LifeCare Chiropractic

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depression

WHAT’S THE WORST POSSIBLE COMBINATION FOR BONE HEALTH? – (09-17-07)

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Effect of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors on the Risk of Fracture

What’s the worst possible combination for bone health? Poor bone mineral density coupled with an increased risk of falling. Now guess what? You can get all this in one easy pill!!

Even more fearful, this study was done on elderly subjects. What will happen to the bones of teens put on antidepressants for years? We probably won’t have specifics for decades. On the contrary, fish oils, exercise and vitamin D are all well known to help fight off depression as well as build bone mass. This seems like an easy decision to me.

Read entire article here

DEPRESSION INDUCES BONE LOSS – (04-30-07)

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Depression Induces Bone Loss through Stimulation of Sympathetic Nervous System

I guess probably one of the more important questions would be why would depression induce changes in the SNS? It is possible that a feedback loop would be present to try to uplift mood. Given that physiology is one giant web of interactions, it is also likely that factors that increase risk of depression (i.e. poor intake of omega-3 fatty acids, stress) would also negatively impact bone.

Regardless, this is further evidence that the correct approach to depression is multifactorial, impacting such aspects as stress management, increased intake of essential fatty acids and high nutrient density foods.

Read entire article here

Depression In Epilepsy – 6 Tips to Heal Your Brain

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As if seizures were not bad enough, there is a high number of epileptics that also suffer from depression.  This becomes a problem for a multitude of reasons, from medication compliance to maintaining a positive outlook with an internal locus of control (yes–those who believe that they have control over their seizures have better overall seizure control and a high quality of life).

Read the entire article here

HEALTH FOCUS OF CONTROL IN PATIENTS WITH EPILEPSY – (08-04-08)

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Health focus of control in patients with epilepsy and its relationship to anxiety, depression, and seizure control.

This article gets into some touchy, but very important, aspects of health. The bottom line, regardless of all other factors, is that we are in control of our own health. With a very few purely genetic associations, whatever happens to us is a result of the decisions that we make. Period. We and not anyone else, are responsible for our health. Many disease states will never be managed effectively until that patient “buys into” the fact that their health outcomes depend NOT on their doctor giving them the right medication or surgical procedure, but rather on their own choices.

This article found that epileptic patients who had a higher internal focus of control had better seizure control. Keep in mind that much of mainstream medicine does not foster this independent thinking, but rather that your disease is a result of “bad luck” of the gene draw and there really isn’t anything you can do for it but take this pill.

Read entire article here

AUTISM AND VITAMIN D – (11-17-08)

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Autism and vitamin D

We are no longer able to dispute the increase in autism in our kids today and explain it away by better diagnosis. We are unequivocally doing something to our children to damage their brains. ADD/ADHD, autism, depression, anxiety–we are seeing more DSM-IV classifications in our kids and more medication use than ever before. And it just seems to be getting worse.

This author suggests that Vit D deficiency in the womb may be a contributing factor and lists some compelling arguments. Given that Vit D is a player in so many other conditions, this sounds reasonable but is likely not the only player in the game. What may be the most disturbing is that there is increasing evidence that environmental exposures in the womb permanently change the way a newborn’s genes are expressed, a process called epigenetic modification. Some of these changes may not be reversible.

Read entire article here

DO ANTIDEPRESSANTS INCREASE RISK OF DEATH?

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Antidepressants increase risk of death? Well..at least you won’t be sad when the time comes.. But seriously, having depression increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes and yet, getting treatment medically further increases your risk of death.

The bottom line is that EVERY mental health issue needs to be addressed with exercise, fish oils, dietary changes, meditation. Dr. Daniel Amen’s Change Your Brain, Change Your Life is an excellent place to get started.

Read entire article here

 

IS DEPRESSION AND DIABETES CLOSELY LINKED?

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Depression, Diabetes closely linked. I know you hear me rant about how every disease is linked to another, but geez O’ Pete-they really are! That’s why the concept of “specialties” in medicine is so contrary to human physiology. Those with diagnosed diabetes had triple the rate of depression; those w/ unknown diabetes had double the risk. Bottom line? Meds that treat symptoms in now way fix the problem. Truly addressing the problem w/ exercise, diet, lifestyle will lower the risk for ALL diseases.

Read entire article here

 

DRINK THIS TO FIGHT OFF DEPRESSION

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While society generally does not support this concept, there is absolutely no doubt that our mental health is massively impacted by our overall health. Improving your health will improve your mental state, whether we’re talking about depression, anxiety or even something as debilitating as schizophrenia. The problem with this is twofold. 

First, it means that the patient with mental health issues is responsible, in a large part, for their own mental health. Most people do not want to deal with this level of personal responsibility. It’s much easier to think the problem is genetic or with their boss or their spouse or their kids or with a chemical imbalance in their brain, whatever THAT actually means.

The second problem then stems from the first. When it is all you can do to get out of bed and function, how can you make it to the gym to exercise or play racquetball or to grill a healthy meal of organic chicken and broccoli. While these things may dig you out of the trench of depression, it is oftentimes easier just to stay there.

Maintaining good health from the start, and feeding our children healthy from the womb has a good chance of aborting the mental health issues in the first place. Prevention is always the best and easiest route.

But what if you’re already stuck in the trenches of depression or manic from anxiety? What simple steps can you take now that require virtually no effort but can begin to impact your mental status?

This particular study finds that drinking coffee can lower the risk of depression up to 20% for those drinking more coffee. Decaffeinated coffee had not effect, which is consistent with other benefits of coffee such as lowering the risk of diabetes.

Other changes to make to improve your mental status include:

None of these alone are powerful enough to knock out depression or anxiety as a single intervention. But they may be enough to get someone to a level of function that can allow the addition of more powerful approaches such as exercise and stress management tools like meditation. 

Don’t wait.  Get started with the changes NOW.