I have been studying functional nutrition and it's effects on the body for over 16 years. I know that body chemistry, function, copeability can change. I know that disease processes can be turned around. I know that immunity can be built up. I relied on nutrition therapy solely for 14 1/2 of those years. It was one of my many coping mechanisms for my depression (later diagnosed bipolar) tendencies. I slowly learned which food items to avoid: caffeine, sugar, white flour. I learned which foods to enjoy plentifully...fruits, vegetables, PROTEIN, and pure water. I stayed very healthy with just cyclical incidents of depression that I could control with some St. John's Wort plus the supplement regimine that I figured out for my body. Then the sh** hit the fan with the optimal conditions for major decline in body and mind: The perfect storm.
I entered perimenopause-my hormone system was wacked out, I had multiple changes at work, I worked around the clock trying to keep all together, I forgot how to sleep. So much stress, internal and external. My body wore out. My adrenal system was shot. My mind was no longer processing or functioning as it had. I had more and more mood swinging until it became uncontrollable no matter which combinations of therapies I tried.
I was diagnosed bipolar after suspecting such for a couple years before assessment. My fear of knowing was medication. I had spent all this time perfecting my diet & supplementation and knew that all medication had side effects. It took me several more months to decide to give meds a try. I was prescribed tegretol by my primary. That only worked for about 6 months, then I spiraled out of control again. Slowly weaned off of tegretol as lamictal was introduced. For the most part, I am mood stable 90% of the time.
I have avoided any other meds because of my diligence with my nutritional therapy. I take a product called Stress Relief Complex for anxiety. I stopped any anti-depressant type supps like SAM-e or St. John's Wort because they can push a person with bipolar into mania. I take LOTS of soy protein (dairy is a problem for me) and eat LOTS of lean meats, fish, chicken, eggs etc. Protein is the main building block for all cells and especially the brain. Fish Oil (total Omega 3 fatty acids) are a huge necessity for the brain...helps with neurotransmitter function because they rely on the fatty acids for proper transmission. Vitamin B Complex...the "happy" vitamins-nervous system builder. Resverotrol. A complete multi vitamin/mineral supplement. CoQ10. All of these products have to be carefully chosen. Pharmaceutical grade is best. Too many impurities and fillers in other types. For those of us with highly sensitive nervous systems, it can swing the benefits of a product to detriments and sometimes cause more issues.
There is much research going on with clinical nutrition in the area of brain research in dealing with mental illness issues. Since mood disorders are primarily biological in nature, it only makes sense to find out the underlying biological cause. I am hopeful that breakthrough advances are coming soon. I saw a clinical nutrition chiropractor for awhile. He has attended many workshops on brain/addiction/hormone regulation/brain chemistry to learn how these complex systems and issues are related and can be turned around.
Besides what we ingest, it also matters what we breathe, put on our skin, clean our homes with, etc. It needs to be total wellness. This is an area that I am TOTALLY Passionate about. How can we live optimally healthy?
Now that I'm stable after months of determining what works/what doesn't, I'm ready to research further. I'm planning on going back to the clinical nutrition chiropractor to help tweak things further. I'm not grasping at straws like I was last summer when all spiraled out of control.
Thank you for addressing this topic!
Peace,
Shelly
Hi there
This is MerelyMe from over on MyDepressionConnection. I saw your question appear on the main page and I couldn't resist popping on over to share my thoughts.
I think there is a tendency with regard to supplements and vitamins to regard them as either snake oil or as the next cure for what ails you. I have a mother who has schizophrenia, a son with autism, and I suffer from depression and Multiple Sclerosis so I have been a part of many different patient and caregiver circles if you will. One common denominator among many support groups for medical, neurological, or mental health issues is...what is known as the "curebie." This is someone who has THE answer for your health problem. So I have really heard it all as far as people trying to make a quick buck from those who are in need. Gee...all I need is to be repeatedly stung by bees to cure my MS....my son needs a hyperbaric chamber to cure his autism...and so forth.
Part of this "cure" market is...unfortunately...vitamins and supplements. And I say unfortunately because the folk who promote this stuff as a cure ruin it for the rest of us who are so repulsed that we throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak.
Take my son with autism for example. Many of my friends advocated that we try the gluten free diet for him. The legend goes something like this...the child goes on this diet and the child who has never spoken a word suddenly says, "I love you mommy" for the first time. Right. I never wanted to try this diet for him because, quite frankly, I thought it was a total scam. However, when my son continued to suffer from eczema, green diarrhea, and other physical ailments for some years I took him to an allergist. Then it was discovered that he had food allergies...one of the many allergies he had was to gluten. I wrote about our experience with the gluten free diet over on our ADHD site.
When people ask was this diet a cure for my son's autism I tell the truth. NO...emphatically no. There is no cure for autism. The diet was simply relieving his physical allergy symptoms and I finally got to toilet train him at the ripe age of six since he no longer had chronic green diarrhea. Sorry for the graphic image.
So I think you are right on in talking about treating specific symptoms instead of some sort of cure from a diet or supplements.
Currently I am not taking a prescribed anti-depressant for my depression. I am using a supplement called SAM-e which I have written about for our depression site. About the most I can say about it is...it works for me. As one of your commenters talked about...such a supplement may not be good for someone with Bipolar Disorder because there is a chance it may kick them into mania. But for me...it is just enough to help me keep balance...I no longer sink to the depths of my depression. I researched it to death before taking it...which is difficult as with supplements there may be little to no research. You are taking a risk as these vitamins and supplements do not have FDA guidelines as do prescription drugs. Many have unknown fillers and so forth. Absolutely...there is a risk. Just because something is touted as "natural" doesn't mean there are no side effects or interactions. So you do have to do your homework.
