The stomach is the second brain
 

I just recently read this in a biography about an alcoholic writer, Patricia Hightsmith ( The Talented Mr Ripley and Strangers on a Train). The author was suggesting that Ms. Highsmith's problem with alcohol stemmed from the fact that despite not wanting to drink, her stomach (biochemical rewiring to accommodate alcohol??) prompted the ongoing use of it despite her "first brain's" resolutions on the subject.

I thought this to be an interesting theory.

While that is news to me.....I'm sure with the quitting of alcohol I improved my all around health...:yup:.

Bella, I read about that recently too . . the stomach (and surrounding area) is filled with hormones that greatly influence our decision making and feelings. Think Twice: How the Gut's "Second Brain" Influences Mood and Well-Being: Scientific American

Makes a lot of sense to me, and fascinating how it is in regards to alcohol.

This is what I believe is AA's way of saying alcoholics have a "physical allergy" coupled with..a mental obsession. Originally thought that we have an enzyme that effects our thinking and once we act on it, we consume as much as we can, progressively drinking more (tolerance increases).....and knowing our disease progresses even while we maintain sobriety, so drinking again (relapse) we continue to try to drink at or above our previous level, although our period of abstinance creates a major problem at this point (dying from alcohol poisoning, heart gives out, increased organ damage, and so on...).