Depression And Fatigue

[Nick Ireland]

Just from my own experience:

I have found that 'over methylating' will throw me into a depressive state very fast. I can do this with too much TMG and Metafolin, but recover in hours as their plasma levels fall. You may be an undermethylator dogged by histamine (which lowers neurotransmitters ) and taking some methyl b12 and folate will get that methylation going, but you have to tinker about to find the right levels. A dude called Freddd on a few forums is an amazing authority on this!

The kind of depression you describe sounds like a possible deficit of brain norepinephrine. Classic symptoms are depression and fatigue and un refreshed sleep (norepinephrine is involved in sleep architecture like dopamine). Tyrosine with vitamin C might be a way to test this - in volume combination of a gram or two each they produce dopamine and convert it to norepinephrine. Something also to consider is ADD and ADHD. So many adults have this and don't realise until it creates a major depressive episode. Ritalin works by raising dopamine and norepinephrine in a specific area of the brain. It has been shown to cure depression in a subset of non responders who met ADD criteria. NAC or n acetyl cysteine has shown major promise in this area by increasing glutathione metabolism and lowering toxic glutamate in the brain. Glutamate uses up folate rapidly, causing a deficiency with serious consequences. Whey protein is a classic destroyer of folate and promoter of glutamate toxicity. It can take a while to get over the damage, and replete the lost folate levels.

What you may find is that depression is 'a perfect storm'. A number of factors have come together, sometimes over years, to unite and overwhelm your body's adaptive and coping mechanisms. Addressing a few culprits like endotoxin, methyl groups, neurotransmitters, metabolism and hormones could ease the burden whilst searching for the big smoking gun. Personally, I have found methyl b12 amazing for energy and mood brightening effect and realised I must have needed it for a long time. Coffee and dark chocolate might be a handy test with their dopamine, PEA and norepinephrine promoting qualities.

 

[iLoveSugar]

Sorry guys, I have been so fatigued and 'down', that trying to reply has becoming so overwhelming. I'll reply on the other thread I recently started. Life isn't real great right now.

 

[Samurai Drive]

I don't know if anyone has asked you this before, but have you had a continuous test of your stress hormones? Particularly, cortisol and adrenalin? There is a method of measuring 24h variation of the change in the stress response. If you have exaggeratedly high stress response, your digestive system simply will not work no matter what food you eat and how Peaty it is. Simply put, as long as cortisol is high beyond a certain point you will NOT digest food but will rather continue to break down muscle tissue and convert it into glucose. To make matters worse, under high cortisol conditions whatever food you do eat may stress you even more since the body will work harder to get rid of the "toxins", which is what it will perceive food to be under stress.
If your stress hormones are chronically high and show little change over a 24h period then it is probably time to talk to your doctors about medication that blocks both adrenalin and cortisol. Blocking both hormones can be dangerous and should only be done under doctor supervision, but if the stress hormones turn out to be the problem then the medication is a possible solution and can be done fairly quickly, normalizing digestion in as quickly as one week.
Not that I am suggesting it, but I also know of people who were starved/stressed for a long time and had to be sedated to control the stress response and fed IV for several days before things can normalize for them to eat on their own. One of the most significant effects of the chronic and high stress response is hyponatremia caused by deranged renin-aldosterone system. That system for some people can be so deranged that only IV sodium can bring levels back to normal and has to be done slowly over a period of several days to avoid brain damage. Without sodium, you will also not be able to absorb magnesium and that will simply prevent normal function of digestion and nervous system.
Anyways, just throwing things out there.

Thats what happening here man, food just aint digestin, thinking carrot and doxy for a few days ._

 

[Samurai Drive]

Feeling pretty hopeless right now. Extremely depressed and tired all day. I talked with RP about diet for a little while, and I went on a pure milk/sugar/salt diet. I am not blaming this, because I felt this way before.

Very desperate right now as life all but sucks


1) Very faint all day and wobbly
2) Very fatigued, even after 10 hours of sleep per night.
3) Depressed about feeling like I will NEVER get better

Any update pls? Im stuck in simular situation ._

 

[MrSmart]

Try a heavy course of lipophilic antibiotics and aspirin.

I would also recommend salmon, but it's looked down upon here.