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Support for those battling depression with natural remedies

890 views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  girlndocs 
#1 ·
Hey all


I recently started taking inositol after reading about it in the PPD forum, combined with magnesium, L-tyrosine, & other supplements to create a program that I hope will address my chronic depression. It seems to be working so far
I'm so thrilled.

I'm off to bed in a few minutes, before DD wakes up looking for her nursies, but I wanted to start this thread. Tomorrow I'll describe more of my program.

Anyone else using vitamin/nutrition/natural therapies for their depression & anxiety? What's your plan of attack? How long have you been doing it? What seems to be the root cause of your symptoms (thyroid, mag deficiency, candida, etc)?

Let's support each other in researching, developing programs and sticking to them.
 
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#2 ·
Ok, so, The Program (that makes it sound so official :LOL):

Daily:
1 tbsp (about 8g) inositol
1 tbsp virgin coconut oil
1 tbsp flax oil
400iu vit. E
50mg zinc

Twice daily:
500mg L-tyrosine
High-potency B complex
500mg magnesium
Good-quality multivitamin (actually a hair vitamin)
(I also take silica & biotin for my hair & nails.)

2x week (or anytime I'm especially depressed, anxious or snappy): a magnesium bath (2c epsom salts & 1c baking soda, pre-dissolved in boiling water & added to a hot bath,soak for 20min+). This definitely has a tranquilizing effect. I'm very sleepy afterwards, sleep soundly & well and I'm noticeably mellower the next day. Since magnesium baths are supposed to "draw out" toxins as well (the baking soda's supposed to absorb them after they're drawn out, I'm not sure about that but it can't hurt anything) I rinse very, very well after I get out of the bath.

I've found through experience I need to take enough B vitamins to make my pee that bright yellow color every time I pee, all day long (not just the next one after I take the tablet). Taking the complex morning & night accomplishes this. Not enough B's and I get depressed.

I'm focusing on eating small meals regularly & getting lots of protein. I tend towards hypoglycemia. If my diet is bad, I get depressed & snappy.

The virgin coconut oil is for the candida problem I'm pretty sure I have (I can't do that spit test, it just grosses me out too much). I also plan on incorporating kefir into my daily smoothie. I've cut out all refined flour and I've cut way back on refined sugars (really, I'm trying
: ) Because I'm nursing dd, I don't want to go on the "yeast killer diet", so I'm focusing my efforts on aggressively increasing good bugs in my system. If we could afford probiotics, I'd be on those too.

Also, I think I might have (warning, gross) pinworms. So I'm eating lots and lots of garlic, pineapple and pumpkinseeds. I might just break down & go for the Pin-X though. I wash my hands first thing in the morning and before I eat or touch food, so I don't make the problem any worse.

Last but not least, I'm taking the "water cure". I'm up to almost a gallon of water a day. I'd like to get to a gallon & hold there. I've noticed that I'm slightly slimmer and my little round belly is smaller. I guess I was retaining water because I wasn't drinking enough! Also I, um, "go" twice a day now if you know what I mean, which feels really good.

One wonderful effect (besides being able to function more & more like a normal human) is that my hair loss seems to be stopping! I believe it was a combination of postpartum hormones, low thyroid, and anxiety (it was too severe for me to think it was just a postpartum thing). I don't know what part of my "program" to attribute it to, but I'm so relieved! My hair is thinner than it was before I got pregnant, and I **** feel a pang every time I handle it, but at least I didn't lose more.

I'm so thrilled. I feel a hundred times better already. And what's even better is being able to feel hopeful that it'll keep getting better. I can pick up the phone to make a call, deal with my kids, go out on the porch to get the mail & contemplate inviting people over to my house without crippling anxiety. I haven't had a panic attack in over a week. I can let DH hug me without feeling claustrophobic. I can deal with frustration without completely blowing my top and I don't have to spend my day screaming anymore. I love it!
 
#4 ·
Thank you so much for posting this. I also suffer from anxiety and depression (mostly just anxiety) but mine is not PPD...as my last baby was quite some years ago.

I am going to try the magnesium bath you suggested. We have a nice natural food store in the next town over with a big section of vitamins and herbs. That is where I get my Rescue Remedy.

So far one thing that I have found helps me to relax enough to sleep is "Sleepytime Extra tea" by Celestial Seasonings mixed with a double dose of Rescue Remedy.

I have a hard time taking magneseum by mouth because it makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Thanks again,
Lisa
 
#5 ·
Hi! I think I'll join in too. I just posted about my husband dealing with depression. So far we haven't tried anything, and have no clue where to begin, but I like the idea of a support thread.


(I hope it's okay for me to join, since my husband, not me, is the one dealing with depression. If not, just say so.)
 
