I Struggle to Recover Myself
As I disappear into the abyss of anxiety and panic, my life suffers, my relationships suffer, I suffer, and my blog suffers. I don’t want to be here. I want to stop over thinking everything. I want to stop being a burden of fears upon my loved ones. I want to stop being terrified about my son and burdening him with my fears. I’ve tried Ativan, it worked for me in the past, but did not this time. I’m taking my L-Methylfolate, (see here: https://wordpress.com/post/bipolar1blog.com/3412)
I am taking 1200 mg if Lithium and 250 mg of quietipine.
I think the L-Methylfolate is helping a bit.
Letting go of my son and letting him handle his life will be better for him and me.
There are many reasons I have become an anxious, panic stricken wreck. Or is it only that I’ve developed an anxiety disorder and the reasons are tacked on to it after the fact? I don’t know. I only know I want my peace of mind back.
6 Ways To Spot the Differences Between ADHD and Bipolar in Children and Teens
Given the similarities between ADHD and Bipolar Disorder in children, it may oftentimes be difficult to distinguish between the two. Here are six general guidelines to spot the differences between the two disorders:
#1. Behavior/Attention vs. Mood
Bipolar disorder affects mood, whereas attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Children and teens with ADHD typically have problems with cognitive functioning, distractibility and completing tasks/assignments. Bipolar disorder in this age group causes mood swings, which can move from manic (or hypomanic) to depressive lows. An ADHD child is inattentive due to his or her inability to focus on any one thing for a period of time. Conversely, a bipolar child going through a depressive state may be inattentive because he/she has lost any desire to care about the activity.
#2 Irritable Moods vs. Explosive Rage
Children with bipolar experience explosive rage. Different from anger, it is sudden and usually without provocation and can last for hours. It is closer to a seizure than an emotional event in that it is difficult to control. Children and teens with ADHD have temper tantrums and they typically don’t lose touch with reality or destroy property. As well, their angry outbursts are generally short in duration.
#3 Intensity of Moods
In a bipolar child, abnormal moods are intense—either low energy (depression) or high energy (mania). They have a more profound response to life events that can be out of proportion to the event, whereas the reaction to events in the lives of children with ADHD is generally considered expected and in relation to the event and less severe and intense.
#4 Duration of Mood Shifts
Moods for children with ADHD may come and go, and generally they don’t stay in a particular depressed or manic state. Bipolar children, on the other hand, have deep, life-disrupting manic feelings. Depression or mania can last for weeks or longer and these ongoing symptoms can cause significant life problems in key areas i.e. friends, school, at home.
#5 Mania vs. Hyperactivity
In bipolar mania, children and teens can exhibit grandiosity where they believe and insist they are the best in the world at something and then engage in risky behavior because of this. They may also need less sleep than other children. These children usually have racing thoughts, and affected speech. However, instead of grandiosity, children with ADHD are more prone to poor self-esteem due to negative feedback from adults regarding their behavior. They are also energetic when hyper but do not report racing thoughts.
#6 Treatment
A type of antipsychotic medication given to a bipolar child in a manic episode helps lower and even out the child’s energy level. As well, when a bipolar child in a depressive episode is given antidepressant, their mood typically improves after a few weeks and their energy and attention returns. Conversely, a child with ADHD is given a stimulant, which works more quickly than an antidepressant or antipsychotic medication and is able to better focus, with lower energy levels within a few days.
Carrie Fisher
E-Motion by Gaia.
E-Motion. Lose what needs to be lost, to find what needs to be found!
From Gaia
https://www.gaia.com/video/e-motion?fullplayer=preview
This is a preview, as you have to have a membership to watch the full 1.25 hours.
I do have a membership, but cannot put the member content on here.
