So, two weeks ago I had my regularly scheduled throat cancer screening with Downtown Aaron Brown, MD, my radiology bro. I’ve had three years of exams now, starting initially at every three months. Now we’re at every six months; after the next one, we’ll stretch out to every 9 months – brain, mind, body, heart, soul and the Universe willing.
So, I pretty much know what to expect leading up to what invariably feels like . . . Judgment Day – I’ll either get a thumbs up or a thumbs down. English critic and poet, Samuel Johnson is famous for the quotation which roughly goes, “Nothing so focuses a man’s mind as the sure knowledge that he is to be hanged in the morning.” What Johnson doesn’t pay homage to are all the things that a man slated to be hanged loses focus on as a result of feeling like he’s literally staring down the barrel of a gun.
Blocking All the Portals
Leading up to J-Day, gradually ALL my sense portals begin to become noticeably compromised. Constipation shows up and urination frequency increases. My taste buds decrease in their range and ability to experience all of the five tastes with any degree of discriminating pleasure. My sense of smell – never really all that great – becomes almost non-existent. Same with hearing, which can operate at a decent level one moment and then have my auditory nerve bundles seemingly stop operating completely (The term for this is Hysterical Deafness). My hands and feet become numb(er) and the sweat glands that constantly lubricate them essentially stop functioning. When I rub my thumb and fingers together it feels like there’s a piece of fine, smooth silk between them. As you might guess, I drop a lot of things and I struggle to get my touch phone screen to respond.
During this current lead-up, compromised vision surprised me the most. Doing anything that requires short term memory, demands I be extra mindful and attentive. Clicking links on the internet, writing blogs, sending emails, using kitchen implements, shop tools – anything that requires paying attention, during this pre-exam period, requires paying even more.
So, I was working on the small engine on our riding lawn mower. I took two bolts out and put them deliberately on the contrasting yellow mower seat. When it was time to put the bolts back, I went to get them, surprisingly, they were no longer on the seat. I spent the next half hour futilely looking for them. Finally, I asked my wife to help me find them. She promptly went and found them – hiding in plain site – on the yellow mower seat. This is called Hysterical Blindness. The whole lot of these conditions fall under the umbrella of Conversion Disorders.
Stress Conversion
I would posit that in actuality, these conditions are stress disorders. Here’s how I think they work. All these portals are openings that provide the brain access to the outside world. If we didn’t have them, nothing of the outside world could get in and nothing inside could get out. What connects these portals are wires that run from them up and over to different areas of the brain (auditory cortex, visual cortex, olfactory bulb, etc.).
What stress does is compromise signal transmission. So far, the research only identifies chronic stress as indirectly causal. I would argue ANY stress that triggers sufficient glutamate activation can compromise portal wiring. It does so by literally weakening the adhesion molecules (primarily Nectin-3) that keep the wiring connected and intact. When the network wiring can’t stay stuck together, it begins unraveling. Here’s what it looks like as conceived by neuroscientist Carmen Sandi in her Swiss lab:
All that said, here’s the good news: because of how “plastic” the brain is, once Dr. Downtown” gives me a thumbs-up reprieve, glutamate activation lowers, adhesion-weakening begins to subside, new wires begin to make new connections (probably begin to restore some of the old wiring as well) and increasing functionality begins to return me to a “new normal.”
The Secret to Life
And the new normal, for me at least, involves monitoring my constantly fluctuating stress levels and then doing my best to keep them operating in the Green.
But wait, there’s more, and it’s good news – much of these downstream effects can likely be addressed upstream – by advance-managing stress’s effects in one area of the brain in particular. A special prize goes to the first reader who guesses the correct area (Note: it’s my personal, informed hypothesis here). Thanks for playing.
I admit I got so caught up in trying to think of an answer, I didn’t say I’m sorry you have to go through that!
Fortunately, medical science is making advances. Who knows how long it will be before people will say, “You all remember when getting cancer was a big deal?”
It’s all fruit for the juicer, sir. And thank you for your concern. Best, Mark
Can’t say I know the answer to your question. My guess would be the prefrontal cortex. (I think with stress things tend to go to the amygdala).
Amygdala is not a wrong answer, Alden. It just doesn’t adequately convey the complexity and the interconnectivity of all the wiring it’s a part of. I prefer this way of conceptualizing it . . . https://thefloweringbrain.wordpress.com/2024/04/09/adverse-health-conditions-associated-with-the-uncinate-fasciculus/
Best,
Mark