Posted by Flutterbee on October 20, 2000, at 13:57:49
In reply to NATURAL ALTERNATIVES?, posted by KARIN C. on October 20, 2000, at 8:24:32
Karin, depending on the extent of your illness, there are many options out there. One in particular that I use now is 5-HTP, it is a precursor to Serotonin. It is derived from Griffonia plant usually from Africa. You can look up more info on it and these others on the Net. What the 5-HTP does for me is relieve the depression. I also have anxiety, which it helps a bit, but not fully. I am going to start increasing my dose to 100mg.'s a day, I presently take 50mg.'s. It doesn't have anywhere near the side effects as Rx's do. They may have some, but slight. As a matter of fact it has made me more relaxed so I can have sex, which on AD's the thought of sex put up a big STOP sign.
Another route you can go is St.John's Wort (don't take if you are on birth control, it will decrease your BC by almost 50%). St.JOhn's Wort is a popular one and has been around a while. And another is SAM-e. It is fairly new and I have been told is more successful for some than St.John's Wort. Another is Amino Acids, which basically the 3 I mentioned already are, in some form, a amino acid or derivative that will turn into a Amino Acid. Some people take L-Tyrosine for depression. I have, but it makes my anxiety worse. But if you don't deal with anxiety, you may want to look into that. It makes you more mentally alert and feel "up".
The problem with Natural medicine is we have to pay for it all out of our pockets and some people will start to feel better after taking it and decide it is getting too expensive and stop and then revert back to Rx's because they are covered by insurance. You can't take alternative meds along with Rx, you can develop a serotonin overload which can make you really sick.
I hope I helped you in some way. If I can be of more help feel free to ask. I have a well rounded knoweldge of Natural medicine and nutrition.
-Flutter
poster:Flutterbee
thread:46866
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001012/msgs/46891.html