Parasympathetic Nerve Hormones: From Deficient, to Ideal, to High

What is the parasympathetic nerve? It’s half of our Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). (Section 2 of Trauma Glossary 3.) The other half is the sympathetic nerve, which is our stress, or fight or flight response. So, the parasympathetic nerve acts as the “brakes” to the stress response. The balance (or imbalance) hinges on our hormone levels.

Our hormones send and receive information from our nervous system to our brain and our vital organs. So, they have both a psychological and somatic effect on us. That’s why in this series, we are using charts of what happens when each hormone is too low, (deficient) when it’s ideal, and when it’s too high. That way you get to see the overall arc of what’s going on in succession. Due to the overwhelming number of hormones in our bodies, we are focusing only on the ten most relevant to trauma. This way, we keep the most crucial pieces without getting sidetracked by what might be less relevant. If you’re curious, they are in section 3 of Trauma Glossary 3 (the above link).

Last week, we covered four hormones for the sympathetic nerve. They are: cortisol and its two converters, epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline). The fourth is dopamine, and it works for both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve. Its link with cortisol is that they share a converter, norepinephrine, which is a stress hormone that does the thinking and planning for dopamine. What’s dopamine’s other converter? Well, we are going to find out. But first, let’s bring back cortisol and its two converters so that we can introduce the counterbalancing power of serotonin.

Serotonin for the Parasympathetic Nerve

Here is our first chart, unhighlighted. Cortisol, top row and cortisol’s two converters, bottom row. Serotonin is in the middle to demonstrate its counterbalancing power over our stress hormones. Before we move forward highlighting different parts, what is it you see?

Let’s look at serotonin’s psychological impact first. Ideally, we have cortisol in charge of our stress response and then serotonin acting as our mood stabilizer. So, automatically we see these two functioning very much like the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve.

Giving you the overall arc for serotonin, from low, ideal, to high and how it affects us emotionally. First, when it’s too high, we’re disoriented, agitated, and restless. When it’s too low, we see a few things in common with low cortisol and its two converters. There’s also a loss of self. But what does that mean?

Children of cluster B disordered parents (Trauma Glossary 1) tend to arrive at adulthood unsure of who they are because they never had a chance at developing their own identity. Without a strong identity, there’s no confidence and no self-esteem. Survivors of toxic partnerships tend to echo such sentiments. Theirs are simply followed by “anymore.” “I don’t know who I am anymore,” being the one I’ve most frequently heard. And, it’s also worth pointing out that when our serotonin levels drop, so does our interest in life. The things we used to enjoy, we simply don’t anymore. We will go more in depth on this one next week, when we cover the attachment hormones.

Gut Health and Serotonin Syndrome

If you recall from last week, cortisol is in charge of our stomach acids so that we can digest food. When it’s too low, it overproduces acids, which causes problems like acid reflux or IBS. When it’s too high, there aren’t enough stomach acids and that leads to weight gain due to a sluggish digestion. How interesting then, that there is more serotonin in the stomach than there is in the brain. What else do we see?

The link between a serotonin deficiency and what happens when cortisol’s two converters are out of balance. Too low or too high, the common side effect is migraines. When serotonin is too low, we get both stomach and headaches.

SSRI’s (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor, which is primarily an anti-depressant) are medicines that attempt to regulate cortisol and serotonin. But like any medicine for balancing hormones, it can take a while to find the right dosage. If it increases the serotonin levels too much, you’re at risk for serotonin syndrome, which can be fatal.

So, if you are taking SSRI types of medicines, pay extra close attention to the list of symptoms in the high column. Particularly **irregular heartbeat, disoriented, nausea and diarrhea, which can and will lead to unconsciousness.** In which case, hopefully there will be someone around who can call 911 for you. So, I repeat, if you are taking SSRI’s, **make** **damn sure** you stay out of the high zone. As it’s always promoted whenever you’re having adverse side effects, stop taking it immediately.

