Dr. Zendi Moldenhauer, PhD, NP, RN, is interviewed on the Anxiety Summit by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.
Anxiety in children, adolescents and young adults: an integrative psychiatric approach
- The incidence of anxiety in children: official stats and real life numbers
- How to identify anxiety in children and the IBS-anxiety connection
- Medication over-prescribing, hidden side-effects and electroshock
- Food, toxins, gut health, the adrenals and an integrative approach
- How to use calming theanine and GABA
Here are some gems from our interview:
…anxiety disorders in children are probably the most common psychiatric disorders that start in childhood. And depending on studies and depending on how anxiety is defined the rates are anything between 10 to 30 percent. Less common in younger ones and more common in teenagers. But really the lifetime prevalence of that is a child or teenager developing anxiety sometime up to age 18 is somewhere between 25 and 30 percent. That means one in three to one in four children or adolescents at some point during that time period which is very high.
…when somebody has an anxiety disorder they’re more like to have more than one anxiety disorder because they could have generalized anxiety disorder or social anxiety disorder or separation anxiety or panic disorder. So it’s really very common like up to 60 percent of patients with anxiety disorder can have another anxiety disorder or depression or ADHD.
And that’s just sort of more the mental health disorders. There’s also an incredibly high association between anxiety and IBS. In fact nearly half to three-quarters of children with IBS can have anxiety. So there’s a huge relationship between anxiety and other mental health disorders but anxiety and other physical disorders like gut issues or headaches for example.
Here are some of the studies we discuss related to IBS and anxiety:
- Relationship between irritable bowel syndrome, worry and stress in adolescent girls
- Symptom Profiles in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome or Functional Abdominal Pain Compared With Healthy Controls
Dr. Zendi shares that children can’t necessarily identify that they’re anxious:
Children with anxiety can often not express that they’re anxious. And if you can imagine a five or six or seven year old they don’t necessarily come to us and say mommy, I feel anxious about whatever is going on in their lives. So often with children we see it through their behavior. So children who are either nonverbal at all or haven’t yet developed the emotional language to describe anxiety act out anxiety. So you might see a child that’s more withdrawn and doesn’t want to participate, doesn’t want to leave the house, doesn’t want to get on the school bus, doesn’t want to go to school, doesn’t want to participate in activities. There’s a lot of avoidance kind of behavior.
We discussed this article in Scientific American – The Hidden Harms of Antidepressants: Data about the true risks of suicide and aggression for children and teens taking these drugs have been suppressed
And this one about ECT: American Psychiatric Association Lobbies FDA to Electroshock Children https://www.cchrint.org/2016/05/05/apa-lobbies-fda-to-electroshockchildren/
We covered organic food and the EWG dirty dozen list for fruits and vegetables
Dr Zendi’s go to nutrient for anxiety and adrenal dysfunction is theanine:
which is an amino acid derivative from green tea and it’s thought to really cross the blood brain barrier and exerts a variety of neurophysiological and even like pharmacological effects on the brain in terms of its anxiolytic and calming effects because it actually upregulates inhibitory neurotransmitters like GABA and possibly modulates serotonin and dopamine in specific areas of the brain. It actually also increases alpha wave activity. So children can either sleep better because they’re sleeping at a deeper level or they feel more calm and focused during the day without feeling drowsy so there’s no side effect to L-Theanine which is great.
Here are two of the theanine papers we discussed:
- The effects of L-theanine (Suntheanine®) on objective sleep quality in boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
- A randomized targeted amino acid therapy with behaviourally at-risk adopted children
Here is Dr. Zendi’s digital gift: Practical Tips for Parents of Children and Teens with Anxiety and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here: www.theAnxietySummit.com
Missed this interview or can’t listen live? Or want this and the other great interviews for your learning library? Purchase the MP3s or MP3s + transcripts and listen when it suits you.
You can find your purchasing options here.: Anxiety Summit Season 1, Anxiety Summit Season 2, Anxiety Summit Season 3, and Anxiety Summit Season 4.
