Besides diet and exercise, that is. I've been slowly weaning myself off of a SSRI, but I'm finding the process frustrating and difficult. I was wondering if anyone had herbs (St. John's Wort, Kava, et al.) or lifestyle changes they've used in dealing with psychological disorders.
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Oh, boy, have I!! First off, I like to get a little bit of exercise every day - even if it's just walking for twenty minutes or doing some paleo squats - that helps a bit. I also got a full-spectrum light bulb (it was like, $25.00) and I stare at it for a count of sixty seconds once a day, and I keep the house well lit. For supplements, I use 5HTP, Tyrosine and sometime I use SAMe. SAMe increases the amount of receptor sites for serotonin. Do not use SAMe without supervision from a professional if you are bipolar, as it can trigger a state of mania. 5HTP is the direct precursor to serotonin. Tyrosine helps with my crippling lethargy. Tyrosine is needed to create adrenaline, noradrenaline and epinephrine, which are considered to be motivating. I am useless without it. Amino acids should be taken on an empty stomach away from protein meals - protein meals will contain amino acids (obviously) and they will compete for absorption - one of the reasons we may be deficient in the amino acids that keep us mentally balanced and keep our moods balanced are said to be caused by the other amino acids in our protein meals which interfere with their absoption. Finally I recommend that your read The Mood Cure by Julia Ross, and/or Optimum Nutrition For The Mind by Patrick Holford. Finally, take this test to see what nutritional supplements are right for your type of chemical imbalance. This really helped me. |
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Emily Deans has some good posts about depression, from a paleo standpoint. Also would recommend Nora Gedgaudas's book Primal Body - Primal Mind, she suffered from depression for years and seems to have completely overcome it. |
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I just bought some stuff Called Maca and am going to try it this week. I will get back to u! Hope it helps! |
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*Which SSRI?* |
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I use doTERRA essential oils. They have two that have worked for me and many others I have shared them with. The two are elevation and balance. They are blends. Elevation is designed to be an uplifting mood stabilizer. Balance is designed to ground you and balance your body. I used them together with great results. To learn more just google doTERRA there are a lot of people that sell it. |
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Vitamin D supplements got rid of 95% of the severe depression I had for 2 years. I live in Hawaii so I normally "get a lot of sun" but the supplements helped unbelievably. I recommend one in an extra virgin olive oil, like Nordic Naturals (best in my opinion) |
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No direct personal experience but my adult son, who had depression, had a very low Vitamin D level. Raising his level of Vitamin D seemed to help, so having your level checked might be a good idea..
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It is hard to answer this question. How severe is the anxiety/depression? Which also begs the question - what is a normal level of anxiety/sadness. These feelings within certain hard to define parameters are normal and part of the human condition. One can be sad or anxious because they are a living, breathing, existential being in a world that can be sad at times and anxiety inducing. I think dietary supplements like vitamin D, etc. are a good route and preferable to medicating - but sometimes its kind of difficult to decide if it is a normal bout of anxiety or something that needs a concerted treatment. And then, for those that need treatment, at one point does one need the help of a mental health professional/therapist rather a dietary response? |
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Depends on what you mean when you say "deal with." I have them (more mildly than many people) and have less of them when I am eating well. Right now I'd say I'm mostly not dealing with the fact that I have anxiety and depression (mine manifests as being lethargic, snippy and totally unable to hold a thought); I'm a bit too stuck in it to exercise as much as I should and I would probably be medicating conventionally if I were not nursing a child. That said, improved diet improves things tremendously for me. The best success I have ever had has been: Wellbutrin (helped some. Enabled me to get out, get to an acupuncturist, exercise a bit.) Acupuncture (helped a lot.) Distance running (helped more than anything and allowed me to stop both weekly acupuncture and daily meds.) |
