The link between stress, acne depression and anxiety (Updated 14/05/14)

Acne was rare when I was a teenager during the 1960's, sure there were cases, but nowhere the number we see nowadays. It seems every second teenager now has acne.

Depression and anxiety appear to be on the rise and there is growing evidence that the three are interlinked. If they are, what, if anything is their common factor? What might be their root cause? I think I know the answer.

First, read this excerpt from

Acne vulgaris, probiotics and the gut-brain-skin axis - back to the future?

Whitney P Bowe and Alan C Logan

"In recent years it has been confirmed that hypochlorhydria is a significant risk factor for small intestinal bacterial over growth (SIBO). Indeed SIBO is detected via hydrogen breath testing in half of patients on long-term proton pump inhibitor treatment [13]. SIBO presents itself on a wide continuum between being asymptomatic and, at its extreme, a severe malabsorption syndrome. For many, there may be very mild gastrointestinal symptoms, including bloating, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and constipation [14]. It is also reported to be prevalent in functional syndromes such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome [15]. SIBO can compromise proper absorption of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, B vitamins, and other micronutrients due to bacterial interference. Excess bacteria can successfully compete for nutrients, produce toxic metabolites, and cause direct injury to enterocytes in the small intestine [16]. Just as Stokes and Pillsbury had supposed, SIBO has recently been shown to be associated with increased intestinal permeability, whereas antimicrobial treatment of SIBO helps to restore the normal intestinal barrier [17]. Experimental studies show that psychological stress stagnates normal small intestinal transit time, encourages overgrowth of bacteria, and compromises the intestinal barrier [18]. SIBO is strongly associated with depression and anxiety, while eradication of SIBO improves emotional symptoms [19,20]. Although the frequency of SIBO in acne vulgaris has not yet been investigated, a recent report indicates that SIBO is 10 times more prevalent in those with acne rosacea vs. healthy controls. Correction of SIBO leads to marked clinical improvement in patients with rosacea [21]."

I recommend that you take time out to read the entire article here:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3038963/

This quote is equally fascinating:

“We here propose that mammals evolved with a dermal microflora that contributed to the regulation of body physiology by providing nitrite from commensal ammonia-oxidising bacteria in response to ammonia released during sweating. We further hypothesise that modern skin hygiene practices have led to a gradual loss of these bacteria from our skin. Together with other life-style related changes associated with an insufficient bodily supply of nitrite and depletion of other nitric oxide (NO) related species, a condition we here define as “nitropenia” has led to a perturbation of cellular redox signalling which manifests as dysregulated immunity and generalised inflammation. If proven correct, this scenario could provide an additional evolutionary rationale and a mechanistic basis for the simultaneous rises in prevalence of a number of seemingly unrelated chronic illnesses over the past 3-4 decades.” 
http://books.google.com/books?id=a3mwmXzpsjkC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q&f=false 

Using the Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis to detect the ongoing drivers for acne, gut and mood issues

The following chart is the hair tissue mineral analysis HTMA) for a 14 year old suffering gut and acne issues.  Needless to say he is feeling miserable (depressed).  Who wouldn't?

Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) of a 14 year old boy suffering acne and gut ulcers

Key symptoms

• Terrible skin with acne sores everywhere, especially the face.
• Mouth and throat ulcers.
• Difficulty eating anything, including holding it down.  Diarrhoea.
• Insomnia.
• Failure to thrive, thin and delayed puberty.
• Not feeling good about himself.

HTMA findings are consistent with symptoms

• Elevated Fe relative to Cu indicates infectious anaemia
• Elevated Zn indicates severe zinc loss.
• High Ca to Mg indicates tendency for insomnia, diverticulosis, muscle cramps difficulty with concentration and nervousness.

The zinc pattern is an interesting one.  It indicates that this young man is not holding onto zinc, but losing it through his hair.  Zinc loss/deficiency is associated with:

• Depression
• Viruses (acne)
• Fungal infections 
• Candida
• Anorexia
• Peptic ulcers
• Poor wound healing
• Lowered immunity
• Autism
• Stretch marks
• Slow growth 

There are more symptoms but these are the ones most relevant in this discussion.  He is a sitting duck for viral and fungal infections, depression, ulcerations of the gut and poor healing.

