Inflammation / immune link to mental illness

[The_red_pill]

Hi

Just wanted to get some thoughts.
I have for many many years suffered from depression and anxiety as well as OCD and ADHD.
I'm never free of symptoms, except when I get physically sick.


Everytime I get a chest infection and a sore throat my anxiety disappears, my mood lifts and my head is clear.
I used to work in mental health and I have seen this in patients.

In fact a story was once told to me about a local homeless man who had severe schizophrenia and was well known in the community for his erratic behaviour and because he had a pack
of stray dogs who followed him around.

The story went that at some time he was found to be extremely sick with pneumonia and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
His family who hadn't seen him for 10 years were contacted and visited him in hospital. To their surprise he was lucid and rational and the family rejoiced and plans were made for him to
return home after he got out of hospital.

Then, to their horror, as the infection cleared up, his psychosis returned and within a week he was back on the streets with his pack of dogs..

This is an interesting link.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/01/immune-inflammation-mental-health/3712121/

http://www.cytokines-and-depression.com/

Cytokines trigger many hormone changes during illness. One important change is the remarkable rise in the steroid hormone named cortisol. Cortisol is a well known anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressive hormone. Why would an activated immune system raise the level of an immunosuppressive hormone? Again the answer is quite simple. Cortisol helps protect the body against the powerful immune soldiers mobilized during immune activation. Without necessary restraints like cortisol, the lethal immune soldiers released during the war against bacteria can severely damage tissues and organs throughout the body.

I have also had the experience of being very unwell with asthma and I was prescribed Pregnenolone, a powerful steroid hormone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnenolone

Again, I experienced a profound remission in my symptoms for the time I kept taking it. The drug had horrendous side effects and you could never take it long term for this purpose but I am wondering if there would be another approach that may work?


More links:

Inflammatory Marker Tied to Depression
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Psychiatry/GeneralPsychiatry/36617

So depression is an inflammatory disease, but where does the inflammation come from?
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/11/200

Cerebrospinal fluid inflammatory markers in Parkinson’s disease – Associations with depression, fatigue, and cognitive impairment
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159113002419

Depression and inflammation: Examining the link
http://www.currentpsychiatry.com/ho...he-link/b436332438ceca4baabe8be08701d6dc.html

What inflammation test I could take to detect biomarkers accurately? If there was, would there be any point because there is treatment?

What kind of anti-inflammatories could I try which don't have brutal side effects? I already take aspirin and I really feel that it helps make me calmer. It could be placebo but who can say

 

[nAON]

Interesting links. Wouldnt antiinflammatory drugs have efficacy in treating psychiatric disorders if this was the case though?

 

[arctica]

I had been wondering this too, lately, with respect to ketamine's method of action.

Inflammation, glutamate, and glia in depression: a literature review.