Participants:
Series Code: HL
Program Code: HL000060A
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00:14 Welcome to Healthy Living, I'm your host Margot Marshall.
00:18 Depression is more than just a low mood, 00:21 it's a serious mental health condition that has an impact 00:25 on both one's physical and mental health. 00:28 Today I'll be talking with a doctor and one of her patients 00:32 who recovered from depression and anxiety as a result of 00:35 simple lifestyle interventions. 00:38 Stay tuned. 01:09 Depression is the single leading cause of disability 01:13 not only in Australia, but worldwide. 01:17 Here to talk to us about lifestyle interventions is 01:20 general practitioner who practices Lifestyle Medicine 01:24 along with one of her patients who has recovered 01:27 from depression and anxiety Dr. Coralia Gigau. 01:31 Welcome to you Esther, lovely that you could come and join us 01:35 today. Tell me, you practice lifestyle medicine... 01:39 How long have you been a general practitioner? 01:41 and when did you start... and how long ago did you start 01:44 including lifestyle medicine? 01:47 I graduated in 1980 in Romania. We arrived in Australia in 1987. 01:55 I arrived here without speaking any English. 01:58 By the end of 89, I passed the AMA exam. Wow! 02:08 I am working here in Australia since 1990... 02:11 So you were able to learn the language in that time 02:13 well enough to pass those exams. That's very impressive. 02:17 Impressive. In...12 years ago, my husband got prostate cancer 02:25 at the age of 56 and we had been so shocked, 02:31 he said what we have done wrong because we have been 02:36 like all the other Adventists eating...considering eating 02:39 healthy, doing everything else good. 02:42 My husband does not believe it was fate, everything else was good. 02:46 Being so shocked, that's when we started looking, 02:52 what was wrong? 02:54 By God's grace we had our eyes open and we'd been so wrong, 03:00 we couldn't believe how wrong we'd been. 03:01 Tell us about that. We started changing our lifestyle. 03:05 Study, find out why is this... Find out why is that? 03:10 So, it took me quite a long time but to re-program, 03:16 to re-phase what medicine means. 03:19 And what sorts of things were you were eating that you 03:22 realized later were not really helpful? 03:24 We never ate too much meat or something like that, 03:29 but we ate a lot of processed food and one of our 03:33 preferred meals was French Potatoes. 03:36 I don't know if you know what French Potatoes are, 03:38 that means it's a layer of boiled potatoes, a layer of 03:42 Feta cheese, a layer of eggs and another layer of potatoes 03:47 and you put some sour cream on top and you put them 03:50 in the oven. Okay. That was an absolute disaster, 03:54 because not only do you have a lot of cholesterol, 03:57 that all cholesterol is oxidized so when you are high, 04:00 you have a lot of advanced glycation end products 04:03 and this is one of the stuff which is aging us, 04:06 one that is causing a lot of problem. 04:08 So I myself, I have gallbladder stone at the age of 42 04:12 and I did not know by that time, I said ah, my father had a 04:15 gallbladder stones but in the family, we eat the same. 04:19 So this is why, now I know why I have my gallbladder stone. 04:26 So, when you husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer, 04:29 that was your wakeup call... It was a real wakeup call, 04:32 he had radio therapy and by God's grace we changed our 04:36 lifestyle completely and by God's grace he's very well now. 04:39 Oh that's really good. So you've seen for yourself the difference 04:43 it can make when you really understand what is healthy 04:47 and actually do it. And of course it's more than just 04:50 the food, it's exercise and other things... It's everything. 04:55 Yeah. All the parts, all our environment which 04:58 belongs to us except the... Yes...Hydration...Yeah 05:03 Well now Esther, what about your story, 05:05 what was it that was your big health concern 05:09 and how you at some point came in contact with Dr. Coralia? 05:14 My journey began three years ago, I had a very good friend 05:18 of mine and she was suffering from gastric cancer. 05:23 But before she was diagnosed with gastric cancer 05:27 they had a lot of issues that had happened 05:33 in the family with the house being flooded, 05:37 the house the following year had been burnt down. 05:41 She was my prayer partner, she was my spiritual mentor, 05:48 she was my best friend you know. 05:51 We shared lots of things, I had immersed myself in the situation 05:59 of her being sick and of being unwell. 