#6 ·
Kristin -
this is all wonderful information! where do you learn about this stuff? do you have a book or a web site you reccommend? i think i'm having trouble with ppd. its hard to know if what i'm feeling is depression or an appropriate response to the world at large. i'm leaning toward ppd though, as today i actually yelled at my ten month old and felt out of control while doing it. theres other stuff too, of course.

anyway. any resources you could reccomend for natural remedies to depression would be oh so appriciated.

thank you!
katie
 
#8 ·
Wow, I actually *forgot* I started this thread
:

I found a lot of this information by using the search feature right here at MDC! I searched under Health & Healing, Nutrition, & PPD, and I used terms like depression, anxiety, magnesium, candida, pinworms, and so forth. The more terms I searched on, it seems, the more terms I *had* to search on, because as I read I came across more and more topics I wanted to investigate. Many of the threads I found here at MDC included links to other sites.

I also read 2 Rodale Press books, The Encyclopedia of Natural Home Remedies and The Practical Encyclopedia of Natural Healing. Both of them are old editions. I don't know if they're in print anymore or if they've been updated. They're both edited by Mark Bricklin.

I tell you it was amazing the number of underlying causes I found that can cause depression (none of which, of course, were ever brought up during the 10 years I was treated for depression using pharmaceuticals
: ). In my case it could be any or all of these: hypoglycemia, slight anemia, B-vitamin deficiency, magnesium deficiency, candida, hypothyroid, hormonal ppd, or other things I haven't learned about yet.

I'm nursing dd exclusively and haven't found anything to indicate that any of the therapies I'm using are incompatible with that.

I've been thinking lately about preparing some kind of tincture, or capsules, from my placenta (it's in the freezer; we were going to plant it under a rosebush). Thing is, I feel really ... protective of it. I'm not at all comfortable with the idea of cutting it, grinding it or drying it. Funny ...

I was thinking of looking into Bach flower essences. I used to keep rescue remedy on hand, the idea being to take it just before I blew IYKWIM, but by that point I usually had forgotten entirely about the stuff! Also, I personally feel like when I get into a system like Bach essences, or homeopathy, that that's water too deep for me to tread on my own. I'm not comfortable tinkering with it. And I can't afford to see someone expert in those areas, so I'm probably going to stick with some commonsense nutritional therapies and just taking really good care of myself.

I'd been eating so well for the past 2 weeks ... lots of protein, lots of fruits & veggies, no white flour (although I cop to the use of white sugar). Then I went to the grocery store with DH today while I was hungry, and ended up bringing home & eating almost an entire box
: of creme-filled brownie rounds. Sigh.

I started taking Kefir on a daily basis two days ago though! I use 4 oz instead of plain yogurt I was previously using in my morning smoothie. Go forth and multiply, little Kefir beasties! Win my body back for me! :LOL
 
#10 ·
I have PTSD and suffered from PPD for awhile. I also was anemic & needed transfusions which contributed to it.
DH thought I should get some meds but this has helped me so much!

here is what I do;

get at least 8hours of sleep a night (latley I've been bad and am feeling the effects) I can't tell you how big of a thing sleep is or how important to my mood.

exercise every other day (treadmill,yoga)

SLEEP AND EXERCISE HAVE BEEN KEY FOR ME!


get outside for at least 1 hour a day

flax seed oil 2x day

vit e 1x day

evening primrose oil 1x a day

prenatal vits 2x a day

I eat oatmeal once a day

I use skullcap/valerian when I get anxiety attacks

I have cut out most soft drinks (except the occasional iced tea) and instead drink alot of various bulk herb teas/lots of water

I am trying to modify my diet to a vegan one and cut out white suger..this has been hard with Halloween candy and my sweet tooth.
:

I use aromatherapy alot

floradix on and off

btw there is wonderful book my Avviva Romm for postpartum depression that has a ton of advice..(I forget the name and I'm too lazy to go look right now-will post the title later)
 
#11 ·
Well, my friends, I am paying for those creme-filled brownie rounds
After I made my last post the mood swings set in. I got weepy, felt irritable, didn't want to get out of my chair, had a funny pinching headache. Eating a good dinner & tanking up on the water helped some, but not entirely -- I still feel funny & muzzy and I want it to go away.

I know the issue is not refined sugar, per se, because I've been cooking with it at home. So it's probably the refined flour ... and another thing I don't have in my homemade sweets is high fructose corn sugar. It was in the brownie rounds. I have to look that up, I seem to remember it's "worse" than table sugar. Anyway, I'll be cutting out white flour entirely, and it looks like h.f. corn syrup too.
 
#13 ·
I'm bfeeding dd. I picked therapies accordingly


ETA: I made sure to check out the toxicity levels of vitamins & minerals. For example, I Googled "pyroxidine toxicity" and "niacin toxicity" (2 of the ingredients in my B-complex tablets). Because different people seem to tolerate different amounts of a given supplement, I familiarized myself with the symptoms of toxicity as well as the hard numbers.
 
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