Depression

As a kid I was on several courses of antibiotics and right after that I suffered from hives and herpes zoaster when I was only 12.At the age of 17 I suffered the first real episode of depression.And when i was 18 I started medication with no success.Depression was on and off; for weeks I felt just fine and then It was coming back out of the blue.2 years ago after a short course of broad-spectrum antibiotics I faced the most horrible episode of depression and anxiety.Before that i was depression free for over a year.Recurring constipation,cystic acne,recurring migraim-like headaches and difficulty to gain weight are my other health issues.Do u think they are candida related or not.There is no history of depression in my family.
Thanx


At the very basic level, our body is all about chemistry. Digestion, respiration, central and peripheral nervous system and the endocrine system all function based on chemistry. In order to function properly, the body requires aa huge variety of molecules and trace elements. With the exception of Oxygen, all other chemicals are provided by the food that we eat. Our digestive system is responsible for converting that food into forms the body can utilize, while ridding the body of metabolic waste products and harmful toxins.

The digestive system is based on a series of chemical compounds and enzymes (proteins) that break down the chemical bonds in food so that the more basic building blocks of carbohydrates, fats, amino acids, vitamins and minerals can be absorbed and utilized by our metabolism to provide energy, build new proteins, repair cells etc. Certain vitamins and trace elements present in food cannot be absorbed directly and need to be converted into other forms before they can pass through the intestinal walls. This conversion is most commonly carried out by bacteria in the gut. The various bacterias' own metabolism acts on the vitamins and minerals, appending organic molecules which changes the solubility of the compounds and allows them to pass through the intestine and into the blood stream. These symbiotic bacteria have a further function of protecting the intestine from pathogenic bacteria and yeast

When a pathological state exists, this finely balanced symbiosis may be damaged and cease to function normally. Several different states in the gut may exist. Symbiotic bacteria may be damaged, causing the malabsorbtion of critical vitamins and minerals.
If the damage is extensive and/or long lasting, pathogenic yeast and gram negative bacilli will begin to fill the vacuum left by the healthy bacteria. The metabolism of these pathogens is different and foods are no longer broken down in the same way. Proteins that previously would be broken down to their constituent amino acids are only partially digested, leaving long chains of amino acids called peptides. Our entire body is built from proteins, which are themselves built from chains of peptides. Certain peptides are extremely bioactive i.e they interact strongly with other proteins in the body. Another side effects of dysbiosis (incorrect gut microorganisms) is that the gut becomes leaky i.e it passes larger molecules than would normally be the case. Thus peptides, which should normally be broken down to amino acids, leave the gut and enter the blood stream intact, where they are delivered to other organs. Casein and Gluten, a protein and mixture of proteins common in many foods break down to form very potent opio-peptides when acted on by certain pathogenic bacteria. As the name suggests, these peptides have a narcotic action and act on opiate receptors in the brain, triggering major changes in brain function.

These are only 2 examples and very little work has been done on identifying the structure and function of peptides created by dysbiosis.

The above example is a nice illustration of how the presence of gut dysbiosis can directly effect brain function. Given that depression has its roots in biochemistry, its not too wildly imaginative to suppose that your problems are indeed related to gut dysbiosis.


Very well explained, What a pity there is almost no research on this endemic condition ...It's true to say that with dysbiosis it has a knock on effect ..A cascade of symptoms ensue ,,the metabolites of yeast are incredibly toxic, add those to the mix and the situation becomes more complex. One such complication is, those with poor gut flora an reduced ability to metabolise metals. ..Well at least in this mouse model ...If this is true with us it answers the question of the inability of Autistic children and many yeast victims to metabolise metals efficiently.


Detoxification is hugely impacted by dysbiosis.

Detoxification is, to a large extent carried out by the Liver. Toxic compounds are first oxidized or hydroxylated (Stage I), while Stage II reactions prepare the Stage I metabolites for biliary excretion by covalently conjugating them with highly polar ligands like glucuronic acid or glutathione. These detoxification reactions require vitamin and trace elemental co-factors to provide electrons for chemical bonding. In cases of Dysbiosis, these co-factors may be missing, due to malabsorbtion in the intestine. In addition, the pathogenic bacteria in the gut may metabolize the conjugated toxins, changing their form and allowing them to be reabsorbed into the blood stream.

Mercury is usually excreted via the gut in its divalent elemental form. In Dysbiosis it is thought that certain pathogenic bacteria have the ability to methylate the metallic Mercury to its organic form, which would be reabsorbed into the blood stream and carried to target organs like the kidneys and brain.


Good explanation , appreciate it ..In simple terms metabolic pathways are decommissioned by pathogenic flora ..The long held belief that spillage if you like, from mercury in amalgam teeth fillings is the cause of accumulated mercury in the body is completely wrong It's the bodies inability to metabolise and excrete mercury because of inappropriate gut flora.


