Oh yeah, my "brain stack" and small doses of modafinil after recovering from each major injury helps to maintain the brain function. I didn't share this for pitty point, but for people to understand you can recover from almost anything. Mind over body.
Appreciate you sharing your thoughts, struggles, and reasons for your focus on brain health. I‘ve dealt with Trauma & PTSD for a good part of my life ( cured by psychedelics after a long battle ) which has also spurred my focus on brain health. From childhood experience I’m opposed to the overuse of SSRI’s / SSNRI’s ( the withdrawal symptoms tell all ) .
The Covid damage can be mitigated , your biome can be restored, and your auto immunity can be slowed down. The things that come to mind that have helped me personally :
Yes, withdrawal from ssri can be very difficult. After that experience I vowed I'd never use an anti depressant again. Cured myself by stopping the low fat diet the cancer clinic insisted I use. Added in butter and depression disappeared. That was my first experience with self treatment and it's changed my life. Now I question and research everything.
It took 3 years to fully recover after weaning off SSNRI’s and I vowed the same! I knew there had to be a holistic way to heal and for the most part incorporating Omega 3 oils , magnesium & probiotics into my diet definitely helped . Butter is definitely a healthy fat , fats are necessary for brain health.
It was a sloppy attempt at micro-dosing psychedelics that led me on a full 16 hr trip (alone) where I emerged a different person completely . All of the pain & grief was lifted in such a way I wish I had learned about psychedelics way earlier in life.
Where I live it can be found in just about every supermarket these days. 10 years ago not so much. If you are near a whole foods or asian market that would be your best bet. You can also try horseradish, whole fat keifer , sauerkraut , fermented drinks, etc .
Well let me report a conversation from yesterday with one of the top perinatologists in the nation here. (Relevant because some of the same receptors are targeted as discussed in this post.)
Me: "The medication given during birth (peridurals, epidurals, spinal anesthesia, etc.) alters developing brain cells."
Top perinatologist: "None of that medication enters the baby when given via peridural / epidural."
Me: "Not according to the national guidelines on perinatal medication, which describe clinical effects in babies following maternal medication."
Him: "I know the people who wrote those guidelines."
Great. Would be nice if you also knew the facts about the medication that nearly every newborn is receiving. For the audience: keep in mind that a therapeutic dose of these substances, enough to cause symptoms, is many thousands of times stronger than the concentration needed to permanently alter cell identity and epigenetics. So "no observable clinical symptoms" has absolutely no weight when considering the safety of your child's future brain.
He also "explained" to me that ultrasound would have no impact on the fetal brain because they were using it to look at the heartbeat, not the brain. Glad we cleared that one up for dolphins, that these waves don't actually travel through water. It's a bit like aerosols not travelling from one set of taped arrows on the grocery store floor to the other parallel set because we don't want them to. I suppose this explains all of those ultrasound pictures with mysteriously headless babies and phantom hearts floating in a void: the waves are exclusively reaching their target of inquiry.
More than 70% get epidurals, last I read. And a British publication I was reading yesterday mentioned that more than 50% of nursing mothers are taking medication of some sort.
The level of changes that they're finding is serious enough to merit skipping many of the exams that they offer during pregnancy and refusing continuous CTG monitoring before birth if there is no indication of risk (alternative = intermittent auscultation, which the staff doesn't feel comfortable with). One major reason for ultrasound early in pregnancy is to detect Down's Syndrome, which can be more accurately detected by a simple blood test.
However, ultrasound is needed to rule out potentially fatal risks that could otherwise be avoided at birth. The timing of ruling these out makes sense shortly before labor if you are birthing in a top-level hospital that will be able to spontaneously manage those. If someone is thinking of delivering in another context, those risks should be ruled out in time to change that decision if need be.
I highlight timing here because, for instance, you need to check if the umbilical cord is around the neck right before birth (one ultrasound). You also need to check if the placenta is blocking the passageway, which in our context they normally do at week 20 and then again later in the pregnancy because it migrates (one unnecessary ultrasound plus another). You don't need those last 2 ultrasounds if you're already looking at the neck before birth - just check all that at the same time, and include the other checklist of risks that doctors need to scan for.
