What conditions and disorders affect the vagal nerves?
Your vagus nerve can be involved with these conditions:
Gastroparesis:Gastroparesis occurs when damage to a vagus nerve stops food from moving into your intestines from your stomach. This vagal nerve damage can result from diabetes, viral infections, abdominal surgery and scleroderma.
Vasovagal syncope:Syncope is another word for fainting. Vasovagal syncope occurs when a vagus nerve to your heart overreacts to certain situations like extreme heat, anxiety, hunger, pain or stress. Blood pressure drops very quickly (orthostatic hypotension), making you feel dizzy or faint.
What are the signs of vagus nerve problems?
Vagus nerve conditions cause different symptoms depending on the specific cause and affected part of your nerve.
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) uses electrical impulses to stimulate your left vagus nerve. Healthcare providers implant a small device in your chest, under your skin. A wire runs under your skin connecting the device and nerve.
The device sends mild, painless electrical signals through your left vagus nerve to your brain. These impulses calm down irregular electrical activity in your brain.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved VNS to treat epilepsy and depression that doesn’t respond to standard therapies. It’s also being investigated for the treatment of:
Gastric emptying solid study or smart pill (an electronic device you swallow) to gauge how long food takes to move through your stomach and into your intestines.
What are common treatments for vagus nerve disorders?
Treatments for gastroparesis include:
Dietary changes.
Medicines to ease nausea and abdominal pain, regulate blood sugar and improve stomach emptying.
Feeding tubes to deliver nutrition to your bloodstream.
Gastrostomy to create an opening in your stomach to relieve pressure.
Gastric electrical stimulation (similar to VNS) to send electrical impulses to muscles and nerves in your stomach and move food through your intestines.
Treatments for vasovagal syncope include:
Consuming a high-salt diet.
Stopping medicines that lower blood pressure, like diuretics.
Taking medicines to increase sodium, fluid levels and blood pressure or to quiet nervous system responses.
Wearing compression stockings to keep blood from pooling in your legs.
The vagus nerve carries an extensive range of signals from digestive system and organs to the brain and vice versa. It is the tenth cranial nerve, extending from its origin in the brainstem through the neck and the thorax down to the abdomen.
Your vagus nerve helps with many functions of the body, so its malfunctioning can cause a wide variety of conditions. Scientists are still studying how it may affect mental health, chronic headaches, and even Alzheimer's. Other related conditions include: Gastroparesis.
The vagus nerve runs from the brain through the face and thorax to the abdomen. Exits the brain from the medulla oblongata of the brainstem and travels laterally exiting the skull through the jugular foramen.
At UCSF Health, our neurologists and neurosurgeons have expertise in implanting vagal nerve stimulators to treat seizures caused by diseases such as epilepsy.
The vagal response is a series of unpleasant symptoms that occur when the vagus nerve is stimulated. Often, this response is triggered by certain things like stress, pain, and fear. Symptoms of the vagal response include dizziness, nausea, ringing ears, and sweating. In some cases, it can make you pass out.
For example, your vagus nerve has an effect on: downward movement in the gut, including peristalsis (movement of the food through the gut) which can lead to slow motility. If you have a slow gut transit time you may end up with constipation as the stool dries out the longer it's been in your large intestine.
Just a few minutes of deep breathing can keep your vagus nerve active. Meditate. Meditation activates the vagus nerve and calms the network of nerves that control myriad physiological processes. “Meditation and mindfulness not only lower your heart rate, but they also reduce blood pressure levels,” said Gonzales.
The vagus nerve, or the 10th cranial nerve (CN X), is the longest and most complex of the cranial nerves. The vagus nerve differs slightly as it primarily supplies the organs of the chest and abdomen, as opposed to the head and neck. It is called “vagus” as it is a vagrant or wandering nerve going down to the abdomen.
The vagus nerve supplies motor parasympathetic fibers to all the organs (except the adrenal glands), from the neck down to the second segment of the transverse colon. The vagus also controls a few skeletal muscles, including: Cricothyroid muscle. Levator veli palatini muscle.
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