Concussed: Why Concussions Are Double The Danger for MS Patients

Titus Chiu, MS, DC, DACNB

Absolutely. A great question and it’s such a pleasure to see you, too, Terry. It’s been too long. So my name is Dr. Ties to I am a number one bestselling author and functional neurologist that specializes in leaky brain. And I got into this whole field because over 21 years ago, I was in a terrible car accident that nearly took my life. I suffered. I broke three ribs, I dislocated my shoulder, and I actually sustained a concussion. And I tried everything I could within conventional medicine to find answers. But didn’t find any. So I decided to go outside the box. I got a post-doc in clinical neurology. I got a master’s in nutrition. I studied functional medicine. I study chiropractic, acupuncture, energy, medicine, anything I could get my hands on to find answers. And I’m so glad that it did because along the way I experimented with some of the things that I learned in school and at conferences and in books I read and a lot of my body symptoms. This chronic neck and shoulder pain started to improve. 

But I found myself still stuck on this roller coaster when it came to my brain. Symptoms, I had brain fog. I just got overly overwhelmed and stressed by little things, even to a point where I developed things like more concerning neurological symptoms like vertigo. I remember sitting in a restaurant one day on a stool and I’m eating my tacos gluten free, by the way. But tacos. And all of a sudden the whole room went like this boom. And I literally almost fell off of my off the chair. And I was terrified. I was like, what was going on? I mean, later on, I discovered that’s what’s known as Ocelot. See, it’s a loss of stabilization of your eyes, but that’s not the point. It was scary. And then on top of that, I started to develop not only like physical brain symptoms like vertigo, mental brain symptoms like brain fog, brain fatigue and overwhelm. I started to develop more mental, emotional, psychological symptoms like impulse control issues, anger and just worry to the point where it was almost paranoia. And I was concerned. I was really concerned because growing up I came from a really good family. I didn’t have any serious, you know, issues growing up. Maybe once in a while I get irritated or hangry if I didn’t eat my meal right. But I didn’t have any of these more psychological symptoms. Obviously, the physical neurological symptoms were concerning, but this was just not me. Right. And so I fast forward, I look back into my own history and I realize it all began after that concussion that I experienced many years prior. So then I took a deeper dove into the world of concussion. And the first book I wrote is all about concussion, my journey through that. And I applied a lot of the things that I learned in the world of concussion and neuroscience and natural medicine. I began to apply to my own health in my own brain, and I started getting better. And then I shared this with my patients. And like I said, I wrote a whole book on it and people started to get better and I knew I had to something. But the interesting thing is along the way I developed these whole processes and protocols for concussion recovery and they would work for many patients I worked with. All right. 

But there was a certain population of patients that they went through the typical concussion protocols that I did for them. You know, training the brain with sensory based exercises like eye exercises, vestibular rehab, you know, moving the head in special directions, using lights and sounds to activate the nervous system like I would do those protocols and many of them would get better. But there is about 15, maybe 20% of my patient population who I run those protocols on them. Some of them would even fly into work with me for an extended maybe 3 to 5 day period of time and bam, we’d get these amazing results, like what I call immersive neuroplasticity, making changes in the nervous system. 

In a short amount of time. Right. And it was reproducible. But I found that, yeah, maybe about 80% when I checked in with them again in two or three months. Like I get on and on, I call to say, Hey, how you doing? Be like, I’m doing great. Thank you so much for, you know, all these things. The simple, you know, supplements and diet follow up that I’m doing now, I feel great. But there is this 15 to 20%. I check in with them and they’d be like, I don’t know. Dr. Jill, you know, I after that, that whole intensive treatment, I felt better at first, but I started to just fall to the wayside again. And I’m not doing well. And I’m like, what’s going on here? Right. My how was it I do what I’m, you know, known. What I do is part of my nature is to explore further and investigate what’s going on with them. Right. 

And around that time, as I was doing actually a little bit before, right, that whole experience I was describing of my concussion journey, a lot of these physical brain symptoms were happening as I was treating patients. Somehow I was still able to show up for my people, you know. But when I started developing these more like psychological, emotional symptoms, it was kind of around that time. And that’s when I discovered this one hidden, pretty unknown structure within the nervous system that I found to explain it all. It explained a lot of the how I was stuck on this roller coaster of up and down brain symptoms, like feeling good one day and then feeling stressed and angry or vertigo the next. Like this. That one thing I discovered. In addition, I found that that was one of the biggest missing pieces for this.

Terry Wahls, MD

And what was that up in?

