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Archive for How to/ Self help

Toxins causing Depression: What can you do about it?

Monday, December 6th, 2010

We’ve been doing a series about how toxins can cause depression, anxiety and other mental health illnesses. I’ve told you a little about what chemicals or toxins can be involved, and how they cause the depression but let’s now talk about what you can do about it.

There are so many toxins and chemicals in our environmental and in our daily lives. There are estimates that a staggering 70,000 different types of industrial chemicals are now used worldwide. The topic of toxic overload can be over-whelming and you may not really want to deal with it at all, sorta stick your head in the sand. I understand.

Remember we’re trying to solve your depression.

If you suspect toxic overload it’s vital to take this further and get yourself proper treatment.

If you don’t suspect toxic overload as a cause for your depression, then move on and find out about the other bio-chemical causes of your depression. If you haven’t yet, download my free report which describes the 20 different physical causes of depression by visiting www.breakingfreefromdepression.com/free-report.

Okay, let’s talk about how to deal with toxic overload.

It’s important that you realize that there are 2 important considerations at this point.

1)      Eliminating or reducing exposure to the toxic chemical and

2)      Detoxifying your body from the toxins that are in your body.

These are too separate issues.

Reducing Exposure to Toxins

Eliminating or reducing exposure to the toxic chemicals is important because there’s little benefit detoxifying your body if you are going to keep getting exposed to the chemical. For example, why go to the cost of clearing the mercury out of your body (a detox process called chelation), if you still have amalgam (black mercury) fillings in your mouth. You need to remove the SOURCE of the toxin as well as remove what’s in your body.

Some sources of toxins include your amalgam fillings, your oral contraceptive pill, new furniture or carpet, eating certain fish, your hobbies or your job. Obviously you can get your fillings removed, and stop eating the contaminated fish, but what about your job or your hobby?

Should you Give Up Your Job?

It’s a good question, and I can’t tell you what to do about that one. My advice would be to see a doctor trained in nutritional and environmental medicine and discuss your specific situation with them. You may like to look at my other blog posts about occupations, exposure to toxins and depression.

http://www.breakingfreefromdepression.com/the-little-known-link-between-occupations-toxins-and-depression/

http://www.breakingfreefromdepression.com/past-occupations-can-be-a-factor-in-your-depression-too/

I would however strongly advise that you make sure that you use proper safety equipment. Too many people don’t take safety seriously enough. If you’re dealing with heavy metals or pesticides on a daily basis, you should be wearing protective gear, including top of the range face masks with good air filters in them.

Your mental health is one of the most important things in life! Without it, it’s difficult (and sometimes impossible) to enjoy life. So make sure you do what’s needed, that you do what you can, and prioritize your health- because you are important!

Next Time

I’m going to leave it here for now, but next time I’ll start to discuss the different detoxification options.

Feel free to leave me a note or comment about your occupation, and it’s potential affect on your mental health.

All the best.

Janelle

Are Antidepressant Meds Effective?

Friday, October 8th, 2010

Hi There.

As you may know by now, this blog, my research and my book, talks about treating depression in a new way. A way that is individualized and seeks to find the physical or biochemical cause for the depression and treat it naturally.

I’m not against antidepressant medication- I know that for some people it is a life saver. What I disagree with is that most people do not have the physical causes for their depression investigated, before they are offered antidepressants. I personally think that when there are no immediate risks involved for the person in question, hormonal imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, food allergies and exposure to toxins should be investigated.

The Latest Research on Antidepressants

So today I thought I’d share a scientific study that was released a couple of months ago basically saying that ‘the current care for depression (antidepressants and cognitive therapy) needs to be reassessed’. The common belief that antidepressants and cognitive therapy are effective, may not be as true as most people (both public and physicians) think.

The abstract for this study is below, and is pretty technical- but the take home message is- “Antidepressant meds are only marginally more effective than placebo”.

If antidepressant medications aren’t effective, what do we do?

If you’re wondering what other options you’ve got to antidepressants, (or that you can use in combination with antidepressants), you’re in the right place. I’ve found out that there are over 20 different ways to treat depression effectively- the key is to find out what is causing the depression in the first place. If you want to find out more about it I’ve written a free report just for you. I know that you’ll find it interesting and most importantly helpful for finding healing for you.

