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5 htp & depression
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Always feel crappy this time of year.
I'm in councilling an' all that, but considering taking something light to give me a boost.
Any ideas?
I'm in councilling an' all that, but considering taking something light to give me a boost.
Any ideas?
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Whenever this time of year comes up, I try to watch my intake of products with a lot of caffeine, sugar and processed stuff. Leafy veg, nuts etc to keep magnesium levels and foods with B vitamins. I also try to exercise more and get out and see more comedies; I feel much better after physically laughing.
As above, St Johns Wort is meant to be good though? I am going to be giving that a go early next year
Are you against proper medication then?
I don't trust it. Basically, I'm a very busy person who does two jobs that require talking to people. Also am a volunteer and in my final year of uni... So I can't risk a fuzzy head or being numb which is what anti-depressents do to me.
I am having more lows than normal at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it's SAD. I'm not really enjoying much and I'm dreading socialising tomorrow.
However, I get highs too. I'd rather try something gentler at first and still feel because I live to experience emotion, happy and sad and without it I'm nothing.
I don't consider myself to be serious enough to go back on prozac anyway.
SAD I think affects lots of people here, my girlfriend gets it terribly and I do later in the winter.. especially as I work shifts.
Especially when we have a fucking craphole summer too! urgh.
SAD (Seasonal affective disorder) affects around 2% of the population of Northern Europe and many sufferers have symptoms that can severely disrupt their lives. There are quite a few treatments that can be used to help manage your symptoms. Counselling is a popular and effective treatment, so it’s good to hear that you have started going to sessions to help. The Seasonal affective disorder association has loads of helpful information about the different forms of treatment for SAD that you might want to take a look at.
Like Cheese on Toast mentioned antidepressants are sometimes used to complement counselling, but some people say that these do not help a great deal because they exacerbate some of the symptoms like sleepiness and lethargy.
Light therapy has been shown to be the most effective treatment for SAD. This is the exposure to very bright light for up to four hours per day. Light boxes are not available on the NHS and have to be bought from specialist retailers.
There’s a really helpful article on SAD on TheSite.org that you might want to have a look at, or check out the NHS direct article on it.
Hope this helps :thumb:
It's the Omega 3 in fish oils that can help which can be sourced elsewhere. They are also found in flaxseed oil (which is the same thing as linseed oil) although it needs to be consumed raw to be of benefit as cooking it destroys it apparently. You can buy Vegetarian/ Vegan Omega 3 in capsules from larger pharmacies or from Waitrose or you could just try including some linseeds in your diet.
I went to a talk a while ago by a consultant pyschiatrist (for my local mental health service users group) called "Dealing with Depression" and he highly recommended the Omega 3, he said he takes it himself to keep depression at bay as well.
There have been many studies into Omega 3 and depression and the results are quite consistently in favour of it.
I wanted to say that whilst I have no personal experience of this one you need to be really careful with St John's Wort as it can stop other medications from working properly (including the contraceptive pill). Also the dosage etc is very inconsistent between brands. Medical professionals have warned me off this one.
Will let people know how I get along
5htp is an odd one, I have found periods where I have used it have improved my general mood. The problem with it though is that it can give you really intense dreams and end up disturbing your sleep pattern.