Nerve damage occurs by specific chemical pathways. While there are probably thousands of different triggers, including many different neurotoxins, like pesticides and heavy metals, they all have some things in common that makes it easier to deal with when it comes to prevention and healing.
Causal pathways converge on key deficiency states like oxidation (electron deficiency), which is contributed to by hypoxia (oxygen deficiency), which is exacerbated by acidity (alkaline macromineral deficiency). The alkaline minerals are used up over time to buffer the acid effects of environmental toxins, pharmaceuticals, endotoxins produced in the gut, and excitotoxins resulting from stress and the modern diet. In an acid state, oxygen becomes bound and unavailable. That is why fish die from acid rain. Our cells are like the fish, their lake is the extracellular fluid, and modern life supplies the acidity in all the forms just listed. Without oxygen, the nerve cells lose 95% of their energy. They may be alive, but they can no longer function.
Cross-linking of collagen restricts perfusion of local capillary beds. This causes ischemia (circulation deficiency), which feeds both the oxygen deficiency (hypoxia) and acidity (buffer deficiency), since inefficient (anaerobic) metabolism leaves a residual sludge of lactic acid that builds up in the cells and causes them to swell. The swelling of acidic tissue further contributes to ischemia. At this point the cause and effect can go round and round, resulting in a chronic state of ill health in the affected nerve cells. This intracellular swelling and inflammation (extracellular swelling) also associated with an increase in acidity (excess protons is another way to describe this state) ties up not only the oxygen now needed more than ever to finish burning up the waste lactic acid into carbon dioxide (gas) and water, but ties up more and more water, both in the lactic acid itself, and by binding water osmotically, to keep the acid wastes from being too concentrated, toxic and irritating. This is a state of dehydration, which makes it harder for the needed water and alkaline minerals and oxygen to penetrate into the area. The dehydration also contributes to further connective tissue damage with deposition of dehydrated sheets of proteins called amyloid associated with neurodegenerative conditions.
Typically the difference between various diseases is not so much in the nature of the pathophysiology, but primarily in the location of the process. The typical culprits, almost always involved in some way in each human being's natural history of attempted self-healing includes fundamental and common insults like psychoemotional stress, environmental toxicity, endotoxicity, acidity, trauma, allergy, and inflammation.
Here we will focus on some major final common pathways of tissue damage that all of those intermediate causes trigger. We ultimately need to address the original and intermediate causes whenever possible to eliminate the tendency toward damage and degeneration by accelerating the body's completion of healing processes related to past insults. While those causes or at least residues are being identified and eliminated over time, according to the body's sequence of healing which is typically in the reverse order in which they were accumulated (retracing), we need to consider how to mitigate the tissue damage at its simpler common endpoints of oxidation (electron deficiency), glycation (sugar deposition) and other toxic deposition.
Connective tissue damage and shrinkage due to crosslinking (dehydration and micro-scarring by disulfide (sulfur to sulfur) bridges between proteins. In amyloid protein deposits, which are strongly associated with glaucoma and other neurodegenerative disease processes, two layers of beta-sheet protein deposits interdigitate to create compact dehydrated interface termed as steric-zipper interface.
Neurotoxins
Neurotoxins include excitotoxins, heavy metals, pesticides, PCBs and other environmental toxins, as well as endotoxins produced in the body, such as methyl mercury and mercuric chloride made 1000 times more toxic (to create a zone of immunosuppression) by dysbiotic bacteria and fungi from metallic mercury, and indol and scatol made by putrefaction of undigested proteins by dysbiotic gut flora. The full solution for healing these underlying causes of glaucoma involves both neuroprotection and removal of the toxins that damage the nerve cells. Neuroprotection is offered by increasing levels of antioxidants, anti-glycation agents and other remedies that help with the five phases of healing. See section on Biological Terrain for more context on the five phases.
Excitotoxicity
Excess of excitatory neurotransmitters Glutamate (as contained in Mono Sodium Glutamate) and N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), an amino acid derivative, which acts as a specific agonist at the NMDA receptor appear to contribute to nerve cell death. Intracellular deposits of mishandled Calcium are a typical effect of this excitotoxicity.
Avoiding Aspartame, as well as MSG, including all of its hidden dietary forms, is a good initial step in reducing this risk factor.
Aspartame
Aspartame is a dipeptide made of Aspartic acid and Phenylalanine. In the presence of moisture, it breaks down at room temperature to produce methanol, also know as wood alcohol, which is famous for causing blindness. More symptom complaints are reported to the FDA from Aspartame than any other regulated chemical today.
