Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 John’s Wort is only one of many natural treatments for severe depression. A diet of select foods high in omega-3 fatty acids offers good, strong nutrition normally lacking in the American diet, and also aids in treating depression much more effectively than prescription drugs.
However, if you are in search of a way to treat your depression, it is always much better to eliminate the depression at its source, rather than try to mask its symptoms with a drug or an herb. Many people tend to use St. |
The Editors of FC&A
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| If you have low levels of vitamin B12, you double your risk for severe depression. In fact, a recent study found that one in four seriously depressed women were B12 deficient.
But don't despair - eat beef, turkey, and chicken liver; shellfish, salmon; sardines; and trout. Just remember the National Academy of Sciences says almost one-third of seniors can't absorb the vitamin B12 in food. They suggest also eating foods fortified with this nutrient - like many commercially prepared cereals — or supplementing.
A baked white potato packs close to half the B6 you need in a day. |
Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
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 Low DHEA levels have been reported in older women suffering from this condition, though at least one report has linked severe depression to increased DHEA levels. After six months using 50 mg DHEA per day, "a remarkable increase in perceived physical and psychological well-being" was reported in both men and women in one double-blind trial.28 In another double-blind trial, after only six weeks of raking DHEA at levels up to 90 mg per day, at least a 50% reduction in depression was seen in 5 of 11 participants. |
| Significant vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with a doubled risk of severe depression, according to a study of physically disabled older women.21 Depression caused by vitamin B12 deficiency can occur even if there is no B]2 deficiency-related anemia.22
Mood has been reported to sometimes improve with high amounts of vitamin B12 (given by injection), even in the absence of a B12 deficiency.23 Supplying the body with high amounts of vitamin B12 can only be done by injection. |
Joseph E. Mario
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 Sodium inside cells lowers mitochondria energy and kills cells, increases toxic wastes, lowers electric charge, and imposes anaerobic left-spin environ, with attendant viruses, spurs adrenal fatigue and severe migraines (strong adrenals help rid excess Sodium, as do antagonists B3 or Lithium orotate), severe depression, suicide, and cancer in those with over 1000 ppm.. |
| Central Nervous System in adults causing severe depression, lost concentration, emotional problems, anxiety, fears, headache, hostility, hallucinations, suicidal. |
Abram Hoffer, PhD, MD, FRCP(C) and Dr. Jonathan Prousjy, DPHE, DSC, ND, FRSH
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 The first dramatic case we saw of milk allergy was in a teenaged girl who was typically schizophrenic with visual and auditory hallucinations, many paranoid delusions, and severe depression. She had not responded to any previous treatment. But after a 4-day water fast, she was normal. One day later, after one glass of milk, she was psychotic again in 1 hour.
We have also seen a chronic paranoid schizophrenic who had been resident in a mental hospital for years. He suddenly could not urinate. |
Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
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| Significant vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with a doubled risk of severe depression (page 145), according to a study of physically disabled older women.14
A preliminary study found that postmenopausal (page 311) women who were in the lowest one-fifth of vitamin B12 consumption had an increased risk of developing breast cancer (page 65).15
Although blood levels of vitamin B12 may be higher in alcoholics (page 12), actual body stores of vitamin B12 in the tissues (e.g., the liver) of alcoholics is frequently deficient. |
Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.
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 They can have stomach cramping, severe depression, irritability, and difficulty thinking. Their craving for the "fix" of exercise is so powerful that they will run even when injured. Many extreme athletes have noticed that when they are forced to quit their exercise program they acquire numerous aches and pains that they never experienced before. This is because endorphins killed the pain during their intense exercise and for many hours afterwards. Once the endorphins are removed, all of the injuries that were sustained during the years of exercise become obvious. |
| A number of studies have shown that such immune stimulation can induce severe depression. I have often wondered how many of the suicides in high school and college students could be linked to recent vaccinations against pneumonia, pneumococcal meningitis, or other vaccine boosters. No one has looked at this.
A new study has found that a diet high in N-3 fatty acids significantly reduces depression caused by vaccination in experimental animals. |
Dr. Paula Baillie-Hamilton
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 It is, therefore, hardly surprising that moderate or severe depression is now one of the most common diseases of our time, affecting nearly 3 percent. And that figure is thought to greatly underestimate the real numbers since only one third of sufferers ever receive treatment.
