Question:
With the plethora of otc supplements, I am confused about what is known definitely about them or what you as a user have found benefit from. Some of the ones I know are fish oil, 5htp, tryptophan, sam-e, st. john's wort etc I am especially interested in supplementing my SSRI with fish oil. Any advice/experience would be welcome?
Answer:
I'm not an expert, but here's a few comments: There usually aren't a lot of studies done with supplements, but the
biggest problem is that there's no quality oversight on supplements.
There's no official department, like the FDA, making sure that what the
label says is really what's in the bottle. Every so often, Consumer
Reports will have an article on supplements, though, and they do test
all the brands to see if the label and the contents match. (This is
true of vitamins, too. Calcium is notoriously variable.)
My ex-pdoc did talk about fish oil, though, as did a dietitian I saw,
and both recommended it strongly. I've been taking it for a long time
now, and have no idea if it really does anything, but will continue to
take it. The one thing i've learned, though, in a big way, is to try
to find the enteric coated! lol Unless, of course, you like fish
burps...
And sometimes animal studies can be extrapolated to humans. I take
chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine HCL, and MSM on the strength of animal
studies, and can tell you that they really help a lot.
Tryptophan and 5HTP are precursors to serotonin. Adding them in with
an SSRI would, I would imagine, allow your body to produce more
serotonin to have the reuptake of blocked. That might be good, but my
guess is you might just get too much of a good thing. I'm not sure,
but someone here will probably know, whether that would put you in
danger of serotonin syndrome.
How much (mg) of fish oil do you take ? I have seen studies which use
up to 4-10 grams of fish oil but my nature made bottle says about 4
grams.
I want you to know that I will give you way more information than you thought you
might get, if you give me some time. I've been dealing with other shit. Hopefully,
tomorrow. There are lots of good augments. In the meantime, if there are any specific concerns, specific aspects that you are
most interested in, give me some detail, ok?
Fish oil contains two fatty acids that are in desperately short supply in most
people's diets. Before roughly the year 1900, processed foods were a rarity. Even
grain-fed beef was a rarity. But with the mechanization of farming, and the rise of
the food industry, the constituents of our food supply have changed dramatically. It
is estimated that a person consuming a diet similar to our paleolithic ancestors
would have an intake of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids that is very
different than the intake commonly found today. Back then, vegetable oils didn't
exist. Grains were a rare seasonal dietary addition. There were no empty calories.
Our diets have changed far faster than we can possibly evolve. Fish oil helps to restore essential fatty acids to our diet. They're almost totally
missing, today. Our ancestors had a diet that was roughly on a 1:1 ratio between
omega-6 fatty acids, and omega-3s. Various estimates of modern diets put the current
ratio at anywhere from 30:1 to 200:1. We're swamped with omega-6 fatty acids. And
your brain can't work as God designed it, without omega-3s in sufficient supply.
I can almost guarantee....hell, I can guarantee, that your diet is deficient in
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Those are the "good
guys" in fish oil. Now, some people describe a feeling of resiliency from fish oil
intake. Others, a feeling of calm. Others yet, a reduction in mood swing frequency
and intensity. While others still, note nothing of any great significance. No matter
what, though, I can guarantee that their hearts and cardiovascular system are much
healthier with the fish oil. So, do it for your heart, and the cognitive benefits
are bonus.
Always take fish oil immediately following a large meal. Better still, a large fatty
meal. The fat you ingest will turn on the secretion of the bile constituents
required for fatty acid uptake. You'll get more benefit from the fish oil you do
take, if there's fat in that meal.
Dose. Well, minimum 3 grams. Up to whatever you tolerate. You can't take too much,
except that digestive upset can occur. There is no upper limit, other than
tolerance. And common sense.
Specifically in the case of SSRIs, the B vitamin folic acid has a very important
place.
I'm feeling a little off today, so I'm going to just give this link to an earlier
post I made:
http://groups.google.ca/group/alt.support.depression.medication/msg/3...
When you're talking augments, and nutrition, you're entering a whole realm of
possibilities. Ways you can enhance the effect of your antidepressant drugs. If you
read those articles I provided in that link, you'll see that antidepressant
non-response might simply be a vitamin deficiency, in some people. It might even
underly the depression that is being treated in the first place.
There's lots to talk about. And it can take a long time to customize a supplement
program for an individual. But I can guarantee you that you're not getting the
nutrients you think you are from your diet. It is not possible to meet the RDA for
all nutrients from diet alone, while simulataneously limiting calories to reasonable
levels.
