Broken Brain Dr. Mark Hyman's Documentary

[Magda]

Dr. Mark Hyman's documentary about "Broken Brain" will be live online starting tomorrow, 10/18.
It's 8 episodes long series. He will interview leading experts. Dr. Bredesen will appear in Episode 3. To watch it you can sign up here:
http://brokenbrain.com/trailer/?oprid=340

Episode 1:
In our opening episode, I share more about my experience with a broken brain and we hear from experts such as Dr. Terry Wahls and Jim Kwik about their own experiences with brain dysfunction. We also talk about what has led to this epidemic of broken brains and what to expect throughout the docuseries.

Episode 2: The gut-brain connection has been gaining popularity in recent years, and for a good reason! This connection might be one of the key pieces of the puzzle when treating your brain. Learn why from Dr. David Perlmutter, Dr. Martha Herbert, Dr. Raphael Kellman, Dr. Frank Lipman, Dr. Sid Baker, Dr. Jeffrey Bland and more.

Episode 3: Alzheimer’s and dementia are devastating brain disorders that rob elderly of their past. Unfortunately, even middle-aged individuals are suffering from memory loss. What is causing the increase in dementia and Alzheimer’s and is there anything we can do about it? Some of the experts you’ll hear from in this episode include Dr. Ann Hathaway, Dr. Dale Bredesen, Max Lugavere, Dr. Rudy Tanzi, and Dr. David Perlmutter.

Episode 4: Are autism and ADHD just names we give to people with a list of similar symptoms? You might be surprised to hear that treating patients with ADHD or on the autism spectrum does not look so different from treating patients who have dementia or other illnesses. Dr. Susan Goh, Chris Kresser, and others will take us through a revolutionary new way to look at these disorders.

Episode 5: Depression is the leading cause of disability in America. Anxiety plagues more and more people every single day. Dr. Drew Ramsey, Dr. Robin Berzin and Pedram Shojai are a few of the experts who dive deep into depression and anxiety in Episode 5.

Episode 6: When suffering from a traumatic brain injury, conventional medicine often fails to provide the right support that we need to recover. Functional Medicine takes a different approach. Learn about this approach in Episode 6 where we feature the miraculous story of recovery from a broken brain. Experts JJ Virgin, Dr. David Musnick and Dr. Titus Chiu show you how everything we do, including exercise, relaxation, what we eat, and more, can change the brain.

Episodes 7 & 8: We take all of the advice outlined by our experts and turn them into practical steps that you can take today toward a better brain.
This docuseries will completely change the way you think about brain health, and I want to invite you to watch it.

[Jan]

Magda, here's a longer preview that gives a fuller picture about what's covered.

http://brokenbrain.com/highlight/

[Tiramisu1984]

Thanks for posting!

[HeatherLst]

I'm a longtime fan of Dr Hyman--we've used his protocols to lose 30 lbs over the last few years, to kick fatty liver, prediabetes, hypertension, etc. He can be a bit inflammatory in his language...but his advice is generally sage. He's referred us to other books/practicioners as well, like Dr Mullein's work on restoring your gut. Anyway, I've been excited since he announced this series.

For those of you with more medical knowledge and further down the road, this may be a rehash of old info. But for those of us still new to brain health, there's been a TON of excellent info shared, including on Bredesen's basic protocol. I've taken several pages of notes in the first three episodes. Especially for those who know they're APOE4, or that there's something going on with their brain, Episode 3 had some good first steps to start with, shared by Dr Hathaway. (Start with diet, then exercise, exercise, exercise, stress/meditation, then sleep.)

I've got a kid on the spectrum, three of us with adhd, two with ocd and anxiety. I have done my fair share of reading on brain health, but I've learned a lot of practical info already in this series. I think it would help a lot of the newcomers as well!

[TheBrain]

I've been listening to this excellent series. I didn't learn a lot of new material in the first two episodes, but starting with Episode 3, I've been learning more and more. Episode 3 addresses Alzheimer’s and dementia. Unfortunately, I didn't get to watch the entire episode before it timed out. Hopefully, they'll do a weekend replay at the end of the series.