Titus Chiu, MS, DC, DACNB

That was the blood brain barrier. That’s what’s in the brain. Yeah, that’s what I discovered. Like, you know, through this whole journey of concussion. And that’s actually it’s interesting. If you actually look at concussion, the research shows that about 85% of people who sustain a concussion, they recover. Right. They get better. And a few weeks. Right. Maybe a month or so, two months. But 85% get better. But there’s many. Yeah, sure.

Terry Wahls, MD

Interrupt you for a moment. So everyone who’s listening here has most of the folks have multiple sclerosis. And what I want you to know and why I brought this on is if we’ve had a concussion, we have a much higher rate of having multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and even less. And the more concussions we have, the greater the risk. And I think about my own personal story. I’m an athlete. I competed in full contact taekwondo. I had multiple concussions. I gave people concussions as well. And now it was really quite interesting that the last major competition, those in I definitely had a concussion as part of that and then I entered medical school with it. I got to stop doing this, getting all these concussions. And two years later is when I began having my first round of symptoms. So could I have you relate the the concussion exposure and EMS and the people who are listening to the summit?

Titus Chiu, MS, DC, DACNB

Yeah, no, thank you for asking that. And that was the thing. What I discovered everything you’re describing, the reason why one of the number one reasons why there is that huge risk for developing M.S after concussion. I think it’s the blood brain barrier. It’s what we call the leaky brain. That was my experience. I didn’t develop M.S. I developed other types of neurological symptoms, but I found that 15% that didn’t recover from concussion, yet they ended up developing other types of, you know, issues. And many of them sometimes autoimmune things like M.S. or neurologic it.

Terry Wahls, MD

They’re in the protocol of developing either M.S. or a neuro immune condition. So apparently I must have had Vicky Brain that stayed leaky and then led to trigeminal neuralgia, which I had 20 years of worsening pain. And then I finally had the misdiagnosis.

Titus Chiu, MS, DC, DACNB

Yeah, and that’s the thing. It’s like, this is what I saw or experienced in my own journey. Again, that Mr. autoimmune my mind words though neurological, serious neurological and even psychological symptoms. And a lot of the patients that were not recovering from these normal concussion protocols, I found that many of them did have these other conditions, M.S. and autoimmune. And but again, what I’ve discovered then doing a deep dove into the world of leaky brain, like what’s known as the blood brain barrier, that’s one of the gateways to not only M.S. and neurologic autoimmune diseases like Stiff Person Syndrome or whatnot, but serious neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, ALS, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and on and on.

Terry Wahls, MD

Okay, so we get everyone’s attention like, okay, so if you’ve had concussions, saw stars now or blacked out, were at risk, what do we do to help recover the deal with that like. Yes, of the brain?

Titus Chiu, MS, DC, DACNB

Yeah, great question. And just before I answer that, just one thing, you know, that’s very a lot of people and I think this is yeah, it’s unfortunate. A lot of people that I’ve worked with in my practice, they’re like, oh, I never had a concussion. I never blacked out, I never saw stars. The thing is, you don’t even need to hit your head nor blackout to sustain a concussion. And that’s I’ve worked with a lot of patients who have had Ms. or neurologic autoimmune. They didn’t even they weren’t coming to me to, you know, to help them with their concussion, but then taking their history just like, you know, what you shared with us right now, we discovered that they actually did have a concussion. They, you know, maybe they’re like in the back of their, you know, putting their groceries in their car and they stood up quickly and boom, they hit their head. 

They didn’t blackout. They didn’t see stars. But bam, that’s when things started to go south. I’ve had patients who were riding a bike. They fell off the bike. They live on land on their head. They landed on their shoulder. And what that force transduced up into the nervous system, triggering what we call immuno cytotoxicity and a concussion. Right. And so I just want to clear that, you know, because I think a lot of people said, oh, I never had a concussion, I’m fine. But I think there is a lot more people struggling with concussions out there that realize it. But yeah, fast forward, you know, to the point again, one of the things I discovered with the concussion, right, one of the things that happens is that blood brain barrier and I can break that down a bit more later. It becomes leaky. Right. And you can actually have tear in this protective structure that protects your nervous system from your internal environment. 