06:01 During the time leading up to her passing away 06:08 I suffered from...I had been suffering from anxiety 06:12 and I didn't even have an idea that I was suffering 06:15 from anxiety because I didn't know what anxiety was. 06:19 When people spoke about anxiety and depression before, 06:24 for me it was, what is this, I don't understand it. 06:28 Because when you are healthy and well 06:30 and you don't know what other people are going through 06:33 mentally, you really don't have an understanding 06:36 at all. You can't comprehend what they are going through. 06:39 So now, it had come to my doorstep and she passed away 06:45 and with her passing away. The loss and grief 06:49 had started an effect on me and I wasn't aware of this. 06:54 Just gradually I had started the symptoms of anxiety, 06:59 started showing up more and more in my lifestyle, 07:05 the way I was living. While traveling overseas, 07:08 I had gotten so sick while I was in the restaurant, 07:11 they called a paramedic to come and the paramedics 07:15 didn't come in time and my husband and sister put me in the car 07:20 and they rushed me off to the hospital. 07:22 The nurse looked at me and she said, 07:25 do you know what is happening to you my dear? 07:27 You're having an panic attack. 07:29 And those words that fell out of her mouth was 07:33 I don't know what this is. And they gave me medications 07:40 in a container and they said look, you are going to have to 07:43 see a psychologist and you are going to have to see 07:45 a doctor when you get back home to Australia, 07:49 you are going to have to follow up. 07:52 Well, I just became progressively worse. 07:56 Mentally, physically, it started taking full charge of me, 08:02 I was becoming desperate because I'd been socially 08:11 I didn't want to mix with people anymore 08:13 because this fear would arise up in me and I don't know 08:17 where this fear come from. 08:18 Eventually one day I became so desperate 08:27 I thought I need find a holistic doctor because I was seeing 08:31 a psychologist, it wasn't helping me. 08:34 I went on Google and up came this program 08:37 "Anxiety, Depression" by Neil Nedley, 08:40 run by the Casey Church down in Dandenong. 08:43 I though oh, maybe I should enroll, which I did. 08:47 I enrolled myself in his program and in this program 08:51 I had learned so much and the support of the people, 08:54 it was absolutely fantastic. 08:56 I learned about foods, I learned about plant based diets, 09:04 the balancing of it...I learned all of that and 09:09 that was all good and fine. The program was 12 weeks. 09:13 After the program was finished, I changed my lifestyle, 09:16 I was a person that exercised regularly and I thought that 09:23 I was eating well. Well, my health just started 09:30 spiraling downwards. I started getting severe stomach 09:35 cramps and I say severe, severe in a fetal position, 09:39 stomach cramps. During this program someone had said to me, 09:44 you know, we see Dr. Jigau, maybe you would like to see her. 09:49 I thought, well okay, it wouldn't hurt because by now 09:54 I was at desperate door. So I made an appointment 09:59 and went to Dr. Jigau, came to her and she said... 10:05 the calm, relaxed person that she is, 10:08 she said tell me what is happening to you. 10:12 Then I started telling her about...well, first of all 10:17 she said what's happening to you? My blood pressure 10:19 was sky high...that's what fear does. 10:23 It actually affects your blood pressure 10:25 without you even knowing it. 10:28 Then she said look, let's get some blood tests done. 10:35 By then, my GP that I had seen before... 10:40 Every time I did a blood test and went to see him, 10:43 he said to me, don't you want to go on anti-depressants? 10:46 It will really help you. Wrote out the script, 10:50 gave me the script, went off to the pharmacy 10:53 got the medication. I opened it up, read the contraindications, 10:57 I almost had an anxiety attack reading that. 11:00 I looked, I thought, I am not taking this medication, 11:05 what if I'm already suffering from fear? 11:08 You know the Bible says in Peter 1:5, I Peter 1:5 it says.. 11:17 Be sober, be vigilant, the devil goes around as a 11:22 roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and 11:26 I started learning that he's trying to devour my brain 11:32 with fear because fear was controlling me. 11:35 But I didn't know that I was suffering the effects 11:39 of losing a dear friend of mine. I did not know that it was 11:45 having an adverse effect on me and that was anxiety, 11:48 which was slowly creeping in with depression, 11:51 and I remember sitting in my doctor's room and I said, 11:55 all I want is for this to go away. 11:58 I just want to fall asleep and only wake up when it's 12:02 all gone and he said, take the medication, 12:07 but I wasn't convinced about this medication. 