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My observations and personal experience with bipolar depression and bipolar mania has resulted in the conclusion that a high percentage fat diet, with an emphasis on omega-3, is vital to establishing stable healthy brain function in someone experiencing cognitive or mood issues. Meditation is also demonstrated to be capable of increasing specific neurotransmitter levels. Daily exposure to sunlight can also improve mood. Clinically, there are several studies showing that regular and aerobic exercise can be comparable in efficacy to pharmaceutical antidepressants. These can be found via google/NIH/pubmed. Generally for depression I suggest avoiding herbal treatments as these can be comparable to pharmaceuticals in action. If supplementation is felt necessary, supplement amino acids instead. As foods they will be utilized as needed and discarded if not. L-tryptophan is a good place to start. There is an abundance of research available on this searching online. |
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http://www.moodcure.com/ great book about diet, amino acids and mood stabilization. helped me alot! |
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I have anxiety problems and sometimes the occational blue week. I took cipralex for a year while learning CBT = Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to deal with the anxiety. Then I stopped taking the cipralex cold turkey, because my prescription ran out...which I do not recomend. But I was left with a very powerful tool. CBT has helped me stay in control of difficult situations and I have even used it to stop freaking out about needles when having blood drawn. Aside from that, I will start to get depressed and anxious in about a week or two if I stop taking my fish liver oil for some reason (out of oil, forget or just lazy). So Omega 3 and vit D is a huge relief for me, as well as no alcohol. I went on a 6 month depression rollercoaster a few years back after partying for two weekends in a row and getting relatively intoxicated. I have to be very careful not to get drunk because it is a major trigger for me, and others I have realized. I have yet to work on sleep and exercise...hmm. |
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Vitamin D and folic acid are your best bets for depression, irritability and other mood disorders. |
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I have found that Holy Basil and Red Raspberry Leaf really help me with anxiety. I used to only take RR before my period, but found that taking it every other day or so helps with mental health, too! Holy Basil 'promotes centered calmness'. Best of luck! |
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I take a pretty comprehensive slate of supplements in order to evade the black dog, after a few years of taking drugs for depression/anxiety and ADD Lithium Aspartate/Orotate Daily meditative practice has also been very important in stabilizing my mood, along with attending a support group (Adult Children of Alcoholic and Dysfunctional Families) I eat oily fish a few times a week, but I could probably stand to do more omega-3 supplementation. You may have noticed that I lack serotonin-boosting herbs/supplements, and you'd be correct. Why? I don't know. |
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i take 600mg of magnesium and have since stopped having panic attacks. |
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I was watching a documentary this weekend (of course, now I forget which one... have to check my playlist) and they were mentioning high dose Niacin (B3) for depression. Seems to be a lot of info about it if you google. Was just looking at this article, but there are others. |
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I was on 100 mg of Zoloft for a few years. I weaned off it when I changed my diet, and now any increased depression or anxiety can be linked directly to either eating gluten or not getting enough fat. I almost never eat gluten, so usually, when I start feeling bad, I eat a big meal full of fatty pork, butter, coconut oil, etc, and my mood picks up quickly. I also have to be careful about sleeping enough. Another thing I have discovered is that although decreased libido was one of the worst side effects of the Zoloft for me, increasing how often I have sex has proven to be one of the best ways to combat depression. Conclusion: Gluten: bad. Fat and sex: good. |
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I have a similar problem coming of Seroxat (UK), Paxil (US). The ideas given in the posts are interesting and will look into them next time I try coming off, I did read somewhere GABA for anxiety, 5HTP for Serotonin, depression problems. Everytime I come off Seroxat I get really depressed and angry and have to go back on, this time will addnutrient to make it easier for me, who knows, may work. |
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Try Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (not "shock therapy"). It has been studied extensively and found to be very effective for treating anxiety, depression and insomnia. Watch this Wall Street Journal video for more info: Cost is around $400 for a unit. FDA approved and has been used in Europe for the past 40 years with great success. We don't hear about treatments like this because we are so prone to looking at pharmaceuticals to cure our ills. The unit I use is the CES Ultra. You can Google it to get more info. |
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