Natural antidepressants - Dealing with Anxiety

[iza]

Since I'm dealing with anxiety now, which I just cannot overcome myself: has anybody had some experience with natural antidepressants (SAM-e or anything else, which is not harmfull)? I don't want to take any chemical antidepressants (which can cause a lot of health problems), but I fell like I need something to calm me down. I know a lot of us here fight anxiety, how do you deal with it?

[misterjuanperalta]

It seems that GABA 750mg is helping me so far.

[SecretAgentMan]

I am no doctor, so I want to state that right up front. I can only try to answer your question based on my own experiences. Are you actually experiencing clinical depression or are your doctors just recommending anti-depressants because they believe they will help alleviate your anxiety symptoms? If you are just experiencing the anxiety and are looking for relief I have a few suggestions. If you are actually experiencing clinical depression then I would recommend actually seeing a therapist who is trained in how to proceed. There are forms of treatment such as acupuncture and hypnotherapy that are incredibly effective in treating depression without the use of pharmaceuticals.

For anxiety there is a natural supplement called Valerian Root that you can buy from most health food stores in capsule form. Just a warning that it has a particular odor and that is normal. I believe I took two capsules twice a day, sometimes 3 times depending on how I was doing and it significantly helped my anxiety. At the time I did not realize that my anxiety was actually being artificially aggravated by my diet. Yes, gluten and dairy products actually caused my heart rate to go up and my anxiety levels to shoot through the roof. Once I removed these trigger foods I didn't need the Valerian Root supplement anymore. I also recommend the treatments listed above for depression as well. Acupuncture and hypnotherapy can be incredibly powerful in treating anxiety as well.

It really boils down to using the right tool for the right job. If you try something and it helps, but then that relief ceases after you stop using it, chances are it is a band-aid. Pharmaceuticals are band-aids. They cover up or mask symptoms. They only provide temporary relief because they don't address the underlying problem. In my case the Valerian Root was a band-aid as well because it was sort of serving the same purpose the pharmaceuticals would have. It was just a natural herb supplement instead of a chemical one. My body was not deficient in what it had. All it was doing was temporarily providing relief. I found that the dietary changes were a much more robust and lasting solution because they were much more related to the underlying root cause. No band-aid can ever do as well as a real fix.

I had to keep going back to find out what was causing each issue and worked with my doctors to address the underlying root cause. If you suddenly have a problem with your diet and it wasn't a problem before in your life, what changed? I had to work to restore gut balance and that allowed me to be able to have more tolerance to certain foods. I don't know what I would have done without knowledgeable doctors who had experience in this area. They are out there. I found some in St. Louis and I found some in Dayton. If I can find them in each of the cities that I lived in since this began they can't be too rare.

Everything in nature happens for a reason. Balance is always being tipped. Find what is causing your balance to be thrown off and work to address it. In some cases you may need to make permanent changes to your lifestyle because the old ways are what caused you to arrive where you are, but usually the changes can be moderated once you have corrected the initial imbalance. For example, for several months I had to avoid certain foods like the plague like soy, dairy, sugar, gluten, and nightshades to name a few. Eventually I was able to eat all of these foods again without any symptoms. Over time other problems began to manifest. I had to cut many of them out again. I am now back to eating everything except the gluten and this time I will probably stay off of it. The abuse my body takes from it is just too much to mess with. I am ok with this though as there are plenty of alternatives available now and it is easier than ever to be gluten free.

Lastly I recommend working a daily meditation into your routine. If you don't know how then I recommend finding a meditation meetup group in your area through meetup.com or even signing up for a Transcendental Meditation class if you can afford it. There actually is an art to meditation although the methods and techniques vary widely. Meditation is about learning mental discipline, calming, and clearing your mind. Its stress relief benefits are immense and it will help you in your life beyond just anxiety relief. I really can't say enough positive things about meditation and how a good routine can help make a positive difference. I hope this helps...

[Yuliasir]

Iza,

if we are talking about ANTIDEPRESSANTS, the best natural antidepressant is of course our own endorphines, which means you need a bit of pain to gain them (workouts are the best way).

all other antianxiety drugs, even made on herbs, contain substances which are not naturally occuring in your body, so probably are not strictly natural. I am not sure if you may get any herbal based SSRI's effect (anti-depressant), but herbal meds working well for anxiety are valeriana, passiflora and hop plant. St Johns wort is known for his strong antianxiety effect but it is really kidny poisonous and hardly could be advised for self-treatment.

if you have slight anxiety dsorder, you may help yourself with valeriana and other herbal meds availavble form such pharmaceuticals companies as Sanofi, for example. Less worry and good sleep at night make you feel better in few weeks.

