The Truth About Your Health No One’s Telling You
- Brainz Magazine
- 1 hour ago
- 9 min read
Dee Mani is a holistic healing advocate and founder of My Way CBD, who transformed her life after overcoming an aggressive breast cancer diagnosis using natural remedies. She is an author, entrepreneur, and speaker dedicated to empowering others through the healing potential of cannabis and holistic wellness practices.
Let’s get one thing straight: You cannot fix your mental health, heal chronic illness, or reverse autoimmune disease until you repair the internal connection between your gut, your brain, and your endocannabinoid system.
This isn’t a “nice to know” theory. It’s the foundation of real, lasting health.
If you’re stuck in a cycle of anxiety, fatigue, hormone chaos, IBS, brain fog, depression, or mystery symptoms that doctors brush off with toxic prescriptions, it’s because your body is trying to talk to you, loudly. But you’re being taught to silence it instead of decode it.
Well, I’ve lived it.
I had aggressive breast cancer and healed it without chemo or radiation. I’ve had trauma, gut damage, autoimmune symptoms, and I’ve sat in rooms with doctors who shrugged their shoulders when I asked for answers. The moment I stopped chasing symptoms and started reconnecting my internal systems, the real healing began.
And the science backs it.
Why your gut and brain are running the show (not your doctor)
Let’s talk about the gut-brain axis. This isn’t woo-woo, it’s neuroscience and immunology.
Your gut and your brain are in constant communication through a bi-directional information superhighway called the vagus nerve. Around 80% of the messages go upward, from gut to brain, not the other way around. So if your gut is inflamed, infected, or imbalanced, your brain is the first to feel it.
The gut is home to your enteric nervous system (the “second brain”), housing over 100 million neurons and producing 95% of your serotonin and at least 50% of your dopamine. These are not just mood chemicals; they govern pain, motivation, digestion, immune function, and hormonal communication.
If your gut microbiome is disturbed, through antibiotics, processed foods, alcohol, pesticides (hello glyphosate), or stress, your neurotransmitters crash. And that’s when the mental symptoms start:
Depression
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Fatigue
Insomnia
ADHD symptoms
Brain fog
Most people don’t realise that these aren’t brain disorders. They’re gut-originating signals that the brain is interpreting as mental illness.
Trauma lives in the body, not just the mind
And if you’ve experienced trauma, especially childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, or loss, the gut-brain axis is where it lives.
You see, trauma isn’t just a memory. It’s a stored nervous system response. And when the trauma isn't processed, the vagus nerve becomes hypersensitive. The body remains stuck in fight-or-flight mode, even when you’re “safe.”
Your digestion slows down, immune defences weaken, cortisol levels spike, and gut inflammation builds.
This is why trauma survivors are more likely to develop:
IBS
Autoimmune disorders
Food intolerances
Mood disorders
Reproductive and hormonal problems
Your trauma isn’t “all in your head”; it’s in your gut, your nervous system, and your immune cells. You need somatic healing, gut repair, and endocannabinoid support to truly release it.
What is the endocannabinoid system?
Let’s talk about the endocannabinoid system (ECS), the central regulator of almost every physiological system in your body.
We have cannabinoid receptors everywhere, brain, gut, immune system, reproductive system, skin, bones, liver, and more.
The ECS:
Calms inflammation
Balances immune function
Maintains gut permeability
Oversees hormonal communication
There are two key receptors:
CB1 receptors in the brain, vagus nerve, and nervous system
CB2 receptors in the gut, spleen, immune cells, and peripheral tissues
Your body makes its own cannabinoids, like anandamide (the “bliss molecule”) and 2-AG, to activate these receptors. But here’s the problem:
Most people are endocannabinoid-deficient.
Chronic stress, poor sleep, trauma, ultra-processed foods, toxic exposure, and gut dysbiosis deplete the ECS.
Once that happens, the body can’t self-regulate. You become inflamed, anxious, unbalanced, and sick, mentally and physically.
This is why people are turning to CBD (cannabidiol), a non-psychoactive compound from cannabis that supports and restores the ECS without making you high.CBD doesn’t override your body. It supports it to return to homeostasis, the state where healing happens.
The gut-brain-ECS triangle: The real root of chronic illness
Let’s map it out.
When your gut is damaged:
The microbiome loses diversity
The lining becomes permeable (“leaky gut”)
Toxins and food particles leak into the bloodstream
Inflammatory cytokines are released
The immune system goes on red alert
The vagus nerve becomes overstimulated
The ECS goes into overdrive trying to bring balance
Eventually, your ECS gets depleted. The inflammation becomes chronic.