Carbohydrates and Serotonin

Here’s a little fun fact for you. Carbohydrates lower our serotonin levels. So, if at times you’re feeling a little agitated, restless, and your heart feels jittery, (signs of high serotonin) listen to your cravings. If you’re craving a sandwich while feeling those symptoms, that’s your serotonin telling you what it needs to regulate. So, eat some carbs and see how quickly those symptoms drop down!

Conversely, if you’re suffering from depression, which is one of the major symptoms of low serotonin, and you’ve been eating lots of carbs, it’s a good idea to start changing your eating habits. Your serotonin levels, and not to mention your mood will reward you for it. Not as quickly as eating a sandwich will lower the serotonin, but your dark moods will start lifting over time. There are more nutritional hacks for balancing our cortisol and serotonin in section 3 of Master Toolbox 2.

Dopamine, Endorphins, and GABA for the Parasympathetic Nerve

And speaking of Master Toolbox 2, last week we learned there are things we do naturally for our dopamine levels. Social Isolation and addictions are the most effective means of having them anywhere but ideal. Now I’m going to show you the benefits of exercise or just getting active in general.

Endorphins

Exercise: Ever heard of the endorphin high? Athletes and runners have experienced this one and when I took up kickboxing for managing a painful flashback, so did I. (It helped that I imagined kicking my abusers’ butts on the bag in every session, but I digress.) The endorphin high lasts several hours, and it feels like there’s a force field surrounding your joy and no negativity can penetrate it. Even better, the comedown is gradual and there’s no “crash” involved, thanks to the release of GABA, the calming side of pleasure awareness.

Master Toolbox 2 (Section 3)

When we’re in an endorphin high, we are temporarily inhibiting GABA. But as the endorphins gradually lower, GABA, which is all about calming the system, starts to increase. That’s how we get such a smooth comedown, unlike the chemically administered endorphins that we know as morphine.

Why do we get the crash when endorphins are chemically administered? That’s because it’s too much for GABA to understand, in which case, it won’t release.

Endorphins

Remember when we learned that the stress hormone, norepinephrine is one of dopamine’s converters? Well, now you get to meet its other converter: endorphins. You know that little spark of joy you feel when you get something you want? That’s endorphins releasing and acting as the reward system for dopamine.

Endorphins are our body’s natural morphine. They release when we are hurt. You know how when you stub your toe, it hurts the first minute or two and then the pain recedes? Well, you can thank endorphins for that. Endorphins relieve pain for both the body and emotions. Just look what happens when we have an endorphin deficiency. Not only do we get aches and pains but how often must we see anxiety and depression for hormone deficiency? Yeesh!

Laughter as the Ultimate Endorphin Hack

How about the truly intense pain, like an abscessed tooth ache? Endorphins are still releasing in those moments, we just aren’t getting enough to relieve the pain. Next time, try laughter. Not the fake laugh, because you can’t fool your own body chemicals. Find something amusing enough to trigger some type of amused response from your body. This very thing happened to me two years ago.

I had a toothache so intense, one side of my face was visibly swollen. My brain fog from the pain had me thinking I would go feral at any second. Problem was, I had to go to work, regardless. So, desperate to find something, anything to distract myself, I remembered a video clip I had watched weeks earlier that had made me howl with laughter. I watched it again and it made me half-chuckle. Then in the very next beat, the pain reduced just enough for me to think like a functioning human. Sure, my tooth still hurt but at least I wasn’t on the cusp of behaving like a wounded beast anymore. Here is the clip, just in case it might help you through some intense pain.

Too High Endorphins: When not a chemical addiction, it’s half blessing, half curse

As a trauma survivor myself, I get it. The pain is so great, we will do anything to get rid of it, or at least get some relief. Wouldn’t it be nice if we only felt happiness all the time? But the truth is, if we want to thrive in life, if we want to achieve our dreams, we have to learn to accept our uncomfortable emotions. Otherwise, we will never have enough motivation to make positive changes. Just look at the chart below and remember the golden rule with dopamine. Addictions will keep our levels anywhere but ideal, and ideal is where the motivation is.

Now that we see it, let’s talk about what happens when our endorphins are too high *without* the chemical addiction. (It’s me!)