Is this supplement a cure for my depression? NO. again...an emphatic no. But it is a tool in my arsenal to combat the symptoms of my depression. And I think this is how we should regard diets, supplements, herbs, and vitamins with respect to treating a mood disorder.
I do think that a good physical is essential if you suffer from any type of mood disorder. Bloodwork can show the vitamin deficiencies. I was found to be deficient in both vitamin B and D...both of which are essential for neurological functioning. I do take vitamins and I notice a difference on days when I don't take them.
It makes sense that if you are feeling physically unwell...that this will make you feel emotionally unwell. Why not up the ante for overall wellness by taking a look at what you eat....exercise...and even supplements.
Do I think supplements and vitamins are a cure or can they replace prescription medications? No...I don't personally believe so. We don't need to place unecessary expectations on supplements in this way. There are no magic cures. But there are things we can all do to up the odds that we can feel better.
Supplements and vitamins may be one tool in our arsenal to increase our overall wellness.
I don't think we need to throw out the baby with the bathwater just because snake oil salesmen exist. What we need to do is to review our options carefully and see what might help to chip away at the symptoms of our medical and mental disorders.
Sorry for the length of this. But I do feel passionate about the topic and wanted to share my thoughts. Great topic. I am eager to hear what others say about it.
Quite a balanced and reasonable article, and I love the conclusion of focus on addressing wellness rather than symptoms, this should be the focus of any good naturopath (sadly as mentioned they are just as seduced by the idea of fixing everything with vitamins and herbs as many MDs are with pharmaceuticals).
For a fantastic blog by a psychiatrist about "natural" approaches and perspectives on Mental Health try http://evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com/ the principle behind this blog is that contemporary diets and lifestyles are SIGNIFICANTLY different from the ancestral environment to which we are adapted, and current nutritional recomendations in particular are based on what is normal now, rather than what may have been normal in our genetic history. The author is very balanced and fair, and more there to provoke thoughts than provide any recommendations and I highly recommend it.
She has also recently been invited to do a blog for Psychology Today with a great article and brain health and Omega 3 http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry "Your brain on omega 3" it is called.
because of my known hypersensitivity to meds, both prescribed and over the counter, a psychiatrist I visited for a while told me to take Fish Oil and even gave me the amounts I'd need to take to receive the optium amount for my body weight (I, is big but not hugemongus).
He did this for my repeating cycles of severe depression. He forewarned me that it would take upwards of about 3-4 months for it to build up in my system but once it did, I'd likely see some difference. I thought "what the hell?"
So, I went and bought some from the local WalMart and did start taking it. Now, this was about 3 years ago.. I have to add.
Well... I didn't take the full amount he prescribed me because I simply could not swallow that many of the gelatin capsules each dosage... they were huge. Yet, I did about half and I diligently did so for almost a year and a half and I have to say... I still had my depression cycles.
I did. I still had the depression cycles. They didn't go away. They came. They came.
However... I didn't have them as severe as I did before or since I stopped. For that year and a half, I had depressive episodes that were severe but not suicidal and even then.. my severe episodes went from 4 a year to 1. I generally had mild to moderate.
Also, during that time period I was laid off from work and spent nearly that full year unemployed. I'm figuring that, and the Fish Oil both, had a lot to do with it all. I didn't have the stress and chaos of working and I had the Fish Oil.
Course, once I found a full time job and my life got horribly stressful again... I found that I had stopped taking the Fish Oil because I forgot, missed doses, and eventually quit all together. My life has remained stressful, chaotic, full of cycles up and down, suicidal spells, and well... life.
Featuring Content From:
By using this service, you accept our Terms of Use. Please read them. The consumer health information on is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions. You should promptly seek professional medical care if you have any concern about your health, and you should always consult your physician before starting a fitness regimen. Copyright © 2012 Remedy Health Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
I saw this article pop up on facebook and just had to comment on it. In all of my years of having bipolar disorder I have never found a vitamin, mineral, amino acid, or herb that had any beneficial affects on my illness. I have tried everything from B complex vitamins and vitamin C to help with stress and break down cortisol, to kava and valerian root to decrease my anxiety, and to L-tryptophan, 5-htp,L-phenylalanine, and l-tyrosine in order to boost certain neurotrnsmittors. None of these ever worked and I would describe them as akin to snake oil. The only things that have ever worked for me were the correct combinations of medications. I don't believe I have ever been deficient in a particular amino acid or vitamin as your article suggests that many patients are not, I am more apt to believe that my brain has a problem regulating and balancing particular neurotransmittors.
I would love to find a natural remedy that would work for me, but it seems like its just a pie in the sky dream. Now the problem, I feel as though that by "prescribing" myself these supplements has put me at risk for more mental health problems. Even worse is that many of the doctors I have been to have a serious lack of knowledge on these supplements because they are apt to read about the more credible studies. What medications should not be combined with these supplements has not been established. Luckily, none of these supplements have thrown me into a severe manic episode or made my depression worse (even though it has been rather depressing that they haven't worked).
What makes matters even worse is that all you have to do is google something like "supplements to increase serotonin" or "vitamins that elevate mood" and you will find page after page of articles, some of them sales pitches, that exaggerate the benefits of these supplements for good mental health.
You were right when you said "caveat emptor" and I really enjoyed reading your article. Hopefully we can see an actual discussion and some more posts that follow my own.