Incidentally, the indication of a chronic infection (elevated Fe relative to Cu) is most likely due to the acne and ulcerations in his gut. 

The problem with zinc loss is almost universal in the HTMA I do.  I am convinced that this is due to two things:

Indiscriminate use of antibiotics causing near-permanent changes in a person's gut flora.  This may be precipitated by a single course of antibiotics at any time of a person's life, especially during childhood.  Fungal and yeast overgrowths stress the supply of zinc.  Zinc is a powerful antifungal and antiviral and a person with fungal, yeast and viral infections, including gut ulcerations, needs huge amounts of this mineral.  Paradoxically, zinc deficiency inside the body usually shows up as elevated zinc levels in the hair.  It may be partly because the body is attempting to concentrate zinc where it is needed for fungal infection control - the hair, nails, skin and the gut tissues.

Is there a single person in New Zealand who has never had an antibiotic?

An antibiotic is a bit like taking Roundup and spraying a native bush reserve to kill some rogue gorse plants.  The Roundup kills everything, leaving a barren land.  Guess what comes back first?  Yes - An overgrowth of gorse, so thick that anything else is smothered to death and another flyover with Roundup only gives temporary respite. This is what can happen in the gut following an antibiotic.  Elevated Zn on the HTMA is an indicator there may be fungal and yeast overgrowths.  The lasting solution is a patient process of clearing and thinning the overgrowth without resort to indiscriminate chemical, with plantings of a wide variety of natives.  Its a slow process that may take many years to complete, if ever.  Gut health, in the modern world that is soaked with toxins and depleted food, requires constant attention.

The Modern diet is a major contributor because it is so lacking in minerals such as zinc and magnesium and devoid of most vitamins, many of which are needed for the body to properly utilise minerals.

18 Year old female with severe acne.  Note similar pattern with Zn to that of the 14 year old boy.
The elevated Cu is due to glandular fever having altered liver function and depressing K.

Conclusion

I am convinced there is a link between antibiotic use, the poor modern diet, stress and the distressing triad of acne, gut dysbiosis and depression.

Treatment is not yet another indiscriminate B-52 bombing raid with antibiotics: it consists of the long term nurturing of the gut to gradually replace the "gorse" overgrowth with a rich flora of healthy bacteria.  It consists of healthy dietary changes and the use of vitamin, mineral and herbal preparations to facilitate this long and gradual process of recovery.  Treatment includes identifying and reducing, or better managing stresses in one's life.  Clearly, an upset of the mind leads to an upset of the gut.

An aside: My position on antibiotic use

Coming to New Zealand now: Intense barn dairy farming.  Many animals in close proximity = disease.
Which means much higher use of antibiotics.

Well, for a start, it may only be a matter of a few years before antibiotics cease to be effective against many bugs that are rapidly evolving into "Superbugs".  Antibiotics have been abused in human and animal health and we are paying for it big time now.  In New Zealand, as with the rest of the world, the use of antibiotics is almost universal within factory farming of chickens and pigs.  We have been so spoiled with the wonders of antibiotics that we have almost forgotten how to prevent and treat infection through other means, such as cleaning a wound.  If we are lacking vitamins and minerals and are stressed then our ability to fight infection is poor.  The point I am making is that we hardly ever need antibiotics, if only we knew what to do.

Antibiotics are amazing drugs but they have been abused.  I want to see these wonder drugs reserved for the few cases that really need them: People with compromised immune systems and/or bugs that threaten permanent harm or to kill.  For the rest of us basically healthy people: Stay away from antibiotics!  

With regards to agriculture, intense factory farming is reliant on antibiotics.  We need to get back to more humane farming of animals, including giving them space to roam.

"Gary: when was the last time you took an antibiotic?"

My answer: I can't remember and I am still alive, healthy and kicking.  Despite the fact that I participate in sports like mountain biking which involve constant cuts, grazes and infection.

Gary's thigh treated without antibiotics while avoiding the risks of their
use, such as gut dysbiosis.

About this website 

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation. Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.

Candida and Fungal Infections? Gary Moller recommends you explore this programme: Click Here!

CHARACTERISTIC TOXICITY OF FLUOROQUINOLONES - Why on Earth would anyone prescribe these antibiotics?

