Charlotte Bevan, fierce advocate and activist, died at home January 13, 2014.
A mother of teenagers, wife of a farmer, parent advocate for parents of eating disorder patients, major contributor to the Around the Dinner Table forum, writer of short information films, Expert Carer for the Eating Disorders team at the Maudsley and Breast Cancer patient.
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Thursday 15 December 2011
Brain in your guts
Does this explain a lot about serotonin levels in eating disorder patients or am I making a leap too far? Thanks darling M, for this.
I don't think it's a leap at all. For example, it's well established that depression is a symptom of coeliac disease, and a high proportion of people with coeliac also suffer from eating disorders. I commented on Laura's blog to this effect the other day - my mood and anxiety improved drastically when I cut out all forms of dairy. I'd had mild-moderate allergic reactions to it all my life, but they only became life threatening after a bad stomach virus in 2007. Once I stopped eating anything with milk in it my head cleared a lot. Of course I still had the eating disorder to contend with, but my depression has never gotten as bad as it was during my teens and early 20s. Since most of your neurotransmitters are manufactured in your gut that's not really all that surprising.
I don't think it's a leap at all. For example, it's well established that depression is a symptom of coeliac disease, and a high proportion of people with coeliac also suffer from eating disorders. I commented on Laura's blog to this effect the other day - my mood and anxiety improved drastically when I cut out all forms of dairy. I'd had mild-moderate allergic reactions to it all my life, but they only became life threatening after a bad stomach virus in 2007. Once I stopped eating anything with milk in it my head cleared a lot. Of course I still had the eating disorder to contend with, but my depression has never gotten as bad as it was during my teens and early 20s. Since most of your neurotransmitters are manufactured in your gut that's not really all that surprising.
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