Natural Alternatives in the Treatment of
ADD, ADHD, OCD & Depression
When looking at such conditions as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and depression a similar relationship can be made—these conditions are all part of the same family because they are all dysfunctions related to neurotransmitter depletion.
What we see, feel, touch, smell, taste, and hear, as well as muscle contraction and how we think, are some of the many functions controlled and regulated by the nervous system and its neurotransmitters. A neurotransmitter is a chemical substance that transmits a nerve impulse across a synapse. In other words, neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers of the nervous system.
Picture the nervous system as a relay team. In a relay race each of the runners on the team carries a baton while running around the track. In the nervous system, the “runner” is a nerve carrying an impulse and the “baton" is a neurotransmitter. To successfully run the relay race the first runner must successfully hand off a baton to the second runner. In the nervous system, the first nerve must successfully transmit its impulse to the second nerve by handing off the neurotransmitter.
The gap where the signal jumps from one neuron's terminal to another neuron is called the synaptic cleft. This is a closeup of a synaptic cleft.
Since the nerve impulse cannot cross a gap as electricity, it crosses the cleft as a chemical message" by means of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. A new impulse is generated when these chemical messages are received by the second neuron, and thus the electrical message continues on.
What is ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD, is one of the most common mental conditions that develop in children. Children with ADHD have impaired functioning in multiple settings, including home, school, and in relationships with peers. If untreated, the disorder can have long-term adverse effects into adolescence and adulthood.
Symptoms of ADHD will appear over the course of many months, and include:
- Impulsiveness: a child who acts quickly without thinking first.
- Hyperactivity: a child who can't sit still, walks, runs, or jumps around when others are sitting still.
- Talks when others are talking.
- A child who daydreams or seems to be in another world, appears sidetracked by what is going on around him or her.
What is OCD, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?
OCD, is an anxiety disorder and is characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviors (compulsions). Repetitive behaviors such as handwashing, counting, checking, or cleaning are often performed with the hope of preventing obsessive thoughts or making them go away. Performing these so-called "rituals," however, provides only temporary relief, and not performing them markedly increases anxiety.
Signs & Symptoms:
- Persistent, unwelcome thoughts and/ or mental images.
- The urgent need to engage in certain rituals and behaviors.
- An obsession with germs or dirt and constant hand washing.
- Being filled with doubt and feeling the need to check things repeatedly.
What is Depression?
Depression is a medical illness; it’s not something that you have made up in your head. It’s more than just feeling "down in the dumps" or "blue" for a few days. It’s feeling "down" and "low" and "hopeless" for weeks at a time.
Signs & Symptoms
- Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" mood
- Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism
- Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
- Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyed.
What all of these illnesses have in common:
We know the names and the faces of neurotransmitter depletion as ADD, ADHD, OCD and depression to name a few. The pharmaceutical industry knows these names and faces as well, and has invented neurotropic and psychotropic drugs to treat these dysfunctions— drugs like Ritalin, Adderall, Strattera, Concerta, Prozac, Paxil, Lexapro, Celexa, Zoloft, Effexor and Xanax, to name a few.
What do these drugs do? They are all designed to treat the effects of neurotransmitter depletion by chemically modulating how much time one nerve gets to hand off its neurotransmitter “baton” to the next nerve. That’s it. Drugs that treat neurotransmitter dysfunction can only work if there are enough neurotransmitters in the system for neurotransmitters to work. Most drugs used to treat neurotransmitter dysfunction further deplete the nervous system of neurotransmitters, which is why many drugs that are effective in treating certain conditions stop working after awhile.
In treating neurotransmitter depletion
naturally, one must provide the body with an
adequate supply of nutrients and raw materials
necessary to create an abundance of
neurotransmitters.
Although there are 183 identifiable
neurotransmitters in the nervous system, there
exist two master classes of neurotransmitters—
the serotonin system and the catecholamine
system.
A master neurotransmitter is one that
controls and regulates other neurotransmitters.
The science behind natural treatment of
neurotransmitter depletion involves
supplementing with an adequate and balanced
amount of the amino acid precursors and their
cofactors used to make the master
neurotransmitters. In the case of manufacturing
serotonin, L-Tryptophan or 5-HTP is required.
The precursor to the catecholamines is from the
amino acid L-Tyrosine. Along with
supplementing with these two amino acids there
are certain cofactors that must be incorporated as
well such as L-Cysteine, L-Lysine, Folic Acid,
Selenium, Calcium and Vitamins C and B6.
Treating Neurotransmitter depletion effectively requires a thorough medical history as well as an empirical process of establishing the proper dosages of supplementation required to achieve a state of equilibrium.
Anxiety & Chronic Stress:
Hans Selye MD was a doctor who studied the stress response. He would take a rat and physically stress it by having it continually swim in swirling water. When it started to drown he would remove it, let it catch its breath and begin the process over. He would cause emotional stress by placing a rat in the corner with a cat on a leash, if the rat moved the cat would kill it.
