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Archives for November 2014

The Anxiety Summit – How thyroid imbalance can cause anxiety and depression

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Dr. Hyla CassQuote_Anxiety2

Dr Hyla Cass, MD, author of Eight Weeks to Vibrant Health was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

How thyroid imbalance can cause anxiety and depression

  • An aside on Abram Hoffer and orthomolecular medicine
  • Thyroid disorders: frequency, causes, symptoms and the mood/anxiety connection
  • Hashimotos thyroiditis and anxiety
  • Hyperthyroidism and anxiety
  • Testing: basal temperature and blood tests
  • Conventional medical treatment
  • Natural thyroid hormones and dietary factors
  • Shoulder stands, rebounding and exercise for stress and anxiety

Hyla and I recently both presented at the Integrative Medicine for Mental Health conference.  While we were these I asked her to do a quick video.  Here it is…

Here is Hyla’s answer to: “What are some of the other factors that can cause us to have a low thyroid function?”

Well, if you’re not converting T4 to T3, you want to go another step deeper, and that is why aren’t you converting T4 to T3? Because that is the active form. So it could be that you’re converting it to inactive form, which is reverse T3. That’s what you do in times of stress. It could be that you’re deficient in certain minerals that are required to convert the T4 to T3. Those are selenium, for example, zinc, magnesium.

We need to have a lot of chemicals in our body, a lot of good chemicals, good vitamins, good minerals for all the chemistry to work properly. So rather than simply replacing thyroid hormones, which is a good idea and it works, but also to find out what’s going on to make your body produce the T3 instead of giving it exogenously, giving external T3. But let’s encourage the body first to make it.

Or your adrenals can be wiped out. You get really stressed and your adrenals are working too hard, and they kind of go on strike. What happens when your adrenals are really exhausted is they’re releasing cortisol. You actually suppress your thyroid, your production of thyroid. You could actually have a low TSH and a low T4 and a low T3. It has to do with your adrenal glands being really tired. What you look for is reverse T3. That’s a good clue that your adrenals are not functioning on all cylinders.

Here is the paper: The prevalence of depression and anxiety disorders in patients with euthyroid Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: a comparative study, discussing the connection between thyroid disorders and anxiety and depression (and treatment resistant depression)

Euthyroid Hashimotos thyroiditis and euthyroid goiter increase predisposition to major depression and anxiety disorders, and thyroid autoimmunity and other thyroid pathologies should be investigated in euthyroid patients with chronic and treatment-resistant complaints.

We discussed hyperthyroidism and psychiatric diagnoses. Here is the paper in the European Journal of Endinocrinology: Hyperthyroidism and psychiatric morbidity: evidence from a Danish nationwide register study:

Hyperthyroid individuals have an increased risk of being hospitalized with psychiatric diagnoses and being treated with antipsychotics, antidepressants, and anxiolytics, both before and after the diagnosis of hyperthyroidism.

Here is the 2014 paper I mentioned – Paradigm shifts in thyroid hormone replacement therapies for hypothyroidism.

Impaired psychological well-being, depression or anxiety are observed in 5-10% of hypothyroid patients receiving levothyroxine, despite normal TSH levels

Here is a link to my interview with Dr. Prousky – Tapering off psychiatric drugs so they don’t ruin your life. It has information about the Canadian Society for Orthomolecular Medicine

Here are two of Hyla’s great books:

Natural Highs: Supplements, Nutrition, and Mind-Body Techniques to Help You Feel Good All the Time

Eight Weeks to Vibrant Health: A Take Charge Plan for Women to Correct Imbalances, Reclaim Energy and Restore Well-Being

Get your free gifts from Dr. Hyla Cass: “Outsmart Your Addiction Quiz” and “Reclaim Your Brain” e-report

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com

The Anxiety Summit – Your hidden mercury burden: A likely root cause of the other root causes of anxiety part 1

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Kris Homme

Kris Homme, MPH retired engineer turned science writer was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Your hidden mercury burden: A likely root cause of the other root causes of anxiety – part 1

  • chronic mercury poisoning effects at the molecular level: blocks enzymes, displaces minerals
  • chronic mercury poisoning effects the cellular and organ level: mineral transport, destroys barriers like gut and brain, mitochondrial dysfunction
  • effects on hormone imbalance, blood sugar regulation, food sensitivities, GABA/serotonin levels, autoimmunity
  • why mercury toxicity is complicated and hard to test for
  • subjective signs of chronic mercury poisoning

Here are some snippets from our interview:

Mercury inhibits methylation, which is the biochemical process that affects the production of many hormones and neurotransmitters. It also causes a selective loss of Purkinje neurons in the brain which produce GABA.

