Posted by Randal on August 23, 2002, at 22:43:15
In reply to What is the quickest acting AD?, posted by Arthur Gibson on August 19, 2002, at 5:09:28
Hi Arthur,
Here's something you may wish to consider:
A study was recently published titled "Addition of omega-3 fatty acid to maintenance medication treatment for recurrent unipolar depressive disorder" by Nemets, et al. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY 159 (3): 477-479 MAR 2002. The study involved treatment of breakthrough depression of a group of patients taking medication that previously stabilized them. You may or may not be able to retrieve the article online.
The study found that the depressed patients responded to 2g/day ethyl-EPA (essentially the same as one of the components in fish oil) at the two week point (they don't break it down further than week 1, week 2,...). The improvement in this small study (20 people) is dramatic even at 14 days and essentially no improvement was seen in the control group.
The study is hardly definitive and the results were with a group of people already taking some kind of medication. However, the similarity to your potential future condition is that they were experiencing recurrent unipolar depression.
So there is at least a possibility that this is a treatment that could be effective on a time scale as fast (or perhaps faster) than conventional antidepressants. Hopefully further studies will straighten this out and show whether EPA will have the same effect on people not taking any other medication.
IF this treatment turns out to be effective with a similar time course as an antidepressant, I see a big advantage. You could immediately start treating yourself with EPA or fish oil (keep some at home) on even the slightest suspicion of any depression. I'm guessing that if you felt depression coming on, it might be several days before you would think about calling your doctor, not to mention the time to make an appoitment, fill a prescription, etc. So perhaps you would "save" a week right there, and potentially stop the episode in its tracks.
Oh, the E-EPA used in the Nemets study is, as far as I am aware, not commercially available, but the manufacturer is Laxdale, Ltd. in the U.K.
Randal
> PROZAC took 7 weeks to have a good effect on me. Now I feel fine. Not even the hangover effect.
>
> However that 7 weeks lost at work cost me a fortune.
>
> I am told that this depression can happen again in your life after you are cured. Is there a quick acting AD available yet?
>
> You are lucky in the US with all the different drugs. In the UK you get PROZAC or PAXIL or VALIUM or you suffer.
poster:Randal
thread:116902
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020821/msgs/117596.html