12:12 But Dr. Jigau, her approach was different. 12:15 After talking to her, she said let's go and do your test. 12:20 I went after and did the blood test. 12:21 It came back I had lack of Vitamin A, B, C, D, zinc, 12:29 Magnesium, low levels of Omega 3, absolutely low 12:37 and I said to her doctor, what do I do? 12:41 and she said to me, let's start with a nice whole food plant 12:47 based diet, let's see how we can change this. 12:50 She said are you exercising? I said yes, she said 12:53 early in the morning are you getting out there? 12:57 We also learned that walking in the blue light helps, 13:03 you build up Melatonin walking in the blue light. 13:10 I was waking up early and I was going for my walks 13:14 and I was doing my exercises. I was going for swimming lessons, 13:20 I am a swimmer, I was going for swimming. 13:22 But this anxiety just wasn't getting better, 13:29 it had spiraled to a point where the muscles in my back 13:35 were spasaming so badly that I couldn't breathe. 13:40 Oh my goodness. I ended up... That's incredible. 13:44 I ended up having such a bad attack that I ended up driving 13:50 in to the Renewed Public Hospital with my arms wrapped 13:55 around my abdomen saying I can't breathe 13:59 and they took me in, did all these tests and I had to stay 14:04 there for a long period of time and then they recommend all 14:09 these different tests and eventually I ended up 14:13 going for an angiogram and the doctor said to me, 14:17 there's nothing wrong with your heart, your heart is fine. 14:22 You're suffering from musculoskeletal issues 14:26 and I do have Fibromyalgia and it is actually... 14:32 it flared up from suffering from anxiety and depression. 14:38 Do you know, it's an incredibly disabling thing, 14:41 not just mentally, but physically as you've just 14:45 experienced and I don't know if people really understand 14:48 that how bad it can be physically and so I am really 14:53 sorry that you have been through that terrible journey. Go on. 14:56 Well actually there were times when I felt that I'm being put 15:03 in the crucible, that I'm being refined in this process 15:09 of suffering from anxiety and depression. 15:11 I started learning to...I've always been a prayer warrior 15:18 and I've always journaled, for years I've journaled. 15:24 In sermons, I journal them, the prayers I journaled, 15:29 and I started turning more and more to the Lord. 15:35 I had suffered severe from anxiety and depression 15:41 that I had brain fog, I had fatigue, I had to manage to 15:50 scramble my body up in the morning, get dressed, 15:54 go to work and I had to listen intently, I had to focus 15:59 on what people were saying because I needed to work. 16:03 I needed to think more because brain fog is very cloudy 16:11 and your thinking patterns are not sharp, they are not clear. 16:19 It's a vicious cycle anxiety and depression 16:24 when you don't get help, it can actually put you in a very 16:31 precarious situation. 16:33 Yes, well thankfully you were able to get some help 16:36 from our lovely doctor here. Yes, she looked at my diet 16:40 and she said, okay, let's change this, 16:43 let's start off with...You need to build up your Omega 3's 16:47 Esther so get some Hemp seed, get your Chia seeds, 16:51 get your Lin seeds, grind them up, get a smoothie going 16:57 let that be your first drink in the morning. 17:00 I started my plant based diet, whole meal foods, 17:06 my green vege's, my green smoothies. She said to me, 17:11 are you not eating your carrots? You got no vitamin A inside 17:15 of you? I started my... Because when you are sick, 17:23 your clarity of thought is not very clear, so with coming into 17:30 her office, her listening to me, that empathy 17:35 telling me you know what, there's hope, 17:37 this is not the end of the road, you can get better. 17:40 Ah! That's encouraging. There is light after anxiety. 17:44 There is hope and, I started changing my lifestyle of my diet 17:53 with colorful vege's, colorful... getting my Quinoa in, 17:57 my brown rice in, my vegetables in and also 18:04 I turned to God. I used to rush home in the afternoon... 