Mercury is known to concentrate in glands, including the thyroid and blocks the enzyme that converts T4 to T3. Also, your mercury burden is a chronic stressor that seems to provoke symptoms of adrenal fatigue.

Erethism: It’s the mercury personality, and that involves excessive timidity, diffidence, shyness, conflict avoidance, loss of self-confidence, anxiety, a desire to remain unobserved and unobtrusive, a pathological fear of ridicule and explosive loss of temper when criticized. There are different versions of this definition and they’re all fun and they really resonated with me, so that can be interesting to look that up on the internet.

Here is the link to Kris Homme’s publication in Biometals, published earlier this year: New science challenges old notion that mercury dental amalgam is safe

Kris has gathered some additional information into this document – Chronic mercury poisoning: A brief summary of the science

It was lovely to recently meet Kris. After enjoying a nice cup of herbal tea with her, she shared a few things about mercury toxicity in her pretty back garden. Here is one of the videos we did – enjoy!

Here is a link to part 2 of this discussion- what to do and additional resources.

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com

The Anxiety Summit – Our environmental toxin exposures promote anxiety

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Tom A. Malterre

Tom A. Malterre, MS, CN author of Nourishing Meals: Healthy Gluten-Free Recipes for the Whole Family was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Our environmental toxin exposures promote anxiety

  • The drastic spike in ADD/ADHD and autism and increase in anxiety and depression
  • Air pollution as an environmental toxin: concerns and sources (mercury, the brown cloud)
  • Mercury in fish and fish meal for animals
  • EDCs/ Endocrine Disrupting Compounds: BPA, phthalates and anxiety
  • Pesticides and the effects on folates in the colon and the production of serotonin
  • TILT /Toxicant-induced  loss of tolerance
  • What to do: nutritional and lifestyle tips

Here are the quotes from The Journal of Environmental Health paper co-written by Dr. Steven Genuis:

Toxicity and nutritional deficiency states often receive insufficient attention as common source causes of chronic disease in the developed world

it’s evident that a reevaluation of conventional wisdom on the current construct of disease origins should be considered

Here are some snippets from our interview:

Now 74 billion pounds of chemicals are being imported or produced in the United States every single day, that doesn’t include pharmaceuticals, it doesn’t include fuels and food additives. It doesn’t include some of the primary things like pesticides that we’re exposed to on a daily basis so that number is conservative and still, to me, it’s completely and totally overwhelming

Excessive levels of chemicals like BPA can inactivate Vitamin D which is one of the key components for turning off inflammation in the central-nervous system. Excessive inflammation can lead to increased excitatory glutamate and anxiety.

Here is the 2012 study co-authored by Stephen Genuis: Human Excretion of Bisphenol A: Blood, Urine, and Sweat (BUS) Study

Biomonitoring of BPA through blood and/or urine testing may underestimate the total body burden of this potential toxicant. Sweat analysis should be considered as an additional method for monitoring bioaccumulation of BPA in humans. Induced sweating appears to be a potential method for elimination of BPA.

The Environmental Working Group SkinDeep site is a great resource for checking out safe cosmetics

Here is some of the research on Vitamin D and inflammation that is being conducted by Colleen Hayes and colleagues

If you are interested in learning more about broccoli’s superhero powers, watch Tom’s TED talk here on YouTube! “Broccoli – the DNA whisperer”

 

Cauliflower is also a good source of sulforaphane and here is a yummy Coconut lemon garlic cauliflower recipe from one of Tom’s books Nourishing Meals: Healthy Gluten-Free Recipes for the Whole Family.

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com

The Anxiety Summit – Conquering those yeastie beasties (candida) once and for all

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Mikell Suzanne

Dr Mikell S. Parsons, DC. Certified Clinical Nutritionist was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Conquering those yeastie beasties (candida) once and for all

  • Yeastie beasties/ candida: what it is and how common it is
  • How to assess if you have it and symptoms of overgrowth
  • Why craving sugar is a HUGE sign of a yeast overgrowth
  • How yeast can be a cause of weight gain
  • How do we get it and is it contagious
  • Protocols for getting rid of the yeastie beasties
  • Methylation and mercury toxicity and candida?