Hi,
Bear in mind that the Mercury has to come from somewhere. No exposure.... nothing to excrete. Dysbiosis impairs the detoxification mechanism but there still needs to be a source of Mercury for there to be a problem.

Dental amalgam is a proven source of mercury toxicity. Dysbiosis compounds the problem by impairing the detoxification system

BTW, Mercury is strongly anti-microbial so there's even the possibility that excreting high levels of Mercury may cause dysbiosis


Yes , but the point I'm making is that we all encounter mercury/metals from the environment ,be it from amalgams or pesticides or whatever ..In the normal course of events we deal with the amount we encounter ..Now take away the metabolic pathway and the amounts of metals accumulate ..How we deal with metals [as you point out] is like a biological symphony genes express in sequence Genes control enzyme production. The more genes are activated, the higher the production capacity of certain enzymes Food can trigger gene activation [expression] and of course gut flora so the appropriate gut flora is vitally important.


Correct. However, the presence of dental amalgams may actually cause dysbiosis in the first place so dental amalgams may well act as 'a' trigger into a downward spiral of illness.

The long held belief that spillage from mercury in amalgam teeth fillings is the cause of accumulated mercury in the body is probably correct, in that Mercury has the ability to damage the gut flora and potentially trigger the inability to metabolise and excrete mercury.

Your point that anything else that damages the gut flora can trigger mercury accumulation is also in all likelihood correct.
In summary, dental amalgams may trigger the illness or simply act a source of Mercury when something else like antibiotics damages the gut flora and sets off the downward spiral


It�s certainly a possibility ,but it�s clear that the metal toxicity that Autistic children [there are not many autistic adults] experience stems from inappropriate gut flora. .They haven�t been around long enough to have dental amalgams


I learned something new today.It's very sad that most drs never relate such disorderes to gut problems.A large number of people nowadays are labled as depressed and ...,but they never get to the root of the problem,they cant even imagine that their mental state can the result of their gut condition.And when they learn it they just dont know how to alter the condition.
Thanx for the reply


Almost certainly your depression is linked to infection ...Yeast is the catalyst for bacterial infections ,the resultant yeast dominant gut dysbiosis is the reservoir for systemic infections
This latest research tells the story.

Bacteria, viruses and parasites may cause mental illnesses like depression
and perhaps even autism and anorexia

By Janet Ginsburg

Newsweek International

Dec. 1 issue - Olga Skipko has had the good fortune to live most of her
adult life in the Polish village of Gruszki, in the heart of the Puszcza
Bialowieska, one of Europe's most beautiful forests and home to wolves,
lynxes and the endangered European bison. Unfortunately, the forest is also
a breeding ground for disease-carrying ticks. Skipko, 49, thinks she was
bitten about 10 years ago, when she began having the classic symptoms of
Lyme borreliosis, a tickborne nervous-system disease: headaches and aching
joints. She didn't get treatment until 1998. "I was treated with antibiotics
and felt a bit better," she says.

That was only the beginning of her troubles. A few years later, she began to
forget things and her speaking grew labored. It got so bad that she had to
quit her job in a nursery forest and check herself in to a psychiatric
clinic. "I hope they will help me," she says. "I promised my children that
when I come back home, I will be able to do my favorite crosswords again."
Doctors ran a battery of tests and concluded that her mental problems were
the advanced stage of the Lyme disease she had contracted years ago.

Scientists have long known that some diseases can cause behavioral problems.
When penicillin was first used to treat syphilis, thousands of cured
schizophrenics were released from mental asylums. Now, however, scientists
have evidence that infections may play a far bigger role in mental illness
than previously thought. They've linked cases of obsessive-compulsive
disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia to a variety of infectious
agents, and they're investigating autism, Tourette's and anorexia as well.
They're beginning to suspect that bad bugs may cause a great many other
mental disorders, too. "The irony is that people talked about syphilis as
the 'great imitator'," says University of Louisville biologist Paul Ewald,
"but it may be the 'great illustrator'-a model for understanding the causes
of chronic diseases."

Mental illnesses constitute a large and growing portion of the world's
health problems. According to the World Health Organization, depression is
one of the most debilitating of diseases, on a par with paraplegia.
Psychiatric illnesses make up more than 10 percent of the world's "disease
burden" (a measure of how debilitating a disease is), and are expected to
increase to 15 percent by 2020. Much of this may be the work of viruses,
bacteria and parasites. Psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, of the Stanley
Medical Research Institute in Maryland, has found from studying historical
asylum records that hot spots-higher-than-normal incidences-of mental
illness can shift, much like infectious-disease outbreaks, which lends
credence to the notion that infectious agents play a big role. "Mental
disorders are the major chronic recurrent disorders of youth in all
developed countries," says Harvard policy expert Ronald Kessler, who directs
the WHO's mental-health surveys.

