Serotonin. Is having an abundance of it too good to be true?
Serotonin makes you happy and other myths
Serotonin. Is it the happiness neurotransmitter?
This podcast was very insightful for me, in which Dr. Mercola interviews Georgi Dinkov. You can find Dr. Mercola’s podcasts, including this one, at https://podcasts.apple.com, and I have attached the transcript to this post.
https://mercola.fileburst.com/PDF/ExpertInterviewTranscripts/DrJosephMercola-GeorgiDinkov-TheDeleteriousEffectsOfExcessEstrogenAndSerotonin.pdf
Low Carb-High Fat Disadvantages
Dinkov’s website has many useful and informative articles at http:// haidut.me. For instance, in one article, he discussed the negative effects of a high-fat/low-carb diet that has a pro-obesity effect by raising cortisol. I have believed in a short-term low-carb diet in some instances, but Dinkov mentions that even a short-term low-carbohydrate diet may have a pro-estrogenic and pro-cortisol effect. Interesting.
As a side note, I do not promote low-carb diets for people with anxiety or depression and encourage a balanced amount of carbs at each meal, especially with dinner. A low-carb diet is typically considered 100 carb grams or less, and a ketogenic diet is considered 40 carb grams or less daily. Your carb needs are determined by lifestyle factors, but a general guideline is between 150 to 350 carb grams per day.
Back to the current podcast between Dinkov and Dr. Mercola:
The first half of their talk discusses estrogen, progesterone, pregnenolone, and DHEA and the best ways to take them for optimization. For instance, I did not know that opening a progesterone or a DHEA capsule and mixing it with a small amount of butter or EVOO will increase bioavailability.
In the second half of the podcast, they discussed serotonin myths and the need for GABA to reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms. While I have drawn my own conclusions about serotonin in the past 15 or so years based on research and personal experience, what Dinkov said was a bit of a shock.
Serotonin. Can too much worsen your mood?
Dinkov explained that not only does serotonin not improve mood, but an increase can actually make your mood/depression worse, such as serotonin syndrome, which can occur when taking an SSRI medication.
There is no data to support that if someone has depression, they have a chemical imbalance or have low serotonin. This is a manufactured belief that supports the use of medications for depression.
Yet we believe it because we have heard it repeatedly throughout our lives. Think of how many myths you believe to be truths that aren’t!
Two good posts to read by Peter Gotzche (who was a co-founder of the Cochrane Institute) on chemical imbalance https://www.deadlymedicines.dk/the-harmful-myth-about-the-chemical-imbalance-causing-psychiatric-disorders and the depression pill epidemic (written in 2019 and the situation has only worsened since then) https://www.deadlymedicines.dk/the-depression-pill-epidemic/
If you have been on anti-depressant medications, do not abruptly go off of them but start to consider other options outside of medications.
My general recommendation is to NOT slowly taper off your meds until we have identified underlying root causes and have addressed them for at least several months. You want to restore balance in the body before you taper off an SSRI. This is vital! I have seen many people do a fast taper off their medication at the same time as contacting a holistic health practitioner. Do not do this!
Thinking about the myth of serotonin led me to this video I wanted to share:
This one with the late Kary Mullis talking about AIDS/HIV, PCR tests (he is the inventor), studies designed to fail, and much more.
Kary Mullis-the full interview (1996)
Mullis mentioned repeatedly that there is no evidence to support the statement that HIV causes AIDS. He said there is not one person or a group of persons who have found this to be true.
Yet we all believed it. And many still believe it. But there were doctors back then telling Fauci that they were not seeing the connection, but their voices got suppressed.
Much like we believe depression is due to a chemical imbalance. When you hear something said enough times, you believe it as a truth.
Mullis also mentioned studies set up to fail, much like recent studies showing no benefit of using ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine for Cov!d-19. The studies did not use the same doses or durations, did not start dosing at illness onset, and so forth that doctors used in practice successfully.
This tells me not much has changed since 1997!
What about you? What did you believe when you were younger because you heard it repeatedly but discovered later in life to be fiction by diving into a topic?
I found Dr. Mercola’s article on HRT very interesting but also very hard to understand. I guess I’ll go thru it again but the gist of what I read seemed to imply estrogen was a great healing hormone that would go crazy if used in the wrong way. I started HRT over a year ago at the advice of my doctor and I’m concerned now that I shouldn’t be doing it.