This video is certainly intriguing and worth your while to listen to. I am planning on taking full advantage of this GAIA membership and reading/watching as many things that I can and then sharing them with my loved ones and friends. I’m adding some screenshots of the video below, they might entice some people to listen to this 🙂
Scientists discover neuron-producing stem cells in the membranes covering the brain
Discovery brings with it possible implications for brain regeneration –
In a cross-domain study directed by professor Peter Carmeliet (VIB – KU Leuven), researchers discovered unexpected cells in the protective membranes that enclose the brain, the so called meninges. These ‘neural progenitors’ (stem cells that differentiate into different kinds of neurons) are produced during embryonic development.
See Also: Stem cells in the brain: Limited self-renewal
These findings show that the neural progenitors found in the meninges produce new neurons after birth, highlighting the importance of meningeal tissue as well as these cells’ potential in the development of new therapies for brain damage or neurodegeneration. A paper highlighting the results is published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Scientists’ understanding of brain plasticity, or the ability of the brain to grow, develop, recover from injuries and adapt to changing conditions throughout our lives, has been greatly broadened in recent years. Before the discoveries of the last few decades, neurologists once thought that the brain became ‘static’ after childhood. This dogma has changed, with researchers finding more and more evidence that the brain is capable of healing and regenerating in adulthood, thanks to the presence of stem cells. However, neuronal stem cells were generally believed to only reside within the brain tissue, not in the membranes surrounding it.
The meninges: unappreciated no more
Believed in the past to serve a mainly protective function to dampen mechanical shocks, the meninges have been historically underappreciated by science as having neurological importance in its own right. The data gathered by the team challenges the current idea that neural precursors—or stem cells that give rise to neurons—can only be found inside actual brain tissue.
Learn More: Scientists sniff out unexpected role for stem cells in the brain
Prof. Peter Carmeliet notes: “The neuronal stems cells that we discovered inside the meninges differentiate to full neurons, electrically-active and functionally integrated into the neuronal circuit. To show that the stem cells reside in the meninges, we used the extremely powerful single-cell RNA sequencing technique, a very novel top-notch technique, capable of identifying the [complex gene expression signature] nature of individual cells in a previously unsurpassed manner, a première at VIB.”
Following up on future research avenues
When it comes to future leads for this discovery, the scientists also see possibilities for translation into clinical application, though future work is required.
“An intriguing question is whether these neuronal stem cells in the meninges could lead to better therapies for brain damage or neurodegeneration. However, answering this question would require a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate the differentiation of these stem cells,” says Carmeliet. “How are these meningeal stem cells activated to become different kinds of neurons? Can we therapeutically ‘hijack’ their regeneration potential to restore dying neurons in, for example, Alzheimer’ Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and other neurodegenerative disorders? Also, can we isolate these neurogenic progenitors from the meninges at birth and use them for later transplantation? These findings open up very exciting research opportunities for the future.”
Moving into unchartered territory is high risk, and can offer high gain, but securing funding for such type of research is challenging. However, Carmeliet’s discoveries were made possible to a large extent by funding through “Opening the Future: pioneering without boundaries”, a recently created Mecenas Funding Campaign for funding of high risk brain research but with potential for breakthrough discoveries, started up by the KU Leuven in 2013 and unique in Flanders.
Read Next: A better way to grow motor neurons from stem cells
“Being able to use such non-conventional funding channels is of utmost importance to break new boundaries in research,” says Carmeliet. “This unique Mecenas funding initiative by the KU Leuven is innovative and boundary-breaking by itself. Our entire team is enormously grateful for the opportunities it has created for our investigations”.
Note: Material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.
VIB – Flanders Institute for Biotechnology press release
Publication
Bifari F et al. Neurogenic Radial Glia-like Cells in Meninges Migrate and Differentiate into Functionally Integrated Neurons in the Neonatal Cortex. Cell Stem Cell, Published Online November 23 2016. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2016.10.020
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So the Anxiety is Unrelenting
As some of you may have noticed, I have not been blogging much of late. The reason you ask? Well the reason is anxiety. I have somehow developed an anxiety disorder, I awaken with what I can only describe as an anxiety or panic attack. Then I have to spend some time talking myself out of the anxious, fearful, panicked thoughts. Let me assure you this is not a fun way to start my day. The thoughts are always about my son. He recently became a lawyer, and passed the NYS Bar exam. He had found a job but it turns out the boss was the boss straight from hell, so my son had to leave this position. His boss said some extremely disgusting things to him. I’m pretty sure this man is a lunatic and a sociopath. I’m just sorry my son’s first experience as a lawyer was so awful.
