The Anxiety Summit 6

Anxiety Summit 6: Toxins/Meds/Infections – Your Roadmap to Finding Your Solutions

October 8, 2020 By Trudy Scott 16 Comments

I’ve created this roadmap for The Anxiety Summit 6: Toxins, Meds & Infections because I want to make it easy for you to get the best value from these wonderful interviews. I don’t want you to feel totally overwhelmed and more stressed when you see all these experts and interview topics and wonder “where am I going to start?”

I’m using the map analogy because as a hiker I know I need a map to be able to find where I’m going and because being out in nature is a big part of the healing process. I’m a visual person and I like to have a clear picture in my mind of the lay of the land BEFORE I set off somewhere new.

It’s for this reason that I’ve created this document with these handy dandy charts that you can refer to at the start of the summit, come back to during the summit and refer to after the summit when you’re re-listening to interviews and reading transcripts.

I hope you enjoy it and find it easier to navigate the summit with these maps:

Root Causes/Triggers – figure out which may be your root causes/triggers
Solutions – for you to explore with the summit interviews
Conditions – see which ones are relevant for you

The numbers in parentheses refer to the number in the cross-reference table at the end – which then gives you the actual talk/s where this topic is discussed.

Here is an example of one of many possible root causes of your anxiety – in the Foods section on the first root causes/triggers map you’ll see: Bone broth, tea, wine and kombucha (fluoride) (17).

These are all surprising sources of fluoride and we talk about these and much more in the interview with Melissa Gallico: “Fluoride: Neurotoxicity, Anxiety, Acne and Hypothyroidism.”

What you’ll learn –

Prenatal fluoride exposure and lower IQ scores in children aged 3 to 4 years
How fluoride can be a trigger for cystic acne, depression, anxiety, Tourette’s, migraines, insomnia and hypothyroidism
Surprising sources of fluoride and protective nutrients

As you know, anxiety can be related to your daily life experiences BUT it can also be triggered by:

foods you eat and what you drink (like wheat, oxalates, alcohol and more)
environmental toxins (like fluoride, lead, plastics, fragrances, insecticides, fluoride and more)
many types of medications (like the benzos/SSRIs, birth control pill, acne medication, fluoroquinolone antibiotics and more) and/or
chronic infections (like Lyme disease, PANDAS, parasites, candida and more).

Once you identify the root causes and understand anxiety’s mechanisms you can support the liver/gallbladder, detox, address infections, implement targeted and supportive solutions, and get relief!

This is my 6th Anxiety Summit, featuring all new topics and the latest research related to anxiety and toxins, medications and infections.

I’d love your feedback in the comments section below

Let us know you find this helpful for navigating the summit
Give us suggestions for improving it and let us know which topics we missed and we’ll do our best to create an updated version
Tell us which aspects of the roadmaps you loved and topics you’d like to learn more about

ADHD and psychiatric meds in children/teens on the rise, and benzodiazepine use increases mortality in adults (including suicide)

October 7, 2020 By Trudy Scott Leave a Comment

Registration for my Anxiety Summit 6: Toxins/Meds/Infections is now open and in the spirit of continuing to share valuable snippets leading up to the summit, here goes for today.

(If you’ve already registered I do hope you find these snippets of value and they help you figure out more about which interviews to tune into first. If you’re only hearing about the summit for the first time, you can register here)

Today I want to highlight some aspects from two of the interviews on psychiatric medications.

In the interview Psychiatric Medications in Children and Teens with Dr. Nicole Beurkens, we discuss these results from a 2019 paper:

Our study indicates that the rate of presentation to child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient clinics is increasing, and rates of diagnosis and initiation of psychiatry drugs are high among the presented children.
The prevalence of ADHD shows an increase in males and females in our country, and psychiatric polypharmacy has reached significant rates.

Polypharmacy means concurrent use of multiple medications by a patient. The fact that psychiatric polypharmacy is increasing in children and adolescents is most concerning. There are safer solutions that address the root causes of ADHD, anxiety and depression.