Right. And that’s the link. Right. So a lot of patients. But the interesting thing is it’s not even just concussion or trauma that can trigger leaky brain. Things like stress, like there’s a whole pathway where cortical releasing hormone, right. The whole HP access, even stress can trigger what are known as mast cells leading to the release of histamines and other inflammatory chemicals. Mm. Creating leaky brain. Right. As an example, I do work with a lot of patients with concussion and they have they tell me, you know, I’ve had a concussion years ago. Right. But then this one period I wasn’t able to sleep for very long, like we had a puppy, I wasn’t able to sleep very well. And literally I felt like I was concussed again. But they didn’t have another physical injury is because of that lack of sleep or the physical stress, I think. And we can actually verify through testing, it began to create that leaky brain again. Right, because that makes sense. So concussion trauma isn’t the only thing that causes a leaky brain. Stress can physical toxins can inflammation can lead to leaky gut. Yeah, leaky gut. We could dove into that. There’s a embryo logical link between your barriers, you know. So the blood brain barrier is what we’re talking about here. And we have all these different barriers found throughout our brain and body for our purposes. Like, you know, we’re talking about right now about the gut barrier. There’s also the lung barrier, the skin barrier, all these protective structures. And for this conversation, we’re talking about the blood brain barrier. But embryo, logically, the gut pair is very similar to the blood brain barrier. Right. And one of the key areas of focus and research is what we call these tight junctions, these proteins that keep your gut barrier intact. It’s like a wall, a fence, right? You have all these different cells that make up the fence and then you have these tight junctions that are kind of like the nails and the glue that keep your fence together. Not only is that found in your gut barrier, so you have things like occluded and you have things like clotting, you have things different types of these proteins, the nails that keep it together in your gut barrier. 

But guess what? You also have very similar structures in the blood brain barrier as well. And so, for example, not only can trauma cause leaky brain, so can a leaky gut. Because if you have leaky gut, the immune system begins to attack these structures and you have then what’s known as cross-reactivity. Not only do the structures get attacked in your gut, but then they become attacked in the brain and the blood brain barrier. So that’s another cause for leaky brain. But my point is again, what the research shows and this is just this is massive. What the research shows, it’s not my opinion. That’s what the research shows, that, for example, in you know, in the case of mice or neurological autoimmunity, as you probably know, a lot of people, like a significant percentage of the population already has antibodies floating around floating around in our blood vessels. Right. I think the statistic is like 3 to 5% of the population who are asymptomatic, they have antibody, these two nerve neurological tissues floating around their bloodstream. 

Well, guess what, though? The reason why they’re asymptomatic and what the research shows is, is because of that blood brain barrier, these antibodies, they’re large molecular structures that cannot cross the blood brain barrier. You think of the blood brain barrier as like this. You know, it’s like the bouncers and the secured 18 year old. You’re having a party, you invite a very select guests. You know, you would definitely be invited to my party. And there you have your select friends and your guest coming over. You have a certain amount of food laid out. And then these people from across the neighborhood, they come and they try to get in and you have your bouncer is like, no, you can’t get in here. 

Well, those antibodies, those are large structures that cannot normally get into the nervous system or the blood brain barrier. So the thing is, what the research shows is when the blood brain barrier starts to break down and those antibodies get into your nervous system, that’s when the symptoms star tremor, weakness, visual disturbances, balance issues. Right. Muscle tightness. Mm hmm. So that’s what I found is, is the leaky brain isn’t just about concussion, right? Leaky brain is the gateway to virtually all serious neurological disease. But the great news is the research also shows when you begin to fix and heal your leaky brain, that’s what happens. Symptoms get better because no longer can those antibodies enter and create neurological inflammation in your nervous system.

Terry Wahls, MD

So how so? The people who are listening, we’ve got their attention. They’re all thinking, okay, maybe I do have a leaky brain as part of my illness. What? What can they do to make it less leaky?

Titus Chiu, MS, DC, DACNB

Yeah, great. And that’s the great news is healing is possible. It might sound scary like when I say leaky brain and you know, all these diseases, but the beautiful thing is the wisdom of the body. Sometimes the blood brain barrier heals on its own. And that’s why I think, you know, there’s a statistic, 85% of people have concussion, they recover. Why I think is because that blood brain barrier heals on its own. Right. So, number one, healing is possible. But again, for people who are struggling with mass and neurological symptoms. Right. And a lot of the things that I went through, you have to be a bit more intentional rather than just cross your fingers and hope and say, oh, healing is possible. The beautiful thing is there are things you can do to actually intentionally fix in Heal Your Leaky Brain. I’ll share with you three. Number one, exercise, research shows that exercise can actually help heal a leaky blood brain barrier, not only heal it, but make it more resilient. Right now, the key thing with exercise is, though, you have to do it within your own metabolic capacity. What do I mean? If you old were exercise. 

Right, and I’m guilty of that, I you know, overdoing things is part of my nature. But if you over exercise, you actually trigger a powerful inflammatory cycle that can actually damage your blood brain barrier. So the key thing is, especially people who’ve had concussions, the best thing is to make sure that you exercise within your capacity. What does that mean? If you’re out for a walk and you start to get a little bit symptomatic and you can’t think very straight or you get fatigued or tired, guess what your brain’s telling you? Hey, you need to take a little break, right? But you don’t even have to. It doesn’t apply to people just with concussion. Anybody, right. Who might think they have a leaky brain if you exercise, but within your ability and you really pay attention and listen to your body, am I overdoing it? All right, then you want to back off. 

