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Hitting a Nerve
Jul. 4th, 2007 07:54 am
I read an article in the RJ yesterday that horrified me. The vagus nerve (also known as the pneumogastric nerve) connects your stomach to your brain, as well as feeding nerves to other organs. It's a big, major nerve, passing through the solar plexus & ending in the internal sexual organs - some women who have severed spinal cords can have deep vaginal orgasms when their vagus nerve is stimulated. It's the only nerve that originates in the medulla oblongata - that old familiar alligator brain lurking in the back of our heads. The vagus nerve is responsible for frontal-lobe 'hunger headaches' & for nausea experienced during migraines. It also helps the upper body communicate with the lower body.
There used to be a procedure for ulcers in which the vagus nerve would be severed in a specific spot to lower the stomach's impulse to create acid. A side-effect of this is loss of appetite. Some researchers & doctors are reviving this technique as a less-invasive method to lose weight.
Why do people hate themselves so much that this type of surgery (called a vagotomy) would appeal to them? I love my big round belly. It's about the only place on my body where the skin is beautiful to me. It's paleness is like peaches & cream, it's soft, it's smooth, tattoos look great on it. Just big round creamy white belly. Granted, I am trying to lose weight, but not because I hate how I look. I would never, ever opt for any gastric bypass, 'lap band' or even liposuction as a viable means of losing weight. And when I read about what would be done in a vagotomy, my poor ol' tummy rolled in sympathy. The implications are just too much to stomach. These folks seem to be forgetting that the stomach and its nerves are responsible for some intangible but no less important functions other than just hunger, ulcers & digestion.
What about gut feelings? Gut instincts? The fire in the belly? The ages old fight-or-flight reaction that can be as much of a savior as it can be a demon - it starts by shutting down all digestive processes to free up blood & oxygen for the outer limbs. It's responsible for one of the strongest learned responses - if a food makes you sick & you don't realize which food it was, your stomach will tell you to stay away from it the second time around. Some people 'listen to their hearts', but I, like so many others out there, tend to listen to my gut. If I walk into a situation that makes me feel like my stomach is on an elevator to the sub-basement & I get that panicky momentary feeling that I am going to shit myself, I generally don't go any further. When I first encounter someone who physically interests me, my clit doesn't pop, my nipples don't go stiff --- no, that first encounter is usually accompanied by a peculiar flutter in my stomach, followed shortly by the clit-popping & nipple-hardening.
The solar plexus is where energy is stored... it may even be the seat of the soul. If you've ever been clipped really hard in the solar plexus, it will knock you down if you aren't prepared for it. Takes the legs right out from under you, makes your vision go grey & fuzzy. Knocks the wind out of you - because of the pneumo part of the pneumogastric nerve. It's the center of chi (now that I'm surfing, it looks like I may have too much energy in my solar plexus... something about being a judgmental workaholic who can't show warmth or emotion & needs drugs or alcohol to relax...).
So many people, especially women, out there just haven't taken the time to foster a good, loving relationship with their stomachs. They see fat, they see stretchmarks, they see all these skeletal, bobbly-headed women on t.v. & they learn to hate their bodies. Food has turned into an evil thing instead of that which nourishes the body and soul. Since I've started this whole diet thing, I eat slower. I'm trying to incorporate some mindfulness into my meals. Usually, I just eat. I eat efficiently, quickly, while watching t.v. & reading something, or while playing WoW... multitasking, food as a brief comma in the stream of daily activities. The other night at work I realized I couldn't taste the avocado I was eating. It had been in the fridge & it was only as the pieces warmed in my mouth for some time that the flavor came out. I realized that it had been a long time since I'd honestly tasted avocados. They taste rich, buttery, full of fatty goodness. It was just lightly salted & not mashed up into guacamole. I remembered why I liked avocados in the first place.
There used to be a procedure for ulcers in which the vagus nerve would be severed in a specific spot to lower the stomach's impulse to create acid. A side-effect of this is loss of appetite. Some researchers & doctors are reviving this technique as a less-invasive method to lose weight.
Why do people hate themselves so much that this type of surgery (called a vagotomy) would appeal to them? I love my big round belly. It's about the only place on my body where the skin is beautiful to me. It's paleness is like peaches & cream, it's soft, it's smooth, tattoos look great on it. Just big round creamy white belly. Granted, I am trying to lose weight, but not because I hate how I look. I would never, ever opt for any gastric bypass, 'lap band' or even liposuction as a viable means of losing weight. And when I read about what would be done in a vagotomy, my poor ol' tummy rolled in sympathy. The implications are just too much to stomach. These folks seem to be forgetting that the stomach and its nerves are responsible for some intangible but no less important functions other than just hunger, ulcers & digestion.
What about gut feelings? Gut instincts? The fire in the belly? The ages old fight-or-flight reaction that can be as much of a savior as it can be a demon - it starts by shutting down all digestive processes to free up blood & oxygen for the outer limbs. It's responsible for one of the strongest learned responses - if a food makes you sick & you don't realize which food it was, your stomach will tell you to stay away from it the second time around. Some people 'listen to their hearts', but I, like so many others out there, tend to listen to my gut. If I walk into a situation that makes me feel like my stomach is on an elevator to the sub-basement & I get that panicky momentary feeling that I am going to shit myself, I generally don't go any further. When I first encounter someone who physically interests me, my clit doesn't pop, my nipples don't go stiff --- no, that first encounter is usually accompanied by a peculiar flutter in my stomach, followed shortly by the clit-popping & nipple-hardening.
The solar plexus is where energy is stored... it may even be the seat of the soul. If you've ever been clipped really hard in the solar plexus, it will knock you down if you aren't prepared for it. Takes the legs right out from under you, makes your vision go grey & fuzzy. Knocks the wind out of you - because of the pneumo part of the pneumogastric nerve. It's the center of chi (now that I'm surfing, it looks like I may have too much energy in my solar plexus... something about being a judgmental workaholic who can't show warmth or emotion & needs drugs or alcohol to relax...).
So many people, especially women, out there just haven't taken the time to foster a good, loving relationship with their stomachs. They see fat, they see stretchmarks, they see all these skeletal, bobbly-headed women on t.v. & they learn to hate their bodies. Food has turned into an evil thing instead of that which nourishes the body and soul. Since I've started this whole diet thing, I eat slower. I'm trying to incorporate some mindfulness into my meals. Usually, I just eat. I eat efficiently, quickly, while watching t.v. & reading something, or while playing WoW... multitasking, food as a brief comma in the stream of daily activities. The other night at work I realized I couldn't taste the avocado I was eating. It had been in the fridge & it was only as the pieces warmed in my mouth for some time that the flavor came out. I realized that it had been a long time since I'd honestly tasted avocados. They taste rich, buttery, full of fatty goodness. It was just lightly salted & not mashed up into guacamole. I remembered why I liked avocados in the first place.
