New Understanding Of Modern Illness - the exposome, inter-regulatory network and cell danger response

I have been in practice for 16 years now and over the years I have seen many people suffering from conditions brought on by the mismatch between how we are living today and the way of life our genes are encoded for. I’ve realised along with many of my colleagues that managing these illnesses is becoming more complex. Many clients come in with ailments affecting multiple systems highlighting the need for more integrated approaches.

Conditions such as fatigue is the most common unexplained complaint presenting to GP’s.

Chronic stress is also very common. Chronic stress can create a cascade of imbalances that occur as our bodies stop buffering and adapting to our lifestyle and environment. Mental health symptoms such as anxiety or depression, gut symptoms, hormonal changes and immune dysfunction are common examples caused by chronic stress.

In a recent study of 15,000 Australian women 66.9% felt nervous, anxious or on edge for several days or more within the previous 4 weeks and 46.1% had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety.

But do we need to shun our modern life and return to the primal living in order to be healthy?

This is an unrealistic prospect for most of us but luckily not a necessary one either. So how do we maintain our health in this modern world? The first step is awareness, which is what I hope to impart more of in this newsletter.

There are 3 key areas at which health breakdown can occur;

1. Your Exposome

2. The Inter-regulatory Network

3. Within the cell and the Cell Danger Response

What are these?... Read on and find out!

Your Exposome

Your exposome relates to the things that we come in contact with from our environment. Many of these things have the ability to impact the way our genes are expressed through epigenetic processes and cause issues within the next level called the inter-regulatory network (which I’ll discuss next).

Some of the key issues to watch for in your exposome that are most likely to cause ongoing effects are;

Lack of sleep
Antibiotics/other medications and drugs
Over-eating
Radiation
Environmental Chemicals
Electro-magnetic frequencies (eg wifi/mobile phones)
Social Stress
Mycotoxins (ie mould and other pathogens)

Let’s take fatigue as an example. Different exposome stressors will influence the possible symptoms that are also occurring alongside the fatigue.


Exposome Stressor Possible associated symptoms with fatigue

Malnutriton

Pain, poor immunity, cramps

Gastrointestinal pathogen

Gastrointestinal symptoms, brain fog, depression, anxiety

Infection

Pain, flu-like symptoms

Environmental toxins

Infertility, metabolic syndrome

Biotoxins

Multi-system, multi symptom illness

EMF radiation

Headache, insomnia

Sleep disruption

Insomnia, metabolic syndrome

Sometimes it can be difficult to find or address the trigger, but as more and more research is done on each of these factors above and the long term impacts they are having on our health, the more we can be aware and act to minimise our exposure.

If you have had an illness develop due to an exposome stressor the key becomes supporting the systems in your body that have been most affected as well as avoiding the trigger if it is known/possible.

So what are the key systems that tend to be affected in modern illnesses?

The Inter- Regulatory Network.

There is an integration between key systems in the body that are commonly involved in modern illness.

These are;

Nervous system and HPA axis (part of the nervous system the manages chronic stress)
Metabolic Organs
Microbiome (collection of beneficial organisms that live in our gut)
Thyroid Gland
Immune Cells

"Our cells have an innate universal ability to adapt to stressors (including modern ones) and express health."

When dealing with illness it is important to understand that the systems above impact and influence each other. For example, activation in the HPA axis (due to chronic stress) down-regulates our immune system and gastro-intestinal system. This may cause symptoms such as bloating, flatulence, constipation or loose stool. It may also mean we are more prone to food intolerances and notice it’s more difficult to recover from illness.

Chronic stress can have mixed effects on our adrenals and thyroid. If the thyroid becomes dysfunctional it may affect our energy and metabolism. We often start to crave instant energy from fatty, salty and sweet foods. If we consume these foods over time we are much more likely to have issues with metabolic syndrome (insulin and blood sugar problems/diabetes) - see how many health issues can be intertwined!

The Cell Danger Response

All the above are influencing our cells constantly and there is a particular part of the cell that we are interested in called the mitochondria.

The mitochondria are largely responsible for our energy but it also turns out that they play a key role in our ability to buffer and restore health after exposure to a variety of stressors. When danger is detected in the body the mitochondria alter cellular metabolism to help shield the cell from further injury. This is called the Cell Danger Response (CDR). If this response is prolonged the cell is unable to recover and chronic illness may occur.

There are 3 phases that the cell should pass through which is beneficial to its recovery. If the cell gets stuck in one of these phases different illnesses can be triggered.

1. CDR1 - Allergies, asthma etc. Chronic infections      

2. CDR2 - Metabolic syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer and leukemia

3. CDR3 - Chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, generalised anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, PTSD, Autism, Migraines, osteoarthritis, autoimmune conditions, IBS.

“Over time, sustained changes in the mitochondrial function can lead to structural changes in the tissues and organs” - Dr RK Naviaux

While treatments to specifically assist with the CDR cycles are still evolving there is enough evidence to show there are many things you can do to help. An integrated approach combining assistance with your nervous system (eg Chiropractic / Kinesiology), key nutrients via nutritional therapy and stress management techniques ( eg NET/mindfulness) are proving to be key factors in improving peoples outcomes with chronic illnesses like the ones listed above.

If you know anyone that suffers from chronic illnesses that this may help please feel free to pass it on.

Yours in health,

​Dr Mark Symonds 

CHIROPRACTOR / NET PRACTITIONER
NATURAL INTEGRATIVE HEALTHCARE
BChiroSc, MChiro, C.C.W.P., NLP Master Coach