Here is what we cover in this interview:

Increasing ADHD, anti-anxiety, SSRI and antipsychotic meds and discontinuation syndrome
Disparities in BIPOC communities;
Psychiatric side effects of acne, constipation and asthma medications
Nutritional psychiatry/targeted nutrients/gut, sleep, movement, screen time and play

In the interview SSRIs, Benzodiazepines, Alcohol and Amino acids with Dr. Hyla Cass, she shares how benzodiazepines (a class of antianxiety medications that include Xanax, Ativan, Valium and others) are:

strongly associated with all cause mortality, including suicide (even when used for short durations of treatment
the cause of many accidents even if taken the previous day

Here is what we cover in this interview:

SSRI and benzodiazepine side-effects
Discontinuation syndrome, pre-taper protocols and tapering
The harmful effects of alcohol and the impacts on sleep
The dangers of combining alcohol with benzodiazepines, and the risks of antabuse (commonly used in alcohol addiction treatment plans)
GABA, tryptophan, 5-HTP, glutamine, DPA, CBD and key nutrient co-factors for medication taper, alcohol addiction, carb cravings and anxiety

Dr. Nicole Beurkens’ interview is focused on children and adolescents, and Dr. Hyla Cass’ interview is focused on adults but both are invaluable resources if you want to learn more about psychiatric medications, discontinuation syndrome, tapering and addressing the root-causes with nutritional other non-medication solutions.

Other related medication interviews of interest would be:

GABA and Tryptophan vs Meds for Hormone Balance – one of my 3 interviews (I also cover the birth control pill and more about using the amino acids)
Benzodiazepines: Short-Term Benefits, Long-Term Harms – Catherine M. Pittman, PhD, HSPP
5-HTP: Anxiety, Depression, Insomnia and Liver Protection – Michael Murray, ND (he shares studies comparing 5-HTP to SSRIs)
Neuropsychiatric Toxicity from Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics – Lisa Bloomquist
Your Brain on Food: Anxiety, OCD and PTSD – Uma Naidoo, MD, PCP (she also shares studies comparing psychiatric meds to NAC and inositol)

In case you missed the first few emails about the summit … as you know, anxiety can be related to your daily life experiences BUT it can also be triggered by:

foods you eat and what you drink (like wheat, oxalates, alcohol and more)
environmental toxins (like lead, plastics, fragrances, insecticides, fluoride and more)
many types of medications (like the benzos/SSRIs, birth control pill, acne medication, fluoroquinolone antibiotics and more) and/or
chronic infections (like Lyme disease, PANDAS, parasites, candida and more).

Once you identify the root causes and understand anxiety’s mechanisms you can support the liver/gallbladder, detox, address infections, implement targeted and supportive solutions, and get relief!

This is my 6th Anxiety Summit, featuring all new topics and the latest research related to anxiety and toxins, medications and infections.

Over the course of the next 6 weeks you’ll be seeing frequent emails from me with snippets and highlights from various interviews – like this one. I do hope you continue to enjoy them and get excited about the summit! Please do share if you know someone who has anxiety!

You’ve heard me say the Anxiety Summit has been called “a bouquet of hope!” My wish for you is that this summit is your bouquet of hope!

I hope you’ll join me and these incredible speakers, be enlightened and find YOUR solutions!

Here’s to no more anxiety and you feeling on top of the world again!

If you’re already familiar with some of this information and practice some of this already please share how it’s helped you. That way we can all learn.

If you’d like to ask a question, please post in the comments below.

I’d also love to hear from you once you’ve listened to this interview. Please do come back and comment about some of the highlights of this interview and what changes you plan to make.

Anxiety, depression and ADHD: air pollution and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHS) on The Anxiety Summit 6

October 2, 2020 By Trudy Scott Leave a Comment

Dr. Carolyn Ledowsky is one of my guest experts on The Anxiety Summit 6: Toxins/Meds/Infections
and our topic is Anxiety and Genetic Susceptibility to Environmental Toxins. Here is some of what we cover in our interview:

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons/PAHs (air pollution/smoke) and organophosphates
Moth balls, candles, xenobiotics, coffee, make-up, perfume and cosmetics
Role of CYP1A1, CYP2B, CYP1B1, SOD, GSTM and PON1 polymorphisms

We discuss very common sources of pollution – polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) – and how certain gene polymorphisms can make us more susceptible leading to increased anxiety, depression and cognitive issues.

