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Comment by xanderlewis | Hacker News Reader

The more I come across articles like this (yes: I know it’s talking about early life) the more I start to wonder if the problems I’ve struggled with in the past and to a somewhat lesser extent now (anxiety, with quite severe physical symptoms) are caused by/can at least be alleviated by a change in gut flora. I have this weird feeling (based on some recurring experience) that anxiety and digestion are somehow deeply connected.

Has anyone here tried making a change to their ‘microbiome’ and noticed it had any obvious effect?

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The gut-brain connection[1] is very real! I think we're only really starting to understand how much they are related.

[1]https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-preventi...

Yo no joke I did a fecal transplant, which is a major change in gut flora. I have not noticed much of a difference tbh.

May I ask what it was to treat?

Yes, I'm autistic and I regularly take lactobacillus reuteri which has helped my gut quite a bit. I wouldn't say it was a massive shift, but it certainly has been really nice. There's at least some evidence that this bacteria is deficient in autistic individuals and supplementation can help with that.[1]

[1] https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1343/

When I was struggling with severe anxiety during covid lockdowns and struggling with a bad job, I read about a link between depression and gut health, so started taking kefir daily. Over time things definitely improved, but I was doing so much stuff to try and improve the situation (increased exercise, therapy, meditation etc) I can’t say it was the key to recovery, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

It feels way too complex to draw clear conclusions, but perhaps we can try a more transitive approach:

- It's well established now that physical exercice has an effect on clinical depression and specific mental issues

- Gut flora directly affects your physical state, in particular the amount of energy you'll have to consume that day (both in what nutrients it can extract, and how effectively it does so)

Gut flora impacting your physical state, impacting your mental health would look like a decent link to me.

I don’t know how much is microbiome or micronutrients or general diet or what, but yes, as guided by my doctors, I’ve made a few adjustments to supplements and foods that made a huge difference in anxiety and depression.

Some of the adjustments I was told affect microbiome but I don’t know why / how.

All of that said, for an anxiety attack there’s nothing like meds, in my experience, to put a lid on it real quick.

What kinds of changes specifically?

To be honest my read on this is not causal. It’s very hard to diagnose ADHD or the like until the child has some theory of self.

That being said maybe it’s causal? But it might also just be a generalized indicator of developmental issues (if you have issues on one part of the body, makes sense for other parts to have issues as well IMO. Especially given the comorbidity stuff on ADHD diagnoses)

ketogenic diet solved my depression, but not the anxiety. I'm still adhd, but not as scatterbrained. You're looking at a time-window of about a week. When u switch the diet you'll know within a few days wether it works or not.

carnivore diet solved my anxiety, but I'm stuck now, I'm able to work a job, but when something traumatic happens I'm still anxious, not as much though.

been collecting for a while, hope it helps. https://github.com/cutestuff/FoodDepressionConundrum

For the gut in general it seems to be helping to take glucosamine, magnesium and something else, I forgot just now.

Worked out more to speed digestion, ate more fiber and veggies to smooth digestion. Varied my diet.

Anxiety got totally under control.

It quickly reverts when I stop this.

All sorts of hints that this might be something that happens.

Histamine intolerance is an interesting one.

When I overeat carbs and too little veggies, my anxiety rises and I have bad moods.

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