Your nervous system becomes hyper-reactive. You now have the perfect breeding ground for:
Autoimmune conditions (Hashimoto’s, RA, Lupus, etc.)
Depression, anxiety, and panic
Neuroinflammation and early cognitive decline
Menstrual and menopausal chaos
Chronic pain, migraines, and fibromyalgia
Food intolerances and chemical sensitivities
And here’s the catch: this dysfunction becomes self-perpetuating if not interrupted.
My story: From pharmaceutical survivor to natural health advocate
Before I became a cannabis and natural health consultant, author, and founder of My Way CBD and My Way University, I was just another person being swallowed by the system.
I had breast cancer, an aggressive type. I refused chemo and radiation. Instead, I healed myself with cannabis oil, nutrition, detox, and full-on internal repair. That included gut work, trauma healing, and supporting my ECS every step of the way.
Was it easy? No.
Was it worth it? 100%.
Since then, I’ve dedicated my life to helping others, especially those who’ve been misled, dismissed, or poisoned by a medical system that treats symptoms instead of systems.
And I’ve worked with thousands of clients, jabbed, unjabbed, autoimmune, menopausal, cancer survivors, trauma survivors, and the same pattern appears every single time:
The body cannot heal until the gut-brain-ECS axis is restored.
Gut-brain-ECS dysfunction: What it looks like in real life
When the gut-brain-endocannabinoid system collapses, it doesn’t just show up as “IBS” or “stress.” It explodes across multiple systems.
Here’s how it plays out for different health issues, and why so many people stay stuck without real answers.
Menopause: The gut-brain-ECS crisis no one talks about
Let’s talk about menopause, because it’s not “just” a hormonal transition. It’s often the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Declining estrogen and progesterone levels weaken the ECS (yes, estrogen enhances ECS sensitivity). At the same time, women often enter menopause with decades of:
Gut damage
Unresolved trauma
Chronic stress
Autoimmune tendencies
Sleep disturbances
So when menopause hits, it’s not just hot flushes and night sweats, it’s full-on system collapse.
Women experience:
Severe anxiety and panic attacks
IBS or sudden food sensitivities
Brain fog and memory loss
Joint pain and autoimmunity
Crashes in libido and mood
And what do they get offered? HRT, antidepressants, or worse, nothing.
The real solution is to rebuild from the inside out:
Heal the gut
Balance the ECS (CBD is key here)
Tone the vagus nerve
Nourish the nervous system with adaptogens and rest
In my free menopause eBook, I explain exactly how, with no fluff or pharma nonsense. (You can download it here or via My Way CBD’s site.)
Autoimmune disease: The fire that won’t go out
Autoimmunity isn’t your body randomly attacking itself.
It’s your immune system responding to chronic gut damage, unresolved trauma, and endocannabinoid depletion.
Here’s the chain reaction:
Leaky gut allows toxins and undigested proteins to leak into the bloodstream.
The immune system identifies these invaders as threats and goes into overdrive.
Molecular mimicry (confusing your own tissues for threats) leads to autoimmune attacks.
When your ECS is compromised, it can’t suppress this inflammation.
Result?
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Psoriasis
Multiple sclerosis
Lupus
Type 1 diabetes
And standard treatments?
Steroids, immune suppressants, endless pills, all while ignoring the gut-brain breakdown that caused the mess in the first place.
Heal the gut. Support the ECS. Rebalance the immune system.
That’s how you turn the tide, not by carpet-bombing your body with drugs.
Anxiety & panic disorders: Gut instability masquerading as mental illness
The pharmaceutical industry still pushes the idea that anxiety is just a “chemical imbalance” needing lifelong medication.
But ask yourself:
If that were true, why is anxiety skyrocketing even while prescriptions explode?
The real cause of most chronic anxiety:
Dysbiotic gut flora (bad bacteria dominate)
Leaky gut allowing inflammatory molecules to reach the brain
A weak vagus nerve stuck in fight-or-flight mode
Endocannabinoid deficiency, especially low anandamide levels (“the bliss molecule”)
This explains why people with chronic gut issues are seven times more likely to suffer from anxiety or depression.
You don’t have an anxiety disorder.
You have a gut-brain-inflammation disorder.
Fix the gut. Tone the vagus nerve. Support the ECS.
Watch the anxiety fall away naturally, without numbing your brain.
Chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia: Systemic collapse of energy regulation
If you’ve ever been told your chronic fatigue or pain is “all in your head,” find a new doctor ASAP!
These conditions are not imagined. They are biological breakdowns:
Gut dysbiosis → nutrient malabsorption → mitochondrial dysfunction (energy crash)
Constant immune activation → widespread tissue pain
Vagus nerve shutdown → nervous system dysregulation
Endocannabinoid depletion → inability to buffer stress and inflammation
Chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia aren’t “mysteries.”They are end-stage warning signals that your gut-brain-ECS axis has been screaming for help, and no one listened.
