Another patient was depressed and suffering panic attacks. I questioned her to determine whether her attacks occurred at a particular time of day. Sure enough, they occurred at the same time each day, which led me to suspect she had hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).
As I came to realize, mood often follows blood sugar fluctuations. When the blood sugar drops too low, an anxiety or panic attack can occur; or the mood can drop, triggering a greater sense of depression.
This observation led me to suspect that the reason why many depressed people feel most depressed in the morning is due to blood sugar levels being lowest upon awakening.
I even suspect that the high and low mood fluctuations of bipolar disorder may be linked to blood sugar fluctuations.
Another man I treated suffered panic attacks, but only on airplanes—and he didn’t have a fear of flying. When I heard this, I suspected and confirmed chemical sensitivities were the culprit.
Yet another man I treated suffered a life-long depression that was worse in the winter and growing progressively worse as he aged. Lower serotonin levels in winter due to less natural light and low vitamin D levels were part of the cause of his depression. But when I learned that his problem had worsened with age, I was sure that diminished testosterone levels were aggravating his underlying seasonal depression.
I also suspected that low thyroid was a factor in his depression—which lab tests revealed. How many millions of people suffer undetected or subclinical hypothyroidism as an unrecognized cause of their depression?
What about intestinal flora imbalances/dysbiosis, and the rampant leaky gut/intestinal permeability that nearly every person suffers as a result of consuming pesticide tainted wheat and corn, genetically modified grains, overheated cooking oils, sugar, high fructose corn syrup and packaged foods, all of which damage the gut lining.
Research now proves that neurotransmitters and hormones are integrally linked to mood-regulation. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4259177/
We also know that gut microbes produce serotonin, the feel-good neurotransmitter. And, astonishingly, 90 percent of our serotonin production happens in the gut! https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/microbes-help-produce-serotonin-gut-46495
Surely, the world-wide epidemic of gut dysbiosis and leaky gut is a major factor in the ever-rising depression epidemic.
The bottom line (no pun intended) is this: Dysbiosis and a damaged gut lining are a direct cause of depression. This means if you are depressed, the first line of defense is to improve your diet and correct your microbiome.
Last but not least, perhaps the least known hidden cause of depression is low magnesium.
It stands to reason that depression has reached epidemic proportions because magnesium deficiency has also reached epidemic proportions.
There is a great deal of scientific research proving that low magnesium levels cause depression and that magnesium supplementation quickly reverses depression.
In fact, one published NIH research article entitled “Rapid recovery from major depression using magnesium treatment” found that major depression was eliminated in less than 7 days using 125-300 mg of magnesium glycinate and taurinate. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16542786
f