Here's one personally disturbing thing I learned about the gut-brain connection from Episode 3: One downstream effect of amyloid beta in the brain is that it causes a decrease in Bifidobacteria in the gut. Per my uBiome Explorer gut test in April 2017, I had no measurable amount of Bifidobacteria in my stool sample. Yikes!

In June, I did uBiome's SmartGut test. It showed a "low" amount of Bifidobacteria, but there was no category for "none." So I don't actually know if my Bifidobacteria improved or was still not measurable.

A low amount of Bifidobacteria in the gut is associated with constipation (a chronic issue for me), as well as Crohn's disease. My uncle died from complications related to Crohn's at age 49, and my nephew was diagnosed with it in his teens. A colonoscopy I had almost five years ago found an area of inflammation in the ileum near the ileocecal valve. The pathologist noted in his report that he couldn't rule out Crohn's in that area. Genetic testing done around the same time showed that I do have some markers for Crohn's. Fortunately, a colonoscopy a couple years later showed that this inflammation was gone.

So I'm more vigorously than ever seeking to resolve this issue of low or no Bifidobacteria in my gut (and gut dysbiosis in general). I know I'm homozygous for a FUT2 SNP that predisposes me to low Bifidobacteria, so maybe amyloid plaque has nothing to do with my issue. I do know that so far, the probiotic supplements I've taken haven't been helping, and I've taken a bunch of high-quality, high-potency probiotics. However, I'm trying a new one called MegasporeBiotic that supposedly can increase Bifidobacteria (along with doing a lot of other good things). We'll see...

[circular]

That's scary alysson. I'm way low in bifido too. I'm guessing there could be multiple causes that include FUT2 (I'll have to check that) and amyloid beta but probably go even further. I'm thinking a high fat diet (to include keto ... maybe) reduces bifido? I think the high fat diet > lower bifido connection has only been studied in the context of high carbs (or is it just high fat > higher firmicutes? Important context: I know not what I say here and must go to bed, so that's not very forum friendly, sorry.

[Julie G]

No Bifido for me either- yikes!

[TheBrain]

Earlier this year, I took Alan Christianson's Thyroid Reset Program. He's a naturopath who specializes in endocrinology. He did a weekly Q&A during the program. Yesterday, he gave us a bonus Q&A.

One of my questions was: What would you suggest to someone who, based on stool testing, has no measurable amount of Bifidobacteria in the gut, despite eating prebiotic foods and taking a high-quality, high-potency probiotic with Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria strains?

He said that Bifidobacteria responds best to resistant starch. He suggested I consume up to 20 g of resistant starch per day to build back my Bifidobacteria population. After a while, I can back off and consume less.

I'll have to work up slowly to that. I've been taking SunFiber. Each scoop is 7 grams, but per the label on the bottle, it appears that 6 grams of it is resistant starch. So far, I can only take about 1/4 a scoop. If I go up to 1/3 a scoop, I get bloating and uncomfortable gas that lasts for hours. However, I do believe the SunFiber is getting into my large intestine, based on the timing of when the symptoms begin. Also, I've twice been tested for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), and results were negative. So I seriously doubt that the SunFiber is feeding bacteria in my small intestine (at least to any significant degree), which is what I'd want.

For resistant starch, I also eat sweet potatoes (steamed, then cooled) and tigernuts. I'll have to try glucomannan again. It's one of the grossest foods I've ever put in my mouth, but 1/2 tsp provides 2 grams of fiber.

Dr. Christianson recently posted an article titled 30 Amazing Resistant Starch Foods for Better Digestion.

Beans are well represented in Dr. Christianson's list. Circular, I know you eat beans. Julie, I don't believe you do. I haven't been. Frankly, there's not much on that list I can eat, if I want to remain in ketosis.

[jolicoeur]

Thanks Alysson for all this info. The link for Dr. Christianson is really amazing.
Lucie

[bealre]

Alysson, I’ve been watching the Christianson series too as I think highly of him, however, was VERY distressed when he talked about APOE4 carriers eating low fat NOT high fat. Huh? This is not what I’ve been hearing from Bredesen and Hyman. I’m new here on this site and trying to straighten out my diet. I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.