anti-depressants/cortisol

[Guest guest]

Hello All, and Suze & Heidi,

I'm researching cortisol -- wow -- Cortisol seems to be related to

all that is bad in a body: arthritis, anxiety, fat, depression and

skin problems like eczema, plus so much more bad stuff. Just went

back through all the NN cortisol posts. On the WAPF list Suze asks

about dangers of anti-depressants. So I'm putting this on the NN

list because I couldn't find Heidi on the WAPF Chapter Leader list.

Plan to get copy of Cortisol Connection soon, so maybe will have

answers then...but until then. . .here are some choppy notes that

I've got so far. I hope you can make some sense of them and

understand what I'm asking and that I'm suggesting the relationship

to anti-depressants and increased cortisol levels.

Any insight you have time to share on this would be great! Thanks.

(from Cyndy)

Found " drugs that block ability of CRH lead to increased levels of

cortisol. "

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?

cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & dopt=Abstract & list_uids=95043635 states " An

inappropriate response to cortisol in chronic inflammation has been

reported, i.e., a decrease of the corticotropin-releasing-hormone

(CRH) secretion by the hypothalamus. "

So an increase of CRH is bad but blocked ability of CRH is bad. This

is confusing, what am I not getting here? Is cortisol supposed to be

a temporary burst supplied to the body and then it is not cleared out

the way it is supposed to be? I guess I'm not understanding the

entire function of the corticotropin-releasing-hormone. Is it good

to not have much CRH? Through Effexor, an anti-depressant and anti-

anxiety medicin, I feel as though possibly my CRH has decreased as my

anxiety, and depression ( & negative thinking) have about disappeared

the last few years, these few years where I've gained over 50

pounds. Do you think I have excess cortisol stored in my body that

shouldn't be in there? If this is right, I feel like if I shed that

weight (sounds like through the Warrior Diet) I wouldn't gain it back

again if I have a handle on stress. Although if the meds increase

it, this theory might not work. Maybe I could give up the meds

someday.

Neuro-psychodermatology - Stress (an applied force or system of

forces that tends to strain or deform a body)

Influence your skin & bad skin causes stress too?

So, below, regarding psoriasis and other skin problems, does

degranulation mean " flaking " you think?

Brain Behav Immun 1999 Sep;13(3):225-39 Related Articles, Books,

LinkOut

Acute immobilization stress triggers skin mast cell degranulation via

corticotropin releasing hormone, neurotensin, and substance P: A link

to neurogenic skin disorders.

Singh LK, Pang X, acos N, Letourneau R, Theoharides TC.

Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Tufts

University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, USA.

Many skin disorders, such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis, worsen

during stress and are associated with increased numbers and

activation of mast cells which release vasoactive, nociceptive, and

proinflammatory mediators. Nontraumatic acute psychological stress by

immobilization has been shown to induce mast cell degranulation in

the rat dura and colon. Moreover, intradermal injection of

corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) or its analogue urocortin (10(-

5)-10(-7) M) induced skin mast cell degranulation and increased

vascular permeability. Here, we investigated the effect of acute

immobilization stress on skin mast cell degranulation by light

microscopy and electron microscopy. Immobilization for 30 min

resulted (P < 0.05) in degranulation of 40.7 +/- 9.1% of skin mast

cells compared to 22.2 +/- 7.3% in controls killed by CO(2) or 17.8

+/- 2.4% in controls killed by pentobarbital. Pretreatment

intraperitoneally (ip) with antiserum to CRH for 60 min prior to

stress reduced (P < 0.05) skin mast cell degranulation to 21.0 +/- 3.

3%. Pretreatment with the neurotensin (NT) receptor antagonist

SR48692 reduced (P < 0.05) mast cell degranulation to 12.5 +/- 3.4%,

which was significantly (P < 0.05) below control levels. In animals

treated neonatally with capsaicin to deplete their sensory neurons of

their neuropeptides, such as substance P (SP), mast cell

degranulation due to immobilization stress was reduced to about 15%.

This is the first time that stress has been shown to trigger skin

mast cell degranulation, an action not only dependent on CRH, but

apparently also involving NT and SP. These findings may have

implications for the pathophysiology and possible therapy of

neuroinflammatory skin disorders such as atopic dermatitis,

neurogenic pruritus, or psoriasis, which are induced or exacerbated

by stress. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

PMID: 10469524 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[Guest guest]

>. So I'm putting this on the NN

>list because I couldn't find Heidi on the WAPF Chapter Leader list.

Thanks! I'm not a chapter leader, just a verbose matron.

>Plan to get copy of Cortisol Connection soon, so maybe will have

>answers then...

I do have the book. It is useful, but not as good as I expected. He's

basically into drugs for treatment, which I disagree with on principle.

>but until then. . .here are some choppy notes that

>I've got so far. I hope you can make some sense of them and

>understand what I'm asking and that I'm suggesting the relationship

>to anti-depressants and increased cortisol levels.

>Any insight you have time to share on this would be great! Thanks.

>(from Cyndy)

As for depression and anxiety: virtually ALL of mine seems to be

linked to gluten or casein. I'm not sure what the relationship is, but

any kind of allergy causes increased cortisol release, which causes

a feeling of anxiety. But it also messes with seratonin and dopamine,

and causes the blood brain barrier to break down. So the first thing

I'd tackle is IgA allergies, which are nasty things. The rate of mental

problems among gluten intolerant folks is over 50%, as opposed to 7% for

a random sample of people.

I didn't know about the relationship between

antidepressants and cortisol, tho it seems that antidepressants DO

cause weight gain. They cause lots of other problems too though, so

it would be better to get to the cause of the depression of possible.

But if you are on them, DON'T quit cold turkey, that causes major issues

(I've seen them first hand with folks I know).

The Warrior Diet did seem to regulate my cortisol levels nicely, or

something, anyway I stopped getting the blood sugar swings that have

plagued me all my life. " Low blood sugar " seems to be highly related

to cortisol. Insulin and cortisol balance each other ... so when your

insulin gets out of whack, so does your cortisol and vice versa.

Both can influence your weight. Cortisol blocks you from using

your own body fat for energy ... so you can be really hungry and

faint from hunger even though you have 50 lbs of extra energy

on your hips (that's 150,000 calories, which is a LOT of energy! but

not worth anything unless you can access it).

Exercise helps with cortisol also, esp, for me, things like spending

all day packing or gardening ... long term slow exercise. Weight lifting

helps amazingly also (and doesn't take much time, and anyone

can do it, even 80 year old ladies). Sunlight seems to be really good

too.

-- Heidi Jean