Concepts and ideas to treat depression naturally

[Guest guest]

Dear group:

 

I wrote the following copy a few months ago. I thought perhaps

there were some persons in this egroup that might find this copy of

interest.

 

Allen

 

 

Concepts and Ideas to Treat Depression Naturally

 

By Allen Darman

 

 

The following material regards the use of amino acids and other

natural measures to treat depression. In addition, it discusses many

concepts that are often germane to the treatment of a depressive

state. Certainly both the concepts and the approaches suggested in

this material do not apply to everyone that suffers from

depression. However, many of these concepts and approaches may be

germane to many, if not most, persons that are in a depressed

state. These concepts and approaches certainly apply to me, and

they have also applied to every one else that I have treated for

depression (admittedly only about a half a dozen persons).

 

The current medical model almost summarily uses various

antidepressant medications in which to treat depression.

Simplistically stated, these medications often operate to increase

the availability or usage of the neurotransmitters of serotonin

and/or dopamine in the brain. They do so to alleviate the symptoms

of depression.

 

Many orthomolecular and naturopathic practitioners and books extol

the use of 5HTP or tryptophan to order to increase one's serotonin

level, and the use of tyrosine, phenylalanine, or both to increase

the dopamine level in the brain. They recommend this for the

treatment of depression. Certainly, these amino acids, taken along

with the necessary vitamin and mineral cofactors, do exactly as

intended, which is to increase serotonin or dopamine in one's brain.

And certainly, doing so often substantially alleviates the symptoms

of depression.

 

The substitution of antidepressants that work on the serotonin or

dopamine axis with nutrient precursors that do the same

represents " an allopathic conceptual approach " to depression.

 

However, depression, far more often than not, is not simply a lack

of serotonin or dopamine or both. This is true even if raising the

levels of one or both of these two key neurotransmitters often

brings substantial relief to this state of mental and physical

dysfunction.

 

Depression, far more often than not, is a broad deficiency state

across most, if not all, of the entire neurotransmitter range... and

there are about 100 known neurotransmitters. Once depression is

recognized as such, it is profoundly treatable in an amazingly short

time.

 

In my recovery from manic depression, I began to use tryptophan,

tyrosine, and phenylalanine in mid 1997, with very substantial and

positive mood effect. I initially used tryptophan, taurine, and GABA

daily for brain inhibition and to assist with sleep (this regime is

very similar to what Julia Ross suggests in her book " The Mood

Cure " ). I also used the key nutrient combination of 500 mg. of L-

carnitine in the morning and phosphatidyl choline throughout the day

to slow the spontaneous rate of neuronal firing in my brain, an

effect that was very similar to lithium. In addition to this, to

treat depression in myself I used both tyrosine alone and/or a

tyrosine/phenylalanine combination on a fairly regular basis from

May 1997 until February 2000. The use of tryptophan, tyrosine, and

phenylalanine did substantially help me to alleviate depression in

myself, and I learned a great deal from the use of these amino

acids...

 

however...

 

I later found that just jazzing my serotonin and dopamine levels, as

helpful as this was to my mood and well being for a few years or so,

was a rather weak approach to treating depression in both myself and

other persons vs. increasing the levels of all of my

neurotransmitters all at once.

 

One must realize that out of the roughly 100 known

neurotransmitters, 99 of them are amino acid based, and the key

exception here is acetylcholine. Assuming that all of the vitamin

and mineral cofactors are present, the entire amino acid range and

choline (or phosphatidyl choline, it's more active form), represents

precursor loading of the entire neurotransmitter range, for all

ostensible purposes.

 

In February of 2000, I began to experiment with taking broad based

amino acids, rather than simply taking a few individual ones to

treat depression in myself. Almost immediately, by a process of

trial and error, I found that a mixture of two readily available

blends of amino acids, along with added tryptophan, carnitine,

phosphatidyl choline, and vitamins B complex and C, would boost me

out of any degree of depression that I was in and/or keep me out of

depression entirely if I took it in adequate quantity often enough.

 

Specifically, the two blends of amino acids that I am referring to

here are Pure Form 20 and WAC blend from www.jomarlabs.com. After

trial and error of a number of Jomar Laboratories blended amino acid

products in early 2000, I settled on a 50/50 mix of these two

specific blends to affect mood change in myself. These two blends

are quite reasonable in cost, reasonable enough for most persons to

be able to afford in quantity. Pure Form 20, which is 20 different

amino acids, costs only $11.00 for 125 500mg caps, $38.60 for 500

500 mg caps, and $120.60 for 1000 grams (one kilogram) of powder.