The answer isn’t pushing through more exhaustion. It’s repairing the broken systems that created it.
Mood swings, PMS, and hormone chaos: Gut and ECS sabotage
Hormonal health is often framed as purely a reproductive issue. Wrong.
Your gut microbiome directly influences your:
Estrogen recycling (via the estrobolome)
Progesterone sensitivity
Cortisol balance
Meanwhile, your ECS modulates hormone release patterns, smoothing out spikes and crashes.
When these systems collapse:
PMS becomes debilitating
Periods become irregular
Mood swings become unmanageable
PCOS symptoms worsen
Menopausal transitions turn into breakdowns instead of natural shifts
This is why hormonal balancing starts in the gut and ECS, not just with bioidentical hormones or supplements.
Neurodegenerative disease: Gut-brain breakdown over time
Conditions like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and dementia don’t come out of nowhere. Modern research is increasingly pointing to:
Chronic gut inflammation
Blood-brain barrier breakdown (leaky brain, just like leaky gut)
Persistent neuroinflammation driven by gut-origin toxins
Endocannabinoid system degeneration
One 2022 study even showed that gut bacteria composition could predict cognitive decline risk years before symptoms appear.
If your gut is sick for decades, if your vagus nerve is weak and your ECS is failing, the brain eventually pays the price.
Early intervention is key:
Gut restoration
ECS support
Vagus nerve activation
Reducing inflammatory triggers
Waiting until you "feel old" is already too late.
So, how do you heal the gut-brain-ECS axis?
Let’s break it down clearly.
1. Heal the gut
Cut inflammatory triggers: seed oils, dairy, refined sugar, ultra-processed food
Add fermented foods: kimchi, sauerkraut, and kefir
Use gut-healing nutrients: L-glutamine, collagen, zinc carnosine, slippery elm
Drink bone broth and herbal teas
Support microbiome diversity with fibre from fruits and veg, or quality prebiotic blends
2. Tone the vagus nerve
Breathe deeply (4–7–8 method, box breathing)
Cold exposure (cold showers, facial plunges)
Sing, hum, gargle, chant
Get out into nature and ground
Meditate, even for 5 minutes a day
3. Support the ECS
Use a high-quality full-spectrum CBD oil (minimum 1000mg, ideally 3000–6000mg for deeper repair)
Sleep 7–9 hours, no screens before bed
Move your body: walking, rebounding, dancing, yoga
Reduce your toxic load: clean water, air, food
Connect with people, laughter and love elevate anandamide
Final truth: Health isn’t found in a pill, it’s found in reconnection
You are not broken.
You are disconnected.
From your gut.
From your nervous system.
From your internal healing power.
The gut-brain-ECS triangle is not “alternative health.” It is biology.
It is real.
And it is the only way out of the chronic illness matrix we’re living in.
You don’t need to keep patching up the symptoms.
You need to rebuild the communication channels inside your body, the ones that were damaged by trauma, toxins, stress, and silence.
When you restore those channels, when your gut, brain, and ECS start working with each other again, healing stops being hard.
It becomes natural.
Bottom line
When people ask me, "Dee, where should I start if I’m dealing with [insert chronic problem]?" I always say the same thing:
Start inside.
Heal the gut.
Repair the communication channels.
Support the system that regulates it all, your ECS.
You cannot supplement your way out of a broken gut-brain system.
You cannot medicate your way out of a collapsed endocannabinoid system.
You cannot therapy your way out of a shut-down vagus nerve.
You have to rebuild.
The good news? Your body wants to heal.
It’s just waiting for you to give it the tools.
Want help rewiring your health?
I’ve lived it. I’ve taught it. And I now guide people all over the world through their own healing journeys.
Start by downloading my free mental health eBook, it breaks down how the ECS supports emotional resilience, trauma recovery, and gut repair.
Download it now here.
And if you’re ready for one-on-one support, book a consultation with me here, where we get to the root of your story, not just the symptoms.
Because healing is not just possible.
It’s your birthright.
Read more from Dee Mani
Dee Mani, Cannabis & Natural Health Consultant
Dee Mani is a best-selling author, entrepreneur, and holistic healing advocate who defied the odds by overcoming aggressive breast cancer through natural remedies, including cannabis. As the founder of My Way CBD, she is passionate about empowering others to explore alternative healing methods. Dee's journey from illness to wellness inspires her writing, where she shares insights on natural health, wellness, and the transformative power of nature. Follow her work to discover how to harness holistic practices for a healthier, more balanced life.
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