Alternatives To Anti-Depressants

As I read through patient charts I’m always struck by how many patients are taking anti-depressants. Anti-depressants are thought to work by altering the activity of particular neurotransmitters. There is some controversy in the media regarding how safe they are and how well they work. I’ve also read that anti-depressants were never FDA approved to treat chronic depression. Another problem with anti-depressants is that even if they do work initially, over time the body acclimates to the drug and their effect is lessened.

The good news is that there are very powerful alternatives. I’ll be presenting a series of blog posts about the symptoms associated with deficits of four major brain neurotransmitters: dopamine, seratonin, GABA and acetylcholine and discuss why nutritional intervention may supply safe, powerful natural alternatives to medications. Interestingly, the nutritional compounds are often used to successfully treat depression in many other countries throughout the world. Many of these nutrients can be taken with your prescribed anti-depressants. This is not true in the case of St. John’s Wort which is so powerful on it’s own that many doctors feel that you shouldn’t take it with a SSRI (serotonin re-uptake inhibitor). More on this later.