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Depression: Cure's In Your Diet?
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TheMainException
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I've heard it's with proper diet and exercise, it has been proven to help depression. I've also heard that if you're on anti-depressants you must stay on them, because people have become suicidal after going off of them...(heard=read)
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I'm new here but recently it has been made knowledge that some anti depressants cause higher suicide urges, and makes a person more aggressive. I believe Zoloft was one of those on the list. Also I believe dieting and excercise can help with depression because about a month ago i started to eat better and excercise and I felt better about myself, but every good thing must come to an end and right now i'm at a crossroad.
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Deamiter
I just follow Christ.
Saying that the anti-depressants cause higher suicide rates is like saying that brain surgery causes more deaths. People with brain cancer often die. They USUALLY die AFTER they seek some kind of treatment like brain surgery! Statistically, more people will commit suicide right after being placed on an antidepressant simply because they wait until the last possible moment to get help! As it takes weeks or even a couple months for antidepressants to become fully active in your system, there's a lot of time to crash before things start looking up!
Some people act more aggressive on anti-depressants simply because depression often cuts a person's energy and makes them incapable of acting on their aggressive thoughts! If a person has anger issues tied to depression, they may sit around all day stewing and hating everybody. If their depression is cured, but the anger problems are ignored, they will become aggressive! I hate how our society is using statistics (horribly!) to push through another wave of law-suits! You simply cannot buy propaganda without critiquing the source and the implications!
Exercise and good diet are essential to our brain's ability to feel 'good.' We're wired to be active creatures, not sedentary computer geeks! It will certainly help ALL depressed people to become more healthy. For serious, clinical depression, though, changing your diet won't cure the problem, though it will help to treat the symptoms.
You CERTAINLY should not stop taking antidepressants without regular appointments with your psychiatrist! Many people do get off their antidepressants though. Usually with chronic depression there is a basic cause or something mental that can be dealt with. Of course, if you don't deal with the problem, and continue to hate yourself or feel irrational guilt, you certainly won't be able to stop taking the drugs! It's just that especially in the church, we have a built-in support group which can really lift us up if we embrace it! I am fully prepared to take antidepressants for the rest of my life. After all, they SAVED my life! However, I think I will likely try to stop taking them at some point along the line. But I will CERTAINLY be informing my psychiatrist, because suicidal thoughts CAN sneak up on you if you're not paying very close attention!
Some people act more aggressive on anti-depressants simply because depression often cuts a person's energy and makes them incapable of acting on their aggressive thoughts! If a person has anger issues tied to depression, they may sit around all day stewing and hating everybody. If their depression is cured, but the anger problems are ignored, they will become aggressive! I hate how our society is using statistics (horribly!) to push through another wave of law-suits! You simply cannot buy propaganda without critiquing the source and the implications!
Exercise and good diet are essential to our brain's ability to feel 'good.' We're wired to be active creatures, not sedentary computer geeks! It will certainly help ALL depressed people to become more healthy. For serious, clinical depression, though, changing your diet won't cure the problem, though it will help to treat the symptoms.
You CERTAINLY should not stop taking antidepressants without regular appointments with your psychiatrist! Many people do get off their antidepressants though. Usually with chronic depression there is a basic cause or something mental that can be dealt with. Of course, if you don't deal with the problem, and continue to hate yourself or feel irrational guilt, you certainly won't be able to stop taking the drugs! It's just that especially in the church, we have a built-in support group which can really lift us up if we embrace it! I am fully prepared to take antidepressants for the rest of my life. After all, they SAVED my life! However, I think I will likely try to stop taking them at some point along the line. But I will CERTAINLY be informing my psychiatrist, because suicidal thoughts CAN sneak up on you if you're not paying very close attention!
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It took them all that time to figure out the food angle?
It is no wonder that since we eat so bad compared to generations before that our brain chemistry is all amuck.
There's an excellent book out: The Mood Cure by Julia Ross.
Goes into detail about "false" moods as she calls them and the necessary supplements to take for months.
Re: depression - one of the supplements increased serotonin by 600%, whereas Prozac only increased it by 150%.
I thinks SSRIs are bad anyway and should be avoided if possible.
It is no wonder that since we eat so bad compared to generations before that our brain chemistry is all amuck.
There's an excellent book out: The Mood Cure by Julia Ross.
Goes into detail about "false" moods as she calls them and the necessary supplements to take for months.
Re: depression - one of the supplements increased serotonin by 600%, whereas Prozac only increased it by 150%.
I thinks SSRIs are bad anyway and should be avoided if possible.
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SugarMag said:
Yes, I agree w/ you. That's why I'm not on meds. However, severely depressed individuals may be forced to take them and stay on them indefinitely
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Deamiter
I just follow Christ.
May I ask why you would feel like this? As with any medication, of course you should not be taking it if you don't need it, but the general 'feeling' that anti-depressants are 'bad' is really quite harmful. People who desperately need drugs latch onto this baseless idea and avoid drugs until they try to commit suicide and get the life-saving medicines when they first visit a hospital (assuming they survive).
