Rolly polly

[ewt]

[Poll #862953]



NOTE: I am not suggesting that anyone take any supplements, particularly if currently on prescribed medication. The combination of, say, St. John's Wort and SSRIs, for example, can result in Serotonin toxicity.

Comments

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

I know this, though happily not from experience. I can't take St. John's Wort with my oral contraceptives anyway.

[ali-in-london.livejournal.com]

Just out of interest, do you (or anyone who has either thing handy) know if such information is mentioned on either the St John's Wort or the SSRIs packaging or instruction leaflet?

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Does it count as a supplement if you try to have oily fish occasionally or have ground flax seed in bread?

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

If you make a point of having a certain number of servings per week and you usually have that number of servings, yes. If you generally try to remember to eat more on principle but don't keep track of what that means or really have any idea about amounts etc, probably not. It's borderline.

[spangle-kitten.livejournal.com]

I actually stopped taking prozac without the doctor's permission. I hated the stuff, I had bad side effects and I hated what it did to my moods. I'd rather have the highs and lows of depression than be in the constant middle ground where all emotion washed over me.

I am diagnosed as a manic depressive, yet I purposefully came of the meds. I was on 90mg a day, which is a lot, I cut down with the Dr but I didn't tell him I was not taking them any more at all untill I was off them all together.
This may seem weird to some people but having come off it I can now understand my illness better and actually embrace the creativity it can give me. Byron didn't take prozac so why should I?! I don't take St John's Wort as I found it did nothing whatsoever for me.

I'm a firm believer in homeopathy, be it a placebo effect or whatever I've seen it work. My grandad was wheelchair bound and on death's door. As a last ditch attempt he tried homeopathy and stopped taking the prescriptions. Within a few months he coud walk again, with a stick however but before he could hardly move his legs, and went on to live for another 10 years when the doctors gave him only a few months. There's a theory that to utterly detox and introduce certain encouraging substances kicks the immune system back in gear, because of prescribed meds doing it's job for it the immune system gets lazy. (though obviously a bit more scientific!)

So many of the supplement pills are a total con though! They only work if you eat right as well, so vitamin C is relased if you eat friut as well, which undermines the pills because you get enough vitamins from the fruit...

The pills I do take are the contraceptive pill, if I come off it the periods are unbearable, as well as period specific painkillers, and meds for when I get a migraine. Despite trying homeopathy for the migraines, nothing has helped. I get proper migraines that can last for days of just lying in a dark room in agony, and only prescribed painkillers can make it go away, and prescribed anti nausea can stop me throwing them back up again. Also allergy pills, I have some bad allergys and I'm going the way of my dad with was to slowly swap the prescribed drugs and go to homeopathic ones - my dad couldn't go outside in spring at one point because of pollen causing such a bad reaction!

Though having said that, having come off prozac the migraines are getting less and less :)

[arkady.livejournal.com]

I am bipolar; started out being type II but migrated to type I thanks to SSRIs (for DSM-V they are onsidering a new catagory of bipolar - type III, induced by inappropriate antidepressant use). I spent three years with my symptoms regulated by lithium.

I am now pregnant and therefore completely off medication; I am intending to consult a homeopath with a view to treating my bipolar and the inevitable postnatal depression through homeopathic means after birth, as this will enable me to continue breastfeeding safely. A close friend is halfway through training to become a homeopath and she has treated me very successfully for morning sickness and tooth abscesses with homeopathic remedies, and for me I think they are going to be an ideal alternative to conventional medicine.

I wouldn't really like to try treating bipolar simultaneously with both lithium and homeopathic remedies however, as I couldn't be entirely sure which one was doing the job. However having read up on lith-c, the homeopathic preparation of lithium carbonate, it looks as if the homeopathic version would be just as effective in me as the conventional medication.

I would never recommend trying to self-treat with homeopathy however, having seen at first hand how much work goes into homeopathic diagnosis. I would always consult a trained practitioner.

For what it's worth, BUPA will part-fund homeopathic treatment....

[pasdeschiens.livejournal.com]

My doctor suggested I take evening primrose in order to try and combat some moodswings I have which we don't *think* are hormone-related (wrong point in cycle etc, oral contraceptives making 'cycle' a moot point really anyway), but we're trying anyway. Placebo affect perhaps but they do seem to make a difference and I'm considering increasing the dose.

Also helping brain: Rescue Remedy (although I need a new bottle, I've decided this one doesn't work any more and instead the three drops of herbal brandy (which is all it is, really) make me giggle, even when dispersed through a bottle of water), and pretty much anything vitamin B related. Both recommended while doing my last year of high school, and invaluable since.

