The Triad of Chaos: Gut, Hormones, and the Nervous System

Written By Stephen Davis

If your symptoms feel scattered—digestive issues one day, anxiety the next, exhaustion always—you’re not dealing with separate problems.

You’re experiencing systems dysregulation.

The gut, hormones, and nervous system form a tightly interconnected network. When one system becomes overwhelmed, the others adapt—until they can’t anymore. This is what we call the Triad of Chaos.

Why Treating Symptoms Separately Fails

Conventional care often treats:

  • IBS with dietary changes

  • Hormones with medication or supplements

  • Anxiety with coping strategies

But these systems don’t operate independently.

Research confirms that:

  • Gut inflammation alters hormone metabolism

  • Hormonal imbalance affects gut motility

  • Nervous system stress worsens both digestion and hormonal signaling⁴

When treatment ignores these relationships, progress stalls.

The Gut: The First Domino

The gut plays a central role in:

  • Nutrient absorption

  • Immune signaling

  • Neurotransmitter production

  • Hormone detoxification

Chronic gut inflammation disrupts estrogen metabolism, increases cortisol output, and impairs serotonin production.⁵

This alone can create mood changes, fatigue, sleep disruption, and anxiety—without a single abnormal lab result.

Hormones: The Amplifier

Hormones act as messengers between systems.

When cortisol stays elevated due to gut stress or blood sugar instability:

  • Progesterone drops

  • Estrogen metabolism shifts

  • Thyroid conversion slows

These hormonal shifts worsen gut motility and sensitivity, reinforcing the cycle.

Research shows that women with IBS have higher rates of hormone dysregulation, particularly involving cortisol and estrogen metabolism.⁶

The Nervous System: The Regulator

The autonomic nervous system determines whether the body digests, repairs, or defends.

Chronic stress—whether emotional, inflammatory, or metabolic—keeps the nervous system in survival mode. Digestion becomes a lower priority.

This leads to:

  • Reduced stomach acid

  • Slower motility

  • Increased pain perception

  • Heightened reactivity

Over time, the nervous system forgets how to relax.

Why the Triad Feels Like “Everything at Once”

When all three systems are dysregulated:

  • Food becomes unpredictable

  • Energy fluctuates wildly

  • Emotions feel unmanageable

  • Symptoms appear unrelated but aren’t

This is not chaos—it’s pattern.

Functional Medicine: Breaking the Cycle

Functional medicine asks a different question:
Which system needs support first to create the biggest ripple effect?

For some women, calming gut inflammation unlocks hormone balance.
For others, stabilizing blood sugar or nervous system signaling creates digestive improvement.

This is why personalization matters.

Research supports integrated approaches that address gut health, endocrine signaling, and autonomic regulation simultaneously.⁷

Healing Is Systems Coordination

When the gut feels safe:

  • Hormone metabolism improves

  • Nervous system tone stabilizes

When hormones stabilize:

  • Gut motility improves

  • Stress tolerance increases

When the nervous system calms:

  • Digestion resumes

  • Healing accelerates

This is not symptom suppression. This is restoration.

The Takeaway

Your body isn’t chaotic—it’s responding logically to cumulative stress.

The Triad of Chaos isn’t something to fear. It’s something to understand.

And once understood, it can be unwound.

Accompanying research article:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7213601/

Stephen Davis https://BGNaturalHealth.com
Next

Blood Sugar Crashes, Gut Chaos, and the Cost of Running on Empty