Posted by JLx on May 10, 2005, at 21:50:21
In reply to Re: Flax Seed contraindicated in BPolar, posted by Nettie on May 10, 2005, at 16:19:49
> Sorry to hear that. Do you know if it would help depression? Given up on ADs as they are not helping (now trying to come off, which is another story!) and disillusioned with doctor so am looking for *anything* which is worth a try which won't make me sicker or mess me up more. Looking at flaxseed oil as I'm a veggie.
Hi Nettie,
There are dozens of threads on fish oil if you do a search of this board. Many good posts are written by Larry Hoover, and here's one where he compares flaxseed to fish oil:
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20031003/msgs/270167.html
Re the other thread about anxiety, you won't know if it increases your anxiety or not until you try it. But if it does, there may be something else you can take that alleviates that. Sometimes things don't work as they should or may have an inadvertent affect like that if you are lacking something else needed by your body/brain. Magnesium is important, for example, or B vitamins, Vit C, etc. Sometimes folks have come on this board and said one particular thing solved their problems, but I think for most of us it's a little bit of this and that in a holistic effort.
You may also need to experimment with different brands, different amounts and perhaps even different ratios of EPA to DHA if you try fish oil.
I used to take ADs (for unipolar depression) hated the side effects and concluded after trying a half dozen or so that they didn't work anyway. I stumbled across magnesium as the key supplement I needed, and now experiment with other things as well. I think fish oil is important but I'm not convinced I have hit on the optimal amount or kind yet. I tried a Max-DHA and thought it didn't feel very good, but not in a way I could put my finger on exactly. Now I'm about to try a higher EPA to DHA ratio type.
Overall though, I believe it helps. Once I read about how the brain needs and uses essential fatty acids, I decided to take some fish oil even if I can't say for sure that it does something specific. It's just good nutrition. I recommend, btw, Andrew Stoll's book, "The Omega-3 Connection" and also a newer and more comprehensive discussion, Patrick Holford's "Optimum Nutrition for the Mind".
I still have my ups and downs but in general, my worst day now is still better than my best day used to be on meds so the extra work reading up on things, experimenting and figuring out what works is well worth it.
JL
poster:JLx
thread:495828
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050510/msgs/496244.html