Saturday, May 30, 2009

Alternative Medicine For Depression

I have at least two friends who have been on antidepressants for years and that are still in them, makes me think that there should be an alternative medication for depression. Exists, but drug companies are keeping very quiet in this regard and laughs all the way to the bank.

One thing I did notice about my friends is that they put in a lot of weight and one of them has become so fat that she has had several falls and fractures and led a miserable life as a result.

Before considering alternative medicine for depression, let me add that weight gain is not a fact. Which vary from one individual to another and, in some cases, weight loss. In any case, the SSRIs (selective inhibitors of serotonin reuptake) interfere with your appetite. Add to that all other side effects ranging from rashes, tremors, dizziness, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, urinary tract infections, sleep and excessive sweating. These are listed for antidepressants such as fluoxetine and Tofranil. It is unlikely that a patient may suffer from these side effects, but one or two of them convince you that in the setting of an illness, you are messing up your body and mind. Depression with other drugs, side effects are minimal or nonexistent.

It is now estimated that approximately 54% of patients who seek alternatives to drugs and depression you can see why! In addition to yoga, acupuncture, diet and nutrition and exercise, herbal remedies, such as those using St. John's wort (Hypericum extract) have been as effective as standard antidepressants and have much fewer side effects. This was the conclusion of the Cochrane report that was published a few months ago.

In search of an herbal remedy as a great alternative medicine for depression, you want to make sure that the company is a reputable and supervision of the FDA has some of its manufacturing facilities and also provides guarantees. Just because it says "natural" on the bottle does not guarantee the purity of the product and its ingredients. Check out this site for more details of a great herbal remedy that has become a national bestseller and is the safer alternative medicine for depression.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Why Doctors Dismiss Your Symptoms

It's funny how there are some things that doctors jump to treat, but others that they ignore. For example, if I came in with high blood pressure, high BMI, and high cholesterol, you can bet I'd get some sort of drug for it (if I were a few decades older).

As another example, if I came in and said I had depression, you can bet I'd get an antidepressant. In my experience, depression is one of the easiest things to get a prescription for. In fact, sometimes a prescription will be pushed upon you even when you don't describe any diagnosis-worthy symptoms of depression (e.g. doctors recommended antidepressants for me when I described the symptoms of refractory Lyme and coinfections).

In contrast, there are other conditions that most doctors simply brush away.

For example, every time I go to the doctor, my temperature is between 96 F and 96.5 F. This is out of the normal range of 97.5 to 98.8 F. Moreover, I don't feel good at this temperature. I don't have enough energy, I get chills, I have night sweats, and I have Raynaud's phenomenon.

However, when I tell my doctors I think I might have effective hypothyroidism (perhaps something downstream of the TSH is not working right), they say that many of their patients have low body temperature and not to worry about it.

Can you imagine a doctor saying that about other conditions? "Well, your cholesterol is high, but we see that in a lot of patients, so don't worry about it," or "Well, you're probably depressed, but a lot of people are like that, so it's nothing to worry about."