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Supplementation and nutrient deficiencies


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In my own case I eat a healthy and well balanced diet which I believe helps my mental health.  If my mental health is improved and this helps to lift my mood (depression) then I find that my OCD behaviours can reduce.

In my local mental health team, I know the nurses do promote healthy eating for the same reason I have stated above.

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I echo this.

Eating a healthy diet, with your five a day, plenty of pulses salads vegetables and fruit, chicken, and not much red meat will help the body naturally produce serotonin, which is beneficial to better mental health, and provide essentials for health and wellbeing.

I do also take supplements. A multivitamin and mineral pill, extra vitamin C and vitamin D.

What won't helpvis too much emphasis on fast food, fat,  sugar smoking and alcohol. 

And I also make sure I get plenty of exercise.

Do check out my thread on meditation and mindfulness too.

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Serotonin doesn't occur in the food we eat but is synthesized by tryptophan. Gut serotonin doesn't go to the brain as far as I know.  The brain makes its own transmitters 

I take a B complex sometimes & because those are water soluble any extra gets flushed out. 

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Yes, a very healthy diet that heals the gut, plus fixing any vitamin/nutrient deficiencies, will likely cure/almost cure OCD or other mental health issues. Anecdotal article: https://medium.com/@JohnZoshak/i-had-severe-ocd-for-decades-and-then-i-changed-my-diet-eefe3a087bf

Look up vitamin B12 deficiency if you haven't heard of it. It's severely underdiagnosed in a lot of countries such as the UK and US, because doctors think that a minimum level of 200 is healthy. It is not. In Japan and other countries, the minimum level is 500, and of course a healthy level should be even higher. B12 deficiency can cause OCD, depression, anxiety, hallucinations, psychosis, permanent nerve damage, and even death. And some people have gene mutations that impact their ability to absorb it (though I've also read from another source that these "gene mutations" might be a riboflavin deficiency manifesting, so I'll have to do more research). Check out the hugely important book "Could It Be B12?" by Sally Pacholok. She details the ins and outs of deficiency testing and symptoms. Also check out https://reddit.com/r/B12_Deficiency . People there are very friendly and there's a lot of useful information, as well as people sharing their personal stories.

Also, like vitamin D, B12 needs cofactors to work effectively. Don't forget that. :)

Edited by berryheart
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12 minutes ago, berryheart said:

Yes, a very healthy diet that heals the gut, plus fixing any vitamin/nutrient deficiencies, will likely cure/almost cure OCD or other mental health issues. Anecdotal article: https://medium.com/@JohnZoshak/i-had-severe-ocd-for-decades-and-then-i-changed-my-diet-eefe3a087bf

Look up vitamin B12 deficiency if you haven't heard of it. It's severely underdiagnosed in a lot of countries such as the UK and US, because doctors think that a minimum level of 200 is healthy. It is not. In Japan and other countries, the minimum level is 500, and of course a healthy level should be even higher. B12 deficiency can cause OCD, depression, anxiety, hallucinations, psychosis, permanent nerve damage, and even death. And some people have gene mutations that impact their ability to absorb it (though I've also read from another source that these "gene mutations" might be a riboflavin deficiency manifesting, so I'll have to do more research). Check out the hugely important book "Could It Be B12?" by Sally Pacholok. She details the ins and outs of deficiency testing and symptoms. Also check out https://reddit.com/r/B12_Deficiency . People there are very friendly and there's a lot of useful information, as well as people sharing their personal stories.

We need to be very careful with wording here. Diet/exercise can have it's benefits but it is very disingenuous to even suggest there is a "cure" for OCD. It's not that simple. There is nothing more than one person's anecdotal medium post that you have linked and a subreddit - noting reddit is definitely not the place for reliable information. You don't fix years of wrong patterns of thinking, wrong responses to intrusive thoughts (that all humans get) by merely dieting in a specific way. You do have to undo that thinking pattern. There is an awful lot of OCD research being carried out right now in the UK but also by the IOCDF to find better treatment options or different ones so that there is something that works for everyone but the thing is if it was as simple as just take some vitamins and you "cure" OCD, everyone would be raving over it, the NHS wouldn't have to spend any amount of money or resources in treating people with OCD and everything would be fine and... this forum wouldn't have to exist, the IOCDF wouldn't have to exist etc.

 

Again I'm not suggesting that healthy lifestyle changes don't have an impact. They absolutely do but to suggest that taking vitamins/having a better diet cures OCD is factually unfounded. Some people through therapy can live without OCD, some people live with OCD but deal with it with the skills from therapy but there is no possibility as far as any research/health guidelines show that diet/exercise can cure OCD.

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On 15/12/2022 at 00:07, taurean said:

The body produces serotonin naturally  and a healthy diet aids that process.

Tryptophan is part of that process.

 

That's the gut serotonin taurean. It's not connected to the brain serotonin neurotransmitter.  The brain makes its own transmitters. 

 

Eating doesn't make brain serotonin because serotonin can't get across blood brain barrier.

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I don't know...I do take a bunch of supplements but I try to take things that I where I previously had deficiency or that my GP recommended for my general health (i.e., being a woman of reproductive age).

Basically, I had a vitamin D deficiency and I had OCD symptoms. My doctor prescribed some extra strength Vitamin D and I still take supplements so my levels are normal now...but I still have OCD symptoms. Most of my life, I never took vitamin B12 and had OCD symptoms, I finally caved into my mum's insistance that it is the most important thing ever, so I take a B12 supplement and I still have OCD symptoms. I also drink cod liver oil, take folic acid, iron and calcium supplements, I had OCD before I took these and still have it after.

I don't want to discredit the impacts of good nutrition, this is just my personal experience and I don't think that supplements have had any impact on my OCD. I do think my immune system is a lot better now, though!

 

 

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On 14/12/2022 at 14:35, Lenno78 said:

also does anyone believe ocd can be made easier if we figure out and remedy our nutritional deficiencies?

No.

I am not sure nutritional deficiencies plays any part in OCD if I am honest.  

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On 18/12/2022 at 14:37, berryheart said:

Yes, a very healthy diet that heals the gut, plus fixing any vitamin/nutrient deficiencies, will likely cure/almost cure OCD or other mental health issues. Anecdotal article: 

As you said an anecdotal article. 

To suggest a healthy diet will cure/almost cure OCD is not just ludicrous, it's also unhelpful and dare I say dangerously misleading if it reroutes people away from the evidence based treatment path.  I have been doing this job a long time now, and in that time I have met many people with OCD, some of whom are almost athletes with incredibly good, healthy diets, but are still struggling with OCD.

A good healthy diet is a good thing, and may bring general mental well-being/balance, but lets not pretend it will in any way shape or form treat or cure OCD.  Lets not repeat that on the forums please. 

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