Here are some snippets from our interview:

We’ve got a lot of different microbes in the gut, and we’re supposed to have them, but they’re all supposed to be in the right balance. It’s when the body gets out of balance, yeast is opportunistic. I tell my patients yeast is like a covert spy. It’s laying in the background, doing its thing, acting like everything is cool until the body gets out of balance. And then it can just grow like crazy. And that’s when people start to get symptoms. So we’re all supposed to have it, but the question is will your body provide the opportunity for yeast to kind of take over.

I’ve found it in people who may not have had antibiotics in the last five years or so. But they’re eating a lot of food that is higher in sugar, and they’re not eating vegetables and even good sources of protein. So if you coat your body from the inside with a lot of sugar, that candida starts to kick up their heels, and it’s like a fire. If you want a fire to build, keep putting wood on the fire. If you want to put the fire out, you take the wood away and you cover it with water.

Candida can cause anxiety, depression, leaky gut, reflux and heartburn, brain fog, irritability, low libido, chronic fatigue, weight gain and the feeling of where is my next sugar fix.

Here is the 2013 study we discussed: Could yeast infections impair recovery from mental illness? A case study using micronutrients and olive leaf extract for the treatment of ADHD and depression.

Micronutrients are increasingly used to treat psychiatric disorders including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), mood disorders, stress, and anxiety. However, a number of factors influence optimal response and absorption of nutrients, including the health of the gut, particularly the presence of yeast infections, such as Candida. As part of a wider investigation into the impact of micronutrients on psychiatric symptoms, many participants who experienced a yeast infection during their treatment showed a diminished response to the micronutrients. One case was followed systematically over a period of 3 y with documentation of deterioration in psychiatric symptoms (ADHD and mood) when infected with Candida and then symptom improvement following successful treatment of the infection with olive leaf extract (OLE) and probiotics.

You can get a copy of her fun and educational video here Sexy from the Inside Out: The Art of Poop.

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com

The Anxiety Summit – The hidden master organ: Why treating your liver is fundamental to anxiety and depression

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AmeetAggarwal

Dr. Ameet Aggarwal ND psychotherapist and author of Feel Good: Easy Steps to Health and Happiness was interviewed  by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

The hidden master organ: Why treating your liver is fundamental to anxiety and depression

  • Why the liver is the hidden master organ and defining a sluggish liver
  • The role of lactate and the liver and how this contributes to anxiety
  • How the liver affects thyroid hormones
  • Dietary factors that improve the liver and the ones that make it more sluggish
  • A form of breathing that massages the liver
  • Homeopathics, antioxidants and herbs for a sluggish liver
  • The benefits of using a castor oil pack
  • The importance of organic psychotherapy, family constellations, de-stressing, meditation, and exercise

Here are some snippets from our interview:

We call the liver the master organ because it’s really responsible for most of the functions in your body, including blood purification, detoxification of drugs and toxins, and also detoxifies the toxins that are produced by your body itself. The liver also creates a lot of enzymes, produces bile, so it’s responsible for a lot of your digestion, hormone production, protein production, and it also helps with blood sugar storage and regulation. Not only that, it helps with immune cell activation and storage of vitamins and iron.

When you have a sluggish liver, less bile is produced and digestion is poor leading to constipation, toxin buildup, inflammation and less absorption of important nutrients. You can then have neurotransmitter deficiencies and be more susceptible to anxiety.

Your liver also controls hormones, so if your liver is imbalanced, you will see a progesterone deficiency and usually estrogen dominance. As you know, Trudy, progesterone deficiency directly affects the function of GABA in your brain, and so with liver qi stagnation, leading to progesterone deficiency, we will see increased levels of anxiety.

Here is the Neuropsychopharmacology paper called Neural pathways underlying lactate-induced panic where they connected high lactate levels to panic attacks. We discussed how sugar, alcohol, caffeine, food sensitivities, low levels of niacin and vitamins B6 may contribute to elevated levels of lactate in the blood.

Here is the paper that addresses the liver-thyroid connection: The relationship between the thyroid gland and the liver. Basically, thyroid hormones are processed by the liver. Some of the conversion of T4 into active T3, which is a thyroid hormone, requires healthy liver function.

