Anxiety And Depression

[sladerunner69]

Hi all,

I have been following Dr. Peat's dietary and health advice closely for about 18 months now. At first it seemed to work very well, and helped me recover from medication side effects I had been suffering from for years. I was seeing relatively quick improvement and feeling more energy through peating. Then, about a month ago, I started getting severe panic attacks. I've had a few so far, my heart starts to beat very fast, I will have to breath heavy and it can last for hours until my lungs and chest are acheing badly. When I wake up the next day my lungs are quite sore. The panic attacks seem to happen after using many of Peat's metabolic recommendations, such as eating lots of sugar + coffee+aspirin+bright light+bag breathing. Just a couple of these recommendations are enough to get my heart beating fast, using all of them is almost certainly grounds for a massive panic attack.

After easing up on the bright light, stopping caffeine, switching from sugar to starches and now consuming vegetables regularly, I feel much more at ease. I don't have loads of energy and a mind that's constantly jumping from one thought to the next with little coherence. I also feel much more in tune with the world and people around me, and am generally happier.

Now I don't want to say consuming sugar and having a good metabolism is one step away from dementia/psychotic break, but I will say that Im not sure Peating is great for those with mental health peculiarities or low testosterone. A high metabolic rate, especially one being pushed into supraphysiological levels through Peat's biochemical shortcuts, may run in tandem with anxiety. The human organism-at least not all of our's- may not be designed to run at a super-high bmr.

Does anyone else feel like increasing their metabolic rate has made them quicker/smarter, more anxious, more depressed, given them chest pain? These are all things I don't mentioned on these forums very often, and I have really been struggling to grasp why they have been troubling me.

Also, My metabolic rate may have been inherently increased due to taking tribulus terrestris, in an attempt to increase my androgenic sensitivity (androgen insensitivity is one of my problems). This herb didn't do much but make my heart race, make my lungs and chest hurt to the point I thought I would need to visit the hospital or that I would simply die. I woke up the next morning feeling marginally better libido/motivation so apparently it does work, albeit not worth the pain.

Any insight would be appreciated, thanks.


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[tara]

Hi slade,
Just realised this is sitting here with no responses. You may have moved on from here by now.

I have been following Dr. Peat's dietary and health advice closely for about 18 months now.

Do you mean you've received direct detailed advice from Dr Peat yourself, or that you've been going by some general guidelines from his articles and/or this site? There seem to be many variants of how people use these ideas so it's hard to know what you are doing from this. Have you been designing a theoretically good diet, and then sticking to it, or have you been taking your tastes and desires for food into account? What about fluids and salt?

At first it seemed to work very well, and helped me recover from medication side effects I had been suffering from for years. I was seeing relatively quick improvement and feeling more energy through peating. Then, about a month ago, I started getting severe panic attacks. I've had a few so far, my heart starts to beat very fast, I will have to breath heavy and it can last for hours until my lungs and chest are acheing badly. When I wake up the next day my lungs are quite sore. The panic attacks seem to happen after using many of Peat's metabolic recommendations, such as eating lots of sugar + coffee+aspirin+bright light+bag breathing. Just a couple of these recommendations are enough to get my heart beating fast, using all of them is almost certainly grounds for a massive panic attack.

This doesn't sound like much fun. Did the worst of the fast heartbeat/panic/heavy breathing/sore chest issues resolve when you stopped the tribulus terrestris? All good now?
Otherwise, a couple of thoughts come to mind.

Any increase in metabolic rate increases the demand for various nutrients, and can lead to deficiency problems if the supply isn't keeping up. Once things are have been out of balance for a while, there may be higher than normal needs for some nutrients. Are you getting generous amounts of protein and vitamins and minerals along with the sugars and metabolic enhancers? B vitamins? all the alkaline minerals?

Also, if you are using substances specifically to increase metabolism, it may take a bit of tweaking to find the sweet spots for you, and they may change over time. Eg I can only manage very small amounts of caffeine at the moment or things get out of whack for me, so I am drinking decaf coffee, whereas some people seem to benefit from several strong coffees a day. Heavy breathing can be triggered by high adrenaline, and once it is underway it can get into a vicious cycle. For people prone to panic attacks (or in my case, migraines) apparently they can sometimes be triggered by raising CO2 levels too suddenly, eg intensive bag-breathing). Coffee and aspirin are supplements, and if you can get your metabolism humming along nicely by meeting nutritional needs, calming breathing, and getting a good amount of light, I don't see much point in adding caffeine etc to push it further.

If you've got your metabolism up to speed, and are meeting nutritional needs generously, you're giving yourself a good chance for things to sort themselves out - may be worth giving that a chance for a while before adding in other powerful herbs.

I don't read Peat as recommending going overboard - his idea of euthyroid is slightly higher than the common medical model (eg 99 deg F, hr ~80, TSH <1), but he's not saying the higher the better.

Did you monitor your temperature during the distressing period? Was it high enough to confirm a high metabolic rate? Warm extremities etc? Digestion good? I haven't really understood the symptoms of hyperthyroid states, so I can't tell if your picture fits that, or if it is just stressed and still low thyroid. Maybe someone else can tell?
Don't suppose you monitored UpH at all? Someone found where Peat said 24hr UpH should be c. 6.3-6.7. If you are way outside this it can have effects on lots of things, including I think breathing.
Did you get all the troubling symptoms before you tried the tribulus terrestris?

I think Peat has said that some people experience a temporary increase in sensitivity to adrenaline when thyroid hormones are raised after being suppressed. There are people here who say they think this has happened for them. I think this may apply either with thyroid supps or other thyroid stimulating practices.

It does seem that people vary quite a lot in what they need to feel good. Some people say they do better with very low fat, others say they need more fat to feel well. Some people seem to feel better with some starch in their diet, others say they do better avoiding it completely.

After easing up on the bright light, stopping caffeine, switching from sugar to starches and now consuming vegetables regularly, I feel much more at ease. I don't have loads of energy and a mind that's constantly jumping from one thought to the next with little coherence. I also feel much more in tune with the world and people around me, and am generally happier.

Glad you've found a way to feel better.

 

[mujuro]

This happened to me, however my circumstances are specific to underlying mental illness. Things improved out of sight initially, but the honeymoon period didn't last long. The vigorous energy turned into an ever-present, uneasy tension. My affairs seemed worse, my catastrophizing and learned helplessness came back. Then it quickly snowballed into depressive anxiety. I had tried every kinda of nutraceutical approach prior to Peat guidelines, and for a few weeks during that blissful phase I thought Peat was my answer. I was diagnosed bipolar years ago. I finally relented and began taking medication under psychiatrist's orders, after nearly 2 years off (the worst in my life). Things eased back into balance - food sensitivities disappeared, hair stopped falling out, I slept better, more energy, more positivity, no more IBS symptoms. But there was one medication that turned all the anxiety and depression off like a light switch - nortriptyline. I had it lying around and I just decided to see what it was like. I mentioned in another thread how the tricyclics possess the ability to restore sensitivity in glucocorticoid signalling in the brain, thus restoring balance to the HPA axis. From what I have read they also work better in males.

My latest bloods revealed that Peat eating had helped me in other ways - brought my cholesterol into range, raised my iron, improved vitamin D status, lowered my PTH and TSH. I think in some cases our physiology is so fundamentally different that standard nutrition and supplementation short of mega dosing just won't be enough to seal the deal.

 

[DaveFoster]

I feel better with more protein and fat. 150 - 200 g protein, and 100 g+ fat. Starch is zero.

 

[sladerunner69]

i am feeling better recently, I thimk androgens qere my main issue and lack of androgens was