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Re: alternatives to zoloft drugs in general? » danjya

Posted by JLx on November 13, 2003, at 9:11:21

In reply to alternatives to zoloft drugs in general?, posted by danjya on November 11, 2003, at 18:23:21

Welcome to the board, I hope you find some help here, but just fair warning -- we probably can't suggest an "exchange this for that" remedy. In my experience, the natural/nutritional approach as opposed to medications, is very education...that is LABOR, intensive. :) I suspect everyone here has clocked long hours on the Internet and elsewhere trying to sort things out and then there's the trial and error. It's been well worth it though in my case. My worst days now are better than my best days on meds were.

Neurotransmitters come from food and what our bodies do with it so this is a good first step to sort out, in my experience, and it sounds especially important in your wife's case as she's obviously not eating much. The "usual" health advice re increasing exercise, cutting down/out sugar, smoking, caffeine, etc. is especially important to those of us with sensitive brain chemistry, imo. If your wife doesn't already know what kind of a diet makes her feel better, then a book like "The Metabolic Type Diet" might be helpful or she could simply experiment with either a high protein, or high carb emphasis, with the former increasing dopamine, and the latter, serotonin (broadly speaking). I'd also be alert for food/allergies addictions -- sugar, wheat (or grains in general) and dairy often times being the culprits contributing to our malaise. Or such things as MSG or aspartame. Or yeast.

Then it's good to make sure the basic nutritional needs are being met in terms of vitamins and minerals, the need for which of certain things like magnesium or B vits, will probably be exacerbated by stress. So, the RDAs are likely not going to be sufficient. But it sounds like you've got that covered by the supplement regimen from this biochemist. Otherwise here's a comprehensive list that someone posted recently: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030728/msgs/247312.html

I've found this Brain System Check List to be quite helpful in sorting things out: http://www.brainplace.com/bp/checklist/ The final results page has advice based on category revealed by the questionnaire, and there's also a general supplement page on there: http://www.brainplace.com/bp/supplements/default.asp

Also helpful to me was the free e-book on this site of a nutritional-approach-practising psychiatrist: http://www.thewayup.com/

Another site that I've liked is on magnesium that also includes lots of other info related to depression: http://www.coldcure.com/html/dep.html

I spent hours and hours online researching medical sites before I found that one, which ultimately led me here. (And check the archives, you'll find a wealth of info here.) I'd experimented with many natural supplements in the past and found they "didn't work" or that I couldn't tell if they worked at all. I suspect now that that was because I was magnesium deficient (despite taking a multi-vitamin/mineral!) and without magnesium, NOTHING about my body/brain was working very well. So, my prejudice is to advise you to get some magnesium into your wife ASAP before you do anything else. :)(A long relaxing bath in Epsom Salts is one good way to do it, btw.)

Good luck, keep us posted.

JL


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poster:JLx thread:278726
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20031104/msgs/279335.html