I just had a client come to me with depression and anxiety. After looking over her blood work results that she brought in from a recent doctor's visit, in combination with what I observed and her symptoms, my conclusion was that she has a blood sugar issue (in addition to the obvious mental and emotional elements involved in depression that would need to be addressed). Specifically, I suspect she has hypoglycemia. When her blood sugar plummets, due to diet and hormone issues, her adrenals are required to "step it up" and offer some support for her flagging energy, by causing surges of adrenaline. So not only does she get the lack of energy and low mood of depression, but the adrenaline causes anxiety, angry outbursts and a spinning mind (you know, the "wired but tired" feeling you get sometimes when you are trying to go to sleep?).She is also getting dizzy spells and chest pains, as well as cold extremities and poor circulation (a result of being in the "fight or flight" state, where blood is directed away from the extremities into the large muscles of the upper legs and the heart). Waking up after about 3 hours of sleep is also an indicator of blood sugar imbalance.
So what do you do if this sounds all to familiar?
1) You need to eliminate or greatly restrict simple sugars from your diet, from obvious sources like baking, sweets and pop, as well a "non-obvious" sources of simple sugar, like fruit juice. You will also need to limit carbohydrates or starchy foods that reduce to a sugar easily in the body, like grains and root vegetables. You can find lists of where foods are on the Glycemic Index (the rate which a food turns to sugar in your system) here, or a search engine to tell you the glycemic index of any food here (low is 55 or less; high is 70 and above).
2) You may find supplementing with chromium helpful. This trace mineral is often low in people with blood sugar balance issues.
3) Reflexology and acupuncture are both modalities that help balance hormones naturally, as well as help to bring blood sugar back into balance. They will also help to heal the adrenal glands so you can relax and stop worrying. Plus, they just feel good!
If you have depression and/or anxiety, there is many possible causes - blood sugar imbalance is just one possiblity (though a common one). Talk to your doctor and have him do blood tests to check, and ask for advice from a trained health practitioner if you suspect this might be your issue.