Additionally, he caused thermal stress by placing a rat on a rooftop in the middle of winter, letting it almost freeze to death, then bring it in and let it warm up, then put it outside again. What he found was that no matter what the stressor was the response was always the same. The response was hypertrophy (enlargement) of the adrenal glands, atrophy (shrinking) of the thymus and spleen, and ulcerations of the stomach and small intestine. The thymus and spleen make up a large portion of your immune system. This is why people under high stress tend to get sick easily and also develop ulcers easily.
Our stress hormone synthesis happens as follows:
Cholesterol » Pregnanelone » Progesterone »Cortisol (stress hormones) » Aldosterone DHEA » Sex Hormones
As you can see, stress and sex hormones are all derived from cholesterol. If you are under constant stress, you will make more stress hormones, and therefore you will need more cholesterol to make those hormones. This is how stress can lead to elevated cholesterol. When you’re continuously making stress hormones your body will decrease production of sex hormones, as well as aldosterone, this is called cortisol steal. Lower sex hormones will lead to hormonal imbalances such as irregular menstrual cycles, infertility and low libido. Lower aldosterone levels will prevent your kidneys from absorbing sodium and therefore spilling sodium into the bladder. Wherever sodium goes, water follows. This will cause dilute urine and frequent urination, as well as the craving of salt. This is how the BTA can measure adrenal stress.
Stress affects sexual function as mentioned above, also sexual arousal is a parasympathetic nervous system response, whereas orgasm and ejaculation are a sympathetic nervous system response. When you have high stress, this stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, decreasing stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system and not allowing arousal to take place. When Viagra was introduced in 1998, it became the fastest selling drug in the history of pharmaceuticals. Could this because of the high stress lifestyle we live?
Insulin is the only hormone that lowers blood sugar, whereas cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, glucagon and growth hormone all raise blood sugar. Cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine are all stress hormones. This is how stress will increase blood sugar, causing insulin levels to rise, to lower the blood sugar and ultimately causing insulin resistance. “Guyton’s Textbook of Medical Physiology” states that persons with excess cortisol secretion frequently develop a peculiar type of obesity, with excess deposition of fat in the chest and head regions of the body, giving a buffalo-like torso and a rounded face called a “moon face”. This is the “apple body shape”.
Higher cortisol levels also block the 5’ deiodinase enzyme. This enzyme is responsible for the conversion of the thyroid hormone T4 which is made in the thyroid, to T3, which is converted primarily in the liver and kidneys. When this enzyme is blocked it will increase the production of reverse T3. T3 is the thyroid hormone which has the most effect on the body. Therefore, when cortisol blocks this enzyme it will lower thyroid function, which leads to lower metabolism and weight gain. This could be one of the reasons people have symptoms of a low thyroid, but their TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is normal, as well as T4. The T3 and reverse T3 levels are rarely checked.
Stress will also have effects on the gastrointestinal tract. It will decrease hydrochloric acid (stomach acid) and mucus production, slow the motility of the small intestine and increase the motility of the large intestine. When you have a decrease in stomach acid and mucus production, this will decrease the amount of gastric protection of the stomach. The high cortisol levels from stress will decrease immune function, therefore making it a favorable environment for Helicobacter Pylori to proliferate, and causing a gastric ulcer. If the small intestine is slower to recover from stress the motility is impaired and constipation results. When the large intestine is slower to recover from stress, motility is increased and diarrhea results.
Stress will increase cardiac risk in many ways. It will increase blood pressure. It can increase cholesterol for production of the stress hormones as stated above. The stress hormones (catacholamines) are detoxified through methylation, this could decrease the methylation capacity to detoxify homocysteine. High levels of homocysteine are very toxic to the cardiovascular system. As stated earlier, cortisol, epinephrine and norepinphrine raise glucose levels. The higher blood sugar level will cause the release of insulin. Insulin will increase cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides and decrease HDL. The increase in body fat caused by stress as mentioned above is another cardiac risk factor.
Cortisol has a half life of 100 minutes. This means that if you are under stress and have a cortisol release, in 100 minutes you will have 50% of that cortisol still in your system, after 200 minutes 25% and so on. If you are under constant stress you will continuously have high cortisol levels and have the physiological responses of that cortisol.
We have natural cortisol patterns. Cortisol should be very high at 8:00 am, this is supposed to get you up feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed. It should continually lower throughout the day and be very low at night so you can fall asleep, sleep deeply and restfully. Cortisol levels at 8:00 am are approximately ten times higher then at midnight. There are three patterns of stress people fall into. The stressed and wired, the stressed and tired, and the tired then wired. The stress and wired group are people who continually have high cortisol levels. This is the always on the go type person. The stressed and tired group, are people who have continually low cortisol levels. These are people who are tired from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed and are constantly seeking stimulants to keep them going. The third type, the tired then wired group are people who have low cortisol levels in the morning and high cortisol levels at night. These are the people who need stimulants to get themselves going in the morning, then calming aids (alcohol, sleep medications) to go to sleep.