Posted by circusboy on September 10, 2007, at 11:09:07
In reply to St John's Wort making me photosensitive, posted by Jamal Spelling on September 9, 2007, at 8:34:26
> This is of course one of the benefits of prescription medicine: side-effects are precisely measured and quantified, whereas with alternative supplements, you have to navigate according to >word-of-mouth and anecdote.
Mostly agree... but for me, for right now, since my depression/etc. symptoms are fairly mild at the moment, the freedom to *stop taking* a supplement if the side effects are bad (without irritating a doctor) are worth it. Also, I've found the actual side-effects of psychiatric drugs -- especially the *psychological* side effects -- are poorly and incompletely described. Even many of the side-effects that *are* identified stay in research papers at the margins and never make it across practicing pdocs' desks. For instance, I had an otherwise-competent psychiatrist tell me that Lamictal didn't have any cognitive side effects, even after I described what it was doing to me... and even though you could find plenty of evidence with a quick PubMed search.
>Still, I am benefitting tremendously from my methylation formula: SAMe 200 mg/day, TMG 500 mg/day, folic acid from different supplements, and truckloads of B12 (I'm talking here something like 5000% of the RDA).
>Hey, that's great news. Are you finding any personality blunting effects with that combo? As I described before, SAM-e (and to a lesser extent TMG) made me much more hard-working and motivated, but at the same time less creative and social. I wish I could find a balance...
My current cocktail, working reasonably well (daily unless otherwise specified):
1 good-quality multi
400 mcg folic acid
450 - 900 mg EPA +
300 - 600 mg DHA (same fish oil supplement)
50 - 100 mg alpha lipoic acid
~1200 mg inositol (before bed)
1 B12 lozenge (forget size, 2x / week)... and the occasional Gotu Kola (calming/stabilizing) and Mg-glycinate pill. Also experimenting with Yerba Mate.
The LA (alpha lipoic acid) was a good recent addition. I know the lit says LA + ALC (acetyl-l-carnitine) is an even more potent combo, but ALC pushes me toward depression. Too bad, 'cause it was very good for energy/concentration.
-cb
poster:circusboy
thread:781758
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20070816/msgs/782004.html