If we start medicating sadness the same way ADD has been medicated -- for any slight symptoms, it will certainly cause many problems, but a depression that lasts for months will destroy your ability to function, and in most cases, anti-depressants relieve these symptoms with no side effects!
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Deamiter said:
I didn't make the above statement that you quoted. SugarMag did, and I responded to him/her.
Truthfully, I think SugarMag has a valid point about SSRIs. Certainly, I think that if someone needs them (like, really needs them), then it is probably better that they take them. However, I have a problem w/ much of the medical community who only wants to push pills and not deal with any of the problems at hand. That bothers me. I am sick of this attitude among professionals in the psychiatric community that ADs are the "only" way depression can be cured. I'll concede that they are probably the fastest way- and that the fastest way is probably the best way for severe depressives. However, for cases of depression that aren't severe, I think that patients should have recourse to other options besides meds if they so desire- and w/o being made to feel that not taking them is idiotic on their parts!
You say that most people don't have severe side effects while on ADs. Most is not all, and I do not fit into that "most" category. For me, anti-depressants made things worse. I couldn't stay on them for the time it takes for them to kick in, b/c I was ill on them, and didn't want to take the risk of the side effects getting any worse. I'm not alone in what I'm saying, either: I've read online petitions to drug companies asking the FDA to ban certain anti-depressants (namely, Effexor). Hundreds upon hundreds of people had signed it, many who suffered worse side effects than I did. One person said simply, "I DON'T WANT TO DIE" in response to the side effects they were experiencing.
I'm not here to fight w/ you, Deamiter. Really. If you feel that medication helps your depression- all the power to you. I'm happy that they help you, and that they saved your life. However, please acknowledge that there are some serious downsides to ADs as well, and that they are not a cure-all, nor the only feasible option for all depression sufferers.
*Ends rant here*
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Deamiter
I just follow Christ.
Good point, and I don't take it as arguement at all! I'm terribly sorry about the quote though, I edited it so it wasn't attributed wrongly to you.
I want to clarify that you shouldn't equate side effects you suffered with one type of anti-depressants with the entire class of drugs. I experienced some pretty bad side effects when I was first on drugs, but on the third try, I found one that helps me to stay more stable without feeling like I'm going to fall over all the time. The key is that your brain is so sensitive, even slight differences in the active ingredients can hugely change how different people react to it, though the effect on chemical imbalances may stay relatively stable.
Interestingly enough, after a year and a half trying different drugs, Effexor was the one that finally worked for me! Also, it hasn't cured me. I still have anxiety attacks, and I still have strong suicidal thoughts, but it's not every day, and it doesn't always throw me straight into survival mode.
What is REALLY helping me, now that I can actually think again because of the drugs, is my involvement with support groups at Church and attending weekly professional Christian therapy. I would even go as far as to say that, as you suggested, drugs are not a cure for the vast majority of depression. In many cases, though, they can bring one to a place where he or she is capable of interacting socially with others. What can actually cure is the Biblical Church where we uplift each other in Christ. Unfortunately, I spent twenty years of my life totally separated from any support even though I attended many different churches.
I guess I entirely agree, that there are many better ways to treat depression than drugs. However, I have been so hurt by two of my friends who refused to get help because they wanted so badly to be normal, and to live without the "crutch" of drugs that they ended up committing suicide. I guess I don't want to argue with you any more than you me, but I react emotionally to advice that furthers our cultural anti-medication sentiments.
I want to clarify that you shouldn't equate side effects you suffered with one type of anti-depressants with the entire class of drugs. I experienced some pretty bad side effects when I was first on drugs, but on the third try, I found one that helps me to stay more stable without feeling like I'm going to fall over all the time. The key is that your brain is so sensitive, even slight differences in the active ingredients can hugely change how different people react to it, though the effect on chemical imbalances may stay relatively stable.
Interestingly enough, after a year and a half trying different drugs, Effexor was the one that finally worked for me! Also, it hasn't cured me. I still have anxiety attacks, and I still have strong suicidal thoughts, but it's not every day, and it doesn't always throw me straight into survival mode.
What is REALLY helping me, now that I can actually think again because of the drugs, is my involvement with support groups at Church and attending weekly professional Christian therapy. I would even go as far as to say that, as you suggested, drugs are not a cure for the vast majority of depression. In many cases, though, they can bring one to a place where he or she is capable of interacting socially with others. What can actually cure is the Biblical Church where we uplift each other in Christ. Unfortunately, I spent twenty years of my life totally separated from any support even though I attended many different churches.
I guess I entirely agree, that there are many better ways to treat depression than drugs. However, I have been so hurt by two of my friends who refused to get help because they wanted so badly to be normal, and to live without the "crutch" of drugs that they ended up committing suicide. I guess I don't want to argue with you any more than you me, but I react emotionally to advice that furthers our cultural anti-medication sentiments.
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