WAC blend costs only $28.30 for 505 450mg caps. or $88.00 for 1000

grams (one kilogram) of powder. I would commonly get a kilogram of

each blend in either powder (the powder does not taste too good…

yuck!) or capsule form and take between 20 and 50 grams or more in

total of these blends on a daily basis (10 to 25 grams of each

blend). To these amino acid blends, I would add some tryptophan, for

which I had a prescription, and ALWAYS add carnitine and

phosphatidyl choline as well (if I did not add choline I would get a

bit of a headache if I took too large a dosage of these two blends).

I would also always take vitamins B complex and C at the same time,

along with lots of water.

 

The effect of my using the broad based neurotransmitter precursor

approach discussed above on my mood and well being was, and still

is, absolutely AWESOME, compared to my prior approach of just using

tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine in order to effect mood

change in myself.

 

The single and crucial catch to all of the above was that I had to

be adequately absorptive in my gut. Since 1997, I have found that

the absorptive rate in my intestines could vary widely from day to

day and week to week depending. Even a single exposure to a rather

small amount of a food that I was allergic to could substantially

impair my intestinal absorptive ability for days, assuming that I

did not recognize this and intervene. I also learned that if I was

bloated in my abdominal area any significant degree, it meant that I

was malabsorptive to some degree... and that the more bloated I was,

the more malabsorptive I was as well. In addition, I learned that if

I was exposed to a lot of allergic food, that I could quite easily

get to the point where I could not even absorb water well, much less

almost any nutrients at all, until this situation was resolved. And

lastly, I learned how to massively correct my nutrient absorptive

rate within a matter of hours.

 

Once I learned how to correct my nutrient absorptive rate within a

matter of hours, I could effect absolutely profound change in my

mood and well being a handful of hours after this as well, as I

could get a high quantity of essential nutrition into my body. I

have found that it does not take the brain that long to build a lot

of neurotransmitters, once it has adequate nutrient raw material to

work with. Even four or five hours can be very significant in this

regard.

 

I can quite literally correct a state of very severe depression with

suicidial ideation in myself within a single day, something that no

one else in the world can do at this time, to the best of my

knowledge.

 

Once I put the above concepts together, I realized that I had gained

complete and profound control of any and all states of depression in

myself, as well as I could avoid such states entirely if I so wished

to do so. This is a fact that has been true for over three and a

half years. It is also a fact that I fully expect will remain so

for the rest of my life, as long as I have access to the supplements

discussed here.

 

A few other realizations came about as the result of the above:

 

The first realization that I had, and clearly the most important,

was that the human brain is far more protein dependent than most

persons realize. Everyone knows that their muscles need protein,

but few know that that their brain, as small as it is, probably

needs, uses, and uses up more protein that all of their muscles put

together, despite the fact that their muscle mass is far greater

than their brain mass.

 

The second realization that I had is that it is often very helpful

conceptually to think of a state of depression as just a protein

deficient state that has " tripped over to the point of body and

brain dysfunction " .

 

The third realization that I had is that when the above occurs (a

state of protein deficiency that has gone too far), it is extremely

common for a person to crave " cheat fuels " such as sugar or

alcohol,

rather than protein, which is what they really need. Cheat fuels

only make things worse, not better. Often, just the simple measure

of eating a large piece of broiled fish instead of getting that box

of ice cream or that bottle of vodka when you first sink into a

state of depression represents very powerful and effective chemical

intervention. This measure is even much more effective when a

powerful digestive enzyme such as DigestEnz is used to assist in the

protein breakdown of protein foods. EVERY depressed person should

be using such a digestive enzyme at every single meal when they are

depressed.

 

The fourth realization that I had, and one of the many reasons for

this post, was that I realized that the common naturopathic approach

of using the amino acids of tryptophan (or 5HTP), tyrosine, and

phenylalanine to treat depression was a flawed conceptual approach

that was probably the result of copying the medical model approach

to depression (which is simply monkeying with serotonin and dopamine

levels in order to alleviate depression, for the most part).