I presume people would say that the paper is dealing with mice and not humans? I had a midwife for both deliveries- unmedicated, no complications, both healthy, high apgar scores, no issues. My experience has just been the two ultrasounds (like you said the first at 20 weeks and the other around 34 ?). I can't remember exactly when the second one is. If I get pregnant again I will likely do a home birth. The hospital doctors were extremely pushy that I didn't want to do the vitamin k shot ("I went to medical school") and condescending. I had done extensive research and I know all about the six babies that died that they cite as the reason every baby needs a vitamin k shot- There are also local hospitals that will call CPS on you if you refuse the eye ointment, vitamin k, hep B, etc. It is not worth it to even deal with their nonsense or be on their radar bc they absolutely go after parents if you don't want all of their interventions. I would also add MANY doctors have never even SEEN an unmedicated birth, and think all births should happen on their timelines. The continuous monitoring is crap, IMO as it leads to even more interventions. I know many people who have had C-sections, because their blood pressure was rising/falling too quickly. Not saying there aren't necessary C-sections, because there are, but there are A TON that are not really medically necessary. It is easier and more convenient for the doctors and insurance pays more for C-sections. The state of healthcare in America.
I do hope your newborns didn't begin shooting up under a bridge with dirty needles, because they really would have benefitted from that Hep B on day 1 of life. In the US there is incredible condescension for anyone refusing Vit K -- there are even "academics" at Yale who get money from somewhere to publish scathing articles criticizing parents who refuse it, portraying those parents to be uneducated hillbillies, basically. Meanwhile there are no studies available that dared to look at the outcomes of babies who did not receive Vit K. They only publish case studies of bleeding events in those who did not, without bothering to tell us that bleeding events happen also in those who did receive K, in either case stemming most often from undiagnosed liver conditions that are irrelevant to healthy children.
Doctors in the 90's when continuous monitoring was first coming out were also arguing that it was harmful because it was leading to an increased number of unnecessary C-sections. Smart doctors today also admit that it can lead to confusion.
when I was pregnant with my first, this was before COVID so probably less crazy than it is now, I listened to a pretty long podcast about vaccines, and I found it fascinating. They went into the debate about a vaccine that is for "public health" vs. the risk for your individual child, and that led me to think about things a lot differently. Hep B is the easiest one for me to say "no" to- and should be for many parents. It's essentially trying to catch people who wouldn't take their kids to the doctors (and who they believe do drugs or have promiscuous sex) hence why it MUST be done at birth. Of course it used to be fashionable to be a celebrity and be against vaccines, before Covid anyway. Pregnancy led me to question a lot of the public health scam, and then covid blew any shred of respect for doctors I had at all. Even my midwife pushed the vaccine (she said I was "high risk" because I was pregnant). Again, just confirming that they don't read any of the research or know what they're talking about. When I was reading "the bradley method of birth" they talk about the French doctor who essentially said that women need to be left alone, in the dark, to give birth and that most women would do better that way. If you give birth in a hospital they make it extremely difficult to get away from the monitoring. Birth centers are better, but not that common in many states.
"...fail to acquire their proper position and remain scattered within inappropriate cortical layers and/or in the subjacent white matter" - what does this actually mean for outcomes?
What it means for outcomes is the question for the next batch of research. What we can say is that various brain pathologies such as Autism demonstrate the wrong cells in the wrong place, too many, too big, wrong connections... The brain is continuing to develop after birth, and various groups of cells are migrating from their stem cell niche up to where they belong. If they end up in the wrong place or fail to connect with the right groups of other brain cells, you're going to have disturbed brain function. This is too complex to be able to say a simple outcome of how it will manifest in symptoms for every person.
Tons of research and studies done. They have a support call centre where they work with you and or your doctor to help wean off meds as your body heals through their supplements program. Hope it helps someone 🙏🏼
I had been on SSRIs for years. It's clear that doctors are just pharma pushers at this point. I weaned myself off recently (had already been on a very low dose). I feel like I am so much more emotional now (cliche I suppose) but I wonder if the SSRIs were just numbing everything? Many people are on them and I don't think other options are really ever given to people. When I was pregnant/postpartum those were incredibly difficult times and I'm not sure what other options there are when you feel like you're in crisis. Trying to find a homeopathic or functional doctor is probably the best option here in the states (maybe others have things that have helped them). When I was postpartum, I specifically had a lot of intrusive thoughts that REALLY freaked me out (falling down the stairs holding the baby, etc). It also freaks me out because I had been on SSRIs for long and I wonder what damage I have done long term to myself and my kids and what I can do about it.
I don't think on "irreversible damage" terms, I even shared some of my own history, this specially applies to the brain, neuroplasticity is a hell of a potent mechanism we have. So I don't think you "harmed" your brain, just changed some of the wiring and going off it, the brain will work around it or rewrire it just fine. This especially applies to younger brains, our brain only end developing at 25, body will compensate for almost anything, just need to be sure your kids have a good (healthy) lifestyle.
If there are no other options I would consider SSRIs, but that is the thing, there are DOZENS of other options, especially if the person get some specific markers measured, you can achieved various degrees of success with "natural stuff".
