Amy’s Struggle with Depression and Medications
Amy is a mother to nine kids and has quite a carnivore story. She had always been overweight and depressed. When she decided to have children, she gave birth to a son but lost the next baby. Amy got pregnant a month later, and “That one hit me really, really hard. The postpartum depression from that pregnancy was brutal!”
Amy had trouble “connecting with her son or doing anything,” and her doctor said, “Let’s just put you on a little bit of antidepressants to get you through the slump.” She was concerned she would be left on these meds forever. The medications didn’t help, and the dosage was increased, with additional medications added, for the next 15 years.
Traumatic Birth and Panic Attack
She did improve a little after learning about gluten, saying, “I found out I was gluten intolerant during that time. Got rid of the gluten, and doing better, a little tiny bit better.”
When Amy had her youngest child, she experienced “an extremely traumatic birth with her; I was hospitalized for 21 days… I technically died on the table.” Her depression deepened, and her doctors changed her medications, which didn’t help.
Misunderstanding About Gluten Intolerance
On her way to her psychiatrist appointment, Amy accidentally ate some gluten and suffered a massive panic attack at her psychiatrist’s office. “I’m sitting there, in the office, with my husband and my brand-new baby, and I am bawling. I’m just melting down.”
Amy explained that it only happens when she gets cross-contamination from gluten. “I’ll be okay in 45 minutes.” The psychiatrist replied by saying Amy needed a break and, “The sheriff’s deputy will be here in 15 minutes to escort you to the ER.”
Amy was taken to the emergency room by the sheriff’s deputy because her doctor didn’t accept her explanation about gluten because “she refused to consider that could be real” and because the doctor supported a plant-based diet. “By that time, my panic attack was over, and he was very confused as to why I was being held.”
Taking Control of Health with a Carnivore Diet
Amy spent three days in the hospital against her will. “Five years ago, gluten-free was not really known. So I barely ate while I was there…I filled up on eggs and bacon in the morning and picked the rest of the day.”
When she was released, Amy decided to take control of her health. She saw a keto headline in a magazine and decided to do it. She found she didn’t like any plants but wanted more meat, so she shifted her diet to an all-meat carnivore diet but quickly found that she needed eggs as well, and her brain felt better as soon as she ate them.
She concludes that her 20-year medication history explains why she needed eggs, fats, and meat. Focusing on being in ketosis has helped her achieve her best results.
She has lost 75 pounds and is off all of her medications, despite her plant-based doctor’s demands that she go on a plant-based diet to do so. Amy thanked her doctor and weaned herself off her medications slowly over an “agonizing” five months on her carnivore diet.
