I recently had the pleasure of being on the Nourished By Nature: Mind Body Wellness Podcast with Annika Taylor, a holistic health practitioner.

After sharing with Annika how I became a holistic psychiatrist and how I define holistic psychiatry, we discuss:

* The Walsh Research Institute’s data on nutrient levels of 30,000 people with brain-related symptoms, and what were found to be the most common imbalances (One or more of these imbalances is present in about 90-95% of the patient's that I evaluate for brain-related symptoms).

* The Walsh biotypes of depression. How I test for the copper-zinc imbalances, pyrrole disorder, and methylation imbalances.

* High copper and its relationship to ADHD, anxiety, depression and post-partum. depression, anxiety and psychosis.

* Pyrrole disorder - symptoms, traits and treatment.

* How methylation impacts brain health.

* Under and over-methylation symptoms and traits.

* Treatment of under-methylation.

* How this understanding can remove the stigma associated with mental health conditions, and provide healing and hope.

In recent years, Dr. Walsh discovered that undermethylation is increasing in the population while overmethylation is decreasing.

If you’d like to add to the discussion, I always appreciate your questions and comments.

Have a great week,

Courtney

Related Resources:

Annika Taylor - nourishedbynature.com

Walsh Research Institute

For links to specific topics address see links in the description above.

Medical Disclaimer:

This newsletter is for educational purposes and not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment for yourself or others, including but not limited to patients you are treating (if you are a practitioner). Consult your physician for any medical issues that you may be having.

Because Alzheimer’s starts before the onset of symptoms and because having almost any psychiatric condition appears to raise our vulnerability, many of the tools mentioned here relate to other brain symptoms and conditions as well.

“What we call Alzheimer's disease is actually a protective response to a wide variety of insults to the brain: inflammation, insulin resistance, toxins, infections, and inadequate levels of nutrients, hormones, and growth factors.” - Dale Bredesen, MD  (The End of Alzheimer’s Program: The First Protocol to Enhance Cognition and Reverse Decline at Any Age)

In this newsletter, I’ll discuss:

* Medications used in mainstream medicine

* Lifestyle and functional medicine approaches to preventing and treating Alzheimer’s

* Feeding the brain - The ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting

* Exercising the body and brain

* Sleep and sleep apnea

* Hormonal deficiencies and dysregulation

* Oral health

* Toxicity, depletion of antioxidants and oxidative stress

* Brain inflammation 

If you have any questions or comments (or topic suggestions),…

If you know someone who may benefit,…

Have a great week,

Courtney

Resources mentioned:

* Precision Medicine Approach to Alzheimer’s Disease: Successful Pilot Project

* Reversing Alzheimer’s: The New Toolkit to Improve Cognition and Protect Brain Health by Dr. Heather Sandison

* The End of Alzheimer’s by Dale Bredesen, MD

* Walsh Research Institute

Previous newsletters/podcast episodes mentioned:

* Alzheimer’s: Factors We Have Control Over

* Regulating Blood Sugar For the Brain

* Intermittent Fasting & the Brain

* Exercise & the Brain

* Oxidative Stress & the Brain

* Lowering Brain Inflammation

Alzheimer’s is a neurodegenerative disease, meaning it involves the death of brain cells and the eventual loss of brain tissue. The brain changes leading to Alzheimer’s dementia begin twenty years before the onset of symptoms. This is important because the emerging research and clinical experience in functional medicine suggest that most contributing factors can be impacted. In this newsletter and podcast episode, I’ll address:

* The incidence of Alzheimer’s

* What happens in the brain

* The course of the illness

* Biomarkers used for diagnosis, even prior to the onset of symptoms

* Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer’s

* Risks

* The role of the APOe4 gene

* The role of insulin resistance in the brain

* The role of oxidative stress

* The role of inflammation

* Evidence of a fungal presence

* How these factors may be working together

In the next episode, I’ll discuss mainstream treatment, as well as functional/integrative/holistic approaches to target blood sugar regulation, oxidative stress, inflammation and even the presence of mold and candida.

Feel free to add to the discussion with your questions or comments.

