Whiplash can cause dizziness by damaging inner ear

Although awareness around brain injury is growing, few people realize whiplash has been shown in neurological exams to be capable of causing damage to the brain and inner ear in the same way a concussion can.

Whiplash takes its name from the neck moving in a forceful, back-and-forth manner like the crack of a whip. Whiplash is most commonly associated with car accidents, particularly being hit from behind. However, it can also occur during sports, falls, blows to the head, or other accidents.

Whiplash can cause concussion-like injury

Studies show the force of the brain shaking back and forth in a whiplash incident can injure the brain and the vestibular system, or inner ear, in the same way a concussion can.

This is a less common occurrence than the more usual cervical strain/sprain of most cases of whiplash, caused by the stretching and tearing of the neck’s muscles and ligaments.

When whiplash damages the vestibular system, it’s common for people to experience dizziness; loss of balance; nausea in response to motion; tingling, prickling, and numbness in the limbs; low back pain; headache; and sleep disturbances.

This occurs because of damage caused directly to the semicircular canals that make up the inner ear, or because of a shearing force affecting the nerves in the brainstem that travel to the inner ear.

When damage occurs to the inner ear itself, it’s classified as a peripheral vestibular order. If the nerves connecting the vestibular system to the brainstem are affected, then it’s a central vestibular disorder.

Using functional neurology to address damage to the vestibular system, or inner ear, from whiplash

The issue of whether damage occurs to the peripheral vestibular system or the central vestibular system is often ignored because it doesn’t change treatment in the conventional health care model.

However, in functional neurology this distinction is very important and profoundly affects the course of treatment.

When the central vestibular system is injured, functional neurology rehabilitation exercises reprogram the pathways between the inner ear and the rest of the brain. They accomplish this by working on involuntary movements associated with the inner ear and the eyes. This improves communication between the inner ear and the rest of the brain, thus restoring or improving function.

The vestibular system works with our vision and our brain’s regulation of where the body is in space in order to maintain equilibrium. Gently exercising a compromised equilibrium system can help it regain normal function. A rehabilitation exercise may include activating the visual center in combination with motion, such as spinning slowly in a chair while watching stripes move in a particular direction.

For the patient, exercising this system back to health this means relief from nauseating dizzy spells and other symptoms that have been happening since the whiplash injury occurred.

This is a broad and simple overview of why you may feel dizzy after whiplash and how functional neurology can help identify why and strategize a plan to help you feel and function better.

What your feet can say about your brain

If you wonder why you have brain fog, depression, worsening memory, or slow thinking, the clues may lie in your feet — your foot health can tell you whether your brain is receiving enough oxygen. Poor circulation to the feet creates myriad symptoms that signal circulation in the brain may also be poor, depriving your brain of oxygen, nutrients, and function.

Troublesome symptoms aren’t the only bad part of poor brain circulation. Insufficient oxygen to the brain speeds up brain aging and raises your risk of vascular dementia  It is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer’s.

Got cold feet? Your brain could be oxygen-deprived

Got cold toes and feet? If you have chronically cold feet, you may want to investigate whether your brain is getting enough oxygen and nutrients from sufficient circulation.

Have someone check if your feet and toes are colder than your ankles or calves. If so, your feet are not getting enough circulation, and your brain may not be either. Cold fingers and a cold nose are other symptoms.

Chronic fungal growth in toenails

If you have chronic fungal nail infections or chronic athlete’s foot, this can mean poor circulation is depriving your feet of enough oxygen, nutrients, and immune cells to ward off infection. This makes the feet and toenails more prone to fungal infections and fighting them a losing battle.

Poor capillary refill time and white toenail beds

Are the nail beds of your toes a healthy pink or a pale white? If circulation is poor, the nail beds are more white than pink.

Another test is to press down on a nail bed and observe how quickly the color returns. The pink color should return instantly. If it takes a few seconds this indicates poor blood flow to the feet and most likely the brain as well.

Cramping in the feet

When circulation to the feet is poor, it’s common to experience foot cramps that are difficult to relieve. The feet cramp due to lack of blood and oxygen to power the muscles. You may also experience cramps in your hands, such as when writing or typing. Both are signs circulation to the brain may be poor.

Is brain circulation poor? Here are some ideas

If you think poor brain circulation may be a culprit in your brain fog, memory loss, depression, or slow thinking, it’s important to figure out why your circulation is low.

Investigate health condition that cause poor blood flow and lack of oxygenation, such as hypothyroidism  anemia, a heart condition, diabetes, low blood pressure, smoking, or an overly sedentary lifestyle.

Normal blood pressure is 120/80. If the top or bottom number is 10 or more points below, that means the pressure is not high enough to push blood into the furthest ends of the body. Low blood pressure is typically accompanied by low blood sugar and adrenal fatigue.

In addition to addressing root causes, one way to boost blood flow to the brain is through bursts of high intensity exercise, even if it’s just for a few minutes. You may experience better brain function throughout the day if you do this first thing in the morning, such as with a few minutes of jumping jacks, pushups, running in place, or other exercise that gets you breathless and your heart pumping. It may sound like torture first thing in the morning for the person with adrenal fatigued, but it will make you feel better in the long run.

