Depression & Anxiety - 060

SPEAKER A The following program presents principles designed to promote good health and is not intended to take the place of personalized, professional care. The opinions and ideas expressed are those of the speakers. Viewers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions about the information presented. SPEAKER B Welcome to healthy living. I'm your host, Margot Marshall. Depression is more than just a low mood. It's a serious mental health condition. The has an impact on both one's physical and mental health. Today I'll be talking with a doctor and one of her patients who recovered from depression and anxiety as a result of simple lifestyle interventions. Stay tuned. SPEAKER C Healthy Living is a production of 3ABN Australia television focusing on the health of the whole person, body, mind and spirit. You'll learn natural lifestyle principles with practical health solutions for overall good health. SPEAKER B Depression is the single leading cause of disability, not only in Australia, but worldwide. And here to talk to us about lifestyle interventions is a general practitioner who practices lifestyle medicine along with one of her patients who has recovered from depression and anxiety. So welcome, Dr. Coralia Jigau. And welcome to you, Esther. Lovely that you could come and join us today and tell me you practice lifestyle medicine. How long have you been a general practitioner and when did you start how long ago did you start doing lifestyle, including lifestyle medicine? SPEAKER D I graduated in 1980 in Romania. We arrived in Australia in 1987. I arrived here without speaking any English. By the end of 89 I passed the Ma exam. SPEAKER B Wow. SPEAKER D I'm working here in Australia since 1990. SPEAKER B So you were able to learn the language in that time well enough to pass those exams. That's very impressive. SPEAKER D In twelve years ago, my husband got prostate cancer at the age of 56. And we've been so shocked, said what we have done wrong because we've been like all the other Adventists, eating, considering eating healthy and doing everything else good. My husband was not obese, he was fit. Everything was good and been so shocked. And that's when we started looking what was wrong. And by God grace, we have our eyes open and we've been so wrong, we couldn't believe how wrong we've been. SPEAKER B Tell us about that and we start. SPEAKER D Changing our lifestyle study. Find out why is this, find out why is that. So it took me quite a long time but to reprogram and to rephrase what medicine means. SPEAKER B And what sorts of things were you eating that you realized later were not really helpful? SPEAKER D We never eat so much meat or something like that, but we eat a lot of processed food in the men's. One of our preferred meal was French potatoes. I don't know if you know what French potatoes that means. It's a layer of boiled potatoes, a layer of feta cheese, a layer of eggs and another layer of potatoes. And you put some sour cream on top and you put them in the oven. That was an absolutely disaster, because not only you have a lot of cholesterol, that all cholesterol is oxidized. So when you're high, you have a lot of advanced glycation end products. And this is one of the stuff which is aging alpha math and is causing a lot of problem. So I myself, I got gallbladder stones at the age of 42, and I did not know by that time I said, my father have a gallbladder stones, but in the family, we eat the same. So this is why. Now I know why I have my gallbladder stone. SPEAKER B So when your husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer, that was your wake up call? SPEAKER D It was a really wake up call. He had radiotherapy. And by God grace, we changed our lifestyle completely. And by God grace, he's very well now. SPEAKER B Oh, that's really good. So you've seen for yourself the difference that can make when you really understand what is healthy and actually do it. And of course, it's more than just the food. It's exercise and other things. SPEAKER D It's everything. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D All the parts, all our environment, which belong to us, except of the yes. Hydration. SPEAKER B Yeah. Well, now, Esther, what about your story? What was it that was your big health concern and how you at some point came in contact with Dr. Coralia? SPEAKER E My journey began a few years ago. I had a very good friend of mine, and she was suffering from gastric cancer. But before she was diagnosed with gastric cancer, they had a lot of issues that had happened in their family, with their house being flooded, the house the following year, then being burned down. She was my prayer partner. She was my spiritual mentor. She was my best friend. We shared lots of things, and I had immersed myself in the situation of her being sick and her being unwell. And during the time leading up to her passing away, I started suffering from anxiety. And I didn't even have an idea that I was suffering from anxiety because I didn't know what anxiety was. When people spoke about anxiety and depression before, for me it was, what is this? I don't understand it because when you're healthy and well and you don't know what other people are going through mentally, you really don't have an understanding at all. You can't comprehend what they're going through. And so now it had come to my doorstep, and she passed away. And with her passing away, the loss and grief had started an effect on me, and I