Posted by MissThang on February 15, 2013, at 6:30:23 [reposted on February 15, 2013, at 10:44:41 | original URL]
In reply to Re: My depression: Cured » MissThang, posted by ihatedrugs on February 15, 2013, at 4:26:05
IHateDrugs -- I was already off the drugs before I discovered the whole food intolerance issue. But I was off them primarily because they had stopped working and by the time I quit, I couldn't really tell any difference. I wasn't on an SSRI, though, and I know those and drugs like Effexor give you withdrawels. My primary drug was Wellbutrin (well, wellbutrin, abilify, provigil, xanax, ambien and hydro-cortisone for the cortisol issue). If I had been taking something that helped, I probably would have stayed on it while I started working on the food issue.
Testing for food intolerances is tricky, because if they're due to leaky gut (which is the most common cause) they can change over time so while you may have tested fine for, say, cashews when you took the test, a month later they're causing issues for you. But if your insurance covers them, they might be a good starting point.
I would highly recommend reading the book called GAPS: Gut and Psychology Syndrome, by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride. Her approach has helped many people heal their leaky guts and, more importantly, get rid of the symptoms caused by those food intolerances. There's a very active yahoo group surrounding this book.
The thing I've learned that has been both frustrating and empowering is that my body is unique to me, so I don't follow any one expert's advice 100%. For example, the GAPS approach is to omit all grains initially and include veggies and fruit...not a bad approach and works for many. However, when my digestive tract was really torn up, fruits were really hard on me and plain rice was much easier to digest. But the basis of her work is still very solid and she goes into great depth explaining how/why the various symptoms occur as a result of impaired digestive abilities.
And please keep this in mind: if you decide to follow her approach, it is a long term plan, but it is only temporary, meaning the ultimate goal of the plan is to enable you to eat pretty much everything without problem...but it will likely take a year or two to get there. They also have a Facebook group and there are lots of encouraging stories posted there.
One last thing -- about the time my depression first reared its ugly head was also when my skin became red. Doctors told me I had rosacea, but I was actually just very inflamed from food reactions. The relationship between digestive health and skin health has been studied and clearly exists, so it doesn't surprise me that when you removed the primary allergen your daughter was ingesting that her skin cleared up. Imagine how many people you know that have put everything in the world on their skin trying to get it to clear up when they could have just removed an offending food to do so. But, of course, doctors assure us that what we eat has no bearing on skin health...yah, right.
Good luck!
poster:MissThang
thread:1038126
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20120530/msgs/1038140.html