Women Heal Yourselves

Depression is Big Business.

Depression is big business there is no doubt about it. All you have to do is turn on the TV to see hundreds of ads trying to convince you that not only are you depressed but you will stay that way if you don’t take their drugs.

Now granted, in this economy, there are millions of reasons to be depressed, but when depression is long term and debilitating to the point you can no longer function, you should do something about it. But before you run to your doctor and request some drug they will want you to stay on for life and can be hazardous to your long term health, consider WHY you are depressed in the first place.

 Let’s think about this.

What is depression?

A depressive condition can have these symptoms: decreased energy, general negativity, and an overall sense of dissatisfaction and hopelessness that pervades most, if not all, areas of life.

What causes long term depression?

We all get depressed from time to time but what is it that makes it a serious health issue? There are many factors that can cause depression some including:  Stressful life events, severe or chronic illness, medication side-effects, biological factors, co-occurrence of depression and anxiety, substance abuse, addictions, and family history.

So what do ALL these things have in common?

They disrupt your body’s chemical makeup. Our body is an amazing organism. It is designed to endure all types of attacks and rebound with no harm, no foul. But in these modern times our bodies are bombarded with man made chemicals and substances that were never meant to occur in nature, add the stress of modern living and it is no wonder our bodies are riddled with disease. 

Our bodies, as great as they are, just can’t keep up with the onslaught of abuse they are expected to endure. This creates a chemical imbalance which can present itself in many ways, from depression to cancer and everything in between. By restoring that balance we can protect and sometime even cure our aliments.

The problem with pharmaceutical antidepressants  is that they are synthetic. They are not natural to our system and it just doesn’t make any sense to address a chemical imbalance with more chemicals that may relieve some of the symptoms we are suffering from, but does not address the underlying CAUSE of those symptoms.

Now let’s look at anti depressant medicines such as Prozac, Paxil, Lexapro and Zoloft also called Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)…and what they do. 

According to Wikipedia SSRI’s “Increase the extracellular level of the neurotransmitter serotonin by inhibiting its reuptake into the presynaptic cell, increasing the level of serotonin available to bind to the postsynaptic receptor. They have varying degrees of selectivity for the other monoamine transporters, with pure SSRIs having only weak affinity for the noradrenaline and dopamine transporter.”

Whew! I’m getting depressed just trying to understand what that means. Let’s try and put it in Layman’s terms.

 Basically you have a hormone in your body called Serotonin that is made from the amino acid Tryptophan.(You know the same thing that is in Turkey and makes you tired after Thanksgiving dinner)  Serotonin transmits nerve signals between nerve cells.  Changes in the serotonin levels in the brain can alter your mood. What anti depressant meds in the SSRI category do is block the reabsorbtion of Serotonin to allow more Serotonin in your blood to be available. Doctors believe this increased support of nerve cells lowers glutamate (another amino acid) sensitivity, providing protection against glutamate overwhelming and exciting key brain areas related to anxiety and depression. 

Okay confusing I know but stick with me here for a moment. Here we are again messing with nature blocking a natural amino acid our body creates to perhaps increase the effectiveness of another natural substance, Serotonin.  Now I’m no rocket scientist, I’m not even a doctor, but don’t you think Nature knows better than we do about what we need and don’t need? You have to ask yourself. Could taking anti depressants add to your imbalance instead of improve it?

Here’s the thing. If you are depressed or have anxiety to the point that you are seeking medical help then all you want is immediate relief. If you take SSRI’s it takes weeks for it to start working and you can’t stop cold turkey either. Most likely you will be expected to be on them for at least a year. And before you do that PLEASE look up the side effects of these drugs.

If you are a woman over 40 or if younger recently had a baby, most likely this is a hormone issue not a mental one. And the ONLY thing that is going to help you long term is Bio Identical Hormone Replacement. But in the meantime here are some things to try.

Serotonin is released during sleep. If you are not getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night then start here. YOU MUST HAVE SLEEP FOR OPTIMAL HEALTH! If you are having trouble sleeping then try the supplement Melatonin. 3 mg is the recommended dose but many women find they need more, start with 3mg and build up to no more than 10 mg.

Try  a supplement of Tryptophan (or 5-HTP). Tryptophan is the least abundant amino acid found in foods.  It is the precursor of the sleep-inducing neurotransmitter serotonin. It also has relaxing and calming effects. Your imbalance could simply be a lack of this essential amino acid. Due to the fact that the synthesis of serotonin and melatonin within the brain is dependent on the availability of this amino acid, supplementing with Tryptophan before going to bed may produce good results in relieving insomnia and bringing your system back into balance.

Another amino acid which helped me greatly during my year of healing is GABA Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid. A GABA deficiency can directly impact a person’s ability to handle day to day or long term stress. The calming chemical in the brain, GABA induces relaxation, reduces stress and anxiety, and increases alertness. One of the four key neurotransmitters, GABA also keeps all the other neurotransmitters in check.

This last one GABA saved my life although I was already starting Bio Identical Hormones. Depending on how bad off you are, it can takes months to start balancing your hormones to the point you feel better. I ignored the symptoms of Perimenopause until I was to the point of wanting to kill someone. I was so imbalanced that I could no longer function at all. I tired Melatonin, Tryptophan and 5-HTP and they did take the edge off but I didn’t start feeling right until I took GABA. These all affect your brain a little differently. It was the Gaba I feel I was lacking. Either that or it balanced the rest for me. All I know is for the first time in months I slept through the night, I could “talk’ to my children not yell. And I was no longer in a fog. There is much much more to getting back to good than these three supplements but while you wait to find out just what your underlying issues are they can help bring some normalcy back into your life without drugging yourself into oblivion.

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Please note that it is extremely important to obtain an accurate diagnosis before trying to find a cure.  Many diseases and conditions share common symptoms: if you treat yourself for the wrong illness or a specific symptom of a complex disease, you may delay legitimate treatment of a serious underlying problem.  In other words, the greatest danger in self-treatment may be self-diagnosis. If you do not know what you really have, you can not treat it!