wasn't aware of this. And just gradually I started the symptoms of anxiety started showing up more and more in my lifestyle, in the way I was living while traveling overseas. I had gotten so sick while I was in the restaurant. They called a paramedic to come, and the paramedics didn't come in time. And my husband and sister, they put me in the car and they rushed me off to hospital. And the nurse looked at me and she said, do you know what's happening to you, my dear? You're having a panic attack. And that words that fell out of her mouth was, I don't know what this is. And they gave me medications in the container and they said, look, you're going to have to see a psychologist and you're going to have to see a doctor. When you get back home to Australia, you're going to have to follow up. Well, I just became progressively worse, mentally, physically. It started taking full charge of me. I was becoming desperate because socially I didn't want to mix with people anymore because this fear would arise up in me and I don't know where this fear had come from. And eventually one day I became so desperate I thought, I need to find a holistic doctor. Because I was seeing a psychologist, it wasn't helping me. I went on Google and up came this program, anxiety Depression by Neil Nedley, run by the Casey Church down in Dandenong. I thought, oh, maybe I should enroll. Which I did. I enrolled myself in this program. And in this program I had learned so much and the support of the people, it was absolutely fantastic. I learned about foods, I learned about whole meal, whole plant based diets, the balancing of it. I learned all of that. And that was all good and fine. Program was twelve weeks after the program was finished, I changed my lifestyle. I was a person that exercised regularly and I thought that I was eating well. Well, my health just started spiraling downwards. I started getting severe stomach cramps. And when I say severe, severe in a fetal position stomach cramps. And during this program someone had said to me, you know, we see Dr. Jigau, maybe you would like to see her? And I thought, okay, well it wouldn't hurt because by now I was at desperate door. So I made an appointment, went to Dr. Jigau, came to her and she sat down, the calm, relaxed person that she is, she sat down and she said, tell me what's happening to you. And then I started telling her about, well, first of all she said, what's happening to you? My blood pressure was sky high. That's what fear does. It actually affects your blood pressure. Yes. Without you even knowing it. And then she said, look, let's get some blood tests done. By then my GP that I had seen before, every time I did a blood test and went to see him, he said to me, don't you want to go on antidepressants? It will really help you. Wrote out a script, gave me the script, went off to the pharmacy, got the medication, I opened it up, read the contraindications. I almost had an anxiety attack reading that. I looked, I thought, I'm not taking this medication. What if I'm already suffering from fear? And you know, the Bible says in Peter first Peter one five it says, Be sober, be vigilant. The devil goes around as a roaring lion seeking who he may devour. And, you know, I started learning that he's trying to devour my brain with fear, because fear was controlling me. But I didn't know that I was suffering the effects of losing a dear friend of mine. I didn't know that it was having an adverse effect on me, and that was anxiety, which was slowly creeping in with depression. And I remember sitting in my doctor's room, and I said, all I want is for this to go away. I just want to fall asleep and only wake up when it's all gone. And he said, Take the medication. But I wasn't convinced about this medication. With Dr. Jigau. Her approach was different. After talking to her, she said, let's go and do your test. I went off, did the blood test, came back. I had a lack of vitamin A-B-C-D zinc, almost low levels of omega three, absolutely low. And I said to her, Doctor, what do I do? And she said to me, let's start off with a nice, whole food, plant based diet. Let's see how we can change this. She said, Are you exercising? I said yes. She said, early in the morning. Are you getting out there? We also learned that walking in the blue light actually helps you build up melatonin. Walking up in the blue light, and I was waking up earlier, I was going for my walks, and I was doing my exercises. I was going for swimming lessons. I am a swimmer. I was going for swimming. But this anxiety just wasn't getting better. It had spiraled to a point where the muscles in my back were spasming so badly that I couldn't breathe. SPEAKER B Oh, my goodness. I ended up that's incredible. SPEAKER E I ended up having such a bad attack that I ended up driving into the Ringwood public Hospital with my arms wrapped around my abdomen saying, I can't breathe. And they took me in, did all these tests, and I had to stay there for a long period of time. And then they said they recommend all these different tests in. Eventually, I ended up going for an angiogram, and the doctor said to me, there's nothing wrong with your heart. Your heart is fine. You're suffering from muscle skeletal issues, and I do have fibromyalgia, and it flared up with suffering from anxiety and depression. SPEAKER B Do you know, it's an incredibly disabling thing, and not just mentally, but physically, as you've just experienced. And I don't know if people really understand that