All the best.

Dr Janelle Sinclair

Here’s the abstract from this scientific report:

Efficacy and effectiveness of antidepressants: current status of research. Psychother Psychosom. 2010;79(5):267-79.

Authors: Pigott HE, Leventhal AM, Alter GS, Boren JJ.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This paper examines the current status of research on the efficacy and effectiveness of antidepressants.

METHODS: This paper reviews four meta-analyses of efficacy trials submitted to America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and analyzes STAR*D (Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression), the largest antidepressant effectiveness trial ever conducted.

RESULTS: Meta-analyses of FDA trials suggest that antidepressants are only marginally efficacious compared to placebos and document profound publication bias that inflates their apparent efficacy. These meta-analyses also document a second form of bias in which researchers fail to report the negative results for the pre-specified primary outcome measure submitted to the FDA, while highlighting in published studies positive results from a secondary or even a new measure as though it was their primary measure of interest. The STAR*D analysis found that the effectiveness of antidepressant therapies was probably even lower than the modest one reported by the study authors with an apparent progressively increasing dropout rate across each study phase.

CONCLUSIONS: The reviewed findings argue for a reappraisal of the current recommended standard of care of depression.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20616621 (here’s the original research- the complete article is available at that link too).

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Great Feedback From An Audience of Over 300

Monday, September 13th, 2010

Hello again.

I hope your weekend has been a good one for you.

As many of you would know, I gave a seminar this weekend, so it was definitely a good weekend for me. It was such a privilege being able to share information about the physical causes of depression (and how to heal it) with hundreds of women.

Sistas Women’s Conference

The event was a Women’s Christian Conference called Sistas and it was held at the Telstra Clear stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. Approximately 350 women attended the lunch time seminar – pretty amazing since they had already sat through 3 hours of meetings and speakers.

A Lunchtime Seminar on Natural Therapies for Depression

I gave a 45 minute talk called “Natural Therapies for Depression: Which one is right for you?” In it I discussed briefly 5 of the 7 Self help depression questions that I shared with you earlier this month. As I went through the questions, I showed the types of physical imbalances that can lead to depression and which natural therapies are most likely to help people in these situations.

We videoed the session so I hope to upload it to YouTube, and share it with you in the next week or two. I’ll let you know when it comes out.

Fantastic Feedback

The feedback I’ve had for the seminar has been fantastic. I had lots of questions and positive comments made by women who are currently suffering from depression- they could easily see the relevance of the physical body impacting mood, and I could see the hope in their eyes renewed. I hope just like them you can learn how treating the physical body can help heal the mind (and more importantly that you and them would treat the body and experience real freedom from depression).

This Will Interest You for Sure!

I think what you’ll be most interested in, is the feedback I had from people that have been healed from depression, by treating the physical body. I had women encouraging me to keep getting this message out- that depression isn’t only caused by emotional and spiritual factors, but by physical imbalances too. One woman has been healed from depression and infertility through diagnosing and treating mercury toxicity. She is now happy and pregnant (yay!), and she wants you to know that depression can be overcome!

What a Mental Health Nurse Said About it!

A mental health nurse I spoke to said she was very impressed with the questions that I asked, because they help someone look into their past to see if there have been physical triggers for their depression (something that is seldom done). She said that the current questionnaires for depression only investigate the last 6 weeks in someone’s life. But there’s so much relevance looking back into your past (years and decades even), not necessarily looking for emotional trauma, but for clues for physical triggers like hormonal imbalances, toxic exposure etc.

If you want to review the questions that I discussed in my seminar, and learn what physical imbalances can cause depression and the natural therapies which can treat them, get a copy of my free depression report at www.breakingfreefromdepression.com/free-report.

Thanks for joining me again today. We’ll talk again soon, and feel free to leave me some questions in the comments box below. I want to know what you want to know, so that I can help you find freedom.

Sincerely

Janelle

Dr Janelle Sinclair

BSc, MSc, PhD (Biochemistry), NZNMA

New Free Depression Report Complete

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Hi Everyone.