JP- this is encouraging. Can you share what specific markers I should have measured if I get pregnant again in the future? I would absolutely like to avoid going on SSRIs again if at all possible. I think there are few OBGYNs who would recommend more natural options, and I had a Midwife, and she still pushed for pharma (I guess they all do). Thank you for all of the work you do!
There are common. Widely tested blood markers that are good indicatives where you are, how to address it, such as C reactive protein, and Interleukin 6, but the best one and not that hard to "convince" a doctor to get you one, but the best bang for the buck so to speak is Tryptophan/kynurenine and their ratio.
While I often refer to my suggested supplements as a COVID stack, it was, at first, my "severe depression/PTSD/TBI" one. I wouldn't aggressively high dose while pregnant, but it is safe to consume.
I would consider starting supplementing choline right now but ESPECIALLY WHEN PREGNANT.
Our rainy winters at 49N Lat. produce considerable SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder, not the currently fashionable Sudden Adult Death.)
Supplementing seems to help, but before Covid I never recommended more than 1000-2000 units. Our provincial "health" monopoly does not pay for Vit. D assessment.
Antidepressant taper here starts in the spring with occasional success.
John Paul - These uber popular prescription drugs literally rewire your brain. What are opioid's & SSRI's. The longer the exposure - saturation, the worse the damage, eventually irreversible.
No argument here 😀. But funny you mention opioids, I am one of those who hypermetabolize, so most of them are basically useless to me 😔 horrible if you need urgent surgery and the imbecile treating you keep debating you on your own genetics.
Researchers confirm the link between diet, microbiota and mental health
🔴 There is a need to better understand the relationship between the diet, the gut microbiota and mental health. Metabolites produced by the human gut microbiota, including neurotransmitters derived from amino acids (such as tryptamine, dopamine and serotonin), can enter the bloodstream and have systemic effects.
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🔴 We hypothesize that fermentation of amino acids by a resistant protein-primed gut microbiota could yield potentially toxic metabolites and disturb the availability of neurotransmitter precursors to the brain.
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🔴 Metabolites of gut-fermented protein and specifically amino acid precursors to neurotransmitters such as tyrosine, are potentially able to affect brain function.
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🔴 By extension, resistant proteins produced through high-heat processing of foods that are transported and fermented in the colon, may account for elevated release of amino acids in the colon.
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🔴 For example, dysbiosis of the gut microbiota can cause an increase in tryptophan metabolic pathways that produce kynurenic acid and other metabolites, and a reduction in pathways involved in serotonin synthesis. Such changes in tryptophan metabolism play a role in the onset and progression of depression.
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🔴 Tyrosine is an amino acid and precursor to key neurotransmitters, dopamine, adrenaline and noradrenaline, which have profound effects on mood, reward behavior, wakefulness and motor activity.
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🔴 Dietary tyrosine depletion has been implicated in an increased risk of clinical depression.
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🔴 When amino acids such as tyrosine are fermented by gut microbes, they may be converted to potentially toxic compounds, such as ammonia, amines, N-nitroso compounds, phenols, cresols.
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🔴 Indoles and hydrogen sulfide rendering them unavailable as neurotransmitter precursors and mimicking dietary depletion.
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🔴 Gut microbes also have the potential to convert amino acids to neurotransmitters (e.g., dopamine, serotonin) that function as signaling molecules in the enteric nervous system, with systemic and brain accessibility, known as the "gut-brain axis."
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🔴 Demonstrating that bacterial metabolites released in the gut can reach the brain, known as the 'gut-brain axis' is a key step in defining the relationship between nutrition and mental health.
⬇️
Researchers confirm the link between diet, microbiota and mental health
A growing body of research is showing that the stress-induced release of mitochondrial DNA originating in our brain can wreak inflammatory havoc on the rest of our body as these pieces of DNA circulate throughout our circulatory system.
Studies show that only 5 minutes of a stressful mental stimulus can result in the flooding of our blood stream with mitochondrial DNA. Other studies show that people with depression have higher circulating levels of mitochondrial DNA than people without depression.
Mitochondria are tiny compartments (organelles) within our cells that generate energy and control other critical cellular processes. Many people refer to them as our energy factories.
Mitochondria are unique from other organelles in that they contain genetic information in the form of a circular piece of DNA that is approximately 17,000 nucleotides in length. This "mitochondrial" DNA is inherited from our mothers and is separate from the 23 pairs of chromosomes residing in the cell nucleus.
Research is demonstrating that when our brains perceive stress, the mitochondria go into overdrive to deal with the fight-or-flight stress response. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) that are naturally generated by the ramping up of the mitochondria cause damage to mitochondrial membranes and the DNA. These smaller fragments of mitochondrial DNA then leave the cell and enter our bloodstream.
