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Anxiety and Whole 30


lbosmer

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I did my first Whole30 in January and did really great up until about day 25 when my grandfather died. So needless to say that my Whole30 was actually a Whole25. During this time (days 1-25) I felt great. More energy, stable mood, sleeping great...all of the Whole30 successes we read about. During this time I was even able to begin weaning off my anti anxiety meds with lots of success. I had been taking 50 mg of Zoloft every night since 2010 and had worked my way down to 25mg every other night. After my grandfather passed I was able to handle things very well, even on the decreased dosage of my meds. Even though my Whole30 was not truly a Whole30 I felt that I would be doing one again in March to make up for it. Since then I have been eating Paleo. However, Valentines Day and a girls beach trip found me unprepared and I ended up eating regular food and drinking way too much. This Monday I had SEVERE anxiety accompanied with insomnia (why do these 2 things always go together?) I began taking my Zoloft again and even had to go to the doctor today and was prescribed Xanax for my current anxiety problems until my Zoloft is able to start working again. I immediately began my second Whole 30 this past Monday so I am on day 4 now and I'm still feeling anxious and so mad at myself for letting this happen.

The main reason for this post is I am wondering how many of you have had success controlling anxiety while maintaing a Whole30 lifestyle and how many of you (if any of you) have had success weaning off and staying off meds for anxiety? What was your approach and how do you feel?

I don't want to stop taking my meds given my current situation but really want to in the future. I truly believe that all the alcohol and bad food choices I recently made sent me into a tailspin emotionally.

Thoughts, advice, encouragement please?!

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I know alcohol can definitely be a trigger for those kinds of feelings. It's hard but I'd say to avoid it generally as its just not worth those awful repercussions. You'll get your balance back soon. Of course, the anxiety may also be a delayed reaction to your loss. Be kind to yourself and take it one day at a time.

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I quit zoloft cold turkey four years ago-very unpleasant, I don't recommend it to anyone! Since that time I've tried to manage depression and anxiety through exercise and naturopathic supplements like 5 HTP, Sam E, etc. with varying degrees of success. So much depends on what's going on in my life but without a doubt diet is the key to managing it successfully. I finished my W30 Jan 31 and I can honestly I felt the best I can remember in decades during January with regards to depression and anxiety. I went through my reintros and experienced a definate uptick in anxiety and feeling blue. Now I need to learn how to ride my bike as they say and keep making good choices for my mental health.

It's really hard isn't it? We see others enjoying a glass of wine or nightly drink (hello husband!!) and think why can't I? Well I know I can't because I come from a long line of alcoholics and I'm prone to depression and anxiety and I need to say no-it's what's best for me and it's what is best for my whole family, I just wish it wasn't so hard. Even knowing that it's best I still make poor choices and suffer the consequences. It sounds like stopping your meds right now would be very stressful for you, get your nutrition and stress in order and then talk to your doctor about getting off. It might take longer than a W30 to get to that point though and that's ok. Take good care of yourself, make wise choices and you can get there. It sometimes feels like an insane amount of work, our society has made it so easy to settle for symptom managment with meds, drugs or alcohol, but you deserve to feel great and you can. And completing a W30 (or more) is a great first step.

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Your body is like a battle ship... Has everything it needs to survive at sea for extended periods.... Nuero transmitters are the ships, rutters, thrusters and stabilization devices, big storm coming? No problem...

Now what if that ship had its rutter or thruster go out? It would be fine in glass calm seas but once a storm blew in with 50" waves, it would get tossed around....

That's depression and its related anxiety in a nut shell..... Your fine in calm seas, but once stress hits( and sometimes you don't even know its there) your off into a tailspin....

All your body's natural defenses ( neurotransmitters) GABA, dopamine,serotonin,endorphins are hormones.... Eating well ( ala W30) sleeping well, exercising all help stabilize all your hormones, not just thyroid,testosterone....on and on. So it would be safe to assume that finding a lifestyle....Whole9 that promotes health and healthy levels of hormones would " stabilize" your levels...

That said... There is no shame in needing help... If your thyroid was faulty, you wouldn't think of going off thyroid medications. Keep in constant contact with your doctor and try sticking to the w30 guidelines for at least a full month.... If your doctors then feel it is ok then reduce your meds under supervision

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Thanks y'all for the encouragement. Y'all are all right. Fenderbender I love your analogy of our body as a ship...it made me laugh (in a good way)

Krista, I'd love to hear more about your naturopathic approach and supplements. That may be something I need to look into. Any advice would be appreciated.

