It’s Not Depression…It’s Stress!

 

I am amazed at the number of clients that I see who are prescribed anti-depressants these days. I have only been in practice for 6 years, but I have seen these drugs used excessively to treat everything from PMS to stress.

The major problem with these medications is there are no long-term studies on the impact these drugs have on the body. Don’t forget that these medications have side effect profiles that rival the novel “War and Peace.

Aside from the litany of side effects, anti-depressants typically don’t treat the actual problem. And what I’m finding is that it’s not depression…it’s stress.

Sure, there are people out there that undeniably suffer from depression. But most are struggling with overwhelming stress. It is well accepted that 90% of doctor visits today are due to stress or some stress-related condition.

Let’s look at physiology to see how stress affects the body.

Our stress response is a protective mechanism. It is our body’s way to help us run from that tiger or turn and fight that tiger. It is our fight or flight response. Therein lies part of the problem.

We aren’t running from any tigers, at least not on this continent. But our stress level is constant and higher than ever…bills, economy, family. From the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep, we are under stress. The body doesn’t know the differences between types of stress — whether tiger chase or financial pressure — it just responds to the stress.

We cannot discount the impact of stress on the body. The stress response comes from our adrenal glands. Epinephrine, norepinephrine, cortisol, and DHEA are the main components of the stress response. Under intense stress, our body releases norepinephrine and epinephrine. These neurotransmitters stimulate cortisol and DHEA release from the adrenal glands. This results in dilated pupils, fast heart rate, edginess…all physical manifestations of the fight or flight response.

It doesn’t stop there. That same long-term elevated cortisol will cause a depletion of the stimulators norepinephrine and an inverse drop in the serotonin levels. And THAT is the cause of depression.

The extended exposure to stress is the problem. And the band-aid solution of treating with anti-depressants is not a good solution.

The alternative? As a metabolic specialist, my approach is to support the the body’s stress response with a customized prescription of vitamins, minerals, bioidentical hormones, amino acids first. Then, we develop a healthy living plan that will help reduce stress and restore the body to normal function so that it is no longer non-functional from extended periods of stress overload.

While exercise and proper nutrition go a long way, the long-term affects of a stress-filled life require customized medical care to reverse their effects. And that’s what we do here at Seasons Wellness Clinic – customized wellness.

Cheers to the pursuit of wellness!

Related articles

• Cortisol and Stress: How Cortisol Affects Your Body, and How To Stay Healthy in the Face of Stress (stress.about.com)
• Stress (room4truth.com)
• Describing the Function of Adrenal Glands: A Study Guide (brighthub.com)

From the Doctor’s Desk: Salivary Hormone Testing Backed by Science

Testing hormones through saliva is backed by science. But don’t take my word for it. In fact, it is well supported in the medical literature and is the right thing to do.  Below are links to several abstracts regarding salivary hormone testing. Read them for yourself and learn about the science behind this form of hormone testing.

• Belkien LD, Bordt J, Moller P, Hano R, Nieschlag E. Estradiol in saliva for monitoring follicular stimulation in an in vitro fertilization program. Fertil Steril 1985;44:322.
• Bolaji II, Tallon DF, O’Dwyer E, Fottrell PF. Assessment of bioavailability of oral micronized progesterone using a salivary progesterone enzymeimmunoassay. Gynecol Endocrinol 1993;7:101-110.
• Campbell BC, Ellison PT. Menstrual variation in salivary testosterone among regularly cycling women. Horm Res 1992;37:132-136.
• Aardal-Eriksson E, Karlberg BE, Holm AC. Salivary cortisol- and alternative to serum cortisol determinations in dynamic function tests. Clin Chem Lab Med 1998;36:215-222.

These articles are published in well-respected journals; and if you notice, they are not recent.  Salivary testing of hormones has been well published in the medical literature for some time now.

Here are a few quotes from these studies:

• “…salivary cortisol may be used as an alternative parameter in dynamic endocrine tests.”
• “…assessment of ovarian function…can be performed precisely with the saliva estradiol assay.”
• “…saliva collection has provided the medical and research community with an excellent medium for the monitoring of plasma steroid levels.”

Nowhere else in medicine do we blindly treat people without assessing a baseline and post treatment level(s). Balance is the key; not one individual hormone. Unfortunately, the medical field is very slow to learn and change.

Hormone Symphony

Have you ever heard a great symphony play under a great conductor in a great symphony hall? I have. The music is beautiful.

Of course, it doesn’t matter how good the conductor is or how good the acoustics are—if the orchestra is not good. If the symphony’s tempo is off, or the pitch, or the key, or the volume, then it doesn’t even matter who wrote the music. Beethoven, Mozart, or Bach will just sound like noise to the audience.

