WHEN IT COMES TO TREATING
MOOD DISORDERS, GO WITH YOUR GUT

If you still watch cable TV, you’ve invariably seen the endless prescription drug commercials and advertisements for ‘antidepressants’ promising to help relieve the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorders.

They invariably depict a tortured human/patient - with sad eyes, an impossible job, and a miserable marriage - enshrouded in a gloomy filter, muddling through a field of clashing colors. The grim music underpinning the tragic message changes key when the patient finally makes his way into a medical office and talks with ‘his doctor’. Wearing a white coat, not manufactured since the mid-70s, the doctor nods, inexplicably understands, and recommends 'Insert Wonder Mood Altering Drug Here'. Suddenly the music changes, lightens – our patient takes a pill, and his life is changed. The screen colors are vibrant again, the tone of the music is up-lifting. Our patient happily moves on with his life all while the narrator quickly and quietly lists the horrifying possible side-effects of this magic pill…

Which include but are not limited to the following:

- Worsening depression

- Feelings of anxiety

- Difficulty falling asleep

- Difficulty staying asleep

- Difficulty waking up

- Diarrhea

- Constipation

- Weight gain

- Weight loss

- Loss of appetite

- Loss of libido

- Difficulties achieving orgasm

- Difficulties achieving erections

- Agitation

- Fatigue

- Stomach pain

- Lightheadedness

- Headaches

- Dry mouth

- Blurred vision

- Difficulty urinating

- Excessive sweating

- Heart rhythm problems (palpitations, arrhythmias)

​

And the worst of all - 'increased thoughts of suicide'– the worst possible side effect someone with a mood disorder could possibly have.

Pharmaceutical companies make it very easy for doctors to throw medications at symptoms, especially when patients are self-diagnosing and requesting drugs they saw advertised on TV. A large percentage of the American population is currently prescribed some type of mood-altering medication, simply because they believe or were told that it is the only way to help them. In a small percentage of cases, medication is an incredibly effective tool to help correct mood disorders.

But largely this type of treatment is at best useless, and at worst, devastating. More often than not, drugs treating mood disorders are nothing more than slapping a bandage onto an untreated wound. Mood altering drugs not only mask symptoms, they do nothing to treat the cause of the problem.

​

To get to the root cause of mood disorders,

we must understand what has caused them in the first place.

​

There are definitely cases where some type of trauma has created psychological causes for mood disorders, and those should be worked on with a qualified professional counselor. In other instances, mood and emotional disturbances are caused by hormonal imbalance, nutritional or digestive issues, intestinal permeability, chronic inflammation,  medications, genetic and epigenetic influences, or any number of internal and external factors. Your mood fluctuations may have been present for as long as you can remember, or it can appear suddenly. In either case, there is almost always an underlying cause that is often overlooked.

​

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE POSSIBLE CAUSES

OF MY MOOD DISORDER?

You may be surprised to find that in most cases, a large percentage of mood disorders originate in the gut.

Functional medicine often refers to the gut as the ‘second brain'.

The vast majority of neurotransmitters guiding mood and anxiety are made here. If your brain is struggling, you can bet your gut is sick too. The overwhelming percentage of dopamine and serotonin – molecules required to maintain a positive mood and mitigate anxiety symptoms - are made by your GI tract. If your gut is inflamed and leaky, guess what’s going on in your brain. Your microbiome speaks directly to your gut wall, and it is acutely aware of what you eat, the medications you take, the stress burden you have, and the amount of toxins you expose it to.

- Clean up diet (stop eating garbage)

- Eat probiotics and fermented foods

- Regulate bowel motility

Bottom Line: If you need to treat a mood disorder, do yourself a favor by fixing your gut first.

​

 Call Today To Schedule An Appointment 

920-737-1625

​