Have you ever felt so anxious you feel sick to your stomach or need to go to the bathroom? How about when you feel depressed and your gut isn’t working properly?
Did you know that your gut is referred to as your second brain and has a big impact on your mental health?
In this episode, I chat with Dr. Ali Kazemi, a gastroenterologist, about mental health and gut health, celiac disease, IBS, and how to keep your gut healthy.
“A lot of individuals with just overall immune diseases have high levels of stress hormones and all of these can impact them psychologically and neurologically. That’s why a lot of people with chronic diseases including celiac will develop anxiety or be at risk of anxiety and depression.” – Dr. Kazemi
“People refer to the gut as a second brain, but it’s not because the gut has the ability to think for itself but because it has such a strong complex nervous system and its interaction with the central nervous system can actually lead to issues in terms of diseases or even symptoms.” – Dr. Kazemi
“Some of the signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety often can also be GI symptoms.” – Dr. Kazemi
“I already have anxiety and that can present as hypervigilance and so having to have a diet that requires me to maintain that hypervigilance, kind of makes me more anxious.” – Melanie Lockert
What You Will Learn From This Episode
- The connection between mental health and gut health
- All about celiac disease esp. what causes the neurological symptoms like brain fog and anxiety
- The relationship between antibiotics and gut health that you should know about
- How mental health issues like anxiety and depression, if started in the mind, affect gut health
- What is IBS or Irritable Bowel Syndrome and what we can do to deal with it especially if all the medical tests done are negative
- What happens during the body’s ‘freeze’ response to threat where your digestive system turns off
- All about the vagus nerve and its role in gut health, depression, and anxiety
- How gut disorders can disrupt your everyday life and mental health
- Signs that you need to see a GI doctor
- Ways that we can support our gut health and mental health
About Dr. Kazemi:
Dr. Kazemi grew up in France until he was 11 years old and moved to Northern California. He then relocated to Northern Virginia at age 16. He graduated with honors from George Mason University with a B.S. in Biology. He received his M.D. from St. George’s University SOM Grenada and completed his Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Louisville. Dr. Kazemi completed his Gastroenterology Fellowship at Allegheny General Hospital/ Temple University. He is board certified in gastroenterology. In addition to general GI procedures, Dr. Kazemi also performs specialized procedures including EUS.
Connect with Dr. Kazemi
Connect with Melanie
- mentalhealthandwealth.com
- melanielockert.com
- Support the podcast through Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/melanielockert
- Buy Melanie’s book “Dear Debt”
- Contact: mentalhealthandwealthshow@gmail.com
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