If you’re new to the term polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), according to the EPA they “are a class of chemicals that occur naturally in coal, crude oil, and gasoline. They also are produced when coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage, and tobacco are burned.”

This essentially means that PAHs are all around us: traffic pollution, forest fires, wood burning in your home, coal burning power plants, cigarette smoke, second hand smoke, dust and more!

We discuss one study that reports how prenatal exposure to pollution can impact the ability of children when it comes to learning and make them more anxious and depressed:

Children of nonsmoking African-American and Dominican women in New York City were followed from in utero to 6–7 years.
The paper mentions urban air pollutants from fossil fuel burning and other combustion sources stating the results suggest an adverse impact of prenatal PAH exposure on child behavior that could impact cognitive development and ability to learn.
Anxiety, depression, and attention problems, which were associated with PAH exposure have been shown to affect subsequent academic performance.
The authors conclude that prenatal exposure to environmental PAH at levels encountered in the air of New York City may influence child behavior.

There are other similar studies reporting these issues in other age groups and other communities too, supporting the fact that PAHs/air pollution is more than a respiratory issue.

It contributes directly to mental health problems – anxiety, depression and ADHD – and needs to be considered as part of the solution.

—>> Find your anxiety solutions when you attend this complimentary, online event!!

We go deep into other sources of toxins and pollutants. And then look at the CYP enzymes (needed to process PAHs), and PON1 (needed to process organophosphates/pesticides) and what it means when we have polymorphisms i.e. a genetic susceptibility and what to do.

This interview is one of the registration gifts so you can listen to it right away as soon as you register (there will also be a complimentary transcript made available as soon as it’s completed.)

Here is a little about the summit… as you know, anxiety can be related to your daily life experiences BUT it can also be triggered by:

foods you eat and what you drink (like wheat, oxalates, alcohol and more)
environmental toxins (like lead, plastics, fragrances, insecticides, fluoride and more)
many types of medications (like the birth control pill, acne medication, fluoroquinolone antibiotics and more) and/or
chronic infections (like Lyme disease, PANDAS, parasites, candida and more).

Once you identify the root causes and understand anxiety’s mechanisms you can support the liver/gallbladder, detox, address infections, implement targeted and supportive solutions, and get relief!

WHY ATTEND?

This is my 6th Anxiety Summit, featuring all new topics and the latest research related to anxiety and toxins, medications and infections.

I’ve also experienced many of these health challenges myself – lead and mercury toxicity, gluten issues and candida – and I’m currently dealing with chronic Lyme disease and dietary oxalate issues. You’ll hear some of my healing journey and my solutions in a few interviews too.

WHAT SETS THIS ONLINE EVENT APART?

What sets this apart from other events on toxins and infections is being able to make the many connections to GABA (the main calming neurotransmitter) and serotonin (a happy and calming neurotransmitter) AND how to use the amino acids GABA and tryptophan to ease your anxiety right away while you are dealing with the other underlying root causes – which take longer to address.

You will see this woven into each of the expert interviews (just like this one with Dr. Schaffner) and also addressed in detail in my 3 interviews where I do a deep dive into specific applications.

For example, in my toxins interview, I share how GABA reverses fluoride-induced anxiety and hypothyroidism, and how tryptophan and vitamin C ease anxiety symptoms associated with lead toxicity (I’ll be sharing more about this in the future so stay tuned….)

You’ve heard me say the Anxiety Summit has been called “a bouquet of hope!” My wish for you is that this summit is your bouquet of hope!

I hope you’ll join me and these incredible speakers, be enlightened and find YOUR solutions!

Here’s to no more anxiety and you feeling on top of the world again!

If you’re already familiar with some of this information and practice some of this already please share how it’s helped you. That way we can all learn.

If you’d like to ask a question, please post in the comments below.

I’d also love to hear from you once you’ve listened to this interview. Please do come back and comment about some of the highlights of this interview and what changes you plan to make.

