Three Helpful Things to Consider before Reaching for the AntiDepressants

As someone who has suffered with clinically diagnosed Major Depression, ADD, and anxiety, I can say I am thankful for temporary relief and symptom management via prescriptions medications. I also believe therapy (especially trauma) is incredibly important.

As a board certified Prescriber, I am obviously not against prescriptions when needed. I repeat: I am not completely against prescription drugs.

However, we have a serious problem in our healthcare system, especially when it comes to addressing and acknowledging root cause issues.

As I am obtaining my 2 year certification in root cause illness and have made many corrections in my own health, and witness patients in clinical practice completely transform their chronic illness, I cannot help but to feel convicted to share what I am learning and help others advocate for their health.

God has made our bodies incredibly interconnected and it is time to acknowledge the impact of gut health, hormone imbalances, and other potential root cause issues and their impact on like things like mental illness.

With that said, here are three critical considerations before you hand in an antidepressant prescription slip to your friendly pharmacist:

B12 Deficiency

Much of what we attribute to serotonin and dopamine “deficiencies” melts away under the investigative eye of a more personalized style of medicine that seeks to identify hormonal, nutritional, and immune imbalances that can “look” psychiatric in nature.

I once read a clinical case study of a 57 year old woman who was treated with months of both antipsychotic and antidepressant medications and given two rounds of electroconvulsive treatment before anyone bothered to check her vitamin B12 level. Her symptoms were years in the making including:

Tearfulness, anxiety, movement abnormalities, constipation, lethargy, and eventually perceptual disturbances (hearing her name called) and the ultimate in severe psychiatric pathology: catatonia. Despite her inpatient treatment, she remained suicidal, depressed, and lethargic.

Within two months of identifying her deficiency, and subsequent B12 treatment, she reverted to her baseline of 14 years previous, and remained stable with no additional treatment.

Thyroid Imbalances

Thyroid imbalance can look psychiatric in nature as it causes anxiety, depression, cloudiness, weight gain, poor concentration in addition to cold and exercise intolerance, dry skin, and hair loss.

In postpartum thyroiditis, this presentation is typically preceded by a period of hyperthyroidism where women can feel overenergized, suffer from insomnia, diarrhea, anxiety, and precipitous weightloss – these are the women who “bounce back” quickly after the baby only to be peeling themselves off the ground 9 months later.

For those already diagnosed and on a synthetic T4 compound like Synthroid, adjustments to combination hormones may be needed. Many times a thyroid condition is overlooked and covered by a psyche medication leading to more health issues.

Insulin Resistance

Are you“hangry” all the time?

Irritable and anxious when you can’t eat immediately?

Did you know sugar is more addictive than cocaine? And it’s in almost every packaged food. Seriously. Look for it and you will find it. It may come with different labels — cane sugar, crystalline fructose, high fructose corn syrup — but it’s all sugar.

This inflammatory and supersensory stimulant is behind much of what we are calling “psychiatric” including panic attacks, brain fog, fatigue, and depression.

Blood sugar instability comes in the form of insulin resistance and diabetes as well as reactive hypoglycemia. The good news is that it can be diet reversible in a matter of weeks.

“Get to the root before you consider a psychiatric prescription, you may also want to look at your other prescriptions including birth control, statins, Tylenol, and antibiotics. Take the invitation that your symptoms are offering you – begin to explore what could be driving your struggle and find a new kind of health through a truce with your body.” Kelly Brogan MD

For further reading, I recommend the book: “A Mind of Your Own.” By Kelly Brogan

*Note: I do not agree with everything theologically the author teaches, but there are some great insights in it!

And a huge thank you to those who have reached out and shared your own journey with finding and correcting your root caused illness. You inspire me and keep me going my friends! Please keep the comments and messages flowing, you never know who you could help by sharing your story!