Although all of us at some stage experience periods of intense sadness, true depression can be completely overwhelming and totally disabling, causing the affected person to effectively withdraw from participating in everyday life. |
Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
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| There is one case report of a man with a long history of severe depression who showed clear improvement within one month of starting a purified EPA supplement (4 grams per day of the ethyl ester of eicosapen-taenoic acid [E-EPA]).45 In a double-blind study, supplementation with E-EPA for 12 weeks was significantly more effective than a placebo at relieving symptoms of depression.46 E-EPA was beneficial, even though the participants in the study had failed to respond adequately to conventional antidepressant drugs. |
Kelly Patricia O'Meara
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 So, the patients who are in these trials represent a lower risk of severe depression and suicidality and other abnormal mental responses than do many patients in routine clinical practice. In addition, the trials are very limited in their ability to pick up adverse reactions because they generally only last four to six weeks. Overall, if you can get a serious, dangerous signal of something like mania, suicidality or violence in a clinical trial you can be almost certain that the risk in actual practice is much more frequent and severe. |
Dr. Timothy Scott
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 Though we cannot conduct some of the experiments on humans that we do with animals, we have an abundance of research that has found those who have been functioning quite well can very suddenly develop severe depression, schizophrenia or other mental problems following a severe stressor.52 Of course, those who hold the chemical imbalance doctrine want to believe it is a chemical imbalance that causes maladjustment which consequently results in more life stresses. To address this objection, some studies have been designed just to get closer to the causation question. |
| The committee minutes of the Prozac project team included the following comment: "Some patients have converted from severe depression to agitation within a few days; in one case the agitation was marked and the patient had to be taken off [the] drug. In future studies the use of benzodiazepines to control agitation will be permitted [emphasis mine]."10
There it was in Lilly's own documents. Agitation was one of the effects of Prozac's use, and it was discovered by Lilly in even their earliest trials. |
Mary-Ann Shearer
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 This brings to mind one particular case where a young woman was institutionalized for mental observation due to extremely severe depression. After various treatments it was finally discovered that her blood sugar level was quite erratic. By changing her diet to include more fruits and vegetables, and by removing refined sugar, this condition was entirely corrected. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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 Gluten intolerance can also cause severe depression. (See celiac disease in Part Two.)
Q Drug therapy is usually the medical treatment of choice for schizophrenia. However, there is no single medication that is effective in all cases. It may be necessary to try several different drugs in order to find the one that works best to keep symptoms under control.
[_ A newer drug, olanzapine (Zyprexa), has been used since the mid-1990s to treat schizophrenia. This drug was supposed to reduce tremors associated with older drugs such as haloperidol (Haldol). |
Dr. Timothy Scott
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| If that view is correct, the implication must be that there is little, if anything, you can do to be sure you avoid insanity or severe depression or any other mental health problem. That is the view which dominates psychiatry today, a view generally termed "biological psychiatry." It has been so dominant that even dictionary definitions sometimes disparage the other view (sometimes called the functional view). |
Joseph E. Mario
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| Reduces Vitamins B2 and B3 and others; can cause cancer in susceptible humans; affects people as if they had the flu, with sweats, tremors, muscle cramps, twitching, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, severe depression, psychotic behavior; itchy, runny nose, sneezing, confusion, lethargy (often these people are treated with antihistamines, which won't work forpesticide poisoning). DichloroVinyl Dimethyl Phosphate (DVDP) In ant and roach sprays; easily absorbed through the skin and lungs; harmful to animals. DDT Banned for 20 years, has now been found in another pesticide. |
Robert S. McCaleb, Evelyn Leigh, and Krista Morien
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 John's wort with those of the synthetic tricyclic antidepressant drug imipramine in people with severe depression showed that the two test substances were comparable in effectiveness for patients with severe depression (see Specific Studies). Because the patients were severely depressed, the investigators used dosages of St. John's wort and imipramine that were twice as high as those used in earlier trials.5 The results of this study are promising, but more research is needed before St. John's wort can be recommended for people with severe depression. |
Heather Boon, BScPhm, PhD and Michael Smith, BPharm, MRPharmS, ND