The liver/thyroid/serotonin and liver/GABA/progesterone connections: The Anxiety Summit 6

September 30, 2020 By Trudy Scott 10 Comments

Dr. Ameet Aggarwal is one of my guest experts on The Anxiety Summit 6: Toxins/Meds/Infections!
and our topic is Liver Function and Bile: Anxiety, Detox, the Gut and Hormones. Here is some of what we cover in our interview:

The liver/anxiety connections: thyroid/serotonin, microbiome and GABA/progesterone
Foods and nutrients like NAC, triphala, turmeric, taurine and lycopodium
Gilbert’s syndrome and schizophrenia; misophonia; family constellations therapy; giving and endorphins

and much more.

We discuss a number of the mechanisms as to why poor liver function affects your mood. There is the liver/thyroid/serotonin connection, and the liver/GABA/progesterone connection.

In the discussion on the liver/thyroid/serotonin connection and anxiety, Dr. Ameet shares from this paper – The Relationship between the thyroid gland and the liver (paraphrased as I don’t yet have transcripts):

Thyroxine and tri‐iodothyronine are essential for normal organ growth, development and function
These hormones regulate the basal metabolic rate of all cells, including hepatocytes, and thereby modulate hepatic [liver] function
The liver in turn metabolizes the thyroid hormones and regulates their systemic endocrine effects.
Thyroid dysfunction may perturb liver function
Liver disease modulates thyroid hormone metabolism.

The catecholamine and thyroid interrelationship is well recognized but less is known about the serotonin and the thyroid. Dr. Ameet shares the synergy between the thyroid hormones, serotonin and mood:

animal studies shows that the thyroid economy has a modulating impact on the brain serotonin system
studies in hypothyroid patients have shown that thyroid replacement therapy improves serotonin production

In summary, if we have compromised liver function and/or low thyroid function this may impact serotonin levels and lead to increased anxiety.

Here is a snippet from our discussion on the liver/GABA/progesterone and anxiety:

We often think about mental health as being neurotransmitters alone but it also depends on hormones. Progesterone affects how GABA works in the brain.
GABA is your anti-anxiety neurotransmitter but it requires progesterone to work well in your brain and your liver metabolizes all your hormones through phase 1 and phase 2 detoxification
If your liver is compromised then you’re likely to have lower progesterone levels and estrogen dominance.
With low progesterone GABA won’t work as well as well in the brain, leading to anxiety and insomnia.

Again, if we have compromised liver function this may impact progesterone levels, having an effect on how GABA works and causing increased anxiety.

If you recall, I shared this GABA/progesterone snippet a few weeks ago before the site was ready and now it’s ready for you to register.

This interview is one of the registration gifts so you can listen to it right away as soon as you register (there will also be a complimentary transcript made available as soon as it’s completed.)

Here is a little about the summit… as you know, anxiety can be related to your daily life experiences BUT it can also be triggered by:

foods you eat and what you drink (like wheat, oxalates, alcohol and more)
environmental toxins (like lead, plastics, fragrances, insecticides, fluoride and more)
many types of medications (like the birth control pill, acne medication, fluoroquinolone antibiotics and more) and/or
chronic infections (like Lyme disease, PANDAS, parasites, candida and more).

Once you identify the root causes and understand anxiety’s mechanisms you can support the liver/gallbladder, detox, address infections, implement targeted and supportive solutions, and get relief!

WHY ATTEND?

This is my 6th Anxiety Summit, featuring all new topics and the latest research related to anxiety and toxins, medications and infections.

WHAT SETS THIS ONLINE EVENT APART?

You will see this woven into each of the expert interviews (just like this one with Dr. Schaffner) and also addressed in detail in my 3 interviews where I do a deep dive into specific applications.

It’s been wonderful to get all the emails saying how excited you are and seeing so many of you signing up. These last few months have been full-time on research and interviews and I’ll shortly get to share it all with you!

You’ve heard me say the Anxiety Summit has been called “a bouquet of hope!” My wish for you is that this summit is your bouquet of hope!

I hope you’ll join me and these incredible speakers, be enlightened and find YOUR solutions!