He is still living in Buffalo, and I am in Louisville. He is looking for another job, and I am very worried about him finding said job. All the advertised jobs are asking for 2 – 8 years of experience. Not many entry level jobs are advertised at all. So that is worrisome.
He lives alone, and that is very worrisome to me. His girlfriend moved back to NYC to live with her family and although they are adorable together, it’s a long distance relationship.
I so wish we lived in the same city, a few miles away from each other, so if he needed anything, we would be there.
My heart breaks that I made this child of mine and now I have left him alone to fend for himself. I don’t like it. Everyone tells me that he has to live by himself to learn to be independent. I don’t like it. Yes I want him to be independent, but I also don’t want to be 600 miles away from him.
I keep telling myself that he is fine, that he is capable of taking care of himself, but I’m not really sure about that. I just keep telling myself he will be fine, and forcing myself to believe it. Trying to believe it. I want this awful anxiety and worry to go away. I’ve tried Ativan, it didn’t help that much.
New clues to how lithium soothes the bipolar brain may shed light on other mental illnesses
This is so exciting, here is an explanation for how lithium works for bipolar disorder as well as other mental illnesses! Apparently little mushroom shaped projections called dendritic spines on the dendrites of neurons are involved. In mice, restoring dendritic spines (from decreased numbers) to healthy numbers reverses behavioral symptoms of illness.
Dendritic spines, the tiny mushroom-shaped buds visible on the long, slim projections from the cell body of this illustrated neuron, may play a role in several psychiatric diseases.
New clues to how lithium soothes the bipolar brain may shed light on other mental illnesses
The second century C.E. Greek physician and philosopher Galen advised patients suffering from disorders of the spirit to bathe in and drink hot spring water. Modern day brain scientists have posited that Galen’s prescription delivered more than a placebo effect. Lithium has for decades been recognized as an effective mood stabilizer in bipolar disease, and lithium salts may have been present in the springs Galen knew.
Yet exactly how lithium soothes the mind has been less than clear. Now, a team led by Ben Cheyette, a neuroscientist at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF), has linked its success to influence over dendritic spines, tiny projections where excitatory neurons form connections, or synapses, with other nerve cells. Lithium treatment restored healthy numbers of dendritic spines in mice engineered to carry a genetic mutation that is more common in people with autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder than in unaffected people, they report today in Molecular Psychiatry. The lithium also reversed symptoms in these mutant mice—lack of interest in social interactions, decreased motivation, and increased anxiety—that mimic those in the human diseases.
“They showed there’s a correlation between the ability of lithium to reverse not only the behavioral abnormalities in the mice, but also the [dendritic] spine abnormalities,” says Scott Soderling, a neuroscientist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who studies how dysfunctions in signaling at brain synapses lead to psychiatric disorders. Soderling adds that the work also sheds light on the roots of these diseases. “It gives further credence to this idea that these spine abnormalities are functionally linked to the behavioral disorders.”
Over the past 2 decades, neuroscientists have built a body of evidence that links not only bipolar disease, but other psychiatric disorders including autism and schizophrenia to abnormal brain development. In particular, they have found abnormalities in the numbers of synapses and in the shape of neurons at the points where they form synapses. Their studies have often implicated abnormal signaling in a brain pathway called Wnt, which is involved both in early brain development and later, more complex, refining of brain connections. The role of Wnt could help explain why lithium is effective: It blocks an enzyme called GSK-3 β, which is an inhibitor on the Wnt pathway. By boosting Wnt signaling, lithium could produce a therapeutic effect in psychiatric diseases in which the Wnt pathway is underpowered.
