Sadness is normal human emotion. We all experience it from time to time, but it usually goes away within a few hours to a few days. Depression is something much more. It is a prolonged period of overwhelming sadness and mental anguish. It involves a loss of interest in things that once brought meaning and joy. These feelings are often accompanied by other emotional and physical symptoms. Depression is considered the most dreaded condition of mankind. What makes it so terrible is the fact that it is the one disease devoid of hope in the minds of the sufferers.
Depression is a national epidemic. Cases of major depression have risen by 33% since 2013. In the United States, there are over 16 million people who suffer from depression and that number is increasing at an alarming rate, especially among teenagers and Millennials where suicide has soared to an all-time high. The number of Americans taking antidepressants has skyrocketed too. Nearly 13% percent of Americans age 12 or older reported taking an antidepressant within the last month.
The use of antidepressants may do more harm than good for some people. Ironically, long-term use may make depression worse and increase the risk of suicide. Furthermore, antidepressants have also been found to increase the risk of dementia and cardiovascular disease. Because of the side effects of abrupt withdrawal, if you are currently taking an antidepressant, do NOT discontinue it without proper medical supervision.
Clearly, we need to take a new approach to the diagnosis and treatment of depression! The best place to start is to look for the underlying causes of depression. If you want to get better and bring happiness back into your life, you owe it to yourself to demand that your doctor order proper lab work to check for the following 10 root causes of depression:
- Hypothyroidism: Many people with depression have a thyroid hormone deficiency. If your doctor only checked your TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) level and told you that everything is fine, your doctor does not have all the facts. At best, TSH is a screening test for thyroid function and not a diagnostic test. To properly check your thyroid status, your doctor should check a Free T3 and Reverse T3 level. Furthermore, your doctor needs to know the difference between “normal” levels and “optimal” levels.
- Low testosterone: Suboptimal levels of testosterone are a major cause of depression in both men and women. Again, your doctor needs to know the difference between “normal” levels and “optimal” levels.
- Neurotransmitter imbalance: Neurotransmitters are powerful chemical messengers. They are used by the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves to relay information from one nerve cell to another and to facilitate communication amongst the body’s glands, organs, and muscles. Optimal neurotransmitter levels are crucial for good mental and physical health. When they are out of balance, it can lead to depression.
- Chronic inflammation: Chronic inflammation is a driver of almost every major disease, including depression. Numerous studies have documented increased levels of a variety of inflammatory biomarkers in depressed individuals, including hs-CRP, homocysteine, and fibrinogen.
- Hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia: Studies have shown that elevated blood glucose and insulin levels can damage the brain’s functional connectivity and eventually lead to depression. This includes not only elevated fasting glucose and insulin levels associated with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes. but also “high-normal” fasting levels of glucose and insulin, as well as excessive post-mealtime spikes in glucose and insulin, even when fasting levels are normal.
- Cancer: Psychiatric disorders are more prevalent in patients with cancer than in the general population. Many people experience anxiety or depression, or both, after a cancer diagnosis, but new research suggests that cancer cells can trigger depression. In such cases, depression can be an early symptom of a tumor, meaning it can show up before a cancer diagnosis.
- Adrenal dysfunction: Depression has been linked to disruptions to the body’s stress response system: the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This is a complex communication between the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, adrenal glands, and the resultant production of the hormone cortisol. Overproduction or underproduction of cortisol has been linked with depression.
- Nutrient deficiencies: Poor diet is a major cause of depression. The resultant nutritional deficiencies can wreak havoc on the brain. Low levels of folate, vitamin B12, vitamin D, magnesium, zinc, and vanadium (just to name a few) are associated with depression.
- Heavy-metal toxicity: Modern-day living exposes us to an abundance of toxic metals, most notably lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic. The heavy metals are highly toxic and have been linked to a variety of mood disorders, including depression. Due to their abundance and pervasiveness, these metals build up over time and become stored in the brain, liver, bone, and fatty tissue.
- Leaky-gut syndrome: Modern-day living also exposes us to a host of man-made chemicals that can damage the gut lining. Leaky gut syndrome—also known as intestinal hyperpermeability—is a condition leading to a group of symptoms that occur when the lining of the small intestine becomes damaged, causing undigested food particles, bacteria, and toxic waste products to “leak” through the intestinal lining and into the bloodstream. Leaky gut is a major underlying cause of chronic disease. It is a dangerous and hidden source of illness (including depression) that medical science is only beginning to realize.
Depression is a problem worth solving, especially since recent medical studies are showing that it may lead to faster brain aging and be the first symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. In other words, on the spectrum of dementia, depression may, in fact, be “pre-Alzheimer’s” and not a separate disease. And simply treating depression but not reversing it, you may run the risk of depression progressing to full-blown Alzheimer’s.
Once the underlying causes of depression have been carefully uncovered, intelligent, logical, and targeted treatment can commence, and true healing can begin. In my expert medical opinion, it is unacceptable for a doctor to prescribe an antidepressant without first doing the proper detective work. If you or someone you love suffers from depression and would like our help, please contact our office.
