I am 23, female. I have mild depression, ADD, and social anxiety. I took prescription dextro-amphetamine salts which seems to help all symptoms for about a year, but I moved and am having some trouble getting new prescriptions. I have always been a fan of natural supplements and I have found a list of supplements I would like to try taking instead because without the regular medication I was taking I lack motivation to the point I don’t even want to get out of bed in the morning but I know I can feel better than this. I was going to start taking the daily recommended dose of the following: SAM-e, St john’s Wort, Green tea supplements, fish oil supplements, calcium tablets (like tums?) for acid reflux, APS phenadrine capsules for energy and workouts, and maybe multi-vitamin? Would this combination be dangerous? Any suggestions would be very helpful, thank you.
Answer:
Depression is a difficult condition to tackle and of course should always be discussed with your doctor or healthcare practitioner before embarking on any treatment. There are certainly a number of things you can do to improve your symptoms and elevate mood naturally. Exercise, good diet and in certain cases supplements can definitely help. In regards to your specific question, the only supplements from your list I would recommend is Fish Oil and the multi-vitamin. While St Johns Worth has been shown to have some benefits for mild depression, it can also have a number of negative side effects and possibly interact with other medications and anti-depressants. It can in some cases depending on the type of condition, actually make things worse. I would recommend that you discuss the use of this particular supplement with your doctor. APS phenadrine I am not directly familiar with, although I have seen a number of these fat loss/energy, in general they contain the same ingredients which is usually a combination of stimulants, that can have significant effects on your central nervous system leading to potential adverse affects. Secondly the regulation of these products is very limited and recently a number of products have been found to be purposely contaminated with other pharmaceutical products to increase their stimulant of fat loss capability. I would strongly recommend ceasing the use of this product. In regards to supplements you can use, firstly I would recommend taking a Vitamin D supplement, Vitamin D has been shown to improve symptoms in people with depression. Take the D3 form of Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol) and aim for around 800iu daily. If you are taking a multi-vitamin already then factor in how much vitamin D you get from this into your total, so adding the two together gives you 800iu per day. You may also want to consider vitamin B12 although must multi’s contain a lot of B12 already. Additionally Vitamin D is called the sunshine vitamin because our bodies produce it when exposed to sunlight. Try to get some exposure to sunlight every day if that is possible. Vitamin D is also present in small amounts in fatty fish like salmon and mackerel as well as cheese, and egg yolks. Try to include these in your diet. Salmon and mackerel are also a rich source of natural Omega-3 fatty acids, again linked to improving depression symptoms. You may also want to consider trying Udo’s Choice oil blend, its a natural blend of Omega-3,6 and 9’s. it contains all the food good fats, already in the correct ratio needed for your body, so takes a bit of the work out of getting it right in your diet. It can be added to salad dressings or live yoghurt, but should not be cooked with as heat will damage it. The Mediterranean diet has also been promoted as having positive benefits. Try to cook using spices and herbs instead of salt and include ingredients such as olives, olive oil, fresh fruit and veg, nuts such as almonds and walnuts and red wine in small portions. Many of these foods and herbs are believed to have phytonutrients which are beneficial to the brain and overall health. I would swap your green tea supplement for drinking the real thing, drinking green tea does have health benefits, however the same cannot be said for the supplement form, which has failed to show the same benefits as drinking the real thing. Green tea does contain caffeine so perhaps you might want to save drinking this in place of when you previously used your energy supplements.