Quote:
Geoff Byers wrote:
I can't see this 'presenting proof' thing catching on, but I hope it does. 
Thank you for this, useful article. |
Yeah, I know what you mean. The article actually raised a possibility I hadn't considered -- namely the possible involvement of the vagus nerve.
This only became something I know about because our daughter has spontaneously fainted a few times. Usually after standing a while or when she's not feeling well or overheated. We had her checked out and took her to a pediatric neurologist to make sure nothing was wrong. Basically the vagus nerve runs up along the carotid. And part of it's job is communicating a variety of things about the state of many of the body's organs to the brain. One thing that can stimulate the nerve is having blood drawn or massage of the carotid sinus. That in turn can cause vaso-vagal syncope. Or, in other words she was simply prone to fainting when the conditions are correct. Something my mother also had when she was a young woman, or so I'm told.
I'm wondering about this because there's been time I've seen people go night-night *really* fast when someone who really does it well applies it. So I wonder if in some people it's not just the physical stoppage of the blood flow but also involves the stimulation of the vagus nerve which runs right along it (the snaking arms along with the gentle "shaking" movement that some learn). If they are able to stimulate the vagus in some way it would be a very fast reaction.
So hows that for adding speculation on top of good research...
To quote Alice... Curiouser and curiouser...