If you know someone who may benefit from this information, please consider sharing.

Have a good week,

Courtney

Mentioned Resources:

* Alzheimer’s Association Facts & Figures

* Meet the Switching Mice: They Flip Their Glia APOE4 to APOE2

* Mold & Candida in the Brain (free)

Other Related Newsletters:

* High Copper, Metallothionein, Cancer & Mental Health (paid)

* Lowering Brain Inflammation (free)

* Regulating Blood Sugar For the Brain (paid)

Medical Disclaimer:

This newsletter is for educational purposes and not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment for either yourself or others, including but not limited to patients that you are treating (if you are a practitioner). Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having.

In this newsletter and podcast episode, I share the simple yet powerful tool of intermittent fasting. Here, I discuss:

* The types of intermittent fasting with a focus on “time restricted eating,” in which fasting is extended to 12-16hours a day (from the more typical 8-10 hours).

* Why it makes good sense from an evolutionary standpoint.

* What it has to teach us about our metabolism and our brain’s use of energy.

* The health conditions it is has been shown to be beneficial for.

* The many mechanism by which is impacts the brain.

* My experience with intermittent fasting.

* When fasting can become problematic.

If you have experience with intermittent fasting (or questions), please consider adding to the discussion.

Have a great week,

Courtney

P.S. For paid subscribers watch out for a midweek post on other ways we can work with our body’s metabolism and rhythms to improve blood glucose regulation, which is particularly important when it comes to brain health.

Additional Resources:

* The Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Brain and Cognitive Function

* Intermittent Fasting as a Potential Therapeutic Instrument for Major Depression Disorder: A Systematic Review of Clinical and Preclinical Studies

Related Content

* Exercise & the Brain - 10 Ways Exercise Improves Our Mood, Lowers Anxiety & Protects Our Brain.

Medical Disclaimer:

This newsletter is for educational purposes and not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment for either yourself or others, including but not limited to patients that you are treating (if you are a practitioner). Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having.

My purpose in this video is to remind us to protect our mental health, our physical health and our relationships this election season.

We have a natural impulse to pay attention to danger. News networks and social media take advantage and profit from this instinct.

Here in the US, we are facing five months of what can be highly stressful. Some will have an increase in anxiety, depression, anger and addictive behaviors including news addiction and internet addiction.

If we care about lowering toxic exposures, lowering our stress response and thus inflammation, then these next five months offer a great opportunity. If we care about setting healthy boundaries between ourselves and the negative or self-serving energy of others, these next five months are a great time to strengthen our boundaries.

In this video, I discuss:

* What is happening in our body and brain when we engage with fear-inducing content.

* Media literacy to remind us what we easily forget when we’re under the influence of media that aims to get and keep our attention.

* How the echo chamber of news and social media is rewiring our brains, and reinforcing left brain tendencies.

* What we can do to lower our exposure and it’s impacts, and..

* How we can call in the right hemisphere while doing our part to better the world we’re actually living in.

If you’d like to add to the discussion, please….

Have a good week,

Courtney

To learn more about this and other factors contributing to brain symptoms or to receive these newsletters in your mailbox each week, visit www.CourtneySnyderMD.com

Related Content:

Left and Right Brain: Knowing When to Call in the Other Half

Undermethylation & Strengthening the Right Brain in a Left Brain World

Medical Disclaimer:

This newsletter is for educational purposes and not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment for either yourself or others, including but not limited to patients that you are treating (if you are a practitioner). Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having.

In this “newsletter,” I go into more depth about pyrroles, which I discussed in the last free newsletter. Here I discuss:

* Data from the Walsh Research Institute on associated psychiatric conditions.

* My favorite theory on the, or at least one of the sources of pyrroles.

* The relationship between pyrroles, B6 and glutathione.

* Further information about testin…

In this video and podcast episode, I discuss pyrrole disorder - one of the most common nutrient imbalances in brain-related conditions affecting adults and children. Elevated Hydroxyhemopyrrolin-2-one (HPL) in the urine, often referred to as “pyrroles,” has been associated with depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, ADHD, learning disorders, substance use disorders, and violent behavior. Here, I address:

* How pyrrole disorder relates to other “root causes.”