"Anonymous" wrote, quoting the following (Please read the other postings about this dangerous class of drugs which continue to be prescribed):

20.CHARACTERISTIC TOXICITY OF FLUOROQUINOLONES
Unlike other antibiotics, that have very little toxicity (penicillins) or a very defined toxic profile (i.e. deafness and nephrotoxicity for aminoglycosides), quinolones and fluoroquinolones have a vast toxicity that affects the whole body. Although it is treated with more detail later in the report, the main toxic actions of quinolones and fluoroquinolones are:

TOXICITY TO TENDONS (TENOTOXICITY).
Quinolones are very toxic on the tendons, to everybody. They are the only frequently prescribed drug on the market that is directly tenotoxic and cause rupture of tendons, not only during treatment but months later. It is a very distinctive feature of quinolones. They damage the cartilage and tendons all over the body in a permanent nature, although symptoms only become noticeable in some 30% of the treatments. Doctors only acknowledge a less than 5% incidence of tendon disorders because usually the person that has been intoxicated by the quinolone, goes to his/her orthopedist some months after the ingestion of the quinolone, complaining of a chronic tendinitis when playing his/her favourite sport. Nobody links the tendinitis to the quinolone.

TOXICITY TO THE NERVES
This toxicity affects the whole body, because the quinolones have been invented in a way so that they have a very big penetrating capacity in all the tissues, especially the brain. The nerves of the brain, muscles, intestines, heart, lungs, tendons, eyes, and other organs, are lightly, moderately or irreversibly damaged, and their recovery can take from a few years to never, leaving a trail of pains, injuries, abnormalities and hundreds of disorders that you can see in the following sections of this report.

CHEMICAL TOXICITY
The extreme toxicity of the quinolone and fluoroquinolone antibiotics destroys the correct functioning of all types of cells in the body, causing extensive damage and abnormalities in all body functions and systems.

So, to take a quinolone or fluoroquinolone antibiotic means to take a potent toxic compound. There is no reason to prescribe or take them unless it is absolutely necessary. Do not be so naive as to believe that the medical system, and the FDA have assessed properly the safety of these antibiotics, because they have clearly not done so, as you can learn through this report or doing your own research.
--------------------------------
I too was a healthy 50+ y/o male until I took Cipro. I was not warned of any permanent side effects by my Dr. I am now barely able to walk and have constant pain in every joint of my body 2 yrs. later. This class of antibiotic is just too toxic to be used unless the patient is on the verge of death and nothing else has worked.

Talk to Gary Moller (First 5 minutes are free):

Tendon ruptures caused by certain antibiotics

Here are few poaragraphs from an interesting article by Tom Lamb of Drug injury watch:

According to a January 3, 2008 Reuters article, "Group sues U.S. in push for new antibiotic warning", the consumer group Public Citizen has filed a lawsuit intended to force the FDA to consider whether stronger warnings should be added to certain antibiotics such as Johnson & Johnson's Levaquin as well as Bayer AG's Cipro and Avelox. .....

The FDA has received 336 reports of tendon rupture in patients treated with fluoroquinolones from November 1997 through March 2007, Public Citizen said. The actual number is likely higher because only a fraction of potential side effects are typically reported to the agency.....

Levaquin, Cipro, and Avelox, as well as similar generic antibiotics, are widely prescribed in the U.S. and elsewhere for gastrointestinal, respiratory, and urinary tract infections.
Source and full article: www.DrugInjuryWatch.com
________________________________________________

Gary Moller comments:

While 336 tendon ruptures may seem a minuscule number, my experience is that by far most adverse drugs reactions pass unreported. The more subtle damage of such drugs, including chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, tendonitis and so on and so on are never associated with the drugs that may have been administered several months ago.

I sometimes wonder who the regulating agencies are out to protect first - the manufacturers and suppliers of prescription drugs, or those who are on the receiving end - you and me. In the end, if things go wrong, we must carry the can for the rest of our lives. The safety bar should always be set very high and any hint of harm by any drug should be responded to by warnings and, in most cases, withdrawal until there is unequivocal evidence that it is safe. Often the consequences of pharmaceuticals do not happen until much later, so even the weakest of associations must be taken seriously.

Please read my other articles about fluoroquinolone drugs and be sure that your doctor never prescribes these to you or anybody in your family. There are safer alternatives of treatment for a stuffy nose or congested chest. The benefits are not worth the risks.

