Dear Health Conscious Reader,
This past holiday season, I had a few patients come to me after taking antidepressants.
The drugs weren’t doing anything for them. This is something I see all too often.
Antidepressants are prescribed for everything under the sun. Many times for symptoms that don’t even fall under the prescription guidelines.
But it’s big business. In a recent study, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that antidepressant drugs are the most prescribed drug in America.1
Unfortunately, they rarely work. In fact, they can do more harm than good.
A study, known as the Woman’s Health Initiative, followed 136,000 women aged 50 to 79.
Researchers found that the women taking antidepressants were 45 percent more likely to experience stroke, and 32 percent more likely to die overall.2
I’m never surprised by findings like this.
Antidepressant drugs have been linked to several negative side effects in the past, including birth defects in pregnant women and increased suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
What’s more, if you’re already on antidepressants and stop taking them, chances are you’ll experience withdrawal symptoms. Ironically, these can include depression and anxiety.
And get this – when you experience depression as a withdrawal symptom, it’s usually worse than the depression that originally caused the need for the drug in the first place!3
The benefits antidepressants provide simply don’t outweigh their risks.
I always tell my patients they need to ditch the drugs and start making real changes in their life.
If you’re not already, start exercising. Get your heart rate up. This makes your body release serotonin – the “feel good hormone” – and your mood will improve.
Avoid heavily processed foods. They’re laden with chemicals that can cause hormonal imbalances and leave you feeling less than stellar. Also, avoid alcohol or limit your consumption. It’s a depressant and will only intensify your feelings of depression.
Finally, you can also try any one of these three safe, all-natural “depression busters”:
St. John’s Wort – This common flowering plant is just as effective as prescription drugs when it comes to improving your mood. It’s also safer. German researchers found that those who took St. John’s wort for 4 to 12 weeks felt just as good as those taking prescription drugs for the same period of time.4 Even though this alternative is far safer, make sure to take it with medical supervision. St. John’s wort is chemically active and can have an impact on your body – especially if you’re taking other medications. Check with your doctor first.
SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine) – For over 20 years, SAMe has been widely used in Europe to treat depression. And in 2002, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study that confirmed its efficacy. The study gave one group of people SAMe and the other the antidepressant imipramine for 6 weeks. Both groups reported the same amount of improvement in mood. Better yet, the SAMe group also reported significantly less side effects.5 You can get SAMe at your local health-food store. I recommend you take 200mg a day to start. If after two weeks you’re not seeing considerable improvement, increase to 400mg.
Testosterone – It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman. Low testosterone levels can mean fatigue, low energy, and overall feelings of depression. Get your hormone levels tested. If your doctor finds an imbalance, consider natural hormone replacement therapy. If you’re interested in having your testosterone measured, you can become a patient at my Florida clinic by calling Gigi at 561-784-7852.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
- http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/07/09/antidepressants/index.html
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6809697/Antidepressants-linked-to-increased-stroke-risk.html
- http://www.helpguide.org/mental/medications_depression.htm
- Linde K, et al. “St John’s wort for major depression.” Cochrane Reviews. 2008. 4:CD000448.
- Roberto Delle Chiaie, Paolo Pancheri, and Pierluigi Scapicchio, “Efficacy and tolerability of oral and intramuscular S-adenosyl- L-methionine 1,4-butanedisulfonate (SAMe) in the treatment of major depression: comparison with imipramine in 2 ulticenter studies”, Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, Nov 2002; 76: 1172S – 1176S.