How Can We Fight Depression Naturally? Part 2

Dear Lake Norman

On my last blog post I highlighted some information from a recent Dr. Joe Mercola article discussing depression. Today I wanted to finish the post with some of the extremely dangerous side effects associated with the drugs prescribed to treat depression and some of the safe and natural solutions. This is valuable information and I encourage everyone to click the link and check out the full article.

The List of Terrifying Antidepressant Drug Side Effects Grows

Psychiatric drugs kill 42,000 people every year-that's 12,000 MORE people than successfully commit suicide due to depression! And the death count continues to rise.

Antidepressants are the largest category of psychiatric drugs. It wouldn't be so bad if antidepressants were harmless sugar pills, occasionally showing benefit simply because you believe they will work.

But in addition to being ineffective, they are far from harmless and are now associated with many serious health problems:

* Diabetes: Your risk for type 2 diabetes is two to three times higher if you take antidepressants, according to one study.

* Problems with your immune system: SSRIs cause serotonin to remain in your nerve junctions longer, interfering with immune cell signaling and T cell growth.

* Suicidal thoughts and feelings and violent behavior: Your risk for suicide may be twice as high if you take SSRIs; seven out of twelve school shootings were by children who were either on antidepressants or withdrawing from them.

* Stillbirths: A Canadian study of almost 5,000 mothers found that women on SSRIs were twice as likely to have a stillbirth, and almost twice as likely to have a premature or low birth weight baby; another study showed a 40 percent increased risk for birth defects, such as cleft palate.

* Brittle bones: One study showed women on antidepressants have a 30 percent higher risk of spinal fracture and a 20 percent high risk for all other fractures.

* Stroke: Your risk for stroke may be 45 percent higher if you are on antidepressants, possibly related to how the drugs affect blood clotting

* Death: Overall death rates have been found to be 32 percent higher in women on antidepressants.

Diabetes or stroke will kill you, but suicide is much quicker. The link between suicide and antidepressants is so strong that these drugs have been mandated to have suicide warnings. Let's consider one of the newer psychotropic medications that are now being given to people for depression: Abilify (also called aripiprazole).

Abilify is licensed for the treatment of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, and major depression (when taken with antidepressants). It is used to augment the effects of the antidepressants-because, of course, they work so poorly!

But did you know that Abilify has 75 different side effects associated with it?

How absurd is it to take a drug that works about as well as a sugar pill but exposes you to this minefield of ills?

Andy Behrman, a former spokesman for Abilify and Bristol Myers Squibb, which manufactures Abilify, stopped taking the drug in order to avoid the final side effects-coma and death. He made a short video warning you about the drug.

If a former spokesman for the company is sticking his neck out to warn you, how warm and fuzzy does that make you feel about what the pharmaceutical companies are telling you?

If Antidepressants Don't Work, Then What Does?

There are five important strategies to consider if you are facing depression. These strategies have nothing but positive effects and are generally very inexpensive to implement.

1. Do a Bit of Emotional Housekeeping

It is helpful to view depression as a sign that your body and life are out of balance, rather than as a disease. What you need to do is regain your balance.

One of the key ways to do this involves addressing negative emotions that may be trapped beneath your level of awareness. My favorite method of emotional cleansing is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), a form of psychological acupressure.

If you have severe depression, it would be best to consult with a mental health professional who is also an EFT practitioner. But for most of you with depression symptoms, this is a technique you can learn to do effectively on your own. In fact, it's so easy that children are learning it.

There are other effective stress-management methods you could try as well, such as meditation, journaling, breathing exercises, yoga, or simply sharing your feelings with a close friend.

Experiment with a number of approaches, and then pick the methods you find most helpful but please remember that although it is very easy to learn EFT and far less expensive to use it yourself, it is nearly always better to seek a professional to perform EFT with you as it truly is an art that takes many years of refined practice to maximize its effectiveness.

2. Get Regular Exercise

Regular exercise is one of the "secret weapons" to overcoming depression. It works by helping to normalize your insulin levels while boosting the "feel good" hormones in your brain.

As Dr. James S. Gordon, MD, a world-renowned expert in using mind-body medicine to heal depression, said:

"What we're finding in the research on physical exercise is that exercise is at least as good as antidepressants for helping people who are depressed physical exercise changes the level of serotonin in your brain. And it increases your endorphin levels, your "feel good hormones."

And also-and these are amazing studies-exercise can increase the number of cells in your brain, in the region of the brain called the hippocampus. These studies were first done on animals, and they're very important because sometimes in depression, there are fewer of those cells in the hippocampus.

But you can actually change your brain with exercise. So it's got to be part of everybody's treatment, everybody's plan."

For more information, please review my article about the many ways exercise can benefit your brain.

3. Improve Your General Nutrition

Another factor that cannot be overlooked is your diet. Foods have an immense impact on your body and your brain, and eating whole foods as described in my nutrition plan will best support your mental and physical health.

Avoiding sugar (particularly fructose) and grains will help normalize your insulin and leptin levels, which is another important aspect of depression. Sugar causes chronic inflammation, which disrupts your body's normal immune function and can wreak havoc on your brain.

Sugar also suppresses a key growth hormone called BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor), which promotes healthy brain neurons and plays a vital role in memory. BDNF levels are critically low in people with depression, which animal models suggest may actually be causative.

4. Supplement Your Diet with Omega-3 Fatty Acids

I strongly recommend taking a high-quality, animal-based omega-3 fat, like krill oil. This may be the single most important nutrient for optimal brain function, thereby preventing depression.

DHA is one of the Omega-3 fatty acids in fish and krill oil, and your brain is highly dependent on it. Low DHA levels have been linked to depression, memory loss, Schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease.

5. Let the Sun Shine Down on You

Have you ever noticed how great it can feel to spend time outdoors on a sunny day? Well, it turns out that getting safe sun exposure, which allows your body to produce vitamin D, is great for your mood.

One study even found that people with the lowest levels of vitamin D were 11 times more prone to depression than those who received adequate vitamin D. You can optimize your vitamin D either by sunlight exposure or by using a safe tanning bed, or by taking a high-quality vitamin D3 supplement.

Until next time,

Dr. John

Hoctor Chiropractic and Family Wellness

Dr. Mercola Link

Office Hours

Our Regular Schedule

Monday:

9:00 am -12:00 pm

3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Tuesday:

9:00 am -12:00 pm

3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Wednesday:

Closed

Thursday:

9:00 am -12:00 pm

3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Friday:

9:00 am-12:00 pm

3:00 pm-5:00 pm

Saturday:

Closed

Sunday:

Closed

Location

Find us on the map