ducky Yes, for ADHD and depression, though frustratingly neither really solved the executive dysfunction/brain-fog/anhedonia thing that defied any good explanation. It only clicked late last year that at least one trigger for it was seasonal allergies (which explained why I did OK during the week at work, but collapsed on the weekends).
I did an allergy test and found that I'm allergic to virtually every kind of grass pollen and at least some tree pollen. Since then I've been getting regular allergy shots to help reduce the sensitivity. It also helped working out that I might have had an iodine deficiency that was making me much more sensitive to histamine (and was causing greying/hair-loss too). Anti-histamines help, but it only goes so far. A nasal decongestant (pseudoephedrine)/or saline wash can be helpful to relive the sinus pressure (it feels like a dull foggy headache where all I want to do is to lay down).
I don't think I've found the root cause yet, since I'm still having issues with chronic inflammation (achey hands, very tight neck/shoulders, running very hot at night, tight jaw, upset stomach, dermatitis, allergy sensitivity, etc.). On the days I can keep it under control, it's amazing (it's just frustratingly hard to maintain). Though I now have some suspicions based on what makes it better or worse.
One thing I've realized about biology is that it's fiendishly complex because everything interacts with everything else. Also that similar symptoms can have drastically different root causes. Also lots of bad things happen when various metabolic cycles get messed up (particularly methylation which is stupidly important for about everything).
Things that have made a noticeable quality-of-life improvement for me (particularly mood, anxiety and better sleep) are:
- Getting enough B-vitamins (particularly B-6, B-9 and B-12)
- B-12 deficiency causes all sorts of havoc
- L-methylfolate/5-MTHF (the form of B-9/Folate that can cross the blood-brain barrier) can work around some folate metabolism issues
- Magnesium is helpful for sleep (and migraines) and helped clear up a lot of brain fog
- Though do avoid magnesium-oxide, it's a laxative 🙂
- Iodine (Iodine deficiency is re-emerging as a problem in many parts of the world)
- This can result in signs of hypothyroidism and related symptoms
- Omega-3 fatty acids are generally good for brain health
- Get good regular sleep and some sunlight in the morning
- Exercise regularly (I'm still working on that one... *cough*)
But one thing I can tell you is that it's not just in your head. It can be maddeningly frustrating to track down (this has been going on/off for the last 10 years), but there is some rhyme or reason to it.