how bad it can be physically. And so I'm really sorry that you've been through that terrible journey. Go on. SPEAKER E Well, actually, there were times when I felt that I'm being put in the crucible, that I'm being refined in this process of suffering from anxiety and depression. And I started turning to I've always been a prayer warrior, and I've always journaled for years. I've journaled in sermons. I journaled them, the prayers. I journaled. And I started turning more and more to the Lord, my drive on. I had suffered so severe from anxiety and depression that I had brain fog. I had fatigue. I'd managed to scramble my body up in the morning, get dressed, go to work. And I had to listen intently. I had to focus on what people were saying because I needed to work, and I needed to think more because brain fog is very cloudy, and your thinking patterns are not sharp. They're not clear. It's a vicious cycle, anxiety and depression. When you don't get help, it can actually put you in a very precarious situation. Yes. SPEAKER B Well, thankfully, you were able to get some help from our lovely doctor here. SPEAKER E Yes. She looked at my diet, and she said, okay, let's change this. Let's start off with you need to build up your omega three S, Esther. So get your hem seeds, get your chia seeds, get your lin seeds. She said, grind them up. Get a smoothie going. Let that be your first drink in the morning. And I started that my plant based diet, whole meal foods, my green veggies, my green smoothies. She said to me, Are you not eating your carrots? You got no vitamin A inside of you. Because when you're sick, actually, your clarity of thought is not very clear. So with coming into her office, her listening to me, her empathy telling me, you know what? There's hope. This is not the end of the road. You can get better. SPEAKER B Oh, that's encouraging, isn't it? SPEAKER E There is life after anxiety. There is hope. And I started changing my lifestyle of my diet with colorful veggies, colorful getting my quinoa in, my brown rice in my vegetables. And also I turned to God. I used to rush home in the afternoon to get I changed my work patterns. I used to work long hours before long ridiculous hours, and I changed my hours. I started I spoke to my husband. He was so empathetic. He said to me, why don't you work four days a week and shorten your hours in the meantime? Before I did that, Dr. Jigau said, I think you better go for a CT scan. No, an ultrasound. I had a colonoscopy and then gastroscopy. They found out I was suffering from gastritis. You want to explain what gastritis is? SPEAKER D It's just an inflammation on the stomach. SPEAKER E Yes. I had inflammation in my mesenteric lymph glands. SPEAKER D That was mesenteric. Adenitis. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D When you came with one of the big problems when I examine you and you have such a bad and I send you to have an ultrasound and the ultrasound was confirming because we are not sure if it's appendicitis and it was an inflammation and you settle and. SPEAKER E With the lifestyle change, the gut started relaxing, the pain started easing. I had to see an osteopath. SPEAKER D Your fibromyalgia fibromyalgia is gone. SPEAKER B That's a painful journey in so many ways, so many things going on in your body and you're continuing to work. Somehow or other, you just pushed yourself through that. But that must have been a really difficult time of your life. Looking at you now, it's hard to imagine all of that happening to you. So I'm taking it that's the thing of the past is all of that thing all behind you. SPEAKER E Yes. Anxiety is something that tries to trick the brain, that you have to be scared of something fearful that's going to happen. But it's not true. It's not true. You eventually learn that fear comes from Satan. Jesus says, I've come to give you life and I've come to give you life abundantly. SPEAKER B I think the first thing that happened when his birth was announced, it's peace on Earth. And the last thing he said was, to the disciples, my peace I leave with you. And so, yes, it's there for us. It really is. And that's what God would like us to experience. And it plays a big role, this spirituality. SPEAKER E Absolutely. SPEAKER B This connection with the one who created us plays a huge role in our healing. Any kind of healing, really. And a lot of it starts in the mind. SPEAKER E Absolutely. SPEAKER B Whatever's going on in your mind is telling the rest of our body things that aren't helpful. SPEAKER E Absolutely. SPEAKER B It's good that you had that connection. SPEAKER E Absolutely. SPEAKER B I hate to think how different it might be if you hadn't had a wonderful GP and a connection with the Creator who can it's just the changes. SPEAKER D Which she implemented and all of that. So nutrient depleted. That is the problem with our Western diet. We are very nutrient depleted. We eat food which is very good taste and it's very pleasant in the mouth and does not have the nutrients. I mean, how can you expect the brain to work properly when you have the vitamin B depleted completely, when you don't have vitamin E? When you don't have vitamin C? So this is why depression and anxiety, that disease of the 21st century. The main problem is we are so depleted in nutrients. I had some lecture in one Ash University. I was talking about gut microbiome and as I walk in, it was a big panel there and it was written on it, one in four teenager classified for a mental disorder. SPEAKER