 Meet the hypothalamus...
I'm not sure if this is the place for this but here it goes anyway.
I have recently been diagnosed with Narcolepsy and in trying to learn as much as possible about that I have come across interesting connections with PCOS. A very helpful psych lecture has helped me make connections with Anxiety/Depression/BiPolar/Schizophrenia etc.
It all connects to the hypothalamus. This is a portion in the brain that basically acts as a switchboard operator for things like metabolism, temperature, blood pressure, sleep, circadian rhythm, the autonomic nervous system, hunger, thirst, hormones, breathing, sexual drives and emotions. A few examples.
It is right next to the pituitary gland and controls the secretion of tsh, fsh, LH, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone etc.
There are several aspects that connect all of this to various mental illnesses. Dopamine and serotonin are two of the biggies in terms of overproduction leading to mania and underproduction leading to depression. GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid) however is one of the major inhibitory transmitters in the hypothalamus. If you look at a list of drugs that affect GABA it reads like every medication you've ever taken as a mood stabilizer, sleep/wake cycle corrector, anti-convulsant or anti-psychotic. Seriously, I was completely shocked to just read the list on wikipedia.
There's Zlopiderm, Benzodiazepines, Berbituates, Modafinil, Cyclopyrrolones (including sedatives like Lunesta as well as several anti-anxiety[anxiolytic] medications), GHB, Meprobamate, Pyrazolopyrimidines (again including sedatives and anxiolytics).
Not to mention tons of pychoactive agents in natural substances.
Crazy.
Of course I asked the professor giving the lecture if she knew of studies linking sleep/hormone/psychiatric issues and she stared at me like I was nuts. She did encourage me to take a neuropsych class next semester though.
So I suppose I was curious of anyone else would have information that might tie into such things. I know there have been a few (and I mean FEW) research projects looking intopsychiatric illness and sleep problems chicken-and-the-egg style (which came first lol). But I'm at a loss for other sources of indepth information.
Has anyone else looked into this?
__________________
Erinn
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