Posted by JLx on October 10, 2005, at 14:39:50
In reply to Re: Neurofeedback for severe depression?, posted by ravenstorm on October 5, 2005, at 9:22:59
Hi Ravenstorm,
I noticed in previous posts that you said you had stomach problems. In one other thread, someone suggested "leaky gut syndrome". Have you looked into that? This site has a brief and simple description:
http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/autism/gut.htm
These two are more involved, but include what to do about it:
http://www.liverdoctor.com/04_leakygut_syndrome.asp
http://www.afpafitness.com/articles/LEAKGUT4.HTM
Both recommend that you get tested, but there are some basics that many of us do without being tested, that just seem to help, such as taking probiotics. Beware the supermarket variety and go for the refrigerated kinds or the new room temperature stabilized such as these: http://www.iherb.com/sp.html
It may seem counter-intuitive when your stomach is giving you grief, but fiber is another good thing to do for stomach health.
Garlic is supposed to be great, as it kills fungus, parasites and bacteria. Yeast can be a problem, for which there are various formulas on the market such as these at iherb: http://www.iherb.com/candida.html
IF you do have leaky gut syndrome, it could be affecting your nutritional status of such important things as magnesium. Magnesium is a great de-stressor for many. It single-handedly changed me from a suicidal wreck to a garden variety wreck. ;) I joke, but that's no small thing. Magnesium works what still feels like a miracle to me. I used to feel so terrible all the time, now I have depression that lends itself to interventions like the book "Feeling Good" by David Burns (which I recommend). When I was suicidally depressed, I can easily imagine just staring dully at the pages in that book unable to comprehend and think in the new ways he suggests.
Nutritional interventions can be very helpful to some people. There was a new study recently about chromium for those with atypical depression and carb cravings; it was quite effective. Fish oil works wonders for others. B-vitamins seem to help a lot of people at least some, and folic acid has been shown in studies to be effective alone or with SSRIs. Excercise alone exceeded exercise plus Zoloft in one study and was more long lasting.
These things can seem out of reach when severely depressed, and/or might not be "enough" to make a measurable difference from the deepest depression hole. But at the very least, they won't do harm, are good for the body, and in the long run may be more sustainable. It's also very empowering in my experience, to take these measures rather than feel as if I am at the mercy of the illness and whatever the latest is that the medical establishment is serving up.
My worst day now is better than my best day was on meds. Magnesium was key for me, and in general, I feel better taking handfuls of supplements.
But they won't help very much until a leaky gut is addressed.
When we're feeling really really terrible, it can be tempting to consider that we need something big as a cure, not the relative simplicity of diet and other nutritional interventions, but consider where neurotransmitters come from...food. If we're not getting proper nourishment for our brains, they won't work right. That's how I feel about how I was before I started taking magnesium -- like my brain just wasn't functioning right. I recall one time when I was suicidal, telling myself that I needed to think more positively, and simply being unable to come up with a positive thought. Usually I felt like I was "behind the beat" from how I supposed to be thinking, as if my brain was in slow motion. Magnesium supplementation changed all that for me. It tore down that gray glass wall I was living behind as I watched the world of life going on with out me and gave me colors again. I NEVER would have dreamed that that would be possible. I got the idea to take magnesium, by the way, from this website:
http://www.coldcure.com/html/dep.html
I was on Zoloft and Provigil, suicidally depressed but the Provigil helped me stay awake on the Zoloft and concentrate so I spent hours and hours on the net trying to find some ideas to ask my psychiatrist about. When I did ask him about magnesium after reading this site, he said basically not to bother, it wouldn't help. Fortunately I ignored him. :) I felt so much better after one day on magnesium I quit my meds cold turkey without problems, and haven't looked back.
This may be a rare occurrence, though there is some information out there indicating that magnesium is helpful to other people for depression and many people recommend it on this board. But the point is, that we are biological beings, dependent on food to nourish our bodies. And what we eat and more importantly, what we get from our food may make all the difference for how well our brains work, and consequently, how we feel.
At the very least, with proper nourishment and good diet habits, we're giving other treatments the best baseline to start from.
JL
poster:JLx
thread:512397
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050924/msgs/565261.html