As these small fragments of DNA travel throughout our blood stream, they attach to receptors on immune cells (specifically, TLR9 receptors). Activation of these receptors cause the immune cell to start an inflammatory cascade by releasing inflammatory cytokines that signal a cadre of other immune cells to the site.
Essentially, if you are constantly in a state of mental stress and anxiety, your brain will signal the rest of your body to ramp up inflammation in your entire body by releasing mitochondrial DNA.
So here is a directly molecular mechanism that links the mental state of our brain to the health of the rest of our body.
Here are some things that we can do to reduce the impact of this:
1) Find ways to de-stress. Praying, Hobbies, exercise, etc.
2) Practice Aromatherapy - use a diffuser for each room in your house and diffuse relaxing essential oils (lavender, geranium, Roman chamomile, rose, sandalwood, bergamot . Essential oils have been scientifically proven to lower stress via activation of the olfactory-limbic system.
3) Eat foods and consume supplements that lower inflammation and oxidative stress in your body.
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Acute psychological stress increases serum circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA
I'm curious about the essential oils: different people can respond differently to them. I get migraines from at least some of them, so they can be a real hazard for me. I'm also curious about your recommendation to put a diffuser in each room of the house. Is this what the studies did or did they use the oils under time-limited conditions? If the studies looked at the oils for limited amounts of time, that does not mean that using them all the time would be beneficial.
I'm more inclined to be interested in controlled study than inspirational animal stories. There isn't a whole lot of control over terminology, labeling, or production of these things, which makes the idea of diffusing them in every room in your house a rather risky proposition IMO.
It’s not my post it’s Dr Doug’s post so you best to put any questions to him, he known a lot about essential oils. He has a website with some info on them when I looked years ago. Also if you join a book library on telegram or somewhere you can read about them. I’ve just obtained quite a few books on essential oils as I have many. When I have a migrane I use lavender. I use them all the time.
Yes, I saw that. I figured it was worth making a comment here for anyone reading. As I said, essential oils are a big problem for me. I've gotten migraines at a hospital acupuncture clinic due to their use of them and lavender is one of the things that gives me migraines as well.
For someone who wants to get pregnant and is on an SSRI, what are some safe alternatives ? I understand there is a disclaimer - not a physician, etc, etc
Discussing other strategies with your healthcare provider. One that is often "successful" is tampering off SSRIs to lower dosage in the first 6 months (the first trimester is the most important one), and using other options such as supplements to deal.with the inflammation.
NAC+glycine are great options to tapper off anything, and since they can potentiate the effects of some drugs, it may be a good option for you.
Sorry taking long to reply, I was in the middle of nowhere. I personally prefer taking both Glycine and Choline separatedly, both have specific singular effects, but I also subscribe to the school of "if it works for you, ignore whatever I think". Glycine especially has strong synergy with NAC, one of my most recommended supplements.
I have no experience with St. John's Wort, but on paper looks good.
If you wanted to know more about me and why I have such a focus on "brain stuff", this is my "list of injuries" in recent years.
TBI, followed by severe depression and levels of PTSD from military service (too many booms near you ain't healthy bro)
Dirt knife to my gut, also in the military, almost died, wrecked my microbiome for life
Dozens of minor stuff
An severe autoimmune reaction in my Central Nervous System, before Covid
Brain injury from Covid which I hid for quite a long time
You can come back from almost everything, that is why I am sharing this. As the great David Goggins said.
"I am not gifted. I am not special. I am just driven".
Oh yeah, my "brain stack" and small doses of modafinil after recovering from each major injury helps to maintain the brain function. I didn't share this for pitty point, but for people to understand you can recover from almost anything. Mind over body.
Appreciate you sharing your thoughts, struggles, and reasons for your focus on brain health. I‘ve dealt with Trauma & PTSD for a good part of my life ( cured by psychedelics after a long battle ) which has also spurred my focus on brain health. From childhood experience I’m opposed to the overuse of SSRI’s / SSNRI’s ( the withdrawal symptoms tell all ) .
The Covid damage can be mitigated , your biome can be restored, and your auto immunity can be slowed down. The things that come to mind that have helped me personally :
Methylene blue
Low dose naltrexone
NAD+
Magnesium & Omega 3 to calm the nervous system
Kimchi & keifer to rebuild the biome
Take care & be well .
Yes, withdrawal from ssri can be very difficult. After that experience I vowed I'd never use an anti depressant again. Cured myself by stopping the low fat diet the cancer clinic insisted I use. Added in butter and depression disappeared. That was my first experience with self treatment and it's changed my life. Now I question and research everything.
It took 3 years to fully recover after weaning off SSNRI’s and I vowed the same! I knew there had to be a holistic way to heal and for the most part incorporating Omega 3 oils , magnesium & probiotics into my diet definitely helped . Butter is definitely a healthy fat , fats are necessary for brain health.