Also invaluable! (Can't believe I forgot this!) ...tissue salt, Kali Phos. "For nervous tension, depression and irritability." - it's a 'nerve nutrient'. Has worked wonders, through late last year when I was grieving for my grandfather, suffering a still-unknown illness (and chronic pain), dealing with an infected wisdom tooth, and coping with a relationship that was on its last gasp.

Taking them regularly (and now on an as-needed basis), I got through that patch and they've helped immensely since.

The ones I use are Martin and Pleasance (http://www.martinandpleasance.com/products.php?dis=cat&ca_ID=1&pr_ID=38"), but I strongly advise that you look into this yourself. As much as I don't like the idea of one thing fixing everything... this has been a magic pill for me - and it's non-medicinal, making it totally non-addictive / dependency forming, and as far as I know, there are no contraindications with most medications (please, please check that one for yourself, of course). It's also relatively cheap - I got mine for 100 tablets for less than AU$10.

It was recommended to me by a friend (a pseudo-auntie, in fact), who had it recommended to her when she was not coping well with the death of her partner. She too, claims Kali-Phos as a magic tablet, and credits it with the reason she was able to get through that time.

Good poll. I like it.

[spangle-kitten.livejournal.com]

My mum did well on oil of evening primrose during the menopause.

Rescue Remedy (although I need a new bottle, I've decided this one doesn't work any more and instead the three drops of herbal brandy (which is all it is, really)

Brilliant stuff indeed! I think it's placebo effect really but the association between the taste of it and the feeling of calmness can't be knocked if it happens.

Kali phos is also brilliant. I find it helps for mild depression (I'm manic depressive, so have massive highs/lows) but not for the massive extremes, but it can certainly help reduce those sudden mood swings.

[cabd.livejournal.com]

Snake oil sold by charlatans and frauds, for the most part.

If you want something with medicinal effectiveness consult someone who has medical qualifications; if you take medication unsupervised or unregulated then you're asking to be poisoned.

St. Johns wort is poison. It has many of the same side effects as prescription drugs yet you can buy it like its smarties. Same goes for a wide range of herbal 'cures'. While some of them can be effective, I've never met a herbalist I'd trust with so much as a dandelion flower (and I've gone and talked to every new herbalist I've heard of in each of the towns I've lived in).

If you have a balanced diet, then unless you've need medical attention you will not need supplements. If you think you need supplements, then take a long, hard look at your diet and fix it by eating properly.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

If you want something with medicinal effectiveness consult someone who has medical qualifications;

Easier said than done; my GP can't even decide if I'm depressed or not (although she has prescribed antidepressants), but puts the majority of my physical symptoms down to stress and depression despite not testing for some of the other things which could cause my problems. This has happened before with other doctors, as soon as the 'depression' or 'low mood' thing is mentioned, everything is due to that and there couldn't possibly be anything else the matter with me.

I'm not saying that all doctors are like this, but I'm pretty disillusioned at the moment. Of course depression can have physical symptoms. Physical problems can have depression as a symptom as well, which is what worries me.

[juliet]

If you have a balanced diet, then unless you've need medical attention you will not need supplements.

This is not 100% true. I'm vegan, & eat a balanced vegan diet. But there's a couple of things (notably B-12 & omega 3s) that can be difficult to get enough of in a vegan diet. So I supplement with a multivitamin & a teaspoon of flax oil daily. Of course, you could say that vegan != balanced :-)

I've also always had mild anaemia, & the multivit covers the iron (& extra vit C which helps absorption). Iron supplements were recommended by my GP about 15 yrs ago when I was a teenager. I eat a significant quantity of dark green veg, lentils, & other iron-containing things; I just seem to need more than average. (Hrm, I guess this may count as 'need medical attention'?).

In terms of the original Q; I take Evening Primrose Oil against the horrendous mood-crash (unstoppable tears, suicidal/SI thoughts, etc) I started getting on the first day of my period, after I came off hormonal contraception. Works like a charm. (My mother took it pre- & during-menopause, & she found it useful, as well). It does of course have a long history of use for this.

And I take 5-HTP on specific occasions when I've been chemically altering the balance of serotonin in my brain :-) I wouldn't be keen on taking it long-term; same as St John's Wort, I think it's quite powerful stuff & one should be careful.

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

"If you have a balanced diet, then unless you've need medical attention you will not need supplements."

Nonsense. Unless, of course, you *want* to get cancer...

[hennes.livejournal.com]

As a child I used to take iron supplements because the iron level in my blood was very low. They drew a tube of blood once per week to measure the iron levels. Since then I haven't had any prescriptions, though I do take some omega-3 fishoil capsules and when I bake bread I usually add some lineseeds.

