OCD and Nutritional Therapy

I see Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as being a cluster of symptoms that is caused by an inner overproduction of adrenaline - the fear hormone.

When we are faced with a danger, such as suddenly encountering a tiger in your back yard, your body prepares you for immediate action to either fight or flee from the tiger by flooding your body with adrenaline. Thus adrenaline is properly called a fight/flight hormone essential for the survival of the human species on earth.
Not only does adrenaline prepares for strenuous action, but it is also a focusing hormone, keeping you "mind" focused on the "enemy".

Now in OCD there is no real danger in the environment. Even the sufferer him/herself will admit to this. So the question is why should the body overproduce adrenaline into the system out of the blue.

Adrenaline is a chemical secreted from the adrenal glands and its function is to convert Sugar stores (glycogen) into glucose, whenever the brain senses energy starvation. The brain uses glucose as its only source of energy to energize its biochemical machinery inside brain cells. That energy is essential if the body wants to convert nutrients found in food into beneficial feel good neurotransmitters such as the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin. Thus without that energy the body cannot produce relaxing hormones so necessary in the enjoyment of life.

The next question is, why should the brain - so dependent on Sugar sources - be starved of energy. One major reason is that the person may be suffering from insulin resistance. In insulin resistance, receptors for insulin fail to respond to insulin in pushing nutrients (fatty acid, protein and carbohydrates) into cells to be metabolized into biological energy called ATP.

Thus blood Sugar levels go up and in response more insulin is secreted from the adrenal glands. This is called hyperinsulinism, which has the effects of suddenly lowering blood sugar levels - called a hypoglycemic dip. It is during the "hypoglycemic dip", that the brain triggers the release of adrenaline to replenish the brain with energy again. But this causes the very symptoms of mental illnesses of which OCD is just one example.

Of course, hyperinsulinism can be caused by a cancer of the pancreas, but most are caused by what we call the hypoglycemic syndrome, characterised by unstable blood sugar levels going up and down and responsible for the production of stress hormones.

The condition can be medically tested with an Glucose Tolerance Test taken over several hours, showing the instability of blood sugar levels. It can also be tested by some paper-and-pencil test called the NBI and the Hypo quizz.

People can free themselves form this dilemma by educating themselves out of mood disorders and take greater responsibility for their own treatment with perhaps the help of professionals better trained to understand these illnesses such as Nutritional Doctors or Clinical Nutritionists.

See:

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Nutrition.

//www.curezone.org/upload/PDF/Articles/jurplesman/OCD_and_Nutrition.pdf


Depression is a Nutritional Disorder at:

http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/depression_disorder.html


Beating Anxietiy and Phobias at:

http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/beating_anxiety.html


See also:

http://www.hastingspress.co.uk/hypo/


http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/hypoglycemia.htm


Jur Plesman

Tweet