So yeah, but the great news is simple. Things like exercise can actually help to strengthen and heal a leaky brain. The second thing I found in my research is diet. Right here is what I call the blood brain barrier. That is. So not only does trauma create a leaky brain, but like I said before, you can actually inflammation itself within the body can also damage the blood brain barrier. Right. And so certain types of foods, obviously, you want to eat organic, pesticide free because toxins could damage the blood brain barrier. But also, you know, choosing organic and Whole Foods, but also avoiding the blood brain barrier badly. So things the number one I think is gluten, right? Because a lot of people have sensitivities to gluten in and of itself, even not from an immunological trigger can also trigger leaky gut. Right. And so that can lead to inflammation and the leaky brain. So avoiding gluten can be a huge, huge victory for you in the fight against leaky brain. So but yeah, that’s the point. That’s like cleaning up a diet, eating clean, avoiding foods, and there’s actually certain foods compounds. This is a getting a bit more technical when we talk about the blood brain barrier there is actually found within the blood brain barrier, what we call these water channels known as aqua portions. Okay. And aqua portions are these water channels that allow our brains to clear out the toxins that accumulate throughout the day. Right. And so the blood brain barrier, its job is to protect our brains from things floating around our bloodstream. So things like toxins or antibodies or pathogens. But the blood brain barrier is also very important for selective passage. So to allow things that should get in there and to allow things to get out that shouldn’t. So these aqua channels, the aqua portions, there is little water channels that allow toxins to exist. There is actually food compounds. Right. Certain compounds. These aqua points are found in certain foods. Right. For example, spinach. 

Spinach has a level of aqua portions. And so people who have a sensitivity to spinach and this specifically is aqua poor. And guess what? The immune system can not only attack the aqua porn, it can also attack your blood brain barrier. So, yeah, so the second thing is cleaning up the diet and it’s personal for everyone. Everyone’s unique and different, but the big ones eating, you know, avoiding pesticides, eating organic whole foods as much as possible, avoiding things like gluten and copper and containing foods like spinach. And finally, the third thing. Yeah. Did you ever. No, no, no. Keep going. Yeah. And then the third thing is, speaking of food, again, plant compounds known as polyphenols. And I’m sure a lot of people on the call probably have heard of them before, but polyphenols are what give fruits and vegetables that vibrant color. Right. So imagine like a blueberry that’s grown in an organic farm. 

It’s just kind of glowing and speaking to your mitochondria, right. So a lot of the foods that you talk about in your diet, right. Terry So but the polyphenols like in the whole mitochondrial aspect, not only are these polyphenols great for your mitochondria, but they are also very powerful in healing the blood brain barrier. So we have these plant compounds such as resveratrol, found in things like red grapes and red wine. We have curcumin found in turmeric, spice, we have Epigallocatechin Galli found in green tea and on and on. So a lot of the bright, vibrant colors found in fruits and vegetables, those have these protective plant compounds that, as you know, and probably some people on the call can help your mitochondria and give your energy for healing, but also research shows it can actually help heal the blood brain barrier. So there you have it. Three things, simple things you can do right now, exercise, eat, clean and start eating more polyphenols or even taking a higher dose supplement if you think you need.

Terry Wahls, MD

Okay. Well, this was key concussions increase your risk. Many of us have had some concussions. Many of us have had factors that increase the weakness of our brain, which make us more vulnerable to our mass neuro immune. But there are things that we can do exercise, diet, eat lots of color. You’re a man after my heart.

Titus Chiu, MS, DC, DACNB

Awesome.

Terry Wahls, MD

Okay, so here’s the data. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Now you’re going to have a gift talking about the concepts that we covered you a mention that briefly told us.

Titus Chiu, MS, DC, DACNB

Yeah, absolutely. So I put together a quick little guide, a little notes on leaky brain and MMS, and really exploring some of the key concepts I shared with you guys today. And looking at again that the importance of the blood brain barrier and leaky brain. And that’s one of the big things when you can strengthen your leaky brain and that blood brain barrier, then a lot of the symptoms can. The research shows and what I’ve seen clinically they start to improve so in that guy will guide will be summarizing some of the key concepts for those of you who enjoy visuals as well as reading.

Terry Wahls, MD

Okay, well, Titus, this has been wonderful. I look forward to the next time we’ll see each other at a conference and we could hang out.

Titus Chiu, MS, DC, DACNB

Absolutely. Yeah. It’s been too long, Terry.

Terry Wahls, MD

Absolutely.

Titus Chiu, MS, DC, DACNB

Taking care.