Kevin Tracey: The Inflammatory Reflex and the Role of Complementary and Alternative Medical Therapies
A somewhat older article, but articulates very nicely the role of acupuncture as a potential to activate the vagus nerve. This is what I’ve been looking at for many, many years with HRV. Oke SL, Tracey KJ. The inflammatory reflex and the role of complementary and alternative medical therapies. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009;1172:172-180. doi:10.1196/annals.1393.013…
Read MoreTAVNS improved brain connectivity on patients of disorders of consciousness
This study is related to this one, except that in this one the are monitoring brain activity. Yifei W, Yi Y, Yu W, Jinling Z, Weihang Z, Shaoyuan LI, Mozheng WU, Jianghong HE, Peijing R. Transcutaneous auricular vague nerve stimulation improved brain connection activity on patients of disorders of consciousness: a pilot study. J Tradit…
Read MorePoster Presentation INS Barcelona: HRV as biomarker for successful TAVNS treatment during acupuncture
I realize the poster is hard to read. Feel free to go to the link for a better view. Basically, I was trying to see if TAVNS, transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation, would alter the HRV of patients while receiving acupuncture. My hypothesis was that it would further improve patients HRV if given during an acupuncture…
Read MoreTAVNS for Disorders of Conciousness (Vegetative State)
Having just attended a Neuromodulation Conference where my interest was in TAVNS, (Transcutaneous Vagal Nerve Stimulation), this study in patients in a vegetative state receiving daily TAVNS is pertinent. In this study the patients HRV improved over time. Any noninvasive therapy that can help these patients would be welcome. It was not life-changing in this…
Read MorePredictors of autonomic neuropathy in rheumatoid arthritis.
Auton Neurosci. 2016 Dec;201:54-59. doi: 10.1016/j.autneu.2016.07.008. Epub 2016 Jul 29. Predictors of autonomic neuropathy in rheumatoid arthritis. Syngle V1, Syngle A2, Garg N3, Krishan P3, Verma I3. Author informationαα 1 Cardio Rheuma and Healing Touch City Clinic, Chandigarh, India. 2 Cardio Rheuma and Healing Touch City Clinic, Chandigarh, India; Fortis Multispecialty Hospital, Mohali, Punjab, India….
Read MoreNanoporous Acupuncture needle for enhanced results
I mentioned this needle before. I am keenly interested in it, because of my hunch that there is something about the actual needling, the micro injury, that is key to acupuncture effect beyond just stimulating underlying nerves. They set a cascade of transmitters into motion. This is one reason that I don’t use Seirin needles…
Read MoreAcupuncture and Long Covid
In this interview with Kevin Tracey, a neurobiologist interested in using surgically implanted electrodes to stimulate the vagus nerve, he and his interviewer postulate that Long Covid has autonomic dysfunction as part of the problem. Vagal dysfunction could be from direct infection of the vagus nerve, but it could also be a side effect of…
Read MoreINS Barcelona 2022 HRV as Biomarker for Effective Clinical TAVNS
This is the abstract for my contribution to the International Neuromodulation Society World Congress in Barcelona May 21 to May 26th 2022. The post with a link to the actual poster is here. HEART RATE VARIABILITY AS BIOMARKER FOR EFFECTIVE CLINICAL TRANSCUTANEOUS AURICULAR VAGAL NERVE STIMULATION: DIFFERENTIATING VAGAL VERSUS SYMPATHETIC ACTIVITY This case…
Read MoreDoes transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (TAVNS) affect vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV)?
I wish I could say that I vehemently disagree with the conclusion of this literature review that TAVNS does not affect HRV. As mentioned in this post, it is perhaps because it requires repeated attempts. My studies in the clinic do not show decisive affect from TAVNS. It is possible that I am asking the…
Read MoreTranscutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation augments postprandial inhibition of ghrelin
I will be watching this ghrelin research carefully. I’m a bit skeptical of this research that promises effortless weight loss. On the other hand, I do believe that there are some powerful homeostatic mechanisms at play when the autonomic nervous system is stimulated. As of now, the effects are muted but with the correct stimulation…
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