Confronting the Stench of Traumatic Loss

The cells that make up living tissue essentially die in two different ways. One is an organic developmental process that takes them fully through a life-cycle until a programmed death sequence – called apoptosis – gets activated. The second way living cells die is through a process called necrosis, often associated with injury or trauma. You can see a graphic depiction of the two processes HERE. Apoptosis is physiologic; necrosis is pathologic.

Dying Brain Tissues Produce Waste

Because necrosis generates inflammation, it has the stink of death associated with it. If you’ve ever smelled a dead rat or an infected wound, you know the unmistakable smell of necrosis.

As you might suspect, brain cells are subject to these twin dying processes as well. Concussions or other physical trauma to the brain replace the physio- logical processes of organic cell death with the patho- logical processes of necrosis. The brain has its own glymphatic system for removing the waste and inflammation caused by such trauma, and that system operates mostly at night while we sleep.

I believe something else operates in the realm of necrosis in the brain as well – unexpected or traumatic loss. We’ve long known of a whole host of adverse impacts to health associated with grief, but not much is known about how grief and loss impact our neural networks.

What Unwires Together Turns Necrotic Together

In neuroscience, Hebb’s Rule states that “neurons that fire together, wire together.” Neurons fire and wire together every time we encounter or learn something new. The more we learn about a person, place or thing, the more cells in our brain make connections. Primary or important relationships in our lives make new, robust connections day in and day out through the process of give-and- take feedback loops – contingent communication. Over time, substantial amounts of neural real estate come to be devoted to meaningful people, places and things in our lives. Meaningful also includes pets.

Archie’s on the right

When we lose meaningful people, places or pets in our lives, the brain networks devoted to them, no longer receive inputs – the contingent feedback loops no longer activate dynamic activity in those networks. Very soon they begin to die and unravel – if you don’t use it, you lose it. The organic, apoptotic processes that these cells would normally progress through, give way to necrotic processes, elevating stress hormone levels, activating cytokines (signaling proteins), C-reactive proteins and inflammation in the brain and body. Simply stated, loss stinks.

April is the Cruelest Month

April’s been a pretty cruel month for our family up here on Whidbey Island. At the beginning of the month our prized housecat, Archie snuck out of the house and ended up becoming coyote breakfast. He’s no longer there to greet me in the morning, jump up into my lap as I read email, or come whining when I’ve let his food supply run low. I miss him and his cloudy right eye terribly (his sister clawed that eye when he was a kitten).

Then a difficult puppy birth process had to be aborted, and our Berner mom had to be taken in for an emergency C-Section. Ten puppies in various stages of birth trauma made it back home with us, but over the next several days one after another after another ended up dying. Four died in all. Needless to say, April has been filled with an extremely painful 30 days. Making and burying little foot-high wooden coffins is not my favorite Spring activity.

In response, I decided to put together a short Powerpoint collection of things we wish we’d known going into this puppy-birthing process. These safeguards we unfortunately had to learn in the most painful way possible. If you know anyone – veterinarians, breeders, dog lovers – who, together with their dogs, might be able to benefit from this information, I hope you’ll take the time to pass it along. Help others unnecessarily have to confront and endure The Stench of Loss.