[ali-in-london.livejournal.com]

The one time I tried homeopathic medicine I suffered no ill effects, but I suffered no positive effects either. Similarly with the ginseng and omega-3, although I don't take it regularly enough and pay enough attention for my experiences to be relavent to the works/doesn't-work debate.

I get a certain well-documented effect with zinc and while I wouldn't necessarily describe it as positive it's not a significant ill-effect.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, did you consult a homeopath or did you self-treat?

[pfy.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of 'alternative health' quacks spouting absolute bollocks about supplements, so it's important to do your own research (e.g. checking MedLine) to make sure that there's actually some decent evidence that what you're taking is useful. There definitely are supplements out there that can be very helpful for certain conditions, but you have to be able to apply a little critical thinking to separate the reality from the quackery.

I didn't check with my GP when I started taking omega-3/6/9 capsules, but I reasoned that a couple of millilitres of vegetable oil was probably not going to do me much harm. Certainly none of the information sheets for any other meds I use mentioned avoiding fry-ups or sesame-seed bagels.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

Certainly none of the information sheets for any other meds I use mentioned avoiding fry-ups or sesame-seed bagels.

I love you!

There definitely are supplements out there that can be very helpful for certain conditions, but you have to be able to apply a little critical thinking to separate the reality from the quackery.

*nog* I tend to think my critical thinking skills are reasonably average. Then I see the way some people think, and decide that perhaps they are excellent.

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

If you want to find 'absolute bollocks about supplements' then MedLine is certainly the place to go. They don't index several important journals which deal with nutrition and refuse even to explain why. See, for example, http://www.agoravox.com/article.php3?id_article=5213 , http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/331/7531/1487#124851 . Medline seem to think that Readers Digest is more worthy of indexing than the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine (in which much of the later work of Linus Pauling was published).
Medline's indexing process is largely political, and gives a hugely inaccurate picture of the current state of nutritional medicine.

[ceb.livejournal.com]

'Under the supervision of my doctor' as in I told her; I did all the research myself. I was still skeptical after that but it seemd worth a go, and did actually help.

[mubeimmik.livejournal.com]

My last psychiatrist suggested taking omega3 capsules and he said he'd seen a marked improvement in some of his patients, but it wasn't a miracle cure and it didn't work for everyone. I didn't ever find any that I could gag down (some pills and me aren't friendly), but I've considered looking again.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

Here it's possible to get liquid flax seed oil or even flavoured omega-3 oil that you pour into a spoon and take (or you could mix it into a smoothie of some sort I guess), which might be a better option than tablets. Some of them are pretty damn big.

[doseybat.livejournal.com]

I guess I am very lucky to be able to take nothing at all, but personally I am just wary of eating things that are not food if I can possibly help it. You probably think I am a paranoid control freak and you are probably right!

[technomom]

I've suffered from clinical depression for much of my life. There have been times when I was doing well enough to use SJW to control the symptoms, but that was with a LOT of self-knowledge and careful monitoring from my partner. The brand of supplement was extremely important, as some have damn near no actual hypericum (active ingredient) content.

I seemed to have good effects from HTP-5 and SAMe, but my experimentation with those back when I wasn't taking as many drugs as I do now wasn't as well controlled, and I haven't been able to afford them (they're VERY expensive, here at least) for some time. I take prescription antidepressants now, in any case, so I'm cautious about using them. (I'm supposed to take RX antidepressants, anyway - that sucky health care access means I've been out of meds for over two weeks now, very sudden, no ramping down cessation of medication, and still can't see the doc 'til next week, due to THEIR scheduling screw-ups. That kind of thing does make me think, at times, and finding the money to go back to things I can buy without a prescription.)

I take Topamax, often called Dopamax by patients, to prevent migraines. Fish oil supplements help me with the mental side effects - it's bad enough to be stupid from fibro fog, so I need all the help I can get!

Every time I have bloodwork done I seem to be low on potassium, so I take a small dose of that now, along with glucosamine-chondroitin (for arthritis) and a calcium-magnesium combination. I find the calcium-magnesium especially helpful for restless leg syndrome/periodic limb movement disorder. Some people swear by it for fibromyalgia, but I can't tell that it helps my pain levels specifically, beyond the fact that helping the PLMD gives me better rest which leads to less pain - different thing altogether.

I found MSM and malic acid to be helpful for fibro in the past, but I haven't made them a budget priority in a while.

Living on opiates makes fiber supplements extremely important for me, thanks to their particular side effects.