Trudy there is a problem when linking to Dr. Zendi Moldenhauer’s site. The message comes up that the site is not secure and Firefox and Safari will not link to it. Just a warning comes up “The owner of u3066025.ct.sendgrid.net has configured their website improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Firefox has not connected to this website”
Gaylene
It works on our end so I suspect it may be a spam setting on your end? please email us at support@everywomanover29.com so we can help
I hope you enjoyed her wonderful interview!
Trudy,
Thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of your wonderful Anxiety Summit! I so appreciate being able to share information about Anxiety in Children, Teens, and Young Adults – and hopefully empower families!
Sincerely,
Dr Zendi
Absolute pleasure including you! love our interview and what you offer families!
And I appreciate our friendship too 🙂 here’s to more swimming in the ocean!
Dear Dr. Zendi and Trudy,
I am so grateful for both of you and what you’ve shared in this interview. Thank you!
I have two initial questions. Do you ever use the chewable Lidtke L-tryptophan with kids who are experiencing anxiety symptoms or a lot of irritability and agitation? I think that serotonin deficiency runs in our family and I have recently been helped by starting this supplement. If you do recommend it, what dosage do you use with younger and older children?
I believe my just turned 8 year-old daughter is experiencing IBS and has had pretty severe anxiety of all kinds for years now. She’s not been formally diagnosed or treated, mainly because my son has had more pressing health issues. We have been on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for three months as a family and it has not helped my daughter’s symptoms at all. My 12 year old son has SIBO, and we are about to start round two of herbal antibiotics for him. Do you have any recommendations for how to take the next step in healing my daughter’s gut too. I’m tempted to put her on the same herbal antibiotics as my son, but I don’t know if that is the right approach. We really need help as a family. My daughter’s anxiety brings so much stress to all of us and I really want to help her, but we cannot afford to spend thousands of dollars helping her that we’ve spent trying to get to the root cause of my son’s concerns.
Thanks so much for any help you can provide.
I’m just another mom so can’t respond to all your questions, but having bad IBS myself, I might suggest that the scd, in its entirety, isn’t for everyone. If you’re doing the eggs, dairy, and nut flours, then any one of those could be a problem for your daughter since they are common food sensitivities. Scd addresses polysaccharide intolerance only, while leaving these possible triggers in the diet.
I really hear you on the financial front: each of my 3 kids has a medical or special need, plus I have chronic illness. I hate that I have always had to choose who gets help “this year”. I hope you figure things out!
Thanks so much, Heather. It does seem that dairy may be a culprit for her. I ordered the L-Theanine for kids and aloe juice to try to bring some healing to her digestive system. We’re about to work with a new doctor for my son and hoping to pick up tips for my daughter too and maybe he’ll have us go in a new direction diet wise. Blessings on your family and thanks for your response.
Dawn
I have had great success using the Lidtke tryptophan – anxiety, irritability and agitation are common with low serotonin but also with low blood sugar.
I can’t offer specific advice here on the blog but if I was working with her I would do the amino acid questionnaire https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/amino-acids-mood-questionnaire-from-the-antianxiety-food-solution/ and a trial of each applicable amino separately https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/how-to-do-an-amino-acid-trial-for-anxiety/
For low blood sugar I’d focus on protein at breakfast and thru the day, plus healthy fats. Glutamine helps with low blood sugar and gut healing.
Also do listen in to Julie’s interview – very applicable even if it’s not an autism diagnosis https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/addressing-anxiety-autism/. Her expertise is special diets and SCD may not be enough
Great insights, Trudy. Thank you so much for your reply. I’m sure she does have blood sugar issues, too. I will go to the links you’ve suggested to learn more.
As for the l-glutamine, I tried it with my son recently for leaky gut and to help speed healing of a muscle tear and it made him extra agitated. The metabolic specialist we’re beginning to work with said glutamine could convert to GABA and that may have been the problem for him, but I also found some articles that cautioned that it could convert to glutamate. I’ve been gun shy of l-glutamine since then. I was giving him 500mg once a day for a week.
