If you take, or have taken, an antidepressant medication, chances are pretty good that you feel it helps … but you don’t like the side effects.
Symptoms like weight gain, loss of libido, gas, bloating, insomnia and lack of motivation can be so disruptive that they prompt you to want to get off the medication.
But when you’ve tried going off you felt worse.
Or maybe you are part of the 50% of people who try an antidepressant who find that it doesn’t help at all.
Research shows the reason why – SSRI’s (Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) like Prozac, Paxil, Celexa and Lexapro cause the nerve synapse to be flooded by serotonin. Your body, in its wisdom, shuts down some of the receptors where your body receives serotonin. So when you try to wean yourself off the medication your body has fewer receptors and less serotonin. The result? You feel terrible.
Neuroscientist Steven Hyman, who was director of the NIMH before becoming Provost of Harvard University, published the paper Initiation and Adaptation: A Paradigm for Understanding Psychotropic Drugs, in which he explains how this happens. According to Dr. Hyman, once your brain goes through a series of compensatory adaptations to the drug, your brain operates in a manner that is “both qualitatively and quantitatively different than normal.”
Fortunately, there is some good news. A newly emerging field of health care called Functional Nutrition uses an approach which focuses on giving the body what it needs to rebuild its own neurotransmitters.
Did you know that 95% of your serotonin is made in your gut?
The place to start is to have a lab test which identifies your current levels of neurotransmitters as well as your level of stress hormones. This simple saliva test is called the HPA profile and measures your actual levels of neurotransmitters so we can use very targeted nutrient support to restore them to balance. Recent studies have identified several natural substances which help rebuild your serotonin reserve and restore your receptors to normal function.
If you have tried supplements like licorice, certain B vitamins, SaMe or amino acids like 5-HTP and you have NOT seen improvement it doesn’t mean you won’t benefit from a natural approach. It may just mean you need some test results to know which nutrients your body needs the most in order to balance your neurotransmitters.
Dr. Marina Rose, DC uses chiropractic care and a Functional Nutrition approach to help you identify and correct neurotransmitter imbalances. To schedule a free 20 minute Discovery Session with Dr. Rose click below.
Return to home page
This is fabulous info Marina! Drugs are not the answer to depression for many people and you give some great alternatives.
Yes, I saw a woman today who tried anti-depressants 10 years ago and got relief. She didn’t like the side effects so she quit taking them. Five years later she was feeling blue and unfocused again. Her doctor prescribed one drug after another and none of them helped. She spent the last 5 years out of work and feeling pretty hopeless. When she came to see me I ordered a neurotransmitter test and the problem was OBVIOUS. Today was her 2nd visit with me – she’s not depressed any more. The fog has lifted, she’s feels like herself again. She’s started a job search. She feels like herself again. I love my job 🙂
I just love the content you have. You can get real, useful information from a simple saliva test? No painful or tortuous testing? I’m impressed!
Yup, isn’t that great! It turns out that blood tests are useful for ruling out disease but tell us almost nothing about how to improve health. Saliva tests are ideal for evaluating adrenal function and sex hormones since the active components are water