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Thanks y'all for the encouragement. Y'all are all right. Fenderbender I love your analogy of our body as a ship...it made me laugh (in a good way)

Krista, I'd love to hear more about your naturopathic approach and supplements. That may be something I need to look into. Any advice would be appreciated.

Sorry, didn't see this!

First, I'd suggest finding a good naturopath in your area, especially if you have insurance that'll cover it. Fortunately mine did through my alternative care rider. There are so many things on the market now that it can be really hard to sort through.

I was taking 5HTP, started with 50mg twice daily on an empty stomach, at times I went up to 100 mg twice daily but with a higher dose experienced very, very vivid dreams! I was also taking rhodiola, 200 mg (I think) which was a general stress supporter as well as B Complex, again good for stress, and omegas. We swapped the 5HTP for Sam-E in the last year of my treatment, I'd have to check my left over pills to see the dose. I also added something called women's phase one to try to get my cycles settled. I was essentially having 15 day cycles every month with extended spotting before and after, very annoying!

After more than a year of 15 day cycles I started acupuncture. I was treated for two months twice weekly essentially for liver health. In Eastern Medicine the liver is sometimes called the seat of anger....very fitting description for me. My depression, hip and lower back pain and extended cycles were all tied together in my liver health...or lack thereof!

What actually fixed my cycles though was the W30 in January. It was the closest to "normal" I can remember being in ages. Plus I did not have the mood swings, depression, anxiety and irrational anger than sadly had become normal to me. The body has a great capacity to heal itself, if only we'll get out of its way and let it do it. I am learning, slowly and sometimes the hard way, how food and drink make me feel great...or terrible. And I'm hopefully learning to say NO to the things that make me feel terrible, but I'll be honest, I'm a work in progress and sometimes I say yes when I know I should say no!

How are you feeling today?

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Hey Krista, Thank you so much for your response. I have been looking into Naturopathic Medicine. It seems fitting since I have adopted the Whole 30 lifestyle that I should try and confront my problems naturally rather than with industrial medications. The past few weeks have been up and down. Some bad days some good. My anxiety stems from the single fact that if I can't sleep, or fall asleep in a reasonable amount of time I get anxiety, then I really won't go to sleep because I'm anxious...it's a vicious cycle. In a nutshell, I have anxiety because I have anxiety...does that make sense? In the past year I have been great mainly eating Paleo, and in January did the W30 and felt even better. Then I made some poor food and drink choices over the course of about 3 or 4 days and BAM! I didn't sleep one night and there starts my anxiety. It probably doesn't help that while I was on the W30 I was able to begin weaning off my zoloft and was doing so with great success. I think that maybe that is why my anxiety is so amped up currently because I was not really on anything when it started. I began taking back my full dose and will do so until I get back to "normal". My hopes are that maybe eventually I will be able to begin trying to wean off again but be more careful about food and drink choices.

I have found a ND in my area and plan on calling next week to see what it's all about. Do you feel like these supplements have helped. Currenty I am taking a fish oil supplement and Magnesium, so I am obviously not on the ones you are. But I'm just curious to know how you feel they have helped you. Sorry for all the questions.

Thanks

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The anxiety - no sleep - anxiety - no sleep - anxious about feeling anxious - no sleep - etc. whirl is very familiar to me. Initially I found great relief in that my medication worked more effectively than pre-Whole30. After several Whole30s (I really REALLY loved Whole30 and my lifestyle is fairly conducive to eating Whole30, so I kept at it) I've decreased, and recently, stopped my anxiety medication. My goal is to see if I can go without it and manage through diet and lifestyle.

I would say, take the help, all the help, you need when you need it - the Whole30 will make it easier for your body to process the medicine, and will make it easier for you to determine when it's right for you to decrease your medication again.

And I don't drink, at all, ever, but my mood swings when eating non-Whole30 are now so clearly food-related that I'm stunned I didn't know this before. I just thought I was unstable. Nooooo, turns out I was responding to really bad food.

So sorry for the loss of your grandfather. May you feel comfort as you continue on.

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Thanks AmyS. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who has these issues. I am on day 14 of my second W30 (or is it my first since I had to stop on day 25 last time...) and I really am starting to feel better. I 100% believe that food and drink and what we put in our bodies can make us feel great or like crap. I just hate it took me having an "anxiety crisis" to figure this out.

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I have writings about how Whole30 has helped my bipolar and anxiety on my blog Bipolar Spirit. If I can stick with the diet, I can regulate my mood, yet I have a binge eating disorder and that keeps getting in my way! Its better but still pretty bad and I can't keep up with the diet. I will figure it out though! Good luck to you. And I am sorry to hear about your grandfather.

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