A variety of natural compounds also boost brain blood flow.

Other foot problems that signify brain problems

Another foot issue that signals poor brain health is peripheral neuropathy — when the nerves in the feet degenerate. This causes symptoms of numbness, tingling, burning, or stabbing pain in the feet.

Although toxins, injury, and some medications can cause peripheral neuropathy, the most common cause is diabetes. It’s not just your feet that suffer with diabetes. High blood sugar is extremely damaging to the brain and a proven risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer’s. If you have diabetes or high blood sugar, tightly controlling your blood sugar through diet and lifestyle is imperative to protecting your brain (and your feet).

Ask my office for more ways functional neurology can improve circulation to the brain and thus brain function.

Are you spaced out all the time? Five reasons for brain fog

Do you feel spaced out all the time? Like you’re moving in slow motion through a fog and can’t snap out of it?

Though it’s not considered a disorder worth a doctor’s visit, brain fog is nevertheless distressing, disorienting, and difficult to cope with.

It’s also a red flag your brain is aging too quickly and that you should take action right away.

When your neurons, or brain cells, don’t communicate well with another, this causes brain fog. This poor communication causes overall brain function to slow down and diminish, giving you symptoms of brain fog. The trick is to find out why those neurons aren’t communicating well with one another.

A number of reasons, both metabolic (having to do with diet and lifestyle) and neurological contribute to brain fog. In a nutshell, neurons need sufficient fuel, oxygen, and stimulation to function and prevent brain fog.

1. Blood sugar that is always too low or too high

Chronically unstable blood sugar is a common cause of brain fog because it means neurons are not receiving enough energy to function. As a result, they communicate poorly, causing brain fog.

The most common reasons for unstable blood sugar include a diet high in processed carbohydrates and sugars, skipping meals, and chronic overeating.

Low blood sugar symptoms: Nausea or no appetite in the morning, wake up at 3 or 4 a.m., lightheaded, irritable, spacey and/or low energy between meals, feel energized after meals (there should be no change in energy).

High blood sugar symptoms: Fatigue after meals, constant hunger, intense craving for sweets after meals, constant thirst, frequent urination, insomnia, and excess abdominal fat.

For some people, banishing brain fog is as easy as stabilizing blood sugar through a whole foods diet of ample vegetables along with healthy proteins and fats. Moderate your carbohydrate intake to avoid low or high blood sugar.

2. An unhealthy gut environment

Because of the strong communication between the gut and the brain, poor gut health has a profound influence on brain health. Symptoms can include not only brain fog, but also depression, anxiety, irritability, and worsened memory and learning.

Some people notice their brain fog kicks in after they eat foods that trigger an immune reaction, such as gluten or dairy. Bloating, gas, constipation, or diarrhea can also play a role in brain fog.

Additionally, when the lining of the small intestine becomes inflamed and damaged, it allows undigested foods and pathogens to escape into the bloodstream where they trigger inflammation and brain fog. This is known as leaky gut, or intestinal permeability.

3. Poor circulation

If your fingers and toes are always freezing and your nose is cold to the touch, poor circulation may play a role in your brain fog. These are signs of poor circulation in the brain as well. Other symptoms of poor circulation include weak nails, chronic fungal nail infections, low brain endurance, and cramping in the hands and feet.

Poor circulation deprives the brain of oxygen and nutrients, thus causing brain fog. Factors that contribute to low circulation include anemia, chronic stress, Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, low blood pressure, smoking, and blood sugar imbalances.

5. Functional neurology mechanisms of brain fog

A head injury can inhibit function anywhere in the brain. Because all the parts of the brain work together, this can affect overall function causing myriad symptoms, including brain fog.

Unrelated to an injury, degeneration or dysfunction in one or more areas of the brain cause poor firing of neurons.

Or, perhaps one side of the brain is more dominant than the other. This imbalance can skew brain function and performance, causing a wide range of symptoms that may include brain fog.

In functional neurology we look at not only the metabolic factors of the brain but also at how different areas of your brain function. Strategies that dampen or activate different areas as needed can be a useful tool in alleviating brain fog.

Got brain fog? Ask my office for more advice about how to manage it so you can feel and function your best.

Functional neurology, PANDAS, and PANS

Functional neurology, PANDAS, and PANS

If a child suddenly develops behavioral and neurological symptoms after a strep infection, PANDAS should be suspected. PANDAS is a neuro-immune disorder in which a strep infection triggers brain inflammation and the immune system starts to attack and destroy brain tissue, causing a sudden onset of neurological symptoms.

PANDAS stands for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections.

PANS, or Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome, is similar, except environmental factors or other infections trigger symptoms.