Has your doctor poisoned you with quinolone antibiotics?

Every athlete presenting with a tendinitis or overuse syndrome, should be asked whether he/she has taken quinolones during the last year, in order to assess the diagnosis properly. The same possibility of quinolone poisoning exists for non athletes who develop energy, injury and circulation problems for no apparent reason.

In other than severe reactions, the damage caused by this class of antibiotics may never be obvious with the delay of onset of symptoms as much as several months after taking the drug. This delay explains why doctors continue to prescribe these drugs.

The reactions to quinolone drugs tend to worsen with repeated exposure. This may be from exposure to residues of the drug which is used routinely in animal farming, some may turn up in farmed fish, poultry and pork (I do not know of the use of this drug in New Zealand farming).

If you were an athlete or very active young or middle aged person, you will resume your trajectory only if you have experienced a mild reaction. Endurance will be severely curtailed by an intermediate reaction. After a severe reaction your athletic activities are completely wiped out for the next five years or so, and only then will you be in the position to attempt very exertional activities depending on the level of permanent damage in joints and tissues that you have sustained. In any case, a severe reaction means the abrupt end of an athletic existence.

There are very characteristic musculoskeletal lesions caused by quinolones. Sometimes they are not the worst side effects, but are big limitations for sports and cause enormous distress in young and healthy athletes.

Cartilages are always affected. In intermediate reactions they become softened and some get inflammed or start causing problems, for instance in the spine, hips and knees. In severe reactions cartilages become really eroded, and show up as different osteoarthritis stages, from mild to advanced. Most affected are the shoulder joint, hips, knees, and ankles, but also neck and spine.
Look at the following chart listing some of the musculoskeletal lesions that young and athletic people had after unnoticed reactions to short courses of quinolones.

In all cases listed as follows it has been demonstrated that they were quinolone induced toxic reactions because after re-exposure to quinolones they increased ten to a hundred times-fold in intensity.

.. Epicondylitis in tennis players. Toxic tendinitis.
.. Trochanteric bursitis (pain in the very tip of the hip bone).
.. Shin splints in runners and tennis players. Neurological collapse
of one or more of the tibialis complexes.
.. Plantar fasciitis. It was a toxic degradation of the muscle-tendon
complex.
.. Hamstrings pulls. It was a toxic femoral neuritis.
.. Posterior tibial tendon insuficiency.
.. Achilles tendinitis.
.. Anterior tibialis tendinitis.
.. Knee pains, lateral, medial and backside.
.. Many back problems.
.. Quads and tibialis muscle wasting.
.. Iliotibial band syndrome (toxic enthesitis).
.. Iliopsoas tendinitis.
.. Collagenous disorder in hips.
.. Rotator cuff tendinitis (shoulder)
.. Myositis, polymiositis.
.. Lactic acid build up.
.. Intolerance to exercise, lack of recovery.

If you have developed any of these sports injury problems for no apparent reason, you should consider the possibility of exposure to quinolones in the last year or so.

QUINOLONE ANTIBIOTICS
The main quinolone and fluoroquinolone antibiotics and their full
pharmaceutical names are as follows:

Cipro, Cipro I.V.........................Ciprofloxacin
Levaquin ....................................Levofloxacin
Penetrex ....................................Enoxacin
Tequin ........................................Gatifloxacin
Maxaquin ...................................Lomefloxacin
Avelox........................................Moxifloxacin
Noroxin ......................................Norfloxacin
Floxin, Floxin I.V......................Ofloxacin
Zagam ........................................Sparfloxacin

Source: The Fluoroquinolone Toxicity Research Foundation

Scrubbing away the bugs

Leading antibacterial cleaners claim to kill 99 percent of the bacteria on the surfaces where it is applied. What do you suppose happens to the other 1 percent?
Those resistant bacteria are living and multiplying, of course, creating a strain that soon those same cleaners won’t be able to kill.
____________________________
Gary Moller comments:
The best way to ensure good hygiene is to scrub way the bugs mechanically. This means using soap and warm water for cleaning sufaces in the kitchen and in the bathroom. Chemical cleaners are heavily promoted and the need to scrub is all but dismissed as being unnecessary. You know the ads: The ones that demonstrate squirting a chemical into the toilet bowl and leaving it to do the dirty work.

