1905. When Postpartum Depression Becomes a Crisis

Join Dr. Martin in today's episode of The Doctor Is In Podcast.

 

TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE

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Dr. Martin:  Well, good morning, everyone. How are you? And once again, welcome to another live this morning. We appreciate you guys.

Thanks for coming on. And okay, thanks for coming on, guys. We appreciate you big time. Now, guys, I certainly don't want a fight occurring amongst our family member, okay, because I consider you guys family.

Okay. But, and you guys know this, I do this frequently. I take a story in the news and I apply it to some principles and to teaching. Okay.

So unless you're living on another planet, okay, you've heard about the Lindsay Clancy case, right? Hung jury. Okay. Retrial probably.

Again, I don't want to have a fight. Hey, it's a tragedy. But I want to talk to you today about postpartum. I want to talk to you about depression.

Not that we haven't done it before. But when I saw that story, following it, probably like just about everybody else on the planet, I seen a lot of postpartum depression in my lifetime, okay, in practice. And I want to talk about that. And I want to talk about depression in particular.

Okay. Now postpartum depression, and everyone knows this, is a lack of progesterone. Okay. What happens?

You have a baby. All your progesterone, progestation, progesterone is left in the placenta. Okay. Progesterone.

It's pro baby. And for some women, all of it gets left in the placenta. And they don't make enough of it after the baby is born. And that can lead to postpartum depression.

Okay. I've seen it and I've treated it over the years, guys. Okay. I treated it over the year.

Now, just on a little side note, a lot of women have trouble with their gallbladders after having a baby. And the question is, why is that? Well, your gallbladder is a smooth muscle. It's a smooth muscle.

So is your bladder. And a lot of women after having a baby, they have trouble with their gallbladder because there's not enough progesterone. Ladies, you need progesterone for your gallbladder. You need progesterone for your bladder.

You need progesterone for your bladder. A lot of times, this is later, usually in menopause, can be perimenopause, the bladder starts descending, much more susceptible to UTIs. And they're showing. I got a study.

There's a red disc the other day and I flagged it. Okay. Anyway, I'll bring it up later because, but they're showing that a lot of UTIs are really not UTIs. Okay.

They're not really UTIs. They think they're UTIs. They're treated like urinary tract infection, but it's not really infection. It's inflammation.

And I believe that that's caused by one, low levels of progesterone, and secondly, fungus, yeast. They don't check for that. They don't look for that. They just treat with antibiotics.

And that can even make it worse. Anyway, that was a little rabbit trail. Okay. I want to get back to I want to get back to depression, postpartum depression, but any depression, because medicine, and this was tragic in this case, was the amount of medications.

I don't even know if this Lindsay Clancy was even taking them. I don't know. I know she was taking some, but it was the tragedy of SSRIs. Okay.

Like Prozac and others. And she had a mixture. And guys, I understand. Look, you're going through an acute mental health crisis, and doctors, they want to put you on anti-anxiety, antidepressants, SSRIs, because in their head, it's serotonin.

You're low in serotonin. And they don't look at the balance between estrogen and progesterone in women. Where progesterone has tanked, they don't look at it. Because they're not practicing functional medicine.

They're practicing psychiatry or whatever. They're very specialized, or even a family doctor. You know, they, well, you need help. I get that.

But they don't look at the whole picture. And this morning, I want to look at the whole picture. Not that we've never done this. Of course, we have.

Okay. But it's a good refresher to go over the clinical experience that I had for years and years and years. Okay. Now, let me say something I think that's really important.

Anxiety and depression. It's the same coin. It's just got two heads to it. It's got a head and a tail, I mean.

Okay. Because the Bible says in Proverbs 13, that anxiety leads to depression. And we're going to get into that because I believe that, firmly. Okay.

And so, here's what I saw over the years. Okay. Postpartum, we already talked about it. Very low levels of progesterone.

Estrogen is dominant. And that can have a major effect on mood, 100%. Okay. Here's other things that I saw generally in someone that was, whether they were postpartum, this is men and women in depression.

Okay. Anxiety, severe anxiety, depression. Okay. One, I always checked the gut-brain access.

Okay. The gut-brain access. There's a connection, huge connection between your gut and your brain. You got more serotonin in your gut than you have in your brain.