 

The fifth realization that I had was that I found that other persons

responded to the amino acid blends of Pure Form 20 and WAC in

dosages that were often much different than that which I often

needed. I found that some depressed persons responded quite well to

as little as eight grams total (four grams of each blend) of the two

amino acid blends I was using, some responded quite well to fifteen

grams total of these blends, and for some persons fifteen grams

total was way too much, etc.

 

The sixth realization that I had was that if these amino acid blends

were taken in dosages that were too high for one's biochemistry at

the moment, that they could quite easily become hypomanic or manic

on these blends, similar to a bipolar person taking too much

tyrosine, phenylalanine, or aspartic acid at once. One ALWAYS needs

to " slowly dose up " with these blends, being cautious to not become

too manic if they are bipolar (or even if they are " normal " ), the

same as when they are taking tyrosine or other excitatory amino

acids. Another idea that might help here is to add some taurine to

these two blends, as taurine is almost always inhibitory, such that

the resultant mixture might be more balanced in regard to excitation

and inhibition.

 

The seventh realization that I had in taking these two blends and

the additional nutrients that I mentioned, was that the hair on my

head grew in both thicker and faster and that the muscles on my arms

and legs both grew noticeably and became firmer, despite the fact

that I was not exercising at all. These were both unexpected side

effects, and most welcome ones.

 

Protein, in the form of free from amino acids, enormously helps me,

both physically and mentally. Protein, in the form of steak, fish,

etc. also helps me greatly, but not nearly as much or as fast as

free form amino acids do. This appears to be true even though I have

recognized and treated a severe deficiency of HCL (stomach acid) in

myself. I need, and I take, as many as 20 to 25 625mg. HCL capsules

when I eat a large meal, and 7 or 8 capsules of HCL for even a

single small can of tuna fish. Digestive enzymes do help my mood and

well being when I eat high protein foods as well, due to the fact

that they break this protein down better such that it can be

absorbed into the body. However, the use of digestive enzymes

coupled with eating protein foods does not help me nearly as much as

when I am severely depressed as the taking of amino acids as I am

suggesting here does.

 

The eighth realization that I had, a realization that came a bit

later than those above, is that it is ALWAYS wise to add fish oil

and the other " good oils " to one's regime when they

taking high

dosage free form amino acids such as I am suggesting here. Don't

neglect these good oils when you are using amino acids, and try to

take some the same day. The brain is 60% fat, and fat is clearly

important to its proper function.

 

The ninth realization that I had is that good gut floral status does

seem to help me substantially when I eat high protein foods.

Adequate good gut bacteria appear to me to play a key role in

protein utilization for reasons that are unclear to me at this time

(I use the probiotic Primal Defense for this).

 

The tenth realization that I had is that the repetitive juicing of

raw organic non-allergic vegetables ought to ALWAYS be used to treat

a depressive state (and eat some of the fiber as well, don't

throw

it all out). Juicing is mineralizing, it is alkalizing, it is

" gut

healing " , it does not need either digestive enzymes or HCL to

help

tremendously (even if a person in deficient in these secretions),

and it contains a powerful array of essential and easily absorbed

nutrients.

 

The eleventh realization that I had is that alternative medicine is

so close to putting together an intervention for depression that

would be so powerful and so fast acting in enough persons that it

would probably revolutionize the treatment of depression worldwide

in a matter of a few short years. Unfortunately, they just do not

realize this yet. Alternative medicine taught me almost all of the

puzzle pieces reflected in this material, they just have not coupled

them together well such that they generate the amazing results that

I know from experience are possible. It is only a matter of time

before alternative medicine does couple these puzzle pieces

together. As a result of what I know, I am morally obligated to do

all that I can for the rest of my life to be a catalyst in this

event occurring.

 

Nothing that I have done (and I have tried much) has done more for

me both physically and mentally than what the free form amino acid

blends and the necessary added nutrients that I have mentioned here

have done for me both mood-wise and otherwise, or is even close.

These necessary added nutrients are tryptophan, phosphatidyl

choline, carnitine, EFA's, and the entire vitamin and mineral

range

for the most part.

 

Quite obviously, the use of an amino acid such as glutamine can

increase one's intestinal absorptive rate substantially. Therefore

some dosage adjustment may need to be made when preceding the use of

broad based amino acids an hour or two before with glutamine. The

use of glutamine to heal the gut and increase absorption in a person

that is depressed is perhaps always very wise intervention.