It was a sloppy attempt at micro-dosing psychedelics that led me on a full 16 hr trip (alone) where I emerged a different person completely . All of the pain & grief was lifted in such a way I wish I had learned about psychedelics way earlier in life.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Where do you get your kim chi? I'm in the Eastern Midwest.
Where I live it can be found in just about every supermarket these days. 10 years ago not so much. If you are near a whole foods or asian market that would be your best bet. You can also try horseradish, whole fat keifer , sauerkraut , fermented drinks, etc .
You can make it. It's fairly easy. Napa cabbage is easy to grow if you can't get it at the local supermarket.
Well let me report a conversation from yesterday with one of the top perinatologists in the nation here. (Relevant because some of the same receptors are targeted as discussed in this post.)
Me: "The medication given during birth (peridurals, epidurals, spinal anesthesia, etc.) alters developing brain cells."
Top perinatologist: "None of that medication enters the baby when given via peridural / epidural."
Me: "Not according to the national guidelines on perinatal medication, which describe clinical effects in babies following maternal medication."
Him: "I know the people who wrote those guidelines."
Great. Would be nice if you also knew the facts about the medication that nearly every newborn is receiving. For the audience: keep in mind that a therapeutic dose of these substances, enough to cause symptoms, is many thousands of times stronger than the concentration needed to permanently alter cell identity and epigenetics. So "no observable clinical symptoms" has absolutely no weight when considering the safety of your child's future brain.
He also "explained" to me that ultrasound would have no impact on the fetal brain because they were using it to look at the heartbeat, not the brain. Glad we cleared that one up for dolphins, that these waves don't actually travel through water. It's a bit like aerosols not travelling from one set of taped arrows on the grocery store floor to the other parallel set because we don't want them to. I suppose this explains all of those ultrasound pictures with mysteriously headless babies and phantom hearts floating in a void: the waves are exclusively reaching their target of inquiry.
I had no idea about epidural...I only had it in my first the other 7 were natural births.
Scary to think that most moms get it though.
More than 70% get epidurals, last I read. And a British publication I was reading yesterday mentioned that more than 50% of nursing mothers are taking medication of some sort.
this is so sad. the state of doctors. also, can you give me more info on the ultrasound stuff? any person/research to look into?
Here's one paper, for instance. https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0605294103
The level of changes that they're finding is serious enough to merit skipping many of the exams that they offer during pregnancy and refusing continuous CTG monitoring before birth if there is no indication of risk (alternative = intermittent auscultation, which the staff doesn't feel comfortable with). One major reason for ultrasound early in pregnancy is to detect Down's Syndrome, which can be more accurately detected by a simple blood test.
However, ultrasound is needed to rule out potentially fatal risks that could otherwise be avoided at birth. The timing of ruling these out makes sense shortly before labor if you are birthing in a top-level hospital that will be able to spontaneously manage those. If someone is thinking of delivering in another context, those risks should be ruled out in time to change that decision if need be.
I highlight timing here because, for instance, you need to check if the umbilical cord is around the neck right before birth (one ultrasound). You also need to check if the placenta is blocking the passageway, which in our context they normally do at week 20 and then again later in the pregnancy because it migrates (one unnecessary ultrasound plus another). You don't need those last 2 ultrasounds if you're already looking at the neck before birth - just check all that at the same time, and include the other checklist of risks that doctors need to scan for.
I presume people would say that the paper is dealing with mice and not humans? I had a midwife for both deliveries- unmedicated, no complications, both healthy, high apgar scores, no issues. My experience has just been the two ultrasounds (like you said the first at 20 weeks and the other around 34 ?). I can't remember exactly when the second one is. If I get pregnant again I will likely do a home birth. The hospital doctors were extremely pushy that I didn't want to do the vitamin k shot ("I went to medical school") and condescending. I had done extensive research and I know all about the six babies that died that they cite as the reason every baby needs a vitamin k shot- There are also local hospitals that will call CPS on you if you refuse the eye ointment, vitamin k, hep B, etc. It is not worth it to even deal with their nonsense or be on their radar bc they absolutely go after parents if you don't want all of their interventions. I would also add MANY doctors have never even SEEN an unmedicated birth, and think all births should happen on their timelines. The continuous monitoring is crap, IMO as it leads to even more interventions. I know many people who have had C-sections, because their blood pressure was rising/falling too quickly. Not saying there aren't necessary C-sections, because there are, but there are A TON that are not really medically necessary. It is easier and more convenient for the doctors and insurance pays more for C-sections. The state of healthcare in America.
Smart person!
