The Brain Initiative- The Answer to Brain Dysfunction and Disease?

A few weeks ago the government announced the brain initiative at a cost of 4.5 Billion tax payer dollars over the next 10 years. The initiative stated goal is “to develop neuro science approaches over the next decade that will allow for deeper and more expansive interrogation of the brains neuro circuitry and how it functions in health and disease, create a consensus of brain cells and a road map of their circuitry and advancing tools for neural monitoring and manipulating brain circuits”. Translation-were going to create tools to produce newer and more specific drugs.

How about putting money into further researching what we already know about the real drivers of brain dysfunction (i.e. autism spectrum disease, mental and emotional disorders, depression, anxiety, P.T.S.D., brain fog, short term memory loss, alzhiemers) and getting the insurance industry to cover non-drug known solutions for these.

Here’s a list of some of the well researched non pathological driver of abnormal brain function we’ve found in our clinic that need to be addressed to improve or correct the above listed brain symptoms.

• Poor brain plasticity- (inability of the brain cells to adapt to numerous stressors) and its role in Brain aging, and brain health after stroke or concussion.
• Blood sugar imbalance and their effect on migraines, memory, brain fog, mood swings and drowsiness.
• Chronic stress causing- abnormal brain function (EEG), insomnia, brain inflammation, short term memory loss, brain fog, P.T.S.D., brain degeneration, and poor brain circulation.
• Gluten sensitivity and its relationship to brain fog, short term memory loss, obsessive compulsive disorder. Depression, migraines, dizziness, vertigo and balance disorders.
• The multiple sources of chronic inflammation and its role in brain fog, unclear thoughts, poor brain endurance, brain fatigue and poor ability to focus.

Essentially the vast majority of these symptoms and conditions can be addressed with varying degrees of success in non drug fashion when a pathological cause is not established. And here are the bare bone basics of what we in functional neurology and functional medicine have found in the current research and in our clinical experience that has proven consistently useful in getting your brain back on line.

Diet (usually anti-inflammatory/ anti allergenic); going gluten and or grain free; fixing your leaky gut; finding food allergies; using specific nutrients and herbs; using pro biotic; detoxing yourself of yeast, bacteria, and parasites; stimulating your vagus nerve with brain exercises; dampening chronic stress mechanisms with brain exercise strategies and specific herbs and neurotransmitters, naturally decreasing high blood pressure, stabilizing blood sugar, stabilizing hormones (without drugs) managing adrenal gland stress, supporting EFAs, correction of chemical intolerances and more. Much much more.

Again- don’t get me wrong- I like brain studies, and there are probably upsides and serious downsides to this project. But based on the stated purpose of the BRAIN initiative (and whose unstated purpose is to produce more drugs to manipulate brain chemistry) the current research that points to all of the above causes as well as drugs, vaccines, chemicals, pesticides, environmental toxins, and the dramatic deficiencies and alterations brought on by the dismal American diet of fast and processed foods, sodas, trans fats, sugars, and grains of our kids and in fact much of our adult population, will be ignored.

I must admit, when it comes to the altered brain physiology causing most brain related symptoms and dysfunctions and diseases that are becoming epidemics in America right now, we hold little hope for real answers from the BRAIN initiative.

References:

1. http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/brain-initiative
2. West, Bruce DC/ Editor Publisher HEALTH ALERT Volume 31, Issue 10 Pages 1,2
3. Kharrazian, Datis DHSC, DC, MS Why Isn’t My Brain Working, Elephant Press, 2013