What an interesting little machine our brains are! And, I am learning more and more about mine every day. Because of what I do for a living, I constantly meet people who are dealing with stress, anxiety, and of course the burnout that goes with it . . . depression.
But, I always wonder, why so many people are stressed and depressed these days. For me, it has been a life long battle. My family seems to pass it down. Yet, I can’t just use the excuse that I’m damaged. I haven’t helped the matter with my poor diet and lack of exercise. And, yes, I still haven’t started my exercise regimen for 2010. Although, I did download the iphone application couch potato to 5k. It’s a start!
Anyway, I read an article that described the cellular reason for depression today. So, I’m going to share it with you in my “simple” wording because it made so much sense. We are what we eat.
I knew that what we eat was an important part of how we function, but it never made visual sense to me until today. If we eat crappy, low quality food, it stresses and depletes our bodies’ reserves instead of supplying more ammunition to take on the world. Over time, a chronically poor diet can actually cause damage to certain cells in our bodies. For those of us with chronic depression and possibly a genetic predisposition, that damage occurs in our brain. Just like Parkinson’s disease is thought to be caused from chemical damage to neurons in the brain, perhaps depression isn’t too different. What if all the cokes, hamburgers, and fries that I’ve eaten over my life (lack of vitamins, amino acids, and too much sugar) have actually caused damage to the neurons in my brain. If they are truly damaged, they cannot conduct “energy”, just like a damaged electric chord will not allow electricity to flow through it’s line. If only some of my neurotransmitters are damaged, the healthy ones have to take up the slack and work twice as hard.
But, then the dilemma of poor nutrition creeps in again. If my poor over worked neurons are having to work twice as hard, they need 2, 3, maybe 5 times the nutrients to help keep them working harder (not quantity, but quality 
). Unfortunately, they need very specific nutrients or chemicals called amino acids. In order to increase those in my brain, I need amino acid pre-cursors that are small and can cross the blood brain barrier. So, amino acid supplements (5HTP, Tyrosine, L-Tyrosine, and GABA) are the “nutritional” way to pump up my functioning neurons. Interesting too that if these are not present in high enough quantities, antidepressant medications may not work correctly because they are designed to maximize what is already there. 100% of nothing is still nothing, right? So, how is Prozac supposed to build up my serotonin level if I have a very low serotonin production to begin with? It may temporarily work to prevent me from excreting what I can produce, but it always stops working at some point when the supply is drained. This is likely due to my inability to get the correct parts to construct more when I need it. Anyway, it made me think. Look into it if you are interested by my explanation. It is the Parkinsonism model of depression.
This leads me to admit, I realized this week that I should not have stopped taking my antidepressants at such an early phase in my amino acid supplements. It takes an average of 3-6 months before the supplements can build up enough reserve to compensate for the removal of the medication. I have been pretty down over the last few weeks, which is one reason I didn’t get around to writing my blog last week. But, I have increased some of my amino acids to compensate for the lack of medication. Hope this will kick in over the next few weeks. And, since I changed my doses slightly, I won’t be re-testing my neurotransmitter levels again until the end of January. I have to give my body a few more weeks to adjust to the difference so I can make sure I am getting accurate lab readings.
Hope this week’s blog wasn’t too dry for you. Seriously, if my very basic hypothesis/explanation interested you, look up the more detailed version. It might ring true with you too. As a side note, Parkinson’s disease runs in my family. My grandfather battled it for over 18 years. So, maybe there truly is a link. At least, it made me think!
Amy
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