18:08 to get...I changed my work patterns. 18:12 I used to work long hours before, long ridiculous hours. 18:19 I changed my hours, I spoke to my husband and he was so 18:24 empathetic, he said to me, why don't you work four days 18:28 a week and shorten your hours? 18:30 In the meantime before I did that Dr. Jigau said I think 18:37 you better go for a CT Scan... no and ultrasound. 18:41 I had a colonoscopy and a gastroscopy, 18:46 they found out I was suffering from gastritis. 18:49 Do you want to explain what gastritis is? 18:51 It's just an inflammation on the stomach. 18:54 Yes. I had inflammation in my mesenteric glands. 19:00 That was mesenteric adenitis when you came with one of the 19:04 big problems. You know when I examined you and you had 19:07 such a bad... and I sent you to have an ultrasound 19:11 and the ultrasound was confirming yeah, because 19:13 we're not sure if it's appendiscitis or it was inflamed. 19:18 The pain. Yes! And settle and with the lifestyle change 19:24 God started relaxing, the pain started easing. 19:31 I had to see an Osteopath... For Fibromyalgia. 19:37 Fibromyalgia. That's a painful journey 19:43 in so many ways, with so many things going on 19:45 in your body and you're continuing to work, 19:48 somehow or other you just pushed yourself through that. 19:52 But that must have been a really really difficult 19:53 time of your life. Looking at you now, it's hard to imagine 19:58 all of that happening to you. 20:00 So I'm taking it that it's all a thing of the past, 20:02 is all of that behind you? Yes! 20:04 It's...Anxiety is something that tries to trick the brain, 20:09 like you have to scared of something that is fearful 20:14 that is going to happen but it is not true. It's not true. 20:18 You eventually learn that fear comes from Satan. 20:23 Jesus says, I come to give you and I've come to give you 20:27 life abundantly. Well, I think the first thing that happened 20:30 when His birth was announced was "Peace on Earth" 20:34 the last thing He said was to the Disciples was, 20:37 "My Peace I leave with you", and so yes, it's there for us. 20:41 It really is and that's what God would like us to experience 20:44 and it play's a big role, the spirituality, 20:46 the connection with the One who created us. 20:49 Played a huge role in our healing, any kind of healing 20:54 really, and a lot of it starts in the mind. Absolutely. 20:57 Whatever is going on in our mind is telling the rest 20:59 of our body things that aren't helpful so. Absolutely. 21:03 It's good that you had that connection. Absolutely. 21:05 I hate to think how different it might be if you hadn't a 21:08 wonderful GP and a connection with the creator who can... 21:14 Yeah, it's just the changes she implemented. 21:16 She was so nutrient depleted, so nutrient depleted, 21:20 that is the problem with our western diet. 21:23 We are very nutrient depleted, we eat food which is very good 21:27 taste and it's very pleasant in the mouth and does not 21:31 have the nutrients. I mean, how can you expect the brain 21:36 to work properly when you have a vitamin B depleted completely, 21:39 when you don't have vitamin E, when you don't have vitamin C. 21:43 Yep. So, this is why depression and anxiety, that disease 21:48 of the 21st century. 21:49 The main problem is, we are so depleted in nutrients. 21:54 I had some lecture in Monash University, I was talking about 22:00 that microbiome and as I walked in, it was a big panel there 22:06 and it was written on it, "One in four teenagers classified 22:13 for a mental disorder." 22:16 Isn't that tragic? One in four! It was terrible, when I read it, 22:21 I said Oh No! So the reason is our kids and teenagers, 22:27 that are eating so bad. Apart of the other program, 22:30 this is one of the programs. Staying on the machines 22:34 all the time, lots of media interruption, 22:38 not social connections. Yeah! Also there was one thing 22:43 that we learned with the "Whole Food Plant Based Diet". 22:47 With the Whole Foods, they actually increase Tryptophan. 22:54 Which is a pre-cursor for Serotonin. For Serotonin. 22:58 Lentils. Yes. Lentils are a great food, we eat it at least 23:04 twice a week. That was one thing, I wasn't sleeping well. 23:07 If I had two hours sleep, maximum. Oh, you are kidding. 23:14 A night, for a whole night? Yes, and that was happening 23:18 for two to three years. Oh my goodness! 23:21 Yes, it was a battle. You're saying a couple hours 23:24 sleep a night for three years. I don't know how you lasted. 