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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by adamie on October 21, 2001, at 12:13:46
hi. Does anyone have any experiences with herbal or natural products for clinical depression? Such as Salmon Oil and 5-HTP? I tried 5-HTP before and I think it helped a bit. Hard to remember. I also tried st. John's Wort but it didn't seem to help. I guess that's because it's only supposed to work for mild and moderate depression. Mine has been quite severe at times. I am willing to try new things so if any of you have some suggestions of things to try please let me know.
Posted by Gracie2 on October 21, 2001, at 13:45:48
In reply to Herbal and Natural remedies for depression?, posted by adamie on October 21, 2001, at 12:13:46
How long did you take the St. John's Wort? Unfortunately, I believe it takes as long to "kick in" as some SSRIs - six weeks or maybe even longer.
According to Dr. Whitaker's Guide to Natural Healing, his following presciption for depression is:
-300 mg. standardized extract (0.125 percent hypercin content)of St. John's Wort three times daily
-2000 mg. L-tyrosine before meals
-Excercise (a brisk half-hour walk once or twice a day)
-A complete multiple vitamin and mineral formula;
his recommendation for optimal supplementation is much higher than the normal RDA. For instance, he suggests a daily dosage of 400-800 IU of Vitamin E
and 5000 mg. daily of Vitamin C in divided doses.At the very least, I doubt that all these vitamins could hurt you; at best, they could make you feel like "a new person". If you decide to try this regimen, please let us know whether or not you have success with it.
-Gracie
Posted by adamie on October 21, 2001, at 16:27:43
In reply to Re: Herbal and Natural remedies for depression?, posted by Gracie2 on October 21, 2001, at 13:45:48
>
> How long did you take the St. John's Wort? Unfortunately, I believe it takes as long to "kick in" as some SSRIs - six weeks or maybe even longer.
> According to Dr. Whitaker's Guide to Natural Healing, his following presciption for depression is:
> -300 mg. standardized extract (0.125 percent hypercin content)of St. John's Wort three times daily
> -2000 mg. L-tyrosine before meals
> -Excercise (a brisk half-hour walk once or twice a day)
> -A complete multiple vitamin and mineral formula;
> his recommendation for optimal supplementation is much higher than the normal RDA. For instance, he suggests a daily dosage of 400-800 IU of Vitamin E
> and 5000 mg. daily of Vitamin C in divided doses.
>
> At the very least, I doubt that all these vitamins could hurt you; at best, they could make you feel like "a new person". If you decide to try this regimen, please let us know whether or not you have success with it.
> -GracieI think I tried the Wort for maybe 3 weeks or more. I wont try it again because it's not supposed to work for severe depression. Mine of which has been quite severe at times.
I am going to try 5-htp again though. I took it before and I felt as if it helped after the first dose. I dont remember why I stopped. I'll try again soon and we'll see how that goes.
I just wish there were more products out there which can be tried without a prescription.
I will by the way try the vitamin thing. Maybe it can help a bit.
Posted by JGalt on October 23, 2001, at 18:20:56
In reply to Re: Herbal and Natural remedies for depression? » Gracie2, posted by adamie on October 21, 2001, at 16:27:43
Depending upon whether you have the "normal" or the atypical form of depression, various amino acids can help to some degree. For the normal type, insomnia, anxiety, hard to get to sleep, irritability I think, tryphotan is often recommended. L-Tryphotan is very similiar to 5-HTP, though L-T. is no longer available in the US because of a bad batch having been made. I suspect 5-HTP will do the same, provided it is on a completely empty stomach (2-4 hrs after last meal depending largely on size. sugary drink is okay, just no other protein).
DL-Phenylalnine is helpful to mild-moderate atypicals (wonderful if combined w/ selegiline), if once again, it is on a completely empty stomach. Also note that most DLPA products you find are 50/50 D/L phenylalnine. Personally I will get headaches and blood pressure spikes if I have much over 500mg's D-Ph. a day, but 5g's of L is quite nice, so I a small dose of DLPA and then some LPA L-Tyrosine is often also recommended to Atypicals, though I have seen benefit from it, possibly from its slow absorbtion and the fact I'm too impatient to wait much longer after I take it for a meal (I just had to wait 3-4hrs to get a clear stomach!). N-Acetyl-Tyrosine on the other hand is pretty nice on an empty stomach (.5g dose usually for me).
All of these must be taken with adequate B6, Vitamin C, folic acid, and likely B5+B3 in the blood to notice any real benefit. How much extra? No one seems to know but since you can err on the side of too much (since I believe all of these are water soluable), I take several times the RDA.
These are things that are either going to work, or they won't. If you don't notice anything after the 1st few times, it isn't going to work for you. From my own studies, I have yet to find anyone that DLPA or N-Acetyl-Tyrosine plus the cofactors does not function as a pretty nice stimulant (provided that they have a completely empty stomach) free of much tolerance but with some of the drug combo's you might be using they might not work for you. The biggest annoyance is needing to have an empty stomach at the time when you take it, and then keep it empty for another half hour or so. This obviously isn't an effective solution for people that have to or do eat often. It is just some help to perhaps augment other drugs you are using (except nonselective MAOi's) or if your depression is mild, to be used alone.
Good Luck,
JGalt
Posted by Twain on November 3, 2001, at 2:13:59
In reply to Herbal and Natural remedies for depression?, posted by adamie on October 21, 2001, at 12:13:46
> hi
I've tried all the supplements previously mentioned without much success. 5-htp seemed to help a little with depression but caused a lot of stomach distress.
Have you tried S.a.m.e.? Acts powerfully on the brain. Really knocked me out. Expensive stuff but can be found on the web real cheap.
I'm always looking for a nutritional answer. Good luck.
Twain
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