I do hope your newborns didn't begin shooting up under a bridge with dirty needles, because they really would have benefitted from that Hep B on day 1 of life. In the US there is incredible condescension for anyone refusing Vit K -- there are even "academics" at Yale who get money from somewhere to publish scathing articles criticizing parents who refuse it, portraying those parents to be uneducated hillbillies, basically. Meanwhile there are no studies available that dared to look at the outcomes of babies who did not receive Vit K. They only publish case studies of bleeding events in those who did not, without bothering to tell us that bleeding events happen also in those who did receive K, in either case stemming most often from undiagnosed liver conditions that are irrelevant to healthy children.
Doctors in the 90's when continuous monitoring was first coming out were also arguing that it was harmful because it was leading to an increased number of unnecessary C-sections. Smart doctors today also admit that it can lead to confusion.
when I was pregnant with my first, this was before COVID so probably less crazy than it is now, I listened to a pretty long podcast about vaccines, and I found it fascinating. They went into the debate about a vaccine that is for "public health" vs. the risk for your individual child, and that led me to think about things a lot differently. Hep B is the easiest one for me to say "no" to- and should be for many parents. It's essentially trying to catch people who wouldn't take their kids to the doctors (and who they believe do drugs or have promiscuous sex) hence why it MUST be done at birth. Of course it used to be fashionable to be a celebrity and be against vaccines, before Covid anyway. Pregnancy led me to question a lot of the public health scam, and then covid blew any shred of respect for doctors I had at all. Even my midwife pushed the vaccine (she said I was "high risk" because I was pregnant). Again, just confirming that they don't read any of the research or know what they're talking about. When I was reading "the bradley method of birth" they talk about the French doctor who essentially said that women need to be left alone, in the dark, to give birth and that most women would do better that way. If you give birth in a hospital they make it extremely difficult to get away from the monitoring. Birth centers are better, but not that common in many states.
"...fail to acquire their proper position and remain scattered within inappropriate cortical layers and/or in the subjacent white matter" - what does this actually mean for outcomes?
What it means for outcomes is the question for the next batch of research. What we can say is that various brain pathologies such as Autism demonstrate the wrong cells in the wrong place, too many, too big, wrong connections... The brain is continuing to develop after birth, and various groups of cells are migrating from their stem cell niche up to where they belong. If they end up in the wrong place or fail to connect with the right groups of other brain cells, you're going to have disturbed brain function. This is too complex to be able to say a simple outcome of how it will manifest in symptoms for every person.
Thank you, that makes complete sense. Long term outcomes are unknown, why would you gamble with these things? Appreciate the convo!
This is a very interesting vitamin and minerals company with a brain/gut health focus. https://www.truehope.com/empowerplus/mental-health
Tons of research and studies done. They have a support call centre where they work with you and or your doctor to help wean off meds as your body heals through their supplements program. Hope it helps someone 🙏🏼
I had been on SSRIs for years. It's clear that doctors are just pharma pushers at this point. I weaned myself off recently (had already been on a very low dose). I feel like I am so much more emotional now (cliche I suppose) but I wonder if the SSRIs were just numbing everything? Many people are on them and I don't think other options are really ever given to people. When I was pregnant/postpartum those were incredibly difficult times and I'm not sure what other options there are when you feel like you're in crisis. Trying to find a homeopathic or functional doctor is probably the best option here in the states (maybe others have things that have helped them). When I was postpartum, I specifically had a lot of intrusive thoughts that REALLY freaked me out (falling down the stairs holding the baby, etc). It also freaks me out because I had been on SSRIs for long and I wonder what damage I have done long term to myself and my kids and what I can do about it.
I don't think on "irreversible damage" terms, I even shared some of my own history, this specially applies to the brain, neuroplasticity is a hell of a potent mechanism we have. So I don't think you "harmed" your brain, just changed some of the wiring and going off it, the brain will work around it or rewrire it just fine. This especially applies to younger brains, our brain only end developing at 25, body will compensate for almost anything, just need to be sure your kids have a good (healthy) lifestyle.
If there are no other options I would consider SSRIs, but that is the thing, there are DOZENS of other options, especially if the person get some specific markers measured, you can achieved various degrees of success with "natural stuff".
Thank you for sharing this too.
JP- this is encouraging. Can you share what specific markers I should have measured if I get pregnant again in the future? I would absolutely like to avoid going on SSRIs again if at all possible. I think there are few OBGYNs who would recommend more natural options, and I had a Midwife, and she still pushed for pharma (I guess they all do). Thank you for all of the work you do!
There are common. Widely tested blood markers that are good indicatives where you are, how to address it, such as C reactive protein, and Interleukin 6, but the best one and not that hard to "convince" a doctor to get you one, but the best bang for the buck so to speak is Tryptophan/kynurenine and their ratio.
