Topics

Every investigation on Hey Get Well, grouped by subject. Each topic has a main page, with the articles that dig into specific questions listed under it.

CIRS & Sick Building Syndrome

Chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS) and illness from water-damaged buildings: the immune and inflammatory pathways involved, and what the evidence does and doesn't show for each proposed mechanism.

• Does mold cause acid reflux? Yes, but the routes with real evidence run through the airways and the immune system, not through mycotoxins or histamine.
• Can mold cause swollen lymph nodes? Yes, mostly through the respiratory infections that damp buildings bring. The direct immune routes affect chest lymph nodes you can't feel, and the mycotoxin explanation fails.
• The vagus nerve and CIRS The vagus nerve genuinely regulates inflammation, but nobody has measured it in CIRS. Implanted stimulation works in rheumatoid arthritis; the ear-clip devices failed their best trial.

The vagus nerve

The vagus nerve carries the body's main inflammation-control circuit. These articles cover what it actually does, and which of the devices and practices aimed at it hold up.

• Do vagus nerve stimulation devices work? Some do. Implanted stimulators have real sham-controlled evidence; the ear clips sold to consumers failed their best trial.
• The vagus nerve and CIRS The circuit is real, but vagal function has never been measured in CIRS.

Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder

What it takes to shift a delayed body clock: the biology of DSPD, the evidence for timed light and melatonin, the role of genetics, and whether the clock can actually be reset or only managed.