Depression and Autoimmune Disease: Natural Solutions to Boost Your Mood
When conventional medicine treats depression, medications that address brain chemical imbalances are usually the treatment of choice. However, medications don’t dig down to the root cause of depression, especially in people who have autoimmune disease. As functional medicine practitioners, we look at what’s causing the brain chemical imbalances in the first place and address other causes of low mood, including the autoimmune disease itself.
In this blog post, I’ll talk about how depression and autoimmune disease often occur together, what’s causing your sad mood, and some natural mood boosters to keep you feeling happy and in control.
Depression and Lupus
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a common autoimmune disease. About 25% of people with lupus have depression, and it’s often one of the earliest symptoms of the disorder. In one study, depression was six times more common in lupus patients than in healthy controls.
Depression and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Major depressive disorder is common in patients with RA, with as many as 13% to 42% of RA patients suffering from the disorder. RA patients are two- to four-times more likely to have depression compared to the general population. RA patients with depression do worse than patients without it. Depression in rheumatoid arthritis is a risk factor for heart disease, heart attacks, suicidal thoughts, and death.
Depression and Multiple Sclerosis
Major depressive disorder is three to 10 times more common in MS patients than in the general population. Depression in MS patients is also more common compared to patients with other chronic illnesses. Depression in multiple sclerosis dramatically affects a person’s ability to function, quality of life, and longevity.
Depression and Hashimoto’s
Hashimoto’s is a type of autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid gland, usually leading to hypothyroidism, the thyroid producing too little hormone. Both the excess and the deficiency of thyroid hormones can cause depression. As many as half of patients with hypothyroidism have depression symptoms.
Depression and Grave’s disease
On the other end of the spectrum from Hashimoto’s, Grave’s disease results in the production of too much thyroid hormone or hyperthyroidism. Elevated thyroid hormones increase the risk of depression because these elevated hormones affect the way the brain uses neurotransmitters, the brain chemicals involved in mood.
Why Do I Feel So Blue?
If you have autoimmune disease and you’re feeling depressed, there are several possible reasons for your low mood. Let’s talk about what causes depression in autoimmune disease and then dive into what you can do to address those causes and feel happy again. Many of the causes are interconnected, so one problem can lead to another, which has a snowball effect.
The Stress Connection
Let’s face it, having an autoimmune disease is stressful and takes both a mental and physical toll on the body. Chronic stress itself can cause low mood and depression. Stress essentially puts the body into a chronic fight or flight response, which in turn triggers a freeze response. When you’re stuck in fight or flight for a long time the body’s natural thing to do is freeze, which is a numbing response.
If you were being chased by a tiger and not able to outrun it and you’re going to become the tiger’s meal, the body will naturally numb its sensations and how you feel to protect you from feeling that pain. Even though we’re not being chased by tigers, autoimmune patients have chronic stress in their bodies from having chronic pain, fatigue, and discomfort. It can trigger that numbing freeze response, because you can’t handle being in constant pain all the time. We’re not meant to be in that survival mode 24/7. Our body tries to do what it does best: protect us from those intense feelings. When it does that, it can affect our mood or cause more low mood, also known as depression.
Basically, all the underlying causes of autoimmunity are different forms of stress. They put pressure on the body in different ways. Even a nutrient deficiency is a form of stress on the body. If you have hormone imbalances or microbiome problems, all of those things are different forms of physiological chemical stress. And on top of those physical stressors, we also experience mental emotional stress. Sometimes the stress just builds up and up, seeming unbearable. But your body is going to keep you alive by controlling how you feel and protecting you from the high levels of stress, as much as possible.
Brain Chemical Imbalances
You’ve probably heard that depression is caused by brain chemical imbalances. And that is partly true. Literally, having low serotonin production and low dopamine can cause depression. Your body could need more of these neurochemicals.
Conventional medicine treats low levels of brain chemicals by prescribing drugs. Functional medicine on the other hand digs down to the root cause of those imbalances.
For example, gut dysfunction and poor diet are common causes of neurotransmitter imbalances. Most of our serotonin and dopamine and brain chemicals that make us feel good and motivated are made almost exclusively in our gut. It’s common in people with autoimmune disease to have problem with their gut microbiome, the microorganisms that live in the intestines.
Due to the gut-brain connection, disruptions in the type and number of bacteria you have in your gut will affect production of your feel-good brain chemicals. Gut microbiome imbalances will also impact your immune system and affect autoimmunity.
Digestive Issues
Digestive issues can impact your mood in ways beyond their effect on the gut microbiome. Autoimmune patients can have problems with making enough stomach acid or digestive enzymes. You need those to break down your food and get the nutrients you need to make neurochemicals involved in mental health.
Serotonin and dopamine are made out of amino acids, which come from protein. But if you don’t have enough stomach acid, you can’t break down protein to turn it into amino acids. You’re not getting the building blocks required to make those mood-boosting brain chemicals.
Or maybe you’re not absorbing nutrients and protein very well because your gut lining is unhealthy and you have leaky gut problems.
The digestion piece of the puzzle is important to your mood, but so is the type of foods you’re eating. Sometimes people aren’t eating enough of the right food. If you’re not eating enough protein, you’re not going to get the amino acids and minerals you need to build neurotransmitters. Without plenty of fresh vegetables, you won’t get the vitamins and minerals that you need for good mood, either.
