Let’s discuss detoxification today.
You may be wondering why I would discuss detoxification in depression. The simple fact is that depression can be caused by a toxin in your body. I’m not saying that it’s the only cause of depression (I know of more than 20 different hormonal, nutritional and biochemical causes)- but toxins in depression is definitely often overlooked.
Last year I started a series on Toxins and Depression, and today I’d like to finish up that topic.
Toxins & Depression
If you didn’t know already, certain toxins can cause depression. These include heavy metals, solvents and pesticides. It’s possible that a toxin is causing your feelings of sadness, anger or fatigue. Those feelings might not have a major psychological cause after all!
You may want to check out my previous blogs which discusses how toxins cause depression, what type of toxins are involved, how your occupation could be involved and lots more.
I’ve also spoken previously about how to avoid toxins, and you can have a look at this blog by clicking this link.
Today I want to continue by discussing the ways to detoxify your body.
How to Detoxify Your Body
There’s three major ways to detoxify the chemicals that can cause depression.
a) Chelation Therapy
b) Support the liver (with supplements & diet)
c) Infrared Sauna
The type of detoxification you choose is going to depend on the type of chemical that you have been exposed to.
Firstly let’s remember that there are three major types of chemicals that can cause depression.
a) Heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic from your body.
b) Solvents
c) Pesticides.
Tools for Detoxification
The major tool for removing heavy metals from the body is chelation therapy. DMSA, DMPS and EDTA are examples of chelating agents. Certain mineral and vitamin supplements also support this process. Note that chelation therapy should only be done under the guidance of a trained health practitioner.
Protecting yourself against solvents would be done by firstly avoiding them, and secondly by supporting the function of the liver. There are important minerals, vitamins and amino acids that help the liver.
Infrared Sauna detoxification is the primary (and only way) to remove pesticides that are stored in the fatty tissues of the body. If you’re wanting to do a infrared sauna detoxification it would be best to read up a lot more about it (the sauna can strip vital minerals from your body and so you need to support it properly). I have starting guidelines in my book, but another great resource is Detoxify or Die, by Sherry Rogers.
Now that’s all for the series on toxins and depression. It’s definitely an overlooked cause of depression, and well worth investigating. But if it isn’t a likely cause of your depression – keep on searching! There’s more than 20 different physical causes of depression- make sure you check them out.
I’ve developed a useful questionnaire that you can use to determine whether there is and what the physical cause of your depression could be. Get your free copy now, but visiting this link.
Let’s talk again soon.
All the best
Janelle
Dr Janelle Sinclair
Dear Dr. Sinclair,
I’m writing to you because I’m desperate. I’ve been suffering from depression since my childhood. Things went worse when I was twenty one; at that time a was taking amytriptilina and diazepan until I was thirty. After that I started to take clonazepan for sleeping, but at thirty five my crisis worsen. Since then I’ve been taking antidepressants: paroxetine, effexor, zcymbalta, bupoprion and still the clonazepam to sleep. Now I’m fifty years old and honestly, I don’t know what to do…currently I’ve been taking bupoprion and valproate of magnesium for almost three weeks and nothing….When I was seven or so, by accident a drank kerosen, a byproduct from oil used as combustible for stoves and lamps…I never said anything to anybody for fear, but by reading your blog I though this could be an important issue in my illness. Please help me Dr. Sinclair….
Regards!
Guadalupe
Dear Guadalupe
Congratulations for taking action, for being honest and asking for help. There are many reasons for depression, and toxins are definitely one that is often overlooked. I agree with you that it is possible that the kerosene could be a cause for your distress, especially since it appears your depression is quite resistant to standard antidepressant medication. I do suggest you look further into it.
You asked for some help, so here’s the advice that I can give you right now. Firstly my advice is to do more reading if you can. Because there’s many physical causes of depression, I suggest you find out more about all of them. Have a look around my blog at the other topics, and make sure you download and read a copy of my free report. My report and my book discusses over 20 different physical causes for depression. Read more about all of them, and then try to judge what is the most likely cause of your depression. Take the time to learn and read now, as it will save you time, money, frustration, and lost hope in the long run.
My other piece of advice is to find a trained practitioner in nutritional and environmental medicine. They can help you judge what may be the most likely physical causes of your depression, and whether the kerosene could be causing your long-term mental health concerns. A trained practitioner can diagnose the physical cause/s for your depression, and treat them properly (including a safe detox if that’s what you need). Detoxification isn’t something that I suggest you do on your own. I highly recommend you find help from a trained practitioner. If you send an email to admin@breakingfreefromdepression.com I can send you a link to trained health practitioners in this area. These links are also found in the appendix of my book.
I hope this gives you some first steps to take, and provides you with some of the help that you need.
Sincerely
Dr Janelle Sinclair