While I often refer to my suggested supplements as a COVID stack, it was, at first, my "severe depression/PTSD/TBI" one. I wouldn't aggressively high dose while pregnant, but it is safe to consume.
I would consider starting supplementing choline right now but ESPECIALLY WHEN PREGNANT.
Best regards
Consider checking Vit. D as well.
Our rainy winters at 49N Lat. produce considerable SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder, not the currently fashionable Sudden Adult Death.)
Supplementing seems to help, but before Covid I never recommended more than 1000-2000 units. Our provincial "health" monopoly does not pay for Vit. D assessment.
Antidepressant taper here starts in the spring with occasional success.
I wager that the older tricyclics do the same.
John Paul - These uber popular prescription drugs literally rewire your brain. What are opioid's & SSRI's. The longer the exposure - saturation, the worse the damage, eventually irreversible.
No argument here 😀. But funny you mention opioids, I am one of those who hypermetabolize, so most of them are basically useless to me 😔 horrible if you need urgent surgery and the imbecile treating you keep debating you on your own genetics.
Indeed. The pharma pushers and users are under one of these:
https://youtu.be/lSiJbhoA8zw?t=30
(Take note of Phony Tony The Flying Pharma Monkey!!!)
There’s more in the comments..
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Immunologist at Tehran University of Medical Sciences
Maryam D
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/maryam-diba-961420214_mdabrimmunol-immunology-gut-activity-7044605504140058625-bBim
Researchers confirm the link between diet, microbiota and mental health
🔴 There is a need to better understand the relationship between the diet, the gut microbiota and mental health. Metabolites produced by the human gut microbiota, including neurotransmitters derived from amino acids (such as tryptamine, dopamine and serotonin), can enter the bloodstream and have systemic effects.
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🔴 We hypothesize that fermentation of amino acids by a resistant protein-primed gut microbiota could yield potentially toxic metabolites and disturb the availability of neurotransmitter precursors to the brain.
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🔴 Metabolites of gut-fermented protein and specifically amino acid precursors to neurotransmitters such as tyrosine, are potentially able to affect brain function.
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🔴 By extension, resistant proteins produced through high-heat processing of foods that are transported and fermented in the colon, may account for elevated release of amino acids in the colon.
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🔴 For example, dysbiosis of the gut microbiota can cause an increase in tryptophan metabolic pathways that produce kynurenic acid and other metabolites, and a reduction in pathways involved in serotonin synthesis. Such changes in tryptophan metabolism play a role in the onset and progression of depression.
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🔴 Tyrosine is an amino acid and precursor to key neurotransmitters, dopamine, adrenaline and noradrenaline, which have profound effects on mood, reward behavior, wakefulness and motor activity.
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🔴 Dietary tyrosine depletion has been implicated in an increased risk of clinical depression.
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🔴 When amino acids such as tyrosine are fermented by gut microbes, they may be converted to potentially toxic compounds, such as ammonia, amines, N-nitroso compounds, phenols, cresols.
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🔴 Indoles and hydrogen sulfide rendering them unavailable as neurotransmitter precursors and mimicking dietary depletion.
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🔴 Gut microbes also have the potential to convert amino acids to neurotransmitters (e.g., dopamine, serotonin) that function as signaling molecules in the enteric nervous system, with systemic and brain accessibility, known as the "gut-brain axis."
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🔴 Demonstrating that bacterial metabolites released in the gut can reach the brain, known as the 'gut-brain axis' is a key step in defining the relationship between nutrition and mental health.
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Researchers confirm the link between diet, microbiota and mental health
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-03-link-diet-microbiota-mental-health.html
#immunology #Gut #microbiota #mental #metabolism #health #aminoacids
DR DOUG ESSENTIAL OIL
https://twitter.com/ScienceWDrDoug/status/1639088429446094851
Mitochondrial DNA and Chronic Health Issues
A growing body of research is showing that the stress-induced release of mitochondrial DNA originating in our brain can wreak inflammatory havoc on the rest of our body as these pieces of DNA circulate throughout our circulatory system.
Studies show that only 5 minutes of a stressful mental stimulus can result in the flooding of our blood stream with mitochondrial DNA. Other studies show that people with depression have higher circulating levels of mitochondrial DNA than people without depression.
Mitochondria are tiny compartments (organelles) within our cells that generate energy and control other critical cellular processes. Many people refer to them as our energy factories.
Mitochondria are unique from other organelles in that they contain genetic information in the form of a circular piece of DNA that is approximately 17,000 nucleotides in length. This "mitochondrial" DNA is inherited from our mothers and is separate from the 23 pairs of chromosomes residing in the cell nucleus.