B Isn't that tragic? At that one in four adulthood. SPEAKER D Read it. I said, oh, no. So the reason is our kids and our teenagers, they are eating so bad. A part of the other problem this is one of the problem, staying on the machines all the time. Lots of media interaction, not social connection. Yeah. SPEAKER E Also, there was one thing that we learned with the whole food, plant based diet, with the whole foods, they actually increase choptophan, which is a precursor for serotonin. SPEAKER D Serotonin, yeah. Lentils. SPEAKER E Yes. SPEAKER D Lentils are a great food. We eat it at least twice a week. SPEAKER E And that was one thing. I wasn't sleeping well. If I had 2 hours sleeps maximum oh, you're kidding. SPEAKER B A night for a whole night? SPEAKER E Yes. And that was happening for two to three years. SPEAKER B Oh my goodness. SPEAKER E Yes. It was a battle. SPEAKER B You're saying a couple of hours sleep a night for three years? I don't know how you lasted. I don't know how you could do it. SPEAKER E It can only be the grace of God. SPEAKER B Oh my goodness. SPEAKER E He's got a purpose for each one's life. SPEAKER B So, how's your sleep now? SPEAKER E Beautiful. Isn't that I sleep now. Yes. Now I sleep like a baby. And when I do wake up early, it's because I need to have a conversation with God. That's very special. Yes. So you don't wake up fearing anymore, you wake up actually must be the Lord inviting me to have a conversation with him. SPEAKER B That's a beautiful way to start the day. SPEAKER E Yes. And there's so many people that needs prayer now. It's amazing how sometimes you have to go through a journey yes. To be able to empathize with other people who's going through the same, or family members who's going through the same. Once you've been through that journey, you can actually give those who's going through the same hope and you can actually give them tools to help them and to let them know it's not the end of the road. There is hope on the other side. SPEAKER B And that's the beautiful thing, because there is hope. The Nedley program that you did, I've conducted that a number of times and I have seen the change that can take place and very quickly. It's actually 20 weeks for a full turnaround. But even at the end of the few weeks program, they are just measurably by their own standards. They do their test before and after and just implementing the sorts of things that you've said, the whole food, plant based diet and the exercise and the sunlight and the sleep, all of that. SPEAKER D How long is taking since you start implementing your new this is called intensive lifestyle treatment. How long it's taking and gradually until. SPEAKER E You improve reasonable it took me twelve months. Okay. It took me to become so you. SPEAKER B Need but you were extremely at the. SPEAKER E Extreme end, weren't I was at the extreme end. SPEAKER B And honestly, I can't hardly believe that anyone could just have 2 hours sleep a night for three years and still function. SPEAKER E When I discovered that I was suffering from anxiety, I was a wealthy weight of 65.8 as the impact of anxiety made me lose 13.8. SPEAKER B My goodness. SPEAKER E Yes. It affected my gut and well being so badly. SPEAKER D Yes, we know exactly how it's happened. The cortisol, the stress hormone, it is directly impacting on your gut bacteria. This is why you have all the gastric symptoms. You have all the problems with your stomach. And so it is known today why this has happened. SPEAKER B Our gut has sometimes been referred to as our second brain. SPEAKER D It is second liver. SPEAKER B More. About nine times as many messages go from the gut to the brain as the other way around. And we're just beginning to understand how we're made and how we function. And it's just remarkable. SPEAKER D As I said, the book which I read, the professor studied for 40 years, got mind interaction and he said we are just in the beginning of our. SPEAKER B Understanding, just beginning to understand it. So looking after that gut and what gets down, everything that goes in here ends up down there. And it's either making us well or contributing to our unwellness. SPEAKER D It's estimated that our gut microbe are making 40% of our metabolites, 40% of the substance which are traveling in our gut, they are making by our microbes. SPEAKER B Isn't that interesting? SPEAKER D So it is important what you put in your mouth. SPEAKER B See some of the little microbes down there, we either feed the good ones or the bad ones, and that tips the scales either way. And so those wonderful healthy foods we talked about and the physical activity and connecting with the creator and the sunlight, all of that beautiful. SPEAKER E Absolutely. And if you look at Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, when they insisted on having their plant based diet yes. SPEAKER B And ten days. They measured them at ten days. It's the oldest clinical trial conducted and it's still very valid. SPEAKER E Absolutely. SPEAKER B Ten days. That was quite remarkable. And someone's life was on the line if it hadn't worked. SPEAKER E Absolutely. SPEAKER B So, look, our goal is to support you on your journey through life. And we trust that today's program has been beneficial to you or to someone you love. And remember, you can watch our programs on demand. Just visit 3abnaustralia.org.au and click on the watch button. May God bless you. SPEAKER C You’ve been listening to a production of 3ABN Australia Television.