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A NEW APPROACH TO DEPRESSION


by Dr. Daniel Thomas, DO, MS S


adness is normal human emotion. We all experience it from time to time, but it usually goes away within


a few hours to a few days. Depression is something much more. It is a prolonged period of overwhelming sadness and mental anguish. It involves a loss of interest in things that once brought meaning and joy. Tese feelings are oſten accompanied by other emotional and physical symptoms. Depression is considered the most dreaded condition of mankind. What makes it so terrible is the fact that it is the one disease devoid of hope in the minds of the sufferers. Depression is a national epidemic.


Cases of major depression have risen by 33% since 2013. In the United States, there are over 16 million people who suffer from depression and that number is increasing at an alarming rate, especially among teenagers and Millennials where suicide has soared to an all-time high. Te number of Americans taking antidepressants has skyrocketed, too. Nearly 13% percent of Americans age 12 or older reported taking an antidepressant within the last month. Te use of antidepressants is a mixed


bag. For some, they can work well but take a long time to provide meaningful relief. For others, they provide minimal to no benefit at all (this is called Treatment- Resistant Depression or TRD). And for others, long-term use of antidepressants can make depression worse and increase the risk of suicide. Furthermore, long-term use of conventional antidepressants has


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been found to increase the risk of dementia and cardiovascular disease. (Note: Because of the side effects of abrupt withdrawal, if you are currently taking an antidepressant, do NOT discontinue it without proper medical supervision.) Clearly, we need to take a new


approach to the diagnosis and treatment of depression! Te best place to start is to look for the underlying causes of depression. If you want to get better and bring happiness back into your life, you owe it to yourself to demand that your doctor order proper lab work to check for the following 10 root causes of depression:


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Hypothyroidism: Many people with depression have a thyroid hormone deficiency. If your doctor


only checked your TSH (thyroid- stimulating hormone) level and told you that everything is fine, your doctor does not have all the facts. At best, TSH is a screening test for thyroid function and not a diagnostic test. To properly check your thyroid status, your doctor should check a Free T3 and Reverse T3 level. Furthermore, your doctor needs to know the difference between “normal” levels and “optimal” levels.


2


Low testosterone: Suboptimal levels of testosterone are a major cause of depression in both men and women.


Again, your doctor needs to know the difference between “normal” levels and “optimal” levels.


Neurotransmitter imbalance: Neurotransmitters are powerful chemical messengers. Tey are used


by the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves to relay information from one nerve cell to another and to facilitate communication amongst the body’s glands, organs, and muscles. Optimal neurotransmitter levels are crucial for good mental and physical health. When they are out of balance, it can lead to depression.


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Chronic inflammation: Chronic inflammation is a driver of almost every major disease, including


depression. Numerous studies have documented increased levels of a variety of inflammatory biomarkers in depressed individuals, including hs-CRP, homocysteine, and fibrinogen.


Hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia: Studies have shown that elevated blood glucose


and insulin levels can damage the brain’s functional connectivity and eventually lead to depression. Tis includes not only elevated fasting glucose and insulin levels associated with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes. but also “high-normal” fasting levels of glucose and insulin, as well as excessive post-mealtime spikes in glucose and insulin, even when fasting levels are normal.


Cancer: Psychiatric disorders are more prevalent in patients with cancer than in the general


population. Many people experience anxiety or depression, or both, aſter a cancer diagnosis, but new research suggests that cancer cells can trigger depression. In such cases, depression can be an early symptom of a tumor, meaning it can show up before a cancer diagnosis.


Adrenal dysfunction: Depression has been linked to disruptions to the body’s stress response system: the


hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Tis is a complex communication between the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, adrenal glands, and the resultant production of the hormone cortisol. Overproduction or underproduction of cortisol has been linked with depression.


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