Perhaps the most well known disease that's been linked to mental disorders
is Lyme disease, which is caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi germ. First
identified in the mid-1970s among children near Lyme, Connecticut, the
disease has long been known to cause nervous-system problems and achy joints
if left untreated. Now scientists are finding that Lyme disease can also
trigger a whole smorgasbord of psychiatric symptoms, including depression.
One New York man (we'll call him Joe) found out firsthand how debilitating
the disease can be. When he began having bouts of major depression back in
1992, he had forgotten all about the tick bite he had gotten four years
earlier. He spent two years in a blur of antipsychotic drugs, mental
institutions, jails and suicide attempts. On a hunch, a doctor at a
psychiatric hospital in New Jersey had Joe tested for Lyme disease. After an
intensive course of antibiotics, Joe's improvement was dramatic and
immediate. "I started to have this fog lift," he recalls. Still, he will
probably have to be on psychotropic drugs for the rest of his life.

Some psychiatrists fret that there may be thousands of people suffering from
Lyme-induced depression without knowing why. Not only is Lyme disease tricky
to diagnose-not everybody gets the circular rash, and lab tests still aren't
wholly reliable-it can take a decade or more for mental disorders to set in.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says that nine out of 10 cases of Lyme
diseases remain unreported. There are 15 species of borellias-making them
the most common tickborne disease-producing bacteria in the world.

For its part, the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which can be found in
undercooked meat and cat feces, can lead to full-blown psychotic episodes.
Some studies suggest that the parasite stimulates the production of a
chemical similar to LSD, producing hallucinations and psychosis. Even when
the parasite lies dormant in muscle and brain tissue, it can affect
attention span and reaction time in otherwise healthy people. Researchers at
Charles University in Prague have discovered that people who test positive
have slightly slower-than-average reaction times and-possibly as a
result-are almost three times as likely to have car accidents. That's a
disturbing prospect, considering that the disease is so widespread: billions
of people are thought to be infected.

Even a simple sore throat can lead to psychiatric problems. Few children
avoid coming down with a streptococcus infection, also known as strep.
Scientists now think that one in 1,000 strep sufferers also develops
abrupt-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in a matter of weeks. Strep
bacteria trigger OCD by igniting an overzealous response from the immune
system, which attacks certain types of brain cells, causing inflammation.
Symptoms generally die down after a few months but can flare up again,
especially if there's another bout of strep, says Susan Swedo, a
childhood-disease expert at the National Institutes of Health. The most
effective treatment, still experimental, is to filter out the misbehaving
antibodies from the blood. Best is to treat strep early on.

The specter of a depression germ or contagious obsessive-compulsive disorder
is unnerving, but it also opens up many more treatment options-antibiotics,
vaccines, checking for ticks. Geneticists believe that diseases may trigger
the onset of inherited mental illnesses by activating key genes. Avoiding
and treating infection may be just as important as the genes you inherit,
and a whole lot easier to do something about.

With Joanna Kowalska In Warsaw
� 2006 Newsweek, Inc.


Thanx alot for ur comment.The problem is that I dont have too many candida related symptoms.most of my symptoms are mental,I have no thrush ,no ringworm,no athlete foot,thats why when i talk to my GP about the possibility of candida overgrowth he ignores me.Im a bit confused and ofcourse hopeless.A sudden onset of an old resolved depression and axiety after a short course of Erythromycin led me to this forum


It's a very informative site ,thanks.I dont know where to start.Actually i started the diet 6 months ago and i take GSE and a low dosage of probiotics but i havent made any big improvement yet;its scary i never knew probiotics may not be much of help according to medical reseacrh.I did the liver flush once and it made me very sick and very depressed.I so have sharp moodswings of course I dont get really hyper .ITs mostly downward.


It's a very informative site ,thanks Paul.I dont know where to start.Actually i started the diet 6 months ago and i take GSE and a low dosage of probiotics but i havent made any big improvement yet;its scary i never knew probiotics may not be much of help according to medical reseacrh.I did the liver flush once and it made me very sick and very depressed.I so have sharp mood swings of course I dont get really hyper .ITs mostly downward.


Golon, The fact that your symptoms increased following antibiotic treatment gives a fair indication that yeast is the cause .Dr Cranton a yeast guru is of the opinion that you can be affected by yeast without symptoms being apparent.


Frankly, I am starting to wonder if anyone survives a round of antibiotics w/o getting candida to at least some degree. Everytime I talk to friends who go through a bout, they come out with some candida-type symptoms. It may be a matter of degree. Not all candia presents with classic symptoms.


it could also be lack of enzymes and difficulty digesting milk or gluten.
my friend is totally cured after 28 years on welfare and in hospital for depression


Looks like it is not english site...

By the way how did he get cured afte 28 years?

reagrds


My friend knew someone who told him to try gluten and milk free diet, and after a week he was well. Now the police and psyichiatrist who dealed with him in the past are all in faovr of diet.
i want to start a research project in a prison, but it will take time.