[midgemcgrath]

Seems like there was a lot of support for this, so here 'tis, a thread on alternative medicine. I know that there is a lot of talk about this stuff in bits and pieces on other threads, but it seems like such a popular topic these days that it really deserved its own. Anything about herbs, naturopathy, accupuncture, nutrition, etc., bring it on!

I'll start: has anyone ever used slippery elm root for digestive problems? I bought some, but I'm scared to try it, and don't know anyone who has! It's supposed to help heal irritated digestive systems...

[tatiana]

maddy, I thought I'd pop in with what worked for me:

I was given Luvox and then Prozac and none of them did me a bit of good. I got all of the side-effects that are rare. It wasn't until I was reading up on depression that I realised why.

There are two types of enzyme pathways that can be involved in depression (that we know of so far). One is treated by SSRI (prozac, luvox, etc) and the other is treated by the older drugs (the ones you can't eat cheese with). If you are given a drug that blocks the enzyme pathway that is working then it stands to reason you would get some nifty side-effects. I think that is what happened to me.

Unfortunately no drugs can treat both pathways at the same time, so that leaves a subset of patients kind of fubarred. Anyway, I did some reading on depression and started taking St-John's Wort (specifically the brand used in a clinical trial) and it worked. I could tell it was working (which I never could with drugs) and I could tell when I went off of it too soon. I also took tryptophan (I didn't even realise that it was illegal where I live until I went to buy my second bottle!)

Anyway, there were a couple books that I found really helpful that you might want to check out:

The Way Up From Down - by Priscilla Slague, MD
(easy to follow, drug-free program of B vitamins and amino acids)

Depression and Natural Medicine - by Rita Elkins
(a nutritional approach to depression and mood swings)

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy - by David D. Burns, M.D.
(clinically proven drug-free treatment for depression)

It's been a while since I've read them (they worked so I haven't needed them in several years). They are all available from Amazon. Good luck!.