I believe I was born this way because as far back as I remember, I laughed quickly and easily. By age ten, I earned the nickname “Ha-Ha Maniac.” No matter how dark the traumas I’ve endured, I’ve never gone a day without laughter. This served me well in Borderland (Trauma Glossary 1). Each time I laughed, I was activating my parasympathetic nerve and I believe that this is what saved me from a slew of autoimmune disorders that are so common in the Complex-PTSD community.

To this very day, I’m mystified whenever I have scratches or dark bruises. No understanding of how they got there because no pain registered when it happened. And, because I’m so easily amused, it has aided and abetted my alexithymia (Trauma Glossary 2). You see, the pain of my uncomfortable emotions also don’t register. I endured 28 years at a job I despised because I believed “it’s not that bad.”

GABA

GABA is the great “chill out” hormone. It doesn’t get emotionally stimulated. It’s just calm, relaxed and content. That’s why it’s an inhibitor, primarily a stress inhibitor. We have to calm down and rest eventually so that we’re refreshed for the next day.

The basal ganglia is a part of the brain where our GABA is stored. If our basal ganglia is blocked, it can’t release GABA into our system. When that happens, we get anxiety, depression, and a poor attention span. The basal ganglia is in Trauma glossary 3 (section 1) as half of our brain’s control panel. But personally, I recommend this tool for the win. Not only will you see how it works with the ACG (Anterior Cingulate Gyrus) as our brain’s control panel, but you will also keep yourself out of the executive dysfunction spiral. Manage your basal ganglia, you get more GABA in your system.

Melatonin as Hormone for the Parasympathetic Nerve

This is the formula for having good sleep. Who knew that sleep could be so complicated? On second thought, of course it is, especially for anyone with trauma.

Melatonin is known as the Dracula of our body chemicals because it drops when the sun comes up and rises when the sun goes down. That’s because it has one function and one function only. And that’s for sleep. So, to get there, it needs a little help from the other hormones.

We need GABA to calm our system into sleeping. So, to calm our system, we need our mood stabilized and that’s where serotonin comes in. It acts as a sort of “bridge” between dopamine and GABA. We need our dopamine to lower but that does not mean it must lower to deficient levels.

Motivation and being alert and focused belong with our daytime activities. When it’s activated at night, it turns into anxiety, which only creates insomnia and sleep disturbances. But what else is in the ideal zone? The reward system and the engine of pleasure. In other words, some semblance of satisfaction that we can take with us when it’s time to sleep, be it gratitude or just satisfied that the day is finally over will go a long way in starting the process for sleep.

Insomnia vs. Sleeping Our Life Away

Melatonin imbalance. Obviously, if melatonin’s only function is for sleep and we don’t have enough of it, we will have insomnia and sleep disturbances (waking up in the middle of the night and struggle to go back to sleep). But check out what GABA and melatonin do when they are too high. Both will make us constantly tired and they will inhibit dopamine.

In other words, too much will make us dopamine deficient. So, while we won’t have any trouble sleeping, we will also lose the sense of feeling truly alive.

The Importance of Nutrition, Exercise, and Rest for the Parasympathetic Nerve

While we don’t have complete control of our hormone levels, there are things we can do naturally to work them up towards ideal levels. If Serotonin is so beneficial to gut health, then a good nutritious diet will not just help our bodies, but as our serotonin balances, so will our mood. Exercise also has a major impact on us, as does proper sleep. When we implement these habits (dopamine) our hormones will start to balance. And balanced hormones are a reflection of a balanced life. There are tools and hacks for all of the hormones covered here in Master Toolbox 2 that go beyond what was covered in this article. So, one more time, here is that link.

There’s something else we do naturally to balance our overall system, and that’s our breathing. I covered that topic two weeks ago when I introduced the ANS. If you missed that article, or would like more insights on the power of breathing, that article is here.

Two hormones from Trauma Glossary 3 have yet to be covered. They are oxytocin and vasopressin. We will get into those next week while bringing back dopamine and its two converters (endorphins and norepinephrine) and serotonin. What do they all have in common? Attachments and addictions! Believe it or not, the same hormones that are activated in an addiction are also activated when we fall in love.