Does this worry you?

If I break both my legs, do you advise me to do without crutches? Walk around a bit, you'll soon heal.

So much ignorance and misinformation.

Doctors do not " dish out" anti depressants.

When I saw my GP recently about depression, he listened carefully (lovely man), told me how to sign up for local mental health services and then recommended St John's Wort which he said was as effective as prescribed antidepressants. I found some in H&B and I must admit, its been helpful.

Polyester
Interesting that you should mention inflammation of the gut RE depression. Not long ago I was reading an article on this subject.
I put this to a family member who is suffering. She was always a very healthy eater. She want to see a specialist on this subject, changed her diet drastically and the results can only be described as miraculous ?

But, it's not easy and not for everyone.

My doctor ' dished out' antidepressants to me because he couldn't do anything else for me.

"What is common knowledge is that there may be many different reasons for depression.
Trauma only being one."

It's about 90% the most common one. You only need to read gransnet AIBUs and chat to see how life is traumatic and grievous. No surprise people are desperate for help , especially when religion and church is not much help any more.

You have to remember, ssri's are given for anxiety as well as depression.

They work for that. Not always for the depression that often goes hand in hand with anxiety.

Alexa even if you are correct and you quote no back up for your assertion, 90% is not 100%
It is so easy to be sweepingly dismissive of the experience of others.

And with all due respect, GN is not a representative cross section of the population- especially not AIBU.

There is nothing new about this. It has been known for years. When DD was taking up to 3,000 units of antibiotics a day after an extensive injury, it played merry hell with her digestion and bowels.

She was recommended to take large doses of probiotics to build up the biome in her bowels and was eventually threatened with a faecal enema, specially tested and 'cleansed' faeces from some other person washed round her bowles to get the bacteria back into her.

Fortunately she spoke to her pharmacist who recommended a course of one special probiotic that included reintroducing lab grown bacteria into her system and that worked.

Read Tim Spector's The Diet Myth

I don't think a trawl through GN and people expressing trauma ,leads to a scientific conclusion that trauma causes 90% of depression.

How ridiculous.

MOnica
Would that be Symprove? Amazing product.
I only wish that Doctors could prescribe it.

How about trusting your doctor?

Doctors make mistakes. I would have died if I'd trusted my doctor.

There's been a ton of research on the gut-brain axis. As someone who has a lot of gut problems including an incurable pancreatic disease (not cancer) I have learnt a great deal. It helps to have an open mind.

www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/7/12/521/htm

petra Symprove is brilliant.

Of course there is the gut brain axis, well worth a look.

50% of common pills wreak havoc on your gut health: Study finds steroids, antibiotics and antidepressants can trigger bacteria changes linked to obesity and infections.

Is " wreak havoc" helping anybody? Note the use of the word " can" and the size of the sample.

Sparklefizz
They don't call the gut the second brain for nothing, do they?

M0nica I think research is taking place at the moment on introducing cleansed faeces from a donor into the gut of people who have coeliac disease and the results are, apparently, promising.

I suppose, though, that people who have coeliac disease and other auto-immune conditions brought it upon themselves by not getting out into the fresh air enough or smoking or drinking alcohol when they were babies.

Calli Faecal transplants have been done for several years now. A clinic in London, the Taymount, performs them, and they are done in Europe and the US. They are extremely time-consuming (not just one transplant) and very expensive.

The transplants are apparently particularly useful for people suffering from C. Diff.

Exactly Petra - we think alike.

grapefruit antibiotics and drugs for breast cancer wrought havoc on my gut.

Thanks Sparklefizz

Nobody is denying that the whole body is linked up, nor would anybody wish to be taking medication long term without good reason.

It is not particularly helpful for somebody claiming to have perfect health and no need for medication ever ,to throw out a tabloid article which sensationalizes a serious issue.

It’s not the first time there has been a conversation about how many of us “d’un certain âge” are “pill poppers” or moan about our ills compared to some who enjoy perfect health and fitness - no doubt because of their impeccable lifestyle.

I think it's a sad fact that older guts just don't perform as well as younger ones. And there's sod-all anyone can do about it.