Doctors focus on the brain, but they forget the gut. Hippocrates said it 2000 years ago, all disease lead to the gut. He was pretty smart. And there's usually an enormous change in the microbiome.

There's a dysbiosis in the microbiome. There's usually an invasion of the third army. Okay. In the microbiome.

Leaky gut, leaky brain. Leaky gut, leaky brain. So people that have had a history, okay, of depression, anxiety, check the gut. And they usually got more bad guys than good guys.

Their microbiome might have been carpet bombed by antibiotics and they could be the canary in the coal mine. Not everybody that takes an antibiotic is going to get depression, but some do. I always looked at the gut because I knew that you got more serotonin in the gut than you got in the brain. Think of butterflies.

You're nervous. You're worried. Where do you feel it? In your gut.

The vagus nerve. There's a huge connection to, not only through your microbiome, but through your vagus nerve, not Las Vegas, your 10th cranial nerve connection. Okay. So we looked at the microbiome.

And when I had a patient that had leaky gut, of course, well, we worked on that. Probiotics, bone broth, helped the healing of the gut lining, that little barrier that's between the blood and the gut. Probiotics. And don't feed the barriers.

We'll get into more detail in food in a minute. Two, chronically elevated cortisol. Wired, but tired. Chronically elevated cortisol.

Cortisol is on your side till it's not. That's your stress hormone, but it's a switch. It's a switch. Cortisol, high in the morning, gets your blood sugar up, gets your blood pressure up.

It's waking you up. Once it's done its job there, it should slide down. And then once you get to nighttime, it should be down very low. But what happens if it's high all the time?

It drains the life out of you. I saw this stink 40 years ago in chronic fatigue syndrome, adrenal exhaustion, high levels of cortisol over a long period of time. Never meant to be. It can have a huge effect, guys, on your brain.

A huge effect. It pours gasoline on the fire. It's a huge effect. And you have anxiety, of course, which can lead to depression.

Chronically high cortisol level. Doctors, when they think of cortisol, they think of Cushing's or Addison's. Guys, I'm not even talking about these diseases. The adrenals pour out cortisol.

I talked about this in a book that I wrote years ago. Two hormones that want you dead. Serial killers with an S. Could have been with a C.

Can people always ask me that? Do you mean serial as in Kellogg's Frosted Flakes? No, no. I mean serial as in real serial killers with an S.

Because cortisol, chronically elevated, insulin, chronically elevated will kill you. And I found there's a huge connection between high cortisol and depression. High cortisol, of course, same anxiety. Think of it.

You're anxious. You're wound up. You're worried. You're worried.

You can't stop the brain. Cortisol manifests itself in many ways. Your cortisol is high when there's a switch. If it don't get switched off and it's high at night, guess what?

You're not sleeping. You don't sleep. Your cortisol is high. It's a double whammo.

It's a double whammo. Cortisol, guys, it gets no respect. It's so important. And I've taught you this in the past.

Cortisol, which is meant to have a part-time job, follows a circadian rhythm, or at least it should. And if it doesn't, it pours gasoline on the fire of inflammation. It pours gasoline because your immune system, think about it. If you're being chased by a lion, you want cortisol.

Northern Ontario, chased by a bear. Forget a lion. You're getting chased by a bear. Do you want cortisol?

Of course you do. Might save your life. Run, forest run. I don't know if you should run.

You ain't going to outrun a bear. Anyway, I don't want to get into that. Cortisol is your friend until it's not. And people don't realize that when you have depression, you have severe anxiety.

Cortisol is through the roof. Not meant to be. Pours gasoline on the fire of inflammation. It diminishes your immune system.

A lot of people with cortisol, high cortisol all the time, they have no immune system left because they've been on high alert for so long. And now their immune system doesn't work properly. And they get sick all the time. And I wrote about this back when I wrote a book on chronic fatigue syndrome a long time ago.

I talked about the connection between CFS, which is chronic fatigue and even fibromyalgia, and breast cancer in women. They were much more susceptible. Why cortisol? It's on your side until it's not.

It's meant to have a temporary effect. You don't want that out of balance. So chronically elevated cortisol. Wired but tired.

You're not sleeping. You're not getting into a REM sleep. Now listen, that's very important. You need to go through the five stages of sleep because we talk about this all the time.