Neurons of mice with a mutation linked to psychiatric diseases (center) have fewer dendritic spines (white projections) than unaffected mice (left). Lithium treatment restored spines in the mutant mice (right).
Andiara Espíndola de Freitas/Robert Stanley, Cheyette lab, UCSF
To find out how that biochemical effect influences the brain, Cheyette and a team of colleagues at UCSF and other institutions worked on several parallel tracks. They compared the genomes of 9554 people with bipolar disease, autism, or schizophrenia with those of 11,361 unaffected individuals, looking for variations in the genetic sequence of one form of DIXDCI, another key gene on the Wnt pathway. The changes were rare in both groups, but they were about 80% more common—0.9% versus 0.5%—in people with the disorders compared with unaffected people, suggesting that the mutations elevate the risk of developing the disorders.
The researchers also created mice with a mutated version of DIXDCI. They subjected the rodents to tests gauging their willingness to interact with other mice, to explore a new environment, and to swim—as opposed to passively float—when placed in water. The mutant mice showed decreased sociability, increased anxiety, and lack of motivation compared with controls—all symptoms with analogs in human psychiatric disease. The scientists imaged the rodents’ living brains and examined their neurons in lab dishes. All the tests showed decreased numbers of dendritic spines. At the same time, biochemical tests showed that Wnt signaling was impaired in the mutant mice.
They then treated the mutant mice with lithium. Although the researchers acknowledge that rodents are an imperfect proxy for human mood disorders, they did observe that the animals’ symptoms markedly improved; studies of their brains also revealed normal numbers of spines. “That’s the key finding,” Cheyette says. “It suggests that lithium could have its well-known therapeutic effect on patients with bipolar disorder by changing the stability of spines in the brain.”
9 Startling Nutrient Deficiencies That Can Cause Depression
Pretty interesting! How wonderful it would be if one or more of these nutrients could alleviate one’s depression! If only it could be so easy, maybe it is…
http://www.curejoy.com/content/nutrient-deficiencies-cause-depression/
By Doug Cook
Deficiency of Omega-3 fats, Iodine, Zinc, Magnesium, Vitamin D, Selenium, Iron, B-complex and Vitamin C can trigger depression. The omega-3 fat DHA is critical for brain cell structure. Zinc improves digestive health promoting the release of serotonin and dopamine, magnesium helps produce vital enzymes and B-complex is required to maintain brain mass.
Working in Canada’s largest hospital for mental health and addiction, I absolutely appreciate the impact of lifestyle choices [diet/nutrition, stress reduction & leisure) on mental health including mood disorders like depression, seasonal effective disorder or SAD, anxiety and even bipolar disease.
As a nutrition educator, I routinely present on the topic of nutrition & brain health and food & mood. I review key nutrients that are absolutely vital for health brain; what we eat and drink directly affects the structure of the brain which, in turn, influences the brain’s function. This includes both the synthesis & function of neurotransmitters, as well as, the presence, or absence of inflammation.
The clients I work with are in recovery for drug [prescription & illicit] and alcohol addiction but essentially all of them are also dealing with mood disorders. It’s amazing to me how psychiatrists fail to appreciate the role of nutrition in mental health, including depression. It’s not only common sense but backed up by research that no amount of medication can make up for a crappy diet. The human body needs nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, essentially fats & antioxidants for vibrant health.
There is no biological or physiological need for Pristiq, Cymbalta, Wellbutrin, etc but there is for vitamin D, magnesium, iron and zinc for example.
It’s naive and unreasonable for anyone, doctor or patient, to think that one can be their best self, have optimal psychological and emotional health without addressing their underlying biology. Whether a person is using talk therapy, medication, or both to manage their mental health, there will be greater returns on investment, more bang for one’s buck if the physical health is addressed as well. Before anyone thinks I’m saying that medication don’t have a time and place in mental health is dead wrong. They do, but it’s important not to see the forest for the trees as they saying goes.