You’re Worn Out
A lot of people we work with have had chronic health issues for a long time, such as chronic pain and fatigue. They get worn out. They become victims to their health issues. That in itself changes your mood because it takes you out of the driver’s seat and you feel less in control. We lose hope and start to think, this is how I’m always going to feel, nothing I do makes me feel better. I’ve been told by my doctors this is genetic. I’m going to have to live with it forever, there’s no cure for it.
Chronic disease, especially autoimmune disease, is very doom and gloom, and that right there will affect how somebody feels about it. They feel like a victim to their body and not in control. They feel like they can’t control how they feel or function or being able to actually fix the issue they’re dealing with. That part can also contribute to depression.
The feelings can snowball. The more down in the dumps you are, the less motivation you have to make changes and then you don’t do anything about it and it gets worse and your mood gets worse—it’s a vicious cycle.
Hormonal Imbalances
Another possible cause of depression in autoimmune disease is imbalanced hormones. Stress and cortisol (the stress hormone) are usually involved in autoimmunity. Most of the root causes of autoimmunity are forms of stress. That means that your adrenals are constantly under pressure to keep your cortisol levels balanced.
Progesterone is another important hormone in the stress response because it’s a precursor of cortisol and your body uses it to make cortisol. Autoimmune disease is more common in women and women have more fluctuations in hormones like progesterone.
Many women with autoimmune disease have endometriosis, a condition where tissue resembling the endometrium grows outside the uterus in the ovaries, abdomen, and intestines, leading to inflammation and pain. Conventional doctors usually treat endometriosis with birth control to stop women from ovulating, which in turn stops the production of progesterone. Even though birth control can help the symptoms of endometriosis, it causes a drop in progesterone, which leads to depression and a reduced ability to handle stress.
Progesterone derivatives in the brain can affect GABA, an amino acid neurotransmitter that helps you relax. GABA serves as a break for the nervous system by allowing us to get out of that fight-or-flight mode. It has a calming effect. Low progesterone can lead to low GABA, which in turn leads to low mood.
Natural Mood Boosters for People with Autoimmune Disease
There are many ways you can feel happier, less like a victim, and more in control if you have autoimmunity issues. This is why instead of referring to people who visit our clinic as patients, we call them “practice members.” Here are four ways people with autoimmune disease can take control of their mental health.
What’s Stressing You Out?
The first step is to identify what’s causing the stress in your body. It’s helpful to figure out what stressors you can control and what you can’t control. Recognize that there’s always going to be stress from work or from your relationship. Realize that you can’t necessarily change those types of stress, but find ways to handle those stressors better.
Remember that there are also physical stresses from diet and lifestyle that you can change. A functional medicine provider can help you pin down what’s stressing out your body and show you how to get rid of those problems.
For example, if something in your diet is triggering your immune system, go on an elimination diet to determine the culinary culprit. A functional medicine doctor can order tests to figure out what is contributing to your stress from a biochemical standpoint so you can select the right diet, pick the right supplements, and give your body what it’s missing to make those mood-boosting neurochemicals.
Do More of What Makes You Happy
Do more of what makes you happy in order to boost your dopamine levels. Make it a daily habit to do things that are rewarding to you. Pick up a hobby or two and make it a priority to spend a little time on them either each day or each week.
Another good mood-boosting strategy? Develop a nightly routine where you do something relaxing: take a bath, read a book, meditate, do stretching, yoga, or breathing exercises. Choose something you can do consistently to help you de-stress.
Get Moving
Okay, we know you probably don’t feel like exercising. But you don’t have to run a marathon.
Exercise is a natural mood booster. It’s important for people who are in a lot of pain to avoid being sedentary. The more sedentary you are, the more pain.
It’s hard for people to wrap their heads around that because they think, “How am I going to move, I’m in so much pain?” I’ve found with many RA patients who are Caplan Health Institute practice members, that if they can do a little movement throughout the day, it actually helps decrease their pain and inflammation.
The best bet? Having a small attainable goal you can do every day like walking to the mailbox and back or doing some gentle stretching exercises. Choose an activity according to your tolerance. If you’re starting out in a lot of pain, do something for five minutes and try to do that every day and increase your time as you start to feel better. Do whatever you need to do to make sure you’re getting up and moving for a little bit each day.
Be Optimistic
It’s important to keep your eye on the prize: to get your health back. You have resources. You have knowledge. You have support. You have inner strength. You can handle challenges.
Try not to overthink the things that are wrong. Don’t become complacent with the false idea “This is how I’m going to feel forever.” Avoid doom and gloom thinking.
When you have symptoms, it’s the body’s way of trying to communicate with you and get your attention. Symptoms are also the body’s way to protect you. Think of the symptoms as a hidden message your body gives you that will help you figure out the solution to get you feeling better.
You can say to yourself, “It is no fun to have this illness, but I’m making small changes every day that will lead to big results.” “I am taking things one day at a time.” “I have within me the ability to heal.” Continuing to have hope is important not only for keeping a positive outlook, but also getting your autoimmunity under control.
We Can Help Lift Your Mood
At the Caplan Health Institute, we can work together with you to find out what’s causing your depression and get at the root cause, so that you’ll feel content and enjoying life again.
The first step? Schedule a free 15-minute discovery consultation, by phone or video. If you come on board as a practice member, we’ll order the right tests, have a heart-to-heart conversation about your stress triggers and how you can feel calmer, talk about the specific diet and lifestyle solutions that are right for you, and implement other natural mood boosters.
Our coaching team can support you every step of the way, so that you’re able to stay on track with your diet and lifestyle challenges. We’ll give you the tools you need to feel more uplifted and positive about your life, while addressing autoimmune disease at the same time.
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