The problem is that 1% of the bugs that survive flourish to become a super bug. This is what is happening in our hospitals where such bugs are getting out of hand.

In the case of infections of wounds the tandard treatment is to treat with chemicals and antibiotics. In the last 29 years I have met only one doctor who took the time with an infection to carefully debride and clean the wound and then dress it himself. If this is ever done, the job is handed to the nurse to do. More often than not, the wound is superficially cleaned, a dressing applied and a prescription for an antibiotic given.

The better treatment in most cases of infection is to manually clean all the dead skin and other debris that are the food source for bugs, dress the wound with a sterile dressing and repeat the cleaning and dressing process twice a day. By removing the food source, any bacteria can not survive and the few that do are easily handled by the body's natural defences. The worst a person can do is leave a dressing on a wound for more than a day because it becomes a festering breeding ground for bugs.

The over use of antibiotics lead to sloppy hygiene practices and now that such sloppy practices are now the norm, so is the ongoing use of antibiotics.

Hospital infections - deaths and costs

HOSPITAL INFECTIONS INCREASE PATIENTS DEATHS AND COSTS
Daily Policy DigestHEALTH ISSUES
Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Pennsylvania hospital patients who contracted a hospital-acquired infection in 2004 accrued costs seven times higher and were seven times more likely to die than patients who did not acquire infections, according to a report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHCCCC).

Researchers examined data on patients with commercial health insurance from 180 hospitals. Pennsylvania is one of six states that has enacted laws requiring reporting of hospital-acquired infections. None of the other states have collected or published their results.
For 2004, the researchers found:

• Some 1,119 patients contracted hospital acquired infections, and 288,444 patients did not.
  Insurers paid hospitals an average of $60,678 for patients with hospital-acquired infections, compared with $8,078 for patients without infections.
• The average length of stay for patients with infections was 21.2 days, compared with 3.4 days for patients without infections.
• Some 10.7 percent of the patients with infections died, compared with 0.7 percent of the patients without infections.
• For the first nine months of 2005, hospitals reported 13,711 cases of hospital infections.

Marc Volavka, executive director of the PHCCCC, says the increase in cases from 2004 to 2005 can be attributed to improved disclosure. Nationwide, hospital-acquired infections increased U.S. health care costs by an estimated $25 billion for 2005, according to the researchers.

__________________________

Gary Moller Comments:

In 2004, the infection rate was 3.9%. For the first 12 months of 2005, the rate was at least 5%, which is probably closer to the mark. Hospital-acquired infections is a gorwing problem world-wide as bugs become increasingly resistant to antibiotics. Hospitals are at the front line of this losing battle.

In my previous occupation in rehabilitation, I do not recall any patients prior to about 1995 being referred for therapy following hospital-acquired infections. From about then, there was an increasing stream of patients who had suffered terrible injuries from infections following surgery. This surge in hospital-based infections is due to the fact that hospitals are perfect breeding grounds for antibiotic resistant bugs such as Golden Staph.

Despite the improvements in reporting, I believe we are still do not the true extent of infection rates - at least not in New Zealand's hospitals. Example: I was visiting a hospital recently. One patient I was visiting had "shingles" following surgery and was on intravenous antibiotics. Another post surgery patient I visited just a few door futher down the corridor also had "shingles" and was also on intravenous antibiotics. In both cases, the shingles was mostly affecting the legs that had been operated on. "Shingles"? Coincidence?

Shingles is a virus that attacks the peripheral nerves and commonly shows as a painful rash about the trunk. It cannot be treated by antibiotics. In both these instances of shingles, I believe these post-surgery patients had acquired antibiotic resistant bacterial infections in their lymphatic systems. I have seen other cases of shingles and I just could not believe that these hospital patients had shingles.

This begs the question of whether some cases of hospital infections that maim and kill are being classified as something less serious and much less alarming?

Patients must be aware that hospital-acquired infections are a serious risk that must be taken into consideration when entering hospital for any reason. The best advice I can give for prevention is this:

• Stay out of hospital if you can
• Avoid any kind of invasive treatment if there is a good alternative
• If you must have surgery, request the least invasive method
• When recovering, insist that anybody touching you washes their hands first
• And consider an early discharge so that you can recover in the safety of your home. Besides, the food will be better