But if you have unceasing thoughts, obsessions, panick attacks, extrememly high fear - it is always better to talk to doctor about planned approach and maybe more targeted meds. You may also talk to doctor about your concerns regarding taking meds. Usually modern antidepressants have much less side effects compared to what we had for example 20 years ago, and if you are working with doctor who traces your condition and reactions, you could easily switch form poorly tolerated formulation to another one, which may help better. And of course, when doctor says this is for 5 days only (for benzos, for example) but in fact the patient prefers to stay for those drugs for longer making sometimes 2-4 years record of usage... then it is another story

[iza]

Yuliasir,

thanks. I might try some valerian root. It is not that the doctor recommended to me antidepressants, I hardly talked about it to my neurologist (although he was aware of my anxiety). I just see that the anxiety about my symptoms progressing to something else (like ALS) taking over my life and I just cannot cope with it, thats why I thought about some natural remedies. Workout is sometimes difficult for me because of time issues and having relatively small children.
Have you had or heard any experiance on SAMe? Some people are very enthusiastic about it...

[iza]

SecrentAgentMan,

thanks for your suggestions. There was no reccommendation from doctors for antidepressants. Im just looking for something for my anxiety. I`ve changed my diet a year ago to vegeterian and eating very healthy and almost no dairy (not avoiding dairy in breads or pastas but I dont have much of them, and really once in a while cake or ice cream), not gluten free though. I dont think I have gluten intollerance (as far I remember I did some test last year). Do you think it could still have an impact (even if test does not show any intollerance)?

[Yuliasir]

Iza, as for SAMe I found that in my country (in Ukraine) we use it rather as hepatoprotector (trade name Heptral) - for example, one of my friends who fights cancer right now told me he is using that together with chemotherpay. It is funny but here we do not use it for antidepressive effect (however the rest of world does), but use for hepatoprotection, despite evidence for hepatoprotection properties are even less solid than for anti-depressive ))

Wikipedia says it has rather proven antidepressant effect, so I think you could try it. it is a co=enzyme so harly you could overuse it, and it should not have harmful methabolytes. I think you could try it.

[SecretAgentMan]

SecrentAgentMan,

thanks for your suggestions. There was no reccommendation from doctors for antidepressants. Im just looking for something for my anxiety. I`ve changed my diet a year ago to vegeterian and eating very healthy and almost no dairy (not avoiding dairy in breads or pastas but I dont have much of them, and really once in a while cake or ice cream), not gluten free though. I dont think I have gluten intollerance (as far I remember I did some test last year). Do you think it could still have an impact (even if test does not show any intollerance)?

I absolutely believe you can have a negative reaction to something even though it does not show intolerance against your bloodwork. I'm living it now. I am not showing up as having an allergy to gluten yet it is physically causing me to have some minor inflammation in my lymph nodes that are associated with the large intestine. At first my doctor thought it might be a minor case of diverticulitis but it ended up being gluten that was the culprit. I took it out of my diet and I returned to normal. I guess I would use this analogy... If you lightly rub your finger across some sand paper it won't hurt or do any notable damage. Do this repeatedly several hundred times and you are going to draw blood and see some damage. Gluten is a very difficult protein for the body to break down and some people have a more difficult time with it than others. Subjecting your body to that abuse constantly is eventually going to have a cumulative affect. As we age we just can't absorb or deal with what we once weathered well when we were younger. I would recommend taking it completely out of your diet for a few weeks and seeing how you feel. It is amazing the different reactions people have to just that one food item. Symptoms range all over the spectrum in variety and severity.

[Yuliasir]

A bit more about SAMe.
Iza, you should be warned I think. As far as I understand, it has really 'boosting' effect, so instead of mild anti-depression you may found excitation, insomnia and if you are prone for bipolar behaviour - even hypomania or mania instead of beneficial effect.

So just in case, even natural enzymes could be dangerous. Also, it is contraindicated for people with inherited B12 deficiences, and as far as I remember, many of us have B-deficient conditions (not sure if this is regarding B12 or B6 however).
So just be careful.

[raindog]

Since I'm dealing with anxiety now, which I just cannot overcome myself: has anybody had some experience with natural antidepressants (SAM-e or anything else, which is not harmfull)? I don't want to take any chemical antidepressants (which can cause a lot of health problems), but I fell like I need something to calm me down. I know a lot of us here fight anxiety, how do you deal with it?

I much prefer to get outdoors and play a gentle sport or hobby ...meeting new people and having a laugh beats any medication out there.

[iza]

SecretAgentMan,

how strickt are you about gluten? There are some gluten free grains and breads and pastas which might still contain some gluten (gluten free bread which is cut with machine also used for non gluten free bread, or on some naturally gluten free grains is written that they could still contain tiny amounts of gluten probably for some simillar reasons). But I think that is going to far if there is no gluten intolerance isn't it? Or do you only get things which are marked as gluten free (so there is definitely no gluten at all)?

[SecretAgentMan]

For the record I do agree with raindog's comment above. I believe attitude and mindset are more than half the battle with anxiety. That should always be included in lifestyle changes like diet. Regarding the level of importance I place on being gluten free, I stay as true to the free part as possible. If there is doubt I have learned that avoidance is wise. I will not go so far as to go overboard and throw food out if a crumb touched it. I guess use your own judgment. if you cheat you are just cheating yourself, so how important is it to you to rule this out? I don't think a crumb or morsel will make a big deal, but a little does go a long way. Just one bite of bread can be enough to trigger inflammation if you have an issue.