Mental health and diet, an update
It’s now #MHAW18, three years since #MHAW15 and my last blog about my mental health. Here is my update:
In my last blog I mentioned I was diagnosed with depression in 2006 and I relapsed in 2015 (and by that I mean I got the same diagnosis from another doctor - knowing what I think I know now I don’t actually think it ever really went away, I just learned to cope better). The doctor pushed so hard to find a situational reason for why I was feeling the way I was but there didn’t really seem to be one. Nothing had changed. I was happily married, enjoying my job and my family life, I’d not lost anyone, and I wasn’t in financial hardship. I started to blame it on my hip (I have chronic pain from dysplasia) - the only thing in my life which was making me unhappy - but looking back I’m not sure that was it either.
I didn’t feel the doctor was helping (and, in fact, was making me feel more anxious) so I just stopped going. I did, however, start to visit a chiropractor/physical therapist to try and get help for my hip (and other bodily pain). I also started walking with a stick to aid my balance (and fear of falling over).
I tried so many different things to get myself out of the depressive state I was in, to take control of the situation like people say to do. I started trying to do more of the things I used to enjoy and some new things too. I started focusing on my faith and beliefs again, joining a number of groups and making some new friends (both online and offline), I started writing letters both to old and new friends, I started doing my garden, I started going to the theatre every opportunity I got and I started going to motorsport events with my husband. While these things were exciting/relaxing/fun I didn’t really feel any different inside; I would really struggle with tiredness and it would be extremely frustrating.
In October 2017 the company I work for signed the ‘Time to Change’ pledge and did some work on mental health. Through this I discovered a nutritionist who specialised in mental health. When I spoke to her she mentioned the different factors of biochemical depression and talked to me about copper toxicity. I’d never heard of this before. She asked me some questions about my current situation and medical history and I felt as if I was answering ‘yes’ to every single one. Apparently there is no proven way of testing for copper toxicity but I thought, “If she was right…” I can’t put into words how it feels to understand why I feel the way I feel; not to have to rack my brains to think of something that’s happened that might bring on a low period. She pointed me in the direction of Nutritional Therapist, Sami Gilbert whose website, mailing list, Facebook page and cookbooks have been imperative while on this journey.
The first year I was at university my diet pretty much consisted of beans on toast, pot noodles and tuna pasta; in all fairness not much different from my friend’s diets. I’d lost quite a bit of weight, though, and I wanted to be healthier so I started to plan my meals meticulously. By the end of my second year I was eating a pretty balanced, plenty of vegetables and mostly vegan, diet. Marmite sandwiches, though, with a packet of crisps was my staple lunch, every single day. And I’d return to beans on toast, pot noodles and tuna pasta when I wasn’t feeling great! Many people, including nutritionists, would look and what I was eating and say it was mostly healthy. For body, maybe. But for mind? I continued this diet throughout the remainder of university and beyond until a few months ago...
From what I was reading it appeared that I may have been poisoning myself with my food for years. Predominately with things like wheat and other gluten grains, nuts, beans, legumes and yeast. The fact that I’d been eating marmite sandwiches (full of yeast and wheat) for the best part of a decade could account for the exhaustion I felt at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and why after eating beans on toast for dinner I’d fall asleep on the sofa and not really move again until bedtime.
I'd never even considered how diet could relate to mental health.
So I decided to run down the ‘poisons’ I had in my cupboard and then in January 2018 I began my ‘copper detox’ cutting out gluten, nuts, beans, legumes and yeast - I was already non-dairy.
I feel so much better, it’s honestly incredible. All my emotions are so much more intense than I ever remember them being; I feel like I’m so much more appreciative of a sunny day or a pretty flower, and I know I’ve been able to grieve properly for people I loved and lost, it’s not just a constant sense of tired and numb anymore. I don’t remember feeling free-floating anxiety for months (I do still get anxious but I can rationalise why) and I’ve not cried for no reason once. I don’t feel dizzy in the mornings and I don’t get the ‘3 o’clock’ slump anymore, my blood pressure is better, my blood circulation is better, my skin is better, my digestive system is better, my cycle is better and I’ve hardly experienced PMS symptoms in the last few months (and the cramping is barely noticeable), and aside from a little hay fever I’ve not been ill at all this year.
Thank you all for the support last time. Honestly, if you had have told me I'd feel the way I feel now three years ago - gosh even 8 months ago - I wouldn't have believed you. I just wish others can be helped too.