 

Much less obvious, if not quite rarely known, is that the usage of a

high dosage bentonite/psyllium/water combination prior to taking

glutamine can " unblock " a number of common problematic issues in the

intestine within a matter of hours, and thus substantially increase

one's nutrient absorption rate as well (assuming the use of such a

combination is not contraindicated for some reason). High dosage

bentonite/psyllium/water can very effectively remove yeast,

many " bad bugs " , undigested food, allergic food residue,

excess

mucous, etc. from the gut. In the proper dosage for one's gut size

and gut status, high dosage bentonite/psyllium/water is a gut

cleansing routine that is unparalleled, in my opinion. However, if

there is any bleeding in the stomach or intestines, any ulceration,

any serious gut abnormality, any allergy to psyllium, any severe

constipation, and/or any stricture (see Bernard Jensen's " Tissue

Cleansing Through Bowel Management " ) in the gut, the use of such a

gut cleansing routine may be contraindicated.

 

When I take a high dose bentonite/psyllium/water to clean out my

gut, I know that I am going to need to replace my good bacteria as

well. I have found that if I only wait 4 to 6 hours after taking a

very high dose of bentonite, etc. that I can take a high dose of a

good probiotic and experience almost no die off whatsoever, despite

the fact I was high candida/bad bacteria before I took this

cleansing routine. It took me years of playing with this stuff to

really know what I needed to do here, and in what dosages. I have

also found that if I waited until the next day before I took a high

dose probiotic after gut cleansing, that I would get a pretty

serious die off reaction (I reach for high dose vitamin C on a

repetitive basis when this happens, and it really helps).

Apparently, candida and bad bacteria proliferate very quickly in the

gut (I once saw a reference stating that yeast can double in 20

minutes in the gut). The keys here to do this right are both timing

and dosage, and it took me quite some time to work this out. The

effort was well worth it.

 

I highly suggest that if you are a practitioner using amino acids to

treat depression, that you consider using ideas similar to that

which I suggest here vs. simply just using tyrosine/phenylalanine,

etc. to treat depression in a person. In my opinion, simply

suggesting tyrosine and phenylalanine for the treatment of

depression is quite outdated. However, this is a very simple

approach, and it often gives enough results to get the patient far

more interested in using amino acids and other nutrients to correct

depression. Perhaps these are its greatest values.

 

I do suggest using great caution in the beginning in regard to the

dosages recommended, as well as getting the patient fully involved

in this issue of dosage from day one. The lines " I can give you a

great deal of help steering you in the right direction as far as

what nutritional substances to use to effect profound mood change in

yourself, but only you can determine the proper dosage for your

biochemistry " and " dose up slowly, monitoring the effect in

yourself, being cautious to not take too much that you become manic "

puts the burden of " what is the proper dosage? " on the patient,

where it should ALWAYS lie anyway.

 

I also cannot recommend enough that if you are using excitatory

amino acids with your patients that you first assist them in

defining an effective inhibitory nutrient regime for themselves

before using any excitatory nutrients whatsoever. This takes a huge

amount of the risk out of the above excitatory nutrient regime in

regard to it's making someone too manic, as an answer will already

be in place for this. This should really be a must. I refuse to

teach any person how to use excitatory nutrients until they learn

how to use inhibitory ones, ESPECIALLY if they are bipolar.

 

In addition, I highly suggest that before any practitioner

recommends the above to other persons, that they personally

experiment with this regime themselves. A single bottle of 500 caps

each of Pure Form 20 and WAC blend costs a total of only $66.90 plus

shipping, and tryptophan, carnitine, phosphatidyl choline and the

other necessary cofactors will not break anyone's piggy bank. This

stuff will not hurt a " normal person " , and it could teach them a

great deal about what amino acid therapy is all about

 

Never forget the two most common causes of recurrent depression in

anyone. These are the issues of the likelihood of multiple hidden

food allergies and the likelihood of intestinal dysbiosis. Usually

when some one has one of these problems, they almost always have the

other as well. These two issues always ought to ALWAYS be assessed

and/or addressed in any person that suffers from chronic or

recurrent depression.

 

Lastly, I am not representing that a 50/50 mix of Pure Form 20 and

WAC blend from www.jomarlabs.com along with added tryptophan is an

ideal amino acid blend for the treatment of depression or anything

else. It is simply the best and most affordable amino acid mixture

that I have found to date, without someone being priced out of the

market if they are taking this stuff regularly in the dosages that I

am suggesting here.

 

I sincerely hope that the above material was helpful to the reader.