Symptom Checker Results
Thanks so much for taking this assessment! Listed below are your potential risk scores associated with these Top 5 “Psychiatric Pretenders.” We hope this gives you a few valuable insights and practical changes you can begin to implement to resolve some of the root causes of your symptoms.
Hi there!
Vitamin B12 Deficiency
Your Risk:
Vitamin B12 plays a critical role throughout the body and is associated with increased energy levels, improved moods, and healthy nervous system function. A deficiency of this key nutrient is extremely common, however, especially for those with compromised gut health, small bowel inflammation, and/or autoimmune disease....
Symptoms of low B12 can include poor balance, confusion, forgetfulness, depression, psychosis, and infertility. People on vegetarian diets or proton pump inhibitors are often deficient. Those who are pregnant or going through periods of intense stress have a greater need for this vitamin.
Animal foods are the best food sources of vitamin B12, including organ meats, grass-fed meat, wild-caught fish, organic poultry, and pasture-raised eggs. Supplementation is often helpful initially, however, especially for people who test low and can monitor their levels.
Hypothyroidism
Your Risk:
The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in the front of the throat that’s responsible for regulating many energy-dependent systems of the body. The thyroid plays a key role in metabolism, digestion, elimination, appetite, energy, temperature, sleep, and mood....
It’s estimated that up to 40% of the population has some level of hypothyroidism, which occurs when the thyroid gland is underactive and doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormone. Symptoms of low thyroid can include: anxiety, irritability, fatigue, hair loss, dry skin, brittle nails, constipation, weight fluctuations, and feeling cold.
Thyroid healing and repair is intimately tied to enhancing gut function and restoring hormonal balance through diet, detox, and mindfulness. Natural desiccated thyroid hormone may also be needed based on testing.
Reactive Hypoglycemia
Your Risk:
Reactive hypoglycemia is a blood sugar imbalance that occurs after eating. When a person consumes high amounts of sugar (either through obvious forms like soda, or non-obvious forms like pasta), blood sugar increases quickly. This fast increase then spikes insulin, and blood sugar crashes. This forces cortisol to compensate and try to move sugar out of storage and back into the bloodstream....
Over time, this process is responsible for carb and sugar cravings (since the brain needs a steady supply of sugar to function), which can frequently result in feeling “hangry” after skipping a meal. This can also lead to anxiety, irritability, depression, headaches, dizzy spells, and trouble sleeping.
The solution is to restore sugar balance by eliminating sugar and refined flours from the diet and incorporating more protein and natural fats, particularly for breakfast. It’s also a good idea for these individuals to eat every two and a half hours — sometimes for a period of months or even years — until this response has had a chance to correct itself.
Gluten Sensitivity
Your Risk:
It’s estimated that up to 80% of the population has some sort of intestinal permeability, which can make digesting the proteins found in wheat especially problematic. With a growing body of research linking gluten to various inflammatory disorders, it suggests that “non-celiac gluten sensitivity” is on the rise....
Through the gut-brain axis, symptoms are often unsuspectingly neurological in nature and can include brain fog, fatigue, depression, migraines, and a host of other psychiatric symptoms. This is in addition to skin rashes, bone or joint pain, bloating, and/or weight loss. Over time this can cause antibodies to be formed against brain and other tissues.
While testing can confirm a gluten sensitivity in some people, it’s often better to cut out gluten and other processed foods entirely for one month with strict compliance, and opt for more nutrient-dense, less potentially reactive alternatives.
Medication-Induced Symptoms
Your Risk:
At least 70% of Americans are taking at least one prescription drug. And more than a third are taking at least one medication known to induce symptoms of depression and even suicide. Iatrogenesis is the term used to describe these medication-induced symptoms, which ironically often results in the prescription of more and more medications, thus creating a cascade of adverse effects, while the root causes of those symptoms go ignored....
Learn more about each of these medications and their potential side effects using the links below:
About Dr. Kelly Brogan
Kelly Brogan, M.D. is a holistic women’s health psychiatrist, author of the NY Times Bestselling book, A Mind of Your Own, and co-editor of the landmark textbook, Integrative Therapies for Depression. She completed her psychiatric training and fellowship at NYU Medical Center after graduating from Cornell University Medical College, and has a B.S. from M.I.T. in Systems Neuroscience. She is board certified in psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine, and integrative holistic medicine, and is specialized in a root-cause resolution approach to psychiatric syndromes and symptoms.
