Posted by dessbee on January 10, 2007, at 15:49:13
In reply to Re: Aldosterone - low levels? » dessbee, posted by Jimmyboy on January 10, 2007, at 14:14:44
What I mean with "depression like symptoms" is that it has only been proven in animal models that CRF causes depression, probably through a "forced swim test".
The adrenal exhaustion is caused by low GR density; since more cortisol than normal will be needed to inhibit the release of CRF. Mood disorder seems to be a haywired HPA-axis.
A person with high GR density will not need as much cortisol in order to suffieciently inhibit CRF release. Therefore their adrenal gland will not be exhausted as easily.It has been shown that recovered depressives have higher cortisol levels than normal. This is a sign of low GR density, where cortisol successfully inhibit CRF release. Unfortunately high cortisol levels has a degenerative effect on brain tissue, which could explain why people with mood disorders have smaller hippocampus. Cortisol is also a stress hormone that can induce anxiety.
It seems like mood disorder is a dysfunction of the HPA-axis, that shifts between anxiety and depression.I have no good answer how to cure an exhausted adrenal gland. The real cure would be to increase GR density. If I knew how this was done I would probably be a billionaire.
There are CRF antagonists tested in clinical studies but they are not yet on the market.
Some people on this board try to increase cortisol levels with licorice, caffeine and DHEA. I dislike this strategy due to cortisol's catabolic effects, but I can understand their thinking because cortisol alleviate depression quickly.
Others try to inhibit CRF release through increase in monoamines with synthetic/herbal MAOI and SSRI/NSRI.
I personally think fish oil is one of the best ways to improve HPA-axis function.
poster:dessbee
thread:719941
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20061218/msgs/721124.html