MSG
Mono Sodium Glutamate (MSG) was originally
discovered in seaweeds that can carry a very high content, so watch
the oriental snacks like o-senbei, arare and seaweeds if you want
to heal your nervous system. MSG is also frequently masked on
product labels under a variety of names. These ingredients
always contain the amino acid Glutamate or Glutamic Acid:
Glutamic acid (European food additive identifier: E 620), Glutamate
(E 620), Monosodium glutamate (E 621) or Natrium glutamate
Monopotassium glutamate (E 622)
Calcium glutamate (E 623)
Monoammonium glutamate (E 624)
Magnesium glutamate (E 625)
Anything “hydrolyzed”, any “hydrolyzed protein” (except hydrolyzed
rice or whey proteins for supporting protein sparing fasting as
part of a meal substitute plan)
Calcium caseinate, Sodium caseinate
Yeast food, yeast nutrient, yeast extract, autolyzed yeast
Ajinomoto, Ac'cent, Vetsin (trade names for MSG)
Gelatin
Textured protein, or any “…protein”
Soy protein, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate
Whey protein, whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate
MSG is often also found or produced by these food
ingredients:
Carrageenan (E 407)
Bouillon and broth
Stock
Any “flavors” or “flavoring”
Maltodextrin
Citric acid, Citrate (E 330)
Anything “ultra-pasteurized”
Barley malt
Pectin (E 440)
Anything “enzyme modified” or containing “enzymes” or
protease
Malt extract
Soy sauce or soy sauce extract
Anything “protein fortified”
Anything “fermented”
Seasonings
The following foods can also trigger excitotoxin
(MSG) reactions in sensitive people, and are thus best avoided by
those with neurological or circulatory issues:
Corn starch
Corn syrup
Modified food starch
Lipolyzed butter fat
Dextrose
Rice syrup and brown rice syrup
Milk powder
Reduced fat milk including skim milk, 1% milk and 2% milk
Low fat and fat-free foods
Enriched and vitamin enriched foods
This doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't eat any protein, because everyone needs protein, but you do want to minimize the total amount of glutamine in your diet, so emphasize high quality, digestible or pre-digested protein, and skip the rest.
Excess & Indigestible Protein
The thing to realize and change is that the Standard American Diet contains about four times too much protein. Excess protein becomes indigestible by exceeding our enzymatic digestive capacity. Poorly and partially digested protein may still be absorbed as larger particles and congest the lymphatic system, contributing to congestion of lymphatic drainage especially in the head and neck area, as well as deposition of excess protein in the connective tissue of the extracellular spaces, on top of contributing to the excitotoxin deposition within the nerve cells.
Dehydrated Denatured Protein
One reason that a lot of protein we eat is not digestible is if it is cooked beyond rare in air, such as fried or baked, as this dehydrates the proteins, reducing the space available for enzymes to access the nitrogen bonds for hydrolysis in the digestive process. Think about how meat gets tougher as it is cooked to medium and well done, versus how stewed meats get more tender with cooking. Meat tenderizers can be helpful as they actually use proteolytic enzymes to tenderize, or partially pre-digest the proteins.
Excessively Large Protein Molecules
Another factor that adds to the protein problem is ingestion of excessively large protein molecules from soy, as well as gluten in wheat, and casein in cow milk and cow cheese. All three of these foods are among the top 7 food allergens, and this is one of the main reasons.
Putrefied Protein Toxins
Undigested protein provides food for pathogenic putrefactive bacteria in the gut, forming highly toxic amino acids that stress the kidneys and nerve cells that are energetically governed by the kidneys and the water element in the Oriental Medicine perspective. In the small intestine, the main toxin produced by this bacterial dysbiosis is indol, while in the large intestine it is scatol, also known as cadaverine because it is the putrid toxin that makes dead bodies smell so bad. So, if it stinks coming out, it wasn't properly digested, and has become a toxic load adding to the nerve cell's issues. If the stool smells like something died, that is scatol. There is a simple in-office Indican test available to screen the urine for indole. Aside from cutting excess and indigestible protein from the diet, supplementing beneficial flora, digestive enzymes, herbal bitters that stimulate digestion, and a homeopathic digestive stimulant like my Digestzymes formula (from which I receive no royalty) are all worthy ideas to consider.
Microwaved Protein
A new addition to the protein problem is the use of microwaves in cooking, which break nitrogen bonds in the cooked proteins, making them indigestible to our proteolytic enzymes even if they are smaller or taken in appropriate quantities. When research subjects were fed only microwaved food, their live blood cells became indistinguishable from those of cancer patients (Phase 1, low energy terrain, where most degenerative nerve damage also occurs) within just 2 weeks.
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