PANDAS diagnosis criteria

• Significant obsessions, compulsions, tics
• Abrupt onset of symptoms or relapsing and remitting symptom severity
• Onset prior to puberty
• Association with strep infection
• Association with neuropsychiatric symptoms, including PANS symptoms
• PANS diagnosis criteria:
• Abrupt, dramatic onset of OCD or severely limited food intake and the addition of at least two of the following:
• Anxiety
• Emotional swings and/or depression
• Irritability, anger, oppositional behavior
• Regression
• School performance deteriorates
• Sensory or motor abnormalities
• Sleep disturbances, urinary frequency, bed wetting

Functional neurology help for PANDAS/PANS

Because PANDAS and PANS involve the immune system, management involves testing markers for inflammation, infections, immune function, and brain autoimmunity (when the immune system attacks and destroys brain tissue).

It’s also helpful to conduct a functional neurology exam to identify compromised areas of the brain, as well as to establish a baseline of brain function.

Repeat testing can show you how well PANDAS/PANS protocols are working. Functional neurology rehabilitation may also help with recovery. For instance, therapies targeting different areas of the brain can calm an over active immune system and over activation of pathways.

Functional medicine help for PANDAS/PANS

Additionally, functional medicine strategies may include removing inflammatory triggers from the diet and the environment; nutritional therapies to lower inflammation and support brain health; addressing blood sugar, gut health, and toxicity; supporting neurotransmitters; and repairing mitochondrial function and the blood-brain barrier.

Conventional medical help for PANDAS/PANS

Therapies from the conventional model that have been shown to help include steroids and NSAIDs for inflammation; plasmapharesis (plasma exchange) to reduce antibodies; intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) to support immune modulation; and immune modulating medications when necessary.

Understanding the PANDAS/PANS brain

When PANDAS/PANS strikes a child — an estimated 1 in 200 children are affected — parents become both frightened and devastated. Understanding what is happening in the brain can help alleviate anxiety.

The functional neurology exam can help identify which pathways in the brain are affected. PANDAS/PANS typically affects communication loops between the basal ganglia, cerebellum, and frontal lobe.

Act quickly to address PANDAS/PANS

PANDAS/PANS is a significant and scary disorder, but taking action quickly improves the chances of an optimal outcome. For more information, contact my office.

Functional neurology and childhood brain development disorders

More than one in seven children suffer from developmental disorders today. But this doesn’t mean change isn’t possible. The brain is enormously malleable, or plastic, and with the right input on a consistent basis using functional neurology, we often can improve brain function.

Common brain development disorders today include:

• Attention deficit disorder (ADD)
• Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Asperger’s syndrome
• Autism
• Developmental coordination disorder (DCD)
• Nonverbal learning disability (NLD)
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)
• Pervasive developmental disorder (PDD)
• Tourette’s syndrome
• Chronic allergies, asthma, eczema, digestive disorders

How brain development disorders arise

These disorders can arise for a variety of reasons, such as:

• Environmental toxins interfere with normal brain development.
• A viral or bacterial infection interferes with brain development.
• The child has an autoimmune reaction against neurological tissue that prevents normal brain development and function. This can be passed on in utero from the mother or develop in early life due to an environmental, viral, bacterial, or even dietary trigger.

Poor brain development unfolds in a variety of ways. For instance, important milestones in brain development, such as crawling, may be skipped. The brain is a highly complex network of multiple pathways. Proper formation of this network of pathways depends in part on the child going through each milestone of development.

When the brain fails to develop correctly, one hemisphere grows more slowly than the other, giving rise to various disorders that are either left-brain dominant or right-brain dominant. This is why we see kids who are intellectually advanced (left brain) yet socially and emotionally delayed (right brain). As this imbalance progresses, the brain finds it increasingly difficult to network between the hemispheres, causing loss of function.

Also, infections and autoimmune attacks against areas of the brain sabotage proper development and hinder function in those pathways. For instance, the basal ganglia, which helps regulate involuntary motor movements, is a common site of viral and autoimmune attack. This can cause disorders such as OCD, Tourette syndrome, and tics.

Start with metabolic health of the brain

Functional neurology also includes addressing the metabolic health of the brain. If the brain is struggling with inflammation, blood sugar imbalances, or chronic poor health from a bad diet, it will not respond as well to rehabilitation. Additionally, children’s brains require ample healthy fatty acids — EPA and DHA.

Metabolic issues to look out for with brain development disorders include:

• Inflammatory foods (sugars and junk foods) and food intolerances
• Chemical sensitivities
• Chronic infections — bacterial, fungal, or viral
• Digestive issues and leaky gut
• Autoimmune disease (when the immune system attacks and destroys tissue in the body, which can include the brain)

Functional neurology brain exercises for brain development disorders

Fortunately, functional neurology can help address brain development disorders.

The types of brain rehabilitation a child needs depends on patient history and a functional neurology examination, which assesses brain function, areas of under and over development, and areas that are over stimulated or under stimulated. The functional neurologist can then tailor exercises to the brain environment and adjust them over time as function improves.

Many families report swift and significant shifts in behavior, mood, sociability, learning, and other brain-based signs.

Ask my office how functional neurology can help if your child has a brain based developmental disorder.