And this has a major effect, in my opinion, on depression. You're not clearing the debris out of your brain. Your brain is headquarters. It takes 25% of everything you eat goes up to headquarters, up in the brain.

25%. It's like the federal government. It wants taxes paid right off the top of your paycheck. Right?

You ever had that? Yeah, yeah. What's the government? They want to tax you.

Your brain wants energy and it'll take 25% of your food. Okay. Well, anytime you have a lot of mitochondria, energy, food creating energy, well, you have debris. You have waste from there.

You go to a manufacturing plant. Okay. They're going to have waste. You want to get rid of it.

How do you get rid of it? Well, your brain has its own lymphatic system. Your lymphatics. It's your sewage system.

It's your drainage system. And guys, I didn't even know this in school. I didn't learn this. I knew there was drainage, but I didn't know the brain had its own drainage system called not lymphatics, but glymphatics.

But it only works when you're sleeping. Not sedated, sleeping. You got to be sleeping for brain detoxification. You got to be sleeping.

People, 70% of the population, they don't even get a good night's sleep. You think they're detoxing? You think that doesn't have an effect on Alzheimer's? You think that doesn't have an effect on depression?

You think it doesn't have an effect on anxiety? Big time cortisol. I teach you cortisol all the time. The world out there, they don't even know what cortisol is.

No one's taught them. Doctors, cortisol. They think, well, you don't have cancer of the adrenals. You don't have Cushing's.

You don't have Addison's. They dismiss it. So poor sleep, poor motivation. So poor sleep, poor motivation.

Inflammation, weight gain, belly fat, brain fog, all signs of cortisol, high cortisol. So chronically elevated cortisol. Cortisol where it has a full-time job when it should have a part-time job. The switch, guys, the switch you need to sleep is surrounded by cortisol.

What? Well, you're tired. It's amazing to me. How many people would come to me and say, how many people would come to me and say, Doc, I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep?

I said, well, your switch ain't working. What? Well, your switch is not working. You're tired, but your cortisol is not getting switched off.

It's a switch. If your cortisol is not off, you won't sleep. Or you might start to sleep, and this happens in a lot of people, but at three o'clock in the morning, the cortisol goes off again. And they say, Doc, I can't get back to sleep.

My brain is racing. I said, that's cortisol, and that'll mess you up big time. So we look for changes in the microbiome. One, two, we look at elevated, chronically elevated cortisol.

I would do some teaching to my patients, make them understand cortisol. They never even heard of it, most of them, until they came to see me. And then we would talk to them about blood sugar regulation, sort of affected by cortisol, because cortisol elevates your blood sugar. But I was talking to them more about insulin spikes.

When you don't feel good, guys, guess what food you go after? It's almost invariable. Junk food, snacks. You eat the wrong food.

Your blood sugar goes up. Insulin comes to work. Your blood sugar goes down, and it's up and down like a yo-yo. You have bread in the morning, cereal in the morning.

Your blood sugar is going up big time, very fast. But insulin comes in and sweeps. It takes the broom and sweeps the sugar out of your bloodstream. Out, out, out, out, out, out.

You can't stay there. You can't park. Sugar can't park in the bloodstream. It's a no parking zone.

Out, get out. Right? I teach you insulin almost every day. That's what insulin does.

It's a broom. It's a traffic cop. Out, out, out. Well, you get fluctuation.

Yeah, but, doc, you eat the wrong food. You're a carbaholic, and that really can have an effect on depression. I sort of draw lines for people. You guys know that I built pyramids in the office.

I call it the horror-mone pyramid. Okay? The horror-mone pyramid. It was a revelation to people.

Nobody ever explained their hormones like that. Okay? But the other thing I used to like to draw is lines. Insulin can affect different people, different ways.

Okay? Just like leaky gut. Leaky gut, leaky skin. A lot of people, eczema, psoriasis, they got dermatitis.

I always look to the gut. Leaky gut, leaky skin. Leaky gut, leaky brain. We already talked about it.

Leaky gut, leaky joints. Leaky gut. Right? Big effect.

Lines everywhere. I used to draw lines of leaky gut. Doc, I don't even have any digestive problems. Well, that doesn't mean you don't have leaky gut.