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 John's wort does not appear to be effective in the management of severe depression.49 A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial reported that St. John's wort (standardized 900 mg/day for at least 4 weeks; increased to 1200 mg/day if necessary for the second 4 weeks) was not effective (compared to placebo) in treating patients (n=200) diagnosed with severe (defined as Hamilton Depression Scale scores of 20 or greater) major depression.66 The publication of this study generated significant debate. |
Robert Whitaker
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 Moniz figured, functioned at a much higher level than those ill with schizophrenia or severe depression. What if he deliberately injured both frontal lobes of the mentally ill in order to cure them? After all, Joe A. could "still understand simple elements of intellectual material," he reasoned. "Even after the extirpation of the two frontal lobes, there remains a psychic life which, although deficient, is nevertheless appreciably better than that of the majority of the insane. |
Heather Boon, BScPhm, PhD and Michael Smith, BPharm, MRPharmS, ND
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| John's wort (250 mg twice daily of extract LI160) to placebo and fluoxetine (20 mg daily) in patients with severe depression (defined as Hamilton Depression Scale scores of 20 or greater) over an 8-week period. In this study, neither treatment (St. John's wort nor fluoxetine) was found to be significantly better than placebo on the two primary outcome measures of the trial (change in Hamilton Depression total score and rates of full response).72 This study also stimulated much discussion. |
| John's wort has some anti-depressant effects, clinical recommendations about its use at present must be tempered by the lack of long-term human data and studies in severe depression, uncertainty regarding mechanism of action, interaction with other medications and concerns regarding standardization and regulation of the content of commercial products in North America.23'25 Extracts of St. |
Walter Last
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 In individuals with a Type C or cancer personality, such loss often causes a severe depression of the emotions as well as of or slow-growing tumors explode in a sudden growth spurt. These emotional cancer causes need to be rectified in order to give any additional therapies a chance to work. If you have the opportunity and financial resources, consult with someone who specializes in emotional therapies; otherwise work with your partner or a friend.
Write in as much detail as possible about the worst experience of your life; share it with a trusted person. |
| Truss had a female patient with a stuffy nose, a throbbing headache, vaginitis, and severe depression. To his amazement, all her problems immediately cleared with Candida treatment. Some time later, he saw a female patient who had been schizophrenic for six vears with hundreds of electroshock treatments and massive drug dosages. He started treating the woman for sinus allergies with a Candida vaccine. Soon she had recovered mentally and physically and remained well.
From then on, Dr. Truss treated his patients against Candida at the slightest indication of its presence. |
Robert Whitaker
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| She suffered from severe depression, was suicidal, and obsessed about growing old. Freeman described her as a "master at bitching" who so domineered her husband that he led "a dog's life." Although her family consented to the experiment, she protested that she didn't want any part of it if it would require cutting her hair. Freeman mollified her by assuring her that her precious curls would not be shorn, and on September 14, 1936, he and Watts cut six corings from each of her frontal lobes. The operation went smoothly, and after awaking from anesthesia, A. H. |
The Life Extension Editorial Staff
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 Folic acid deficiency alone can cause severe depression, as can vitamin Bp2 deficiency.
Note: The usual methods of measuring these two vitamins in people is not very accurate. Additionally, because they work together, it is sometimes hard to tell which vitamin is deficient.)
The RDA for folic acid is 400 meg a day. If you are depressed, you may want to take 800 meg a day. You also may want to eat green leafy vegetables (especially spinach and kale), whole wheat bread, wheat germ, bananas, and other foods containing this member of the B family of vitamins. |
Mark Blumenthal
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 Critics emphasize that the initial design included patients with major depression of only mild to moderate severity (HAMD score > 15) but was later changed to include patients with moderate to severe depression (HAMD score > 20). Widespread publicity on this trial focused on the failure of SJW without equally noting the failure of sertraline which was given a slight edge over SJW because of sertraline's better performance on a secondary measure (a Clinical Global Impression scale that included partial responders). |
| Critics emphasize that the initial design included patients with major depression of only mild to moderate severity (HAMD score > 15) but was later changed to include patients with moderate to severe depression (HAMD score > 20).
St. John's wort
Hypericum perforatum [Fam. Clusiaceae]
Overview
St. John's wort (SJW) rose from virtual obscurity in the U.S. to become the fifth best-selling dietary supplement in mainstream retail stores. Its rise to fame came after the national media reported clinical research showing that SJW is safe and effective for treating mild to moderate depression. |
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