* What we know, what we don’t know, and why this topic is controversial.

* Causes.

* Zinc and B6 depletion and how these impact brain health.

* Brain and physical symptoms and traits.

* Treatment.

* How low-stress tolerance can impact one’s ability to pursue meaningful education, work, and relationships.

As always, I welcome your questions and comments.

Have a good week,

Courtney

To learn more about this and other factors contributing to brain symptoms or to receive these newsletters in your mailbox each week, visit www.CourtneySnyderMD.com

Related Resources

* Pyrrole Disorder Symptoms List

* Zinc & the Brain

https://courtneysnydermd.substack.com/p/zinc-and-the-brain

* Discerning the Mauve Factor, Part 1

* Discerning the Mauve Factor, Part 2

* RCCX Theory, Hypermobility, Mental Health & Complex Chronic Illness

https://courtneysnydermd.substack.com/p/hypermobility-rccx-theory-mental

Medical Disclaimer:

This newsletter is for educational purposes and not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment for either yourself or others, including but not limited to patients that you are treating (if you are a practitioner). Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having.

In this video newsletter, I discuss why zinc is so important for the brain. I’ll address:

* Psychiatric conditions linked to low zinc.

* Three ways that zinc impacts neurotransmitter functioning.

* Zinc’s role as an antioxidant and its relationship to metallothioneins.

* The importance of zinc for immune regulation.

* The many ways zinc impacts the digestive tract.

* How we measure zinc (along with copper) and the limitations of typical lab ranges.

* Why optimizing zinc requires testing and monitoring.

Until next time,

Courtney

To learn more about this and other factors contributing to brain symptoms or to receive these newsletters in your mailbox each week, visit www.CourtneySnyderMD.com

Additional resources for those who’d like to take a deeper dive:

* Meet the NMDA Receptor (paid)

https://courtneysnydermd.substack.com/p/meet-the-nmda-receptor

* High Copper, Metallothionein, Mental Health & Cancer (paid)

https://courtneysnydermd.substack.com/p/high-copper-metallothioneins-mental

* Mast Cell Activation & Inflammation in Brain Conditions: How to Calm Things Down (free)

https://www.courtneysnydermd.com/blog/mast-cell-activation-inflammation-in-brain-disorders-how-to-calm-things-down

* Walsh Research Institute

https://www.walshinstitute.org/

Medical Disclaimer:

This newsletter is for educational purposes and not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment for either yourself or others, including but not limited to patients that you are treating (if you are a practitioner). Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having.

In the last episode, I discussed narcissistic personality disorder - traits, seeming causes, prognosis, and course.  

In this episode, I’ll discuss:

* the more nuanced understanding of narcissism in our culture

* the experience of those hurt in narcissistic relationships, and

* tools for self-preservation and healing 

This topic is particularly important for those of us who are highly sensitive and more permeable to the energies of others. But anyone can be vulnerable to another's masterful self-serving behaviors. This could be in workplace settings, communities, friendships, and romantic relationships.

Unless we think like narcissists (which most of us don’t), it is difficult to imagine such self-serving motivations. That lack of imagination, however, can get us into trouble.

To receive the weekly Holistic Psychiatry Newsletter (text and audio) in your mailbox each week, visit:

https://www.courtneysnydermd.com

or on Substack at:

https://www.courtneysnydermd.substack.com

Medical Disclaimer:

This newsletter is for educational purposes and not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment for either yourself or others, including but not limited to patients that you are treating (if you are a practitioner). Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having.

-In this newsletter, I'll discuss:

--The Impact of Narcissistic Personality Disorder

--Terminology & Diagnostic Criteria

--Seeming Contributing Factors

--Brain Differences

--Prognosis & Course

To receive the weekly Holistic Psychiatry Newsletter (text and audio) in your mailbox each week, visit:

https://www.courtneysnydermd.com

Medical Disclaimer:

This newsletter is for educational purposes and not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment for either yourself or others, including but not limited to patients that you are treating (if you are a practitioner). Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having.