You got sinus problems. Leaky gut. Fungus, yeast, it travels. It can get into the brain, can bring heavy metals in the brain.

Yeast is a carrier. It's a carrier, aircraft carrier of lead and mercury. You know what I'm saying, guys? Okay.

But I used to draw lines too of what insulin can do. Okay? What insulin could do. Because insulin's got lines too.

Can affect every area of your body. From your liver, right? Fatty liver. Insulin.

Heart disease. Insulin. Alzheimer's. Insulin.

Dementia. Insulin. Depression. Insulin.

Joints. Itis. Tendonitis. Well, look, you can hurt yourself too.

I understand that. But a lot of people have chronic pain and they don't realize that insulin can affect that big time. And then you add cortisol. Oh boy.

So I used to draw lines. I said, well, here's what I tested you for. And I know for a fact that you're insulin. You got insulin resistance.

I know for a fact. You got metabolic syndrome. I'm not guessing. I tested you.

Okay? So chronically elevated cortisol. Bad diet. Carboholics.

They know the wrong pyramid. They know the food pyramid. It's the wrong one. The food pyramid is upside down.

Grains. You need grains. Dr. Martin, I eat only 12 grain bread.

That ain't smart. I need fiber. I said, who said? The doctor.

You need fiber. Yeah. Coffee and water. That's what you need.

You're not a cow. A cow has four stomachs and a very long colon. What? It can go around the planet.

You don't have a long colon like that. You got a large, small intestine. Okay? You have a large, small intestine.

If you're a small intestine, not that small, but it's wide. Why? Well, that's where your nutrients are brought in. Once your stomach breaks your food down, your protein, your carbs, your fat breaks it down in the stomach.

And then your small intestine, you want it to be wide. You got a wide one. A cow's got a small one. Why do you want a wide one?

You need all the nutrients. And your small intestine loves steak, eggs, meat, and cheese. Because that's where all your nutrients are. And you have a very short colon.

Okay? It's actually quite short compared to a monkey or a chimpanzee or whatever. Because they eat vegetables. You eat meat.

So you don't need to have a big stool. You will not win a prize. There's no prize at the end for having a big stool. They've made it up that you need to live on fiber.

That fiber is better than steak. Steak has no fiber. We were taught wrong. Our anatomy.

I always use it. You guys know me. I talked about your stomach. You got to have acidity in your stomach like a lion.

Not like a cow, like a lion. And as far as I know, I've never followed a lion around. Okay? I confess that.

But apparently, they don't eat vegetables. They're looking for meat. And you got more acidity in your—or you should have more acidity in your stomach than a lion. What's that tell you?

Just by your anatomy? Change in microbiome, elevated cortisol, elevated blood sugar. Okay? Let me finish quickly.

Okay? Here's what I also found. Deficiencies. Almost invariably, anytime I saw depression, I saw deficiencies.

Vitamin—you guys know I was going to say this. But it's true. Vitamin D, deficient. You should see the studies on vitamin D and depression.

Vitamin D, they were low. B12, it's a metabolic vitamin. Always low. Oh, doc, it's normal.

Normal, no good. You got normal B12? That's no good. Normal is for mice.

You need optimized B12. You need optimized vitamin D. Not normal. Normal, they use math.

And they're no good at it. They miscalculate it. People show me their blood tests. I go, yeah.

You're low. Low? Yeah, you're low. You don't eat enough steak.

You don't get enough steak, eggs, choline for the brain. Choline. Depression, lack of choline. More than serotonin.

Nutrition deficiencies. I saw it all the time. Saw it all the time. B12.

Magnesium, they were low. Usually very low in magnesium. Vitamin A, they were low in it. But especially vitamin D and B12.

Okay. I got excited. Okay, guys. Now, no fighting.

I didn't even see the scroll going by, so I don't think there was any fight. I didn't want anybody like, let's not use the platform for that case. I didn't want that. You might have your opinion. I got mine. 

On the case. One thing we admit, it's a tragedy. It's a tragedy. Those three kids getting killed. Come on. 

Okay. Now, we love you guys. I hope you know that. I hope you feel the love. Thanks for the love coming back, guys. 

I think we're at, I think, 107,000 followers on the Martin Clinic Facebook. Incredible. Okay. We got a good week coming. Talk to you soon.

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