses of water throughout the day which:

• activates the palate muscles which activate the vagus nerve
• improves motility and the brain-gut interaction
• Gargle aggressively to the point of tears
• Swallow or spit out the water

Diagnostic:

• If bloat and distention goes down immediately
• And/or better bowel movements begin the next day
• Indicates you are on the right track to restoring gut and brain function

Give it a try.

2. Activate Your Brain with:

• Body exercise – coordination and balance
• Brain exercise – whatever you’re bad at, do more of – practice remembering names, directions, phone numbers,  etc
• Brain area exercises as on the Lumosity site
• http://www.lumosity.com/

My friend just started with this exercise so we don’t have any results yet on the effect on her chronic constipation. Comment below to share about your results with this exercise. Be sure to gargle aggressively to restore the motility of your colon. The more you stimulate this new gut-brain nerve pathway, the better the healing.