Symphony comes from a Greek word meaning “agreement or concord of sound.”

Your hormones are like a symphony. When everything works together, then and only then can you appreciate the beauty of the music.

When your hormones are out of balance, your body will experience symptoms that wreck the music—hot flashes, mood swings, weight gain. Like a symphony, your hormonal balance is more complicated than any individual part. It is not just about your estrogen and thyroid as many would have you believe. Your hormonal symphony requires the balance of all hormones: all estrogen types, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, cortisol, thyroid, and melatonin. One hormone out of balance can start a ripple effect that results in total hormonal imbalance.

When your hormones are not balanced, your body feels like a bad symphony, just making noise. However, when all hormones are balanced, your body can make beautiful music. If we reduce your diagnosis to estrogen problems or thyroid problems only, we will miss the mark. When we evaluate and treat your hormones as a whole system, your body can be a symphony.

From The Doctor’s Desk: Stress Is a Doorway to Disease

Seasons has hosted, on several occasions, Dr. Eldred Taylor, an international expert in bioidentical hormones. During his speaking engagements here in Ruston, he talked with men and women about lots of exciting ways to help manage their health. Dr. Taylor is a talented teacher, and I want to share the way he taught our patients about stress and hormones.

Stress elicits a hormonal response, he explained. In fact, 75%-90% of all primary care doctor related visits can be directly attributed to stress according to the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. It makes sense. When you are stressed, you are more prone to illness. That’s one effect of hormones, specifically cortisol.

Stress is a doorway to disease if it’s not treated and corrected.

Here’s what I mean by that. In nature, a zebra or horse running from a predator has acute stress response. Does the stress have a negative effect on the animal’s body? Sure. But the animal is running for its life. Either one of two things happen. The animal will get away, and the stress will end. Or the animal will die… and the stress will end. Either way, the animal is not going to suffer from constant stress.

But in contemporary society, many of us suffer from constant stress. When we experience stress, we too have a surge of hormones to help us fight or run away. You’ve heard of fight or flight. When we are running from a predator, everything works fine. The hormones activated by stress pump us full of energy, and we escape the predator. Or kill it.

But in contemporary society, sometimes we can’t kill our predators or run away from them. Sometimes our predators are coworkers or bosses. We don’t get along with these people, or perhaps we are intensely competitive, and it causes stress. Only we can’t escape these predators in the same way that a zebra can escape a lion. We have to fight with that coworker or boss every day. We experience the stress every day. Our bodies weren’t designed to handle this kind of chronic stress.

That’s why it’s so important to relax. Learn to control what you can. Learn to let go of the rest. I highly recommend things like aroma therapy and massages for relaxation. That’s why Seasons has developed a medical spa—because we want to do more than just help people who are not well. We want to help prevent people from getting sick in the first place.

Stress management is a good place to start.

What symptoms indicate hormone imbalance?

The symptoms of low estrogen include…

• hot flashes
• night sweats
• vaginal dryness
• urinary frequency
• depressed feeling
• sleeping difficulty
• no interest in sex
• no periods

The symptoms of low testosterone include…

• fatigue
• lack of drive
• lack of initiative
• less assertive
• decline in sense of well being
• general depressed moods
• irritable
• lack of self-confidence
• difficulty in setting goals
• decline in mental sharpness
• no stamina/endurance
• loss of muscle mass, strength, or tone
• increased body fat around waist
• elevated cholesterol
• decreased libido
• decreased sexual ability
• sleep apnea

The symptoms of low thyroid include…

• general fatigue or afternoon fatigue
• elevated cholesterol
• difficulty losing weight
• cold hands and feet
• sensitivity to cold
• difficulty thinking clearly
• difficulty concentrating
• poor short term memory
• depressed moods
• hair loss
• constipation
• dry, itchy skin
• fluid retention
• recurrent headaches
• restless sleep
• tingling or numbness in hands and feet
• decreased sweating
• infertility or recurrent miscarriages
• recurrent infections
• muscles aches
• joint pain
• thinning of eyebrows and eyelashes
• enlargement of tongue and teeth indentations
• decreased body hair
• hoarse voice
• slow heart rate
• low blood pressure
• low body temperature
• sleep apnea

The symptoms of high estrogen/low progesterone include…

• premenstrual breast tenderness
• premenstrual mood swings
• premenstrual fluid retention and/or weight gain
• migraine headaches
• severe menstrual cramps
• heavy periods with clotting
• irregular menstrual cycles
• uterine fibroids
• fibrocystic breasts
• endometriosis
• history of infertility
• history of miscarriages
• joint pain
• muscle pain
• decreased libido
• anxiety and/or panic attacks