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The Link Between Inflammation and Depression?

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Re: The Link Between Inflammation and Depression?

#61

so serendipitous - the other day ago I was putting down some wood flooring in my house and hurt my back a little - something that happens from time to time in exactly the same place - so I knew that I should get on top of it and take a couple of ibuprofen. So I take a the ibuprofen, and take a break for an a couple hours - and as I noticed the back pain go away - I also noticed a distinct improvement in my mood! I ha…

The risk is your back is hurt because it’s damaged. It needs time to heal. Taking ibuprofen hides the pain but doesn’t fix the problem in MOST cases.

Re: The Link Between Inflammation and Depression?

#62

This psychiatrist spouting off the "serotonin imbalance" marketing speak from big pharma like it's science is frightening. This has actually never been proven to exist, which is why every ad for SSRIs states "the way this drug is believed to work is...". And then there's all the terrible side effects they never tell you about before you start taking them, and the fact you likely won't be able to stop using them witho…

SSRIs are known to have a substantial anti-inflammatory effect though, as well as other drugs like Wellbutrin.

I don't know if you have actually used SSRIs but the stuff about withdrawal is wildly overblown. Believing scare mongering about terrible side-effects and dependence issues kept me severely depressed and is one of the biggest regrets of my life.

Re: The Link Between Inflammation and Depression?

#63
post #27

I suffered from suicidal depression, anxiety, mania, psychosis, paranoia, panic attacks and more. I flirted with diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder to bipolar. My life was pretty out of control. I didn’t like the outcomes I saw of people who were on meds their entire life and I didn’t buy the story from mainstream psychiatry. I found MDMA therapy via an underground practice and it transformed my life over the cour…

Have you used classical psychedelics therapeutically?

If so how would you compare their efficacy for your issues

Re: The Link Between Inflammation and Depression?

#64
post #54

kind of a long yakkety article and not much on tangibles. Yes there's a correlation between depression and inflammation, but there's a much bigger bucket of potential factors going on in this area: depression, sedentary lifestyle, sugar intake, obesity, inflammation, gut bacteria, visceral fat, and a whole lot more. As a clinical depression sufferer, if I change any one of those things, all the others change too. So…

There have been experiments directly relating the administration of inflammatory endotoxins to immediate depressive symptoms.

All of the stuff you mentioned pertains to inflammation. If gut bacteria is disharmonious or not getting enough fiber it consumes intestinal mucous which creates inflammation

Re: The Link Between Inflammation and Depression?

#65
post #2

Not only we don’t understand the mechanism causing depression, we don’t really understand (as far as I am aware) why medications work or don’t work. I deal with mild depression sometimes, but this scares me off of considering medication for it. I’ve encountered so many horror stories of withdrawal symptoms... you really need to be at a point of desperation to consider drugs for it, imo.

Having gone off antidepressants cold turkey 4+ times withdrawal stuff is wildly overblown, which is corroborated by almost all the literature

It probably has more to do with a relapse back into depressive symptoms than anything in most cases

Re: The Link Between Inflammation and Depression?

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what worked in your case?

I suffer from PTSD due to childhood trauma which is ultimately the cause of my anxiety, depression, mood swings, etc,. Right now I’m seeing a therapist who specializes in trauma and going through EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) treatment. I’ve also taken Wellbutrin (anti-depressant) and Lamictal (mood stabilizer) for the last 18 months or so. I also just have to constantly keep busy. I fill my ti…

I'm also on Wellbutrin and Lamictal and think it is a very underrated combination.

I highly recommend you read The Body Keeps The Score. Immensely insightful and well researched book that will change the way you think about overcoming trauma

Re: The Link Between Inflammation and Depression?

#67

We don't know about severity of the depression when we say depression. My friend has racing thoughts, feeling tired all time, unable to move, unable to think. Negatives thoughts amplifying to point where nothing no longer makes sense. Can such depression be treated? When she was born, she had a serological conflict. 1. She first recognized it at age 8. 2. Now she's 18 3. Tried sucide at 16 It's not like she doesn't w…

You could have her try a zero-carb (carnivore) diet. Nothing but beef, salt and water for a month. Probably won't work but considering all the anecdotal evidence and the fact that it's cheap and easy, I'd say it's worth a shot.

Re: The Link Between Inflammation and Depression?

#68
post #43
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting definitely adding this to my reading list for self serving reasons. I independently came to similar ideas about inflammation, mostly because I have to take a lot of Ibuprofen for chronic pain and what works best is taking some preemptively on non painful days. That is, I always tried to think up more reasons for why this isn't a terrible idea.

tumeric might be more powerful.

Curcumin/theracurmin yes, turmetic no.

Re: The Link Between Inflammation and Depression?

#69
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a huge difference between complex carbohydrates bound up in natural fiber and refined starches and sugars. The former are the foundation of the healthiest diets around the planet. The latter are unhealthy. The current anti carb hysteria fails to make a distinction between the two. I think you'll find you can eat plenty of carbs if you stick to whole grain, unprocessed carbs and also avoid oil. I've been on t…

Refined sugar is not inherently unhealthy.

Could you be more specific? Why do you think it’s not inherently unhealthy. I’ll argue the contrary here. Humans are primates; we evolved to eat an unrefined plant-based diet.

Consuming refined sugar is inherently unhealthy because it’s consumption causes insulin spikes and eventually insulin desensitization which leads to diabetes which is a strong predictor of inflammation. The same logic applies to any refined foods with concentrated amounts of fat or salt.

No whole plant-based food has the concentrated amount of macronutrients that are in processed food. You could argue that honey might be one, but honey’s been refined from pollen by bees.

Re: The Link Between Inflammation and Depression?

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sugar and refined carbs can also cause inflammation but I cut those out of my diet years ago. I didn't see the real benefits until I switched to a plant based diet.

I don't want to be that guy again (I've been heavily downvoted in every nutrition threads I contributed in HN), please understand that I'm trying to learn and improve myself. But I'm curious how did you come up with a plant-based diet that's not high in sugar. As far as I know pretty much all (except very few) plant based food are very high in sugar. Especially most fruits have exorbitant amounts of fructose. I usual…

You should take a look at Dr Fuhrman’s Eat to Live and Dr Michael Greger’s How Not to Die.

You should take into account that some whole plant high sugar or high starch foods like fruits and beans come packaged with fiber and other nutrients as well that serve to balance the nutritional profile and glycemic impact of the food.

That being said, if you do have a problem with sugar, stay away from sweet or high starch foods that lack fiber like ripened bananas and cooked white potatoes. Beans are healthy because they contain resistant starches that act like fiber.

You should be eating a variety of whole plant foods with high fiber and high nurtrient density.

Dr Fuhrmans list of foods you should consume everyday for a healthy immune system. G-BOMBS Greens Beans Onions Mushrooms Berries Seeds

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