Ameet shared this at the end of our interview and I want to share it here because I’m inspired by what Ameet is doing, because I love Africa and Kenya (my husband and I honey-mooned there) and because I’d love to inspire you to get involved and consider a trip to Kenya (why not!):

I actually live at the bottom of Mount Kenya right on the equator, a little town called Nanyuki. My dream was to come back to Kenya after Canada to start mobile clinics for remote communities and supervise students and doctors from around the world, which I started through a program called FIMAFRICA/Foundation for Integrated Medicine in Africa. Basically, we go to remote villages that don’t have medical services and treat them for chronic diseases or acute diseases using naturopathic medicine, mainly homeopathic medicine, which works really well, because a lot of these communities suffer from just a lot of chronic disease but all they’re given is antibiotics or antimalarials, which don’t necessarily treat the root cause of the issue. So, they love homeopathy because a lot of chronic disease is disappearing, and they really notice the difference between the two types of medicine. So it’s my passion, and yeah, I hope to continue doing it for the rest of my life. My aim is hopefully one day to sell a million copies of my book and just do mobile clinics all day.

Watch this short video of Ameet talking about it and then tell me you’re not excited about the idea of going to Africa and getting involved!

If you want to help, check out the FIMAFRICA site above, contact him about going there and volunteering or buy a few copies of his great book Feel Good: Easy Steps to Health and Happiness

Here is a nice video of Ameet giving an overview of Feel Good

And get your free chapters from the Feel Good book (on emotions, better sex and liver health)

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com

The Anxiety Summit – Psychoneuroimmunology, the new psychiatry

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Kelly Brogan

Dr. Kelly Brogan, MD. Holistic women’s health psychiatry was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Psychoneuroimmunology, the new psychiatry

  • The role of inflammation in anxiety and depression
  • Hormones and where the endocrine system fits in
  • Where inflammation comes from
  • What a healthy microbiome looks like
  • Natural lifestyle interventions to reverse symptoms and favorite nutraceuticals
  • Why psychiatrists don’t know about this

Here are some snippets from our interview:

What psychoneuroimmunology refers to is essentially the inherent inter-connectedness between multiple systems. So, it’s about no longer looking at psychiatry as a head up phenomenon, which at best can result in limited outcomes and at worst, can be quite dangerous. And what psychoneuroimmunology implies is that there is a relationship between neurology – so, between brain science – and the immune system. It is sometimes called psychoneuroendocrinology – it also sort of ropes in the gut and the endocrine system with the implication being that you cannot treat one without knowledge about the others. So, I think it’s very exciting and really is a term that embodies functional medicine, or naturopathy at its best.

What many are speaking about is something called the cytokine model, which has been around since 1991, the first paper hypothesizing about this model. So, it’s been a growing literature for some time. And what it refers to is essentially it looks at depression or anxiety, for example, as this non-specific sort of fever that tells us actually very little about what’s causing the body to react, but tells us that there’s is an expression of imbalance and that the body is working to recalibrate. So, there’s some sort of stressor or triggers or assault and the compensatory response on the part of the body is what we are seeing as these psychiatric symptoms.

Cytokines in the blood, or inflammatory messengers, such as CRP, IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-alpha are predictive and linearly related to depression and anxiety, especially in women.

Here is Dr. Brogan’s wonderful blog post on the topic of Psychoneuroimmunology, the new Psychiatry

What is driving this inflammation? How does it get kicked off? And how does it induce depression? With the limited clinical applications and revelations that came with the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2002, we have begun to focus on where we have outsourced our physiologic functions.

The microbiome has become an important consideration, and particularly, the gut, which houses at least 10 times as many human cells as there are in our bodies, and 150 times as many genes as are in our genome. These microbes control many vital operations and are responsible for synthesis of neuroactive and nutritional compounds, for immune modulation, and for inflammatory signaling.

Here is one of the studies on how traditional diets can impact the microbiome: Intestinal microbiota, probiotics and mental health: from Metchnikoff to modern advances: Part II – contemporary contextual research

researchers reported less potentially pathogenic bacteria, yet a far greater degree of biodiversity and microbial richness in rural Africans living a traditional lifestyle and consuming traditional high fiber foods

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com