23:28 I don't know how you could do it. 23:30 It can only be the grace of God. Oh my goodness. 23:33 He's got a purpose for each one's life. 23:35 How do you sleep now? Beautiful! 23:38 I sleep now. Now I sleep like a baby. 23:43 When I do wake up early, it's because I need to have 23:49 a conversation with God. Yes. So you don't wake up fearing 23:55 anymore. You wake up actually, must be the Lord inviting me 24:00 to have a conversation with Him. 24:02 It's a beautiful way to start the day. 24:03 Yes, and there are so many people that need prayer. 24:07 Now, it's amazing how you have to go through a journey. 24:12 Yes. To be able to emphasize with other people 24:16 who's going through the same, or family members who are going 24:20 through the same. Once you've been through that journey, 24:24 you can actually give those who are going through the same, 24:27 hope and you can actually give them tools to help them. 24:33 To let them know, it's not the end of the road, 24:36 there is hope on the other side. And that's the beautiful thing, 24:42 because there is hope. The Nedley program that you did. 24:45 I've conducted that a number of times and I have seen 24:48 the change that can take place, and very quickly. 24:51 It's actually 20 weeks for a full turn around, 24:54 but even at the end of the few weeks program, 24:58 they are just measurably by their own standards... 25:02 Do they test before and after? And just implementing the 25:06 sorts of things that you said. The "Whole Food Plant Based Diet 25:09 and the exercise and the sun light and the sleep, 25:12 all of that. How long is it taking since you started 25:14 implementing your new intensive lifestyle treatment? 25:18 How long is it taking until you gradually improve reasonable? 25:24 It took me 12 months. Okay. It took me to become... 25:32 You were extremely at the extreme end. 25:35 I was at the extreme end. 25:36 Honesty, I can't hardly believe that anyone could have 25:40 two hours of sleep a night for three years and still function. 25:45 I started...when I discovered I was suffering from anxiety, 25:50 I was a wealthy weight of 65.8 kilograms and as the impact 25:58 of anxiety made me lose 13.8 kilograms. Oh my goodness. 26:04 Yes! It affected my gut and well-being so badly. 26:09 We know exactly how it's helping, the cortisol, 26:13 the stress hormone, it is directly impacting on your gut 26:17 bacteria, this is why you have all the gut symptoms, you have 26:21 all the problems with your stomach and so... 26:24 So it is known today why this is happening. 26:28 Our gut is sometimes being referred to our second brain. 26:32 It is our second brain... It is more, about nine times 26:36 as many messages go from the gut to the brain, 26:39 as the other way around and we are just beginning to 26:41 understand how we're made and how we function, 26:45 it's just remarkable. 26:46 As I said, the book which I read, the professor studied 26:51 for 40 years, gut mind interaction and he said, 26:55 we are just in the beginning of our understanding. 26:58 Yes, just beginning to under stand that... 27:00 So, looking after that gut and everything that goes in here, 27:04 ends up down there and it's either making us well 27:08 or contributing to our unwellness. 27:10 It's estimated that our gut micro are making 40% 27:15 of our metabolites. Forty per cent of the substance 27:18 which are traveling in out gut and making 27:20 bio microbes. Isn't that interesting? 27:24 It is important what you put in your mouth. 27:26 See, the little microbes down there, we either feed the 27:30 good ones or the bad ones and that tips the scales either way. 27:34 So those wonderful healthy foods we talked about and the physical 27:37 activity and the connecting with the creator and 27:40 the sunlight, all that beautiful, beautiful... 27:44 And you know if you look at Daniel and Schadrack, 27:47 Meshach and Abednego, when they insisted on having their 27:52 plant based diet Yes. And in 10 days, they measured them 27:58 in 10 days, it's the oldest clinical trial conducted 28:01 and it's still very very valid. Absolutely. 28:04 Ten days, that was quite remarkable and someone's 28:07 life is on the line if it hadn't worked. Absolutely! 28:10 He would have got his head cut off. 28:13 So our goal is to support you on your journey through life 28:17 and we trust that today's program has been beneficial 28:20 to you, or to someone you love. 28:22 Remember, you can watch our programs on demand, 28:25 just visit 3abnaustralia..org.au and click on the watch button. 28:30 May God bless you. |
Revised 2019-11-12