Here’s to no more anxiety and you feeling on top of the world again!

If you’re already familiar with some of this information and practice some of this already please share how it’s helped you. That way we can all learn.

If you’d like to ask a question, please post in the comments below.

I’d also love to hear from you once you’ve listened to this interview. Please do come back and comment about some of the highlights of this interview and what changes you plan to make.

Glymphatic system for brain detox: The Anxiety Summit 6

September 25, 2020 By Trudy Scott Leave a Comment

Dr. Christine Schaffner is one of my guest experts on The Anxiety Summit 6: Toxins/Meds/Infections!
and our topic is: The Glymphatic System for Brain Detox

The astrocyte as the brain pacman for lead and mercury
Tonsils, aquaporins, lymph drainage, PANDAS, anxiety and OCD
GABA, sleep, anxiety and high-dose neuroprotective melatonin

and much more.

Here is a snippet from our discussion on the glymphatic system, lead, astrocytes, GABA and aquaporin channels (paraphrased as I don’t yet have transcripts).

In case you’re new to the glymphatic system it is

a recently discovered macroscopic waste clearance system that utilizes a unique system of perivascular tunnels, formed by astroglial cells, to promote efficient elimination of soluble proteins and metabolites from the central nervous system.

Besides waste elimination, the glymphatic system also facilitates brain-wide distribution of several compounds, including glucose, lipids, amino acids, growth factors, and neuromodulators. Intriguingly, the glymphatic system functions mainly during sleep and is largely disengaged during wakefulness.

I’ve been dying to interview Dr. Schaffner since I first heard her present on this topic AND because it’s a relatively new discovery.

During the interview I ask her this question: We know lead (one of the heavy metals) can increase anxiety and cause panic attacks. How does lead adversely impact the glymphatic system?

Dr. Schaffner shares this:

Yes, lead is a neurotoxin and loves fat tissue. Because of this it impacts the health of the astrocytes (a sub-type of glial cells) and the flow of lymph around neurons. Lead can also compromise the blood brain barrier. The astrocytes act like a pacman to take up lead in the brain but they are also impaired by lead. This has an effect on GABA which is calming. GABA also helps the aquaporin channels work better which improves flow of lymph in the brain and helps with detox.

How incredible is this – I share how big a fan I am of GABA:

I’m a big fan of GABA.. .GABA used as a supplement helps to raise GABA levels (of the brain chemical GABA) so it’s calming and helps with sleep. And now we know it helps keep the aquaporin channels open and helps with detoxification of toxins like lead!

This is one of the registration gifts so you can listen to it right away as soon as you register (there will also be a complimentary transcript made available as soon as it’s completed.)

Here is a little about the summit… as you know, anxiety can be related to your daily life experiences BUT it can also be triggered by:

foods you eat and what you drink (like wheat, oxalates, alcohol and more)
environmental toxins (like lead, plastics, fragrances, insecticides, fluoride and more)
many types of medications (like the birth control pill, acne medication, fluoroquinolone antibiotics and more) and/or
chronic infections (like Lyme disease, PANDAS, parasites, candida and more).

Once you identify the root causes and understand anxiety’s mechanisms you can support the liver/gallbladder, detox, address infections, implement targeted and supportive solutions, and get relief!

WHY ATTEND?

This is my 6th Anxiety Summit, featuring all new topics and the latest research related to anxiety and toxins, medications and infections.

WHAT SETS THIS ONLINE EVENT APART?

You will see this woven into each of the expert interviews (just like this one with Dr. Schaffner) and also addressed in detail in my 3 interviews where I do a deep dive into specific applications.

You’ve heard me say the Anxiety Summit has been called “a bouquet of hope!” My wish for you is that this summit is your bouquet of hope!

I hope you’ll join me and these incredible speakers, be enlightened and find YOUR solutions!

Here’s to no more anxiety and you feeling on top of the world again!

If you’re already familiar with some of this information and practice some of this already please share how it’s helped you. That way we can all learn.

If you’d like to ask a question, please post in the comments below.

I’d also love to hear from you once you’ve listened to this interview. Please do come back and comment about some of the highlights of this interview and what changes you plan to make.