In my last blog I mentioned I was diagnosed with depression in 2006 and I relapsed in 2015 (and by that I mean I got the same diagnosis from another doctor - knowing what I think I know now I don’t actually think it ever really went away, I just learned to cope better). The doctor pushed so hard to find a situational reason for why I was feeling the way I was but there didn’t really seem to be one. Nothing had changed. I was happily married, enjoying my job and my family life, I’d not lost anyone, and I wasn’t in financial hardship. I started to blame it on my hip (I have chronic pain from dysplasia) - the only thing in my life which was making me unhappy - but looking back I’m not sure that was it either.
I didn’t feel the doctor was helping (and, in fact, was making me feel more anxious) so I just stopped going. I did, however, start to visit a chiropractor/physical therapist to try and get help for my hip (and other bodily pain). I also started walking with a stick to aid my balance (and fear of falling over).
I tried so many different things to get myself out of the depressive state I was in, to take control of the situation like people say to do. I started trying to do more of the things I used to enjoy and some new things too. I started focusing on my faith and beliefs again, joining a number of groups and making some new friends (both online and offline), I started writing letters both to old and new friends, I started doing my garden, I started going to the theatre every opportunity I got and I started going to motorsport events with my husband. While these things were exciting/relaxing/fun I didn’t really feel any different inside; I would really struggle with tiredness and it would be extremely frustrating.
In October 2017 the company I work for signed the ‘Time to Change’ pledge and did some work on mental health. Through this I discovered a nutritionist who specialised in mental health. When I spoke to her she mentioned the different factors of biochemical depression and talked to me about copper toxicity. I’d never heard of this before. She asked me some questions about my current situation and medical history and I felt as if I was answering ‘yes’ to every single one. Apparently there is no proven way of testing for copper toxicity but I thought, “If she was right…” I can’t put into words how it feels to understand why I feel the way I feel; not to have to rack my brains to think of something that’s happened that might bring on a low period. She pointed me in the direction of Nutritional Therapist, Sami Gilbert whose website, mailing list, Facebook page and cookbooks have been imperative while on this journey.
The first year I was at university my diet pretty much consisted of beans on toast, pot noodles and tuna pasta; in all fairness not much different from my friend’s diets. I’d lost quite a bit of weight, though, and I wanted to be healthier so I started to plan my meals meticulously. By the end of my second year I was eating a pretty balanced, plenty of vegetables and mostly vegan, diet. Marmite sandwiches, though, with a packet of crisps was my staple lunch, every single day. And I’d return to beans on toast, pot noodles and tuna pasta when I wasn’t feeling great! Many people, including nutritionists, would look and what I was eating and say it was mostly healthy. For body, maybe. But for mind? I continued this diet throughout the remainder of university and beyond until a few months ago...
From what I was reading it appeared that I may have been poisoning myself with my food for years. Predominately with things like wheat and other gluten grains, nuts, beans, legumes and yeast. The fact that I’d been eating marmite sandwiches (full of yeast and wheat) for the best part of a decade could account for the exhaustion I felt at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and why after eating beans on toast for dinner I’d fall asleep on the sofa and not really move again until bedtime.
I'd never even considered how diet could relate to mental health.
So I decided to run down the ‘poisons’ I had in my cupboard and then in January 2018 I began my ‘copper detox’ cutting out gluten, nuts, beans, legumes and yeast - I was already non-dairy.
I feel so much better, it’s honestly incredible. All my emotions are so much more intense than I ever remember them being; I feel like I’m so much more appreciative of a sunny day or a pretty flower, and I know I’ve been able to grieve properly for people I loved and lost, it’s not just a constant sense of tired and numb anymore. I don’t remember feeling free-floating anxiety for months (I do still get anxious but I can rationalise why) and I’ve not cried for no reason once. I don’t feel dizzy in the mornings and I don’t get the ‘3 o’clock’ slump anymore, my blood pressure is better, my blood circulation is better, my skin is better, my digestive system is better, my cycle is better and I’ve hardly experienced PMS symptoms in the last few months (and the cramping is barely noticeable), and aside from a little hay fever I’ve not been ill at all this year.
Thank you all for the support last time. Honestly, if you had have told me I'd feel the way I feel now three years ago - gosh even 8 months ago - I wouldn't have believed you. I just wish others can be helped too.