I’m happy to say that the report that I promised you, which summarizes our 7 self help depression questions is now complete. You can get a copy of it by visiting http://www.breakingfreefromdepression.com/free-report.

If you didn’t join us on the 7 part Self Help Depression series you may be interested to know, that these 7 questions can help you discover the physical causes of your depression. Physical and biochemical causes for depression go undiagnosed. Is it possible that your depression has a physical rather than a psychological cause?

If you’re keen to check it out, either look through the last 5 weeks of my blog, or alternatively download a copy of the free report. It’ll explain the concept of a physical cause of depression, and take you through 7 secret questions to uncover what the physical cause of your depression is (and how they can be effectively treated). Check it out by visiting http://www.breakingfreefromdepression.com/free-report.

All the best. Talk to you again on friday.

Janelle

Dr Janelle Sinclair

Comments (0)

Wow can you believe it? Our 7 part series has now come to an end. It took a little longer than the 3 weeks I thought it would take us but I think you’ll agree that it was worth it. There was so much important and helpful information in it, don’t you think? So what now? Let’s analyse what these questions and your answers tell us.

It’s actually quite simple.

  • Just go back and answer each of the 7 depression self help questions
  • Then refer to the table at the bottom of each blog
  • Find your answer in the table
  • Read off what your answer could mean and the type of physical or biochemical imbalance that might be involved in your depression
  • Look to see which specific physical imbalances come up often for you.

It is possible that these physical imbalances may be causing your depression.

Let’s look at a simple example for a female with depression now.

Question NumberHer AnswerWhat it May Reveal
1Depression started at age 40Peri-menopause could be triggering female hormonal imbalances which could be a cause of her depression
3Some weeks her depression is mild or non-existent. Her depression, anxiety & irritability is most severe 1 week prior to menstruationFemale hormonal deficiencies could be a possible cause of her depression
4She also suffers from heavy periodsThis symptom could show that female hormonal imbalances are a possible cause for her depression
6She experiences severe irritability, mood swings & anxiety (in addition to depression)These emotions could show that female hormonal imbalances are a possible cause for her depression

For our example above, hormonal imbalances brought on by peri-menopause would be the first place to start when treating her depression.

Ideally, she would have tests done to diagnose the hormonal imbalances, and then appropriate hormonal medication prescribed. I personally like natural bioidentical hormones, as their structure is not foreign to the body, and the doses that are usually used are lower amounts (and therefore safer). There are also herbal products that can balance hormones, but they are usually better for younger women rather than those approaching or going through menopause.

Now its time for you to look at your answers to the seven self help depression questions. What do they show? What do they reveal about a possible physical cause for your depression?

  1. Looking back, when did you experience the first signs of depression? (What age were you?)
  2. What was going on in your life during (or before) the onset of your depression? (Stress, surgery, toxin?)
  3. Do you always have feelings of depression, or are there days or hours during the day that you feel good?
  4. Do you (or have you in the past) suffered from any physical symptoms or health problems that may seem unrelated to depression?
  5. Are there any health conditions and diseases that run in your family’s health history? And what physical characteristics are common in your family?
  6. In addition to your feelings of depression, do you suffer regularly and severely from any of the following emotions? Suicidal thoughts? Anxiety, Anger, Explosiveness, Mood Swings, Violence? Addictive behavior? Fatigue?
  7. Is it possible that you have been exposed to a chemical or toxin prior to the onset of your depression?

I’ve decided to put all of these 7 selfhelp depression questions (and what the answers could mean) into a document that you can download and print off at home. This will be a little easier than going back over all the blog posts, don’t you think? I’m currently working on the document and I’ll have it available for you when I blog next.

Even though our 7 part series has finished, there’s still a lot of information to discuss- so please keep joining me to learn more about the physical causes of depression. If there’s a topic that you especially want to hear about feel free to suggest one by writing to me in the comment boxes below.

All the best.

Janelle

Dr Janelle Sinclair

Updated: To download a free report which discusses ALL of the 7 Self help Depression questions (and how to interpret them) visit http://www.breakingfreefromdepression.com