No amount of Paxil, Celexa, Lexapro or Viibryd will make up for an inadequate intake of iodine, B12, B3, folate or omega-3 fats or other nutrients.
Feeding Your Brain. Food and Mood
While there are dozens of neurotransmitters, many of which are produced in the gut as well as the brain, the three main ones that are talked about in mental health are serotonin, dopamine, and norepinepherine. The building blocks for these guys are amino acids derived from protein; a nutrient that most of use easily get in adequate amounts although they’re are exceptions [homeless, elderly, those with addiction]. The critical players in the synthesis and function of neurotransmitters however are vitamins & minerals. The analogy I like to use is a factory that needs a certain number of employees to show up for maximum output/production; if half call in sick, production suffers. Likewise for neurotransmitter production and function; we need optimal amounts of nutrients on a daily basis. If they are lacking in the diet, mood disorders, like depression, are more common and/or aggravated.
Optimize intake by improving diet and using targeted supplements, mood can improve and medication use reduced and sometimes eliminated according to loads of studies.
The star nutrient line-up includes
Omega-3 fats
The omega-3 fat DHA is critical for brain cell [neuron] structure. If the diet doesn’t have enough of it, other fats have to take its place. If it’s trans fat, that spells trouble. Trans fat increase inflammation and this increases the risk for depression. The other main omega-3 fat EPA helps with neuron function, as well as, reduces inflammation which is why research supports the role of omega-3 fats in improving symptoms of depression [and other mood disorders]. Food sources are fatty fish, omega-3 fortified eggs and supplements.
Iodine
Iodine can be thought of as the new vitamin D. It’s an up and coming nutrient but not in a good way because it’s one mineral that most of use are not getting enough of. Iodine is critical for a healthy thyroid, the master of metabolism [i.e. cellular fitness]. It has largely been removed from the food supply and whereas we used to get about 800 mcg per day, most are lucky to get between 138 to 350 mcg per day. While this can stave off an overt deficiency, it likely won’t be enough to move people into the functional range where physiological processes are optimal including mental health. Good food sources include seaweed, cod, iodized salt. Other moderate food sources include milk, yogurt, and eggs. Good quality supplements should provide the RDA of 150 mcg as a foundation.
Zinc
Zinc is tireless ally. It is involved in over 250 separate biochemical pathways, or reactions, that support just about every function needed for best health, not the least of which is a strong immune system and mental well-being. Zinc is critical for neurotransmitter production and function. It is also needed for healthy digestion and as I mentioned a strong immune system, most of which is found in the digestive tract. A healthy digestive tract = optimal mental health since 90% of serotonin and 50% of dopamine is produced in the small intestines. Best food sources include oysters, crab, beef, lamb, pork, dark meat, chicken, legumes, cashews and a good quality multivitamin with minerals will have some as well.
Magnesium
Like zinc, magnesium is required for over 300 separate biochemical pathways, or reactions, needed for healthy bones & teeth, reduced anxiety, lower blood pressure, reduced risk for diabetes to name a few. Most of us only get about half of the recommended amount and the reasons are numerous; see post here, and here. Magnesium is needed to activate the enzymes needed for serotonin, dopamine and norepinepherine production. Good food sources include nuts & seeds, dark green vegetables, whole grains, bran and dark chocolate. Supplements are typically needed to help people meet their minimum daily requirement on a consistent basis. Supplements will also help increase magnesium intake that moves people with depression into that functionally optimal range where depression can be improved versus just avoiding a magnesium deficiency.
