Posted by MrAnderson on October 24, 2011, at 12:13:17
Hi everyone, I'm 26 years old and have been treated for atypical depression since I was 16. Currently I am taking 15 mg Parnate, 100 mg Lamictal, 7.5 mg Deplin (prescription form of folate), and 15 mg Cytomel for minor hypothyroidism. This is after no benefits from SSRI's and a couple of tricyclics.
I've suffered from low sex drive in varying degrees since I started on the medications, it's been worse recently so I decided to look into some herbal treatments for sexual dysfunction.
About 7 weeks ago, I started taking gingko, L-Arginine, and maca. I started with capsules of maca but ordered some Maca Magic powder after a few weeks. I started taking 1 gram a day and worked up to 4 grams which I currently take. After a few weeks, I did start to notice an increase in sex drive but unexpectedly noticed my mood increase as well. Since then, my mood has continued to increase and I've been able to decrease the dosages of some of my medications.
I decreased my Parnate dosage from 20 mg to 15 mg and my Deplin dosage from 15 mg to 7.5 mg. I've tried repeatedly to reduce the dosages in the past but became very depressed and had to go back up.
I've always thought that my depression was due to some sort of hormone or vitamin deficiency. It's possible that the gingko helped alleviate the depression but I believe it's more because of the maca. I've tried to research to find out how maca works to try and see if I can find an underlying cause for my depression. There seems to be some evidence that maca helps regulate blood sugar, and I've also heard that atypical depression tends to have similar symptoms to hypoglycemia so I'm wondering if the two are related.
I'm wondering if anyone else has some positive experiences with maca for depression or has any background information on why it might help address the underlying causes of depression. I've done internet searches, maca is frequently cited as being effective for depression but I haven't really been able to find any specifics. My main concern is that the maca stops working, some people say you need to cycle it to prevent it from losing effectiveness. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
poster:MrAnderson
thread:1000698
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20110810/msgs/1000698.html