Posted by Larry Hoover on July 15, 2004, at 11:55:36
In reply to Re: Larry, posted by mistermindmasta on July 14, 2004, at 21:45:50
> > Chronic stress, even with a high protein diet, can be all it takes. That's the simplest explanation, and the simplest explanation is usually correct.
> >
> > Lar
> >Just in case you didn't know, to indicate a posting in reply to, or to the attention of, a specific poster, tick the "add name of previous poster" box in the edit window, just below the subject field.
I've changed the subject field to reflect the topic being discussed.
> Ahhhhhh... chronic stress doesn't seem make full sense to me with what causes a mood disorder. There has to be more to it.
I didn't mean my remark to be reflective of a sole cause.
> Lots of people get stressed out during the day but recover from it, no problem.
You're describing recurrent acute stress. Chronic stress (as I intended it to mean) occurs when the body loses its ability to recover from acute stress. Distinctive biochemical changes occur, which create negative feedback loops. It is a classic vicious cycle phenomenon.
> I think there has to be something other than just stress that causes taurine depletion. Maybe cytokine release somehow contributes to low taurine?
Oh, absolutely, there is no single biochemical modality. The system is perturbed, if one element is perturbed.
> I say this only because I believe that all psychiatric disorders are caused directly by one of 4 things: 1. the immune system (in majority of cases to be honest),
I would agree, but I would state it as correlated with, or accompanied by.
2. substance abuse
Self-medication is likely to be evidence of the emergence of underlying symptomatology. It's more of a confound, IMHO, although substance abuse can cause mood problems (e.g. Ecstacy and cocaine might permanently alter neurotransmitter function).
3. nutrient defiency and
I place that at the head of the list, myself. Functional deficiency can be due to poor diet, poor assimilation, poor utilization, poor storage/retention, and so on. Stress increases nutrient demand, so ultimately, stress exerts its effects via malnutrition. The genetic predispositions to mood disorders are ultimately functional deficiencies of essential nutrients (and their products), in my teleological world.
> 4. being born with it.
See #3.
> I am not of the opinion that a normal person could get stressed out enough to actually develop a mood disorder.
PTSD. Nervous/stress breakdown. We have constructs describing just that.
> I think stress is only a factor in the development of a mood disorder, one of many factors.
One of many, indeed. Certainly one of mine, which might bias my perspective.
> But if the immune system is somehow releasing immune system factors such as cytokines, maybe this depletes taurine.
I have only brushed the surface of taurine metabolism, as of yet. More, anon.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:364999
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040613/msgs/366489.html