Research is demonstrating that when our brains perceive stress, the mitochondria go into overdrive to deal with the fight-or-flight stress response. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) that are naturally generated by the ramping up of the mitochondria cause damage to mitochondrial membranes and the DNA. These smaller fragments of mitochondrial DNA then leave the cell and enter our bloodstream.
As these small fragments of DNA travel throughout our blood stream, they attach to receptors on immune cells (specifically, TLR9 receptors). Activation of these receptors cause the immune cell to start an inflammatory cascade by releasing inflammatory cytokines that signal a cadre of other immune cells to the site.
Essentially, if you are constantly in a state of mental stress and anxiety, your brain will signal the rest of your body to ramp up inflammation in your entire body by releasing mitochondrial DNA.
And what does chronic inflammation lead to?
Autoimmune disorders, Alzheimer's, depression, fatigue, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, asthma, IBD, lupus, and cancer.
So here is a directly molecular mechanism that links the mental state of our brain to the health of the rest of our body.
Here are some things that we can do to reduce the impact of this:
1) Find ways to de-stress. Praying, Hobbies, exercise, etc.
2) Practice Aromatherapy - use a diffuser for each room in your house and diffuse relaxing essential oils (lavender, geranium, Roman chamomile, rose, sandalwood, bergamot . Essential oils have been scientifically proven to lower stress via activation of the olfactory-limbic system.
3) Eat foods and consume supplements that lower inflammation and oxidative stress in your body.
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Acute psychological stress increases serum circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306453018312149
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Circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA, but not leukocyte mitochondrial DNA copy number, is elevated in major depressive disorder
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-017-0001-9
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Cell-free DNA release under psychosocial and physical stress conditions
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-018-0264-x.pdf
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Essential Oils and Anxiolytic Aromatherapy
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1934578X0900400928
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Anxiolytic Terpenoids and Aromatherapy for Anxiety and Depression
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-42667-5_11
I'm curious about the essential oils: different people can respond differently to them. I get migraines from at least some of them, so they can be a real hazard for me. I'm also curious about your recommendation to put a diffuser in each room of the house. Is this what the studies did or did they use the oils under time-limited conditions? If the studies looked at the oils for limited amounts of time, that does not mean that using them all the time would be beneficial.
See the bears how they behave with essential oil
ZOOPHARMACOGOSNY
CAROLINE INGRAHAM VIDEOS
Inspirational Animal Stories
https://www.carolineingraham.com/inspirational-animal-stories
I'm more inclined to be interested in controlled study than inspirational animal stories. There isn't a whole lot of control over terminology, labeling, or production of these things, which makes the idea of diffusing them in every room in your house a rather risky proposition IMO.
Volatile chemical emissions from essential oils
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11869-018-0606-0
Give it to Dr Doug have a chat with him about your concerns maybe.
It’s not my post it’s Dr Doug’s post so you best to put any questions to him, he known a lot about essential oils. He has a website with some info on them when I looked years ago. Also if you join a book library on telegram or somewhere you can read about them. I’ve just obtained quite a few books on essential oils as I have many. When I have a migrane I use lavender. I use them all the time.
Yes, I saw that. I figured it was worth making a comment here for anyone reading. As I said, essential oils are a big problem for me. I've gotten migraines at a hospital acupuncture clinic due to their use of them and lavender is one of the things that gives me migraines as well.
I would say just research it I think Dr Doug does classes.
The readers/commentators here are such smart people. I love reading the comments.
For someone who wants to get pregnant and is on an SSRI, what are some safe alternatives ? I understand there is a disclaimer - not a physician, etc, etc
Discussing other strategies with your healthcare provider. One that is often "successful" is tampering off SSRIs to lower dosage in the first 6 months (the first trimester is the most important one), and using other options such as supplements to deal.with the inflammation.
NAC+glycine are great options to tapper off anything, and since they can potentiate the effects of some drugs, it may be a good option for you.
Could be safer to transition on to 5-HTP instead
Osvaldo Aguilera Batista
Resident of Immunology at the University of Medical Sciences of Holguín Cuba.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6946838254763597824
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Brain–gut–microbiota axis in depression: A historical overview and future directions
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361923022000375
Dr Joanna Moncrieff
https://twitter.com/joannamoncrieff/status/1549697303778320384
What do you think of Sarcosine or St John’s Wort?
Sorry taking long to reply, I was in the middle of nowhere. I personally prefer taking both Glycine and Choline separatedly, both have specific singular effects, but I also subscribe to the school of "if it works for you, ignore whatever I think". Glycine especially has strong synergy with NAC, one of my most recommended supplements.
I have no experience with St. John's Wort, but on paper looks good.