Vitamin D
Anyone who knows me or is familiar with this blog knows that vitamin D is my baby and that we don’t get enough of this vitamin, especially in Canada from mid-October till mid-April. The brain loves vitamin D and have loads of vitamin D receptors just waiting for their payload. I’ve written about vitamin D here, here, here, here and here. Vitamin D deficiency has not only been linked to depression, but anxiety, SAD, and dementia as well. Supplementation is the only viable option to raise vitamin D levels to where they need to be for optimal overall health but as well to lower the risk for depression. There is little natural food sources save oil/fatty fish like salmon, sardines, mackerel, herring and trout and eggs to a lesser extent.
Selenium
Like iodine, selenium is needed for good thyroid function; often, just increasing selenium intake can improve early symptoms of low thyroid function. A healthy thyroid supports mental health including reducing the risk for depression. Selenium is needed to convert the inactive thyroid hormone T4 to the active form T3; this conversion primarily occurs in the liver. Selenium is needed to make the master antioxidant and detoxifying compound glutathione. Increasing glutathione has been shown to improve depression likely because glutathione reduces inflammation in the brain. Good food sources Brazil nuts, fish, ham, shrimp, liver and chicken.
Iron
Iron deficiency is more common in women than men due to losses via menstruation. The most common form of anemia is iron deficiency and it’s symptoms are similar to depression: fatigue, irritability, apathy, brain fog, lack of motivation & appetite. Having a broad range of symptoms can lead to a misdiagnosis and aggravate any existing legitimate depressive symptoms. Good food sources are beef, pork, lamb, dark meat chicken, eggs, liver, oysters and white beans. Eating vitamin C-rich foods along with iron-rich foods helps to increase the absorption of iron. For women, a multivtamin with minerals typically provides 8 to 12 mg of iron. Men should choose a multi that is iron-free.
B-complex
Typically includes about 11 B vitamins all of which are involved in neurotransmitter production and function. Some, like B12 are needed to help maintain brain mass, a.k.a. prevent brain shrinkage, a cause of dementia. A classic B12 deficiency symptom is depression. Other important B vitamins for mental health include B1, B6, B3, and folate. Folate, along with B12 and B6 help to lower levels of homocysteine, a by-product of protein metabolism. Elevated levels of homocysteine increase the risk for depression. In order for dietary folate to be effective, it needs to be converted to its active form 5-MTHR however about 66% of the population don’t do this effectively because they have a mutation in the gene [5-MTHF reductase] that metabolizes folate into 5-MTHF putting them at a 180% increased risk for folate deficiency. Luckily this gene mutation can be tested for using a simple saliva DNA test called Nutrigenonmix. B vitamins are found in whole grains, nuts & seeds, dark green vegetables and meat.
Vitamin C
Believe it or not, I encounter scurvy in my practice today and it’s 2014; bleeding, swollen and achy gums all of which resolve within a week after the initiation of vitamin C supplements. But you don’t have to have scurvy to have functional vitamin C deficiency; an intake that is enough to prevent an overt clinical deficiency but not enough to allow one to function at one’s best. One of the more common symptoms of obvious or functional vitamin C deficiency is depression. Good food sources include citrus, kiwi, bell peppers and strawberries. However 20% percentage of the population can be functionally vitamin C deficient not only because they don’t get enough vitamin C from their diet but because they have a gene mutation that doesn’t allow them to absorb and metabolize it properly; putting them at a 150% increased risk of vitamin C deficiency. Luckily this gene can be tested for using a simple saliva DNA test called Nutrigenonmix.
The Role of Nutrients in Protecting Mitochondrial Function and Neurotransmitter Signalling: Implications for the Treatment of Depression, PTSD, and Suicidal Behaviours
In a nutshell, food feeds the brain. As an organ that accounts for 25% of our metabolic demands, the brain is in need of constant nourishment that can’t be met with a diet of crappy food. Having optimal mental health cannot be realized if the underlying biology of mood regulation, the structure and function of the brain, isn’t addressed. This is where very building blocks of vitamins, minerals and essential fats come into play. No amount of medication can make up for a lack of nutrients. Feeding your brain and an optimal sense of well-being is as close as your grocery store.
Bipolar1Blog 