If your 17-18 yr. old won’t avoid non-nutrient foods – doesn’t believe the facts of good food choices — yet is suffering from social anxiety and GAD — and will go away to college in the fall; will the supplements (L-theanine/Gaba/Vit D/B vitamins and Fish Oils) which I can’t influence her to take regularly either… but IF I could–would these alone offer noticeable impact? (She also hates (good) water…always has…and will drink no more than small sips. Besides anxiety co-morbid: ADHD, ASD: PDDNOS-“high functioning”, and Depression — behavior very difficult at home; doesn’t act out away from home). So if conventional was to be utilized, how does that look sometimes with your young adults with anxiety and more? What do you lean towards prescribing when all else isn’t enough? This is for Dr. Zendi Moldenhauer. Thanks !
Killian
I’m going to jump in and share my thoughts and ask Dr Zendi to comment to. I have found that the kids and teens (and adults too) are more willing to take supplements and make food changes when they notice a BIG impact. It can be challenging in a situation like this but I see my role is to find the ONE thing that has an impact. After that it’s much easier. I have excellent results with tryptophan and GABA so would pick one of those (based on symptoms – GABA for physical anxiety and tryptophan for in-the-head anxiety) and get the agreement to do a one week trial, starting low and increasing based on results.
If you pick the right one and get results then it’s on to step 2…possibly a very good multi, a free form amino acid blend and real food or even protein shakes.
I would not recommend a prescription but that’s me.
Thanks for responding… and for making the summit info available! You do an amazing job! I would say my daughter has both physical and in-the-head anxiety. She stems throughout the day at home and shows physical discomfort interacting with others (physical) and self isolates; and, then in-the-head: avoiding/refusing talking on the phone/answering the door, with perseverative talk and thought. So, take both GABA & Tryptohan? What is a “very good” free from amino acid blend? Avoid prescritpiton : that’s just me too. (I’m years into weaning from paxil and ativan–I’m down to very small dose of each; I’m a mess though. Trying to find my way here.) Still, I’m concerned that my girl could go into serious crisis.
Killian
I can’t offer specific advice here on the blog but if I was working with her I would do the amino acid questionnaire https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/amino-acids-mood-questionnaire-from-the-antianxiety-food-solution/ and a trial of each one separately https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/how-to-do-an-amino-acid-trial-for-anxiety/
You can find a free form amino here https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/amino-acids-pyroluria-supplements/ It must contain tryptophan – some don’t
Thank you Trudy and Dr Zendi !
What about IBS for adult? have senior friend age 66, suffering with it; she is gluten free.
Thanks much ~
Romy
Age doesn’t make a difference – same approach
Loved this interview with another fellow South African! 🙂 Interested in the discussion on L-Theanine as an alternative to GABA. May try this whilst I’m still waiting for the Source Naturals products to arrive in the UK. Would a Designs For Health L-Theanine product meet with your approval Trudy or is there a particular brand you recommend?
Wonderful Drew! I am not aware of Designs For Health L-Theanine but any suntheanine product will be good (assuming no gluten, soy etc)
I *LOVED* this interview with Dr. Zendi Moldenhauer!! Truly excellent!! I had one quick question: What multivitamin does Dr. Zendi Moldenhauer use / suggest for her clients?
Dear Trudy,
I’ve been finding that L-tryptophan has been helping with my body type anxiety and when I tried to take GABA a number of years ago I had a bad reaction. I may have taken too large a dose, as I am one of your pixie dust people, I think, but I’ve been afraid to try GABA again myself or try it with my 8 year old that I wrote about above because of that incidence. Do you use L-tryptophan with kids if serotonin deficiency seems to run in the family?
Thanks so much for your and or Dr. Zendi’s help. I did order L-Theanine to try with her and aloe juice after reading Dr. Zendi’s article for parents.
Dawn
I replied above re tryptophan in kids and yes I find that when moms often do well with an amino the child often does too (not always but often). I would do the questionnaire and trial with each person.
Many people have a reaction because they take too much GABA or the wrong form. I start my clients on 125mg and less for real pixie dust people
Thanks so much, Trudy. I very well have taken too much for my size and sensitivity! I’ll do the questionnaire for my kids.
Hello,
I’d like to give the L-Theanine a try, I have celiac disease and the amount of foods that bother me has been increasing over the past few years (IBS related?), in addition to high anxiety and ADHD. For us non-pixie people, how many mg of L-Theanine supplements would you suggest?
Emily
It’s typically 200mg of theanine a few times a day