Feeling Sad… Call a Gastrointestinal Specialist

Ever just have the blues and can’t figure out why? You may not want to. Dr. Joyce Frye, of the Center for Integrative Medicine at The University of Maryland, says depression can be a good thing. Instead of pumping your body full of synthetic medications to treat mood disorders, this article suggest taking a more natural and unconventional path. By looking at depression as kind of an adaptive mechanism, this study uses previous research of brain chemistry to develop new ways to revive your mood.  Accepted as known fact, mood is affected by neurotransmitters in the brain which are chemicals that control signaling. Serotonin is one of the most important of these chemicals which affects mood and is also related to memory, sexual functioning, ability to learn and social behavior. Most anti-depressant medications actually focus on the imbalance of serotonin and are referred to as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, which include Paxil, Effexor, Prozac, Lexapro, Luvox and Celexa. The function of these is to either help with the production of serotonin or help the body use it properly. So besides popping pills, what can be done? Serotonin is largely created and produced in the gastrointestinal tract and doctors are focusing on this in order to treat depression. Dr. Eric Born, of Parchment Family Practice, in Parchment, Mich. is a medical doctor who has specializes in natural treatment methods. Doctors like him are using are a combination of cleaning the gut (removing toxins, parasites, yeast, and other bacteria), improving the diet, rebuilding good bacteria in the GI tract (like Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobactrium lactis), and repairing any damage done to the intestine. This all may sound pretty complicated, but the article suggests that handling mood disorder can be as simple as maintaining proper “gut” health. Other tips that are given are good stress management, eating healthy and not skipping meals, getting enough sunshine, and ensuring a proper night of sleep. However, this isn’t a perfect world and the majority of people don’t have time to abide by these rules so it didn’t surprise me to see that about 20.9 million Americans are affected by some form of mood disorder and that they are the leading cause of disability from ages 25 to 44. I like this article because it offers an alternative treatment for mental disorders that doesn’t involve man-made medications and even though my paycheck is directly linked to America’s drug-dependence, I prefer homeopathic methods. And although I’m not someone who dreads a doctor’s visit or googles all natural alternatives to synthetic treatments, I definitely wouldn’t mind trying grandma’s remedies first.