Posted by Lao Tzu on January 24, 2009, at 10:16:58
Over the past three years, I've been stabilized on medication for my worst symptoms. Medication, at least for me, has been a necessary step for achieving wellness. There are so many different antidepressant medications out there to help people with the worst of their symptoms, not to mention many helpful mood stabilizers for mania. The key is to first stabilize on some type of medication if your doctor feels that you really need some medication. After that, look into specific vitamins that will enhance your treatment plan. Almost all depressives can benefit from some vitamin supplements, it's just a matter of which ones will benefit you and which ones to stay away from.
For example, I've determined that vitamin B1 is essential for me. It helps my mood and anxiety. I take Benfotiamine 150mg everyday. It is a fat-soluble for of B1, and seems to work better than regular thiamine hydrochloride. Vitamin B12 is helpful in many cases of depression. The trick with B12 is to determine just the right dosage that helps. If you are deficient in B12, you probably will have to take a large dosage for a few months to correct the deficiency, and then switch to a lower dosage after that for maintenance therapy. For instance, when I first started out on B12, I had to take 750mcg oral tablet everyday for a few months until the deficiency was corrected. After that, I stayed on a maintenance dose of 125mcg sublingual tablets. The sublingual tablets really work well. Another thing you can do is simply get a blood test to see if you are deficient in B12 and start receiving B12 injections from your doctor. These work really well.
Another vitamin that is highly recommended is folic acid. The thing about this vitamin is that you either do really well on it or you get worse on it. It is a matter of doing a trial of the vitamin and see how well you do on it. If you start to feel depressed or have mood swings on this vitamin, stop taking it and throw it away. It won't do you any good. However, some people get much better on folic acid.
The other vitamins that helped my mood and depression are the following:250-500mg Vitamin C per day
Low dose fish oil
Low dose borage oil
Vitamin E--start off taking 100IU during the day and anywhere from 300-400IU at bedtime.
B6 or Pyridoxal 5' phosphate--anywhere from 50mg on up. Again, whatever you can tolerate.
Zinc--very important mineral for depression, especially bipolar and schizophrenia. I've had very good results. I started off with 15mg morning and at bedtime, and now I take a maintenance dose of 15mg in the morning and 25mg at bedtime. Again, dosage depends on what you can tolerate.
Niacin--may be helpful for some depressive types such as bipolar depression and schizophrenia. You may or may not like this one.
Melatonin--don't take too high a dose of this at bedtime. Stay on the low side since it is very powerful. Taking too high a dose at bedtime could potentially worsen depression the following day. I always recommend trying 1/4 of a 3mg tablet at bedtime. If this doesn't work, increase to 1/2 of a 3mg tablet.
Magnesium--can be very helpful for some people with depressive symptoms. I'd start off low, about 200mg and working up slowly if this is not enough.
5htp, tyrosine, and DL-phenylalanine--I personally don't respond well to amino acids, but someone who doesn't want to take antidepressant medication may benefit greatly from these three amino acids. The trick here is determining the right dosage of each that will abate your symptoms. It is best to get the advice of a naturopathic doctor when dosing with these amino acids as they have more experience as far as dosing goes.These are just some suggestions and my own opinion. Don't take it as gospel, but I will tell you that it has helped my quality of life to a modest degree. Also, exercise and diet are very important as well as refraining from drinking alcohol or smoking pot. Drinking, specifically, will make your depression worse in the long run, but I do truly understand if you are so depressed that a drink sounds tempting once in a while. I've been down this road. Today, I don't touch alcohol. I'm the type of person who can easily say no to alcohol, probably because I feel well enough on the right meds and vitamin supplements. I just don't have a craving for liquor anymore. Many people cannot do this, and my heart goes out to you because depression is so painful. Anyway, I'm a testament to the fact that you can achieve a more comfortable mental state with the correct medications, vitamins, exercise, and diet. And I am diagnosed as bipolar/schizophrenic. So if I can achieve wellness, I think anyone who has depression can do the same. The key is to try to be patient as it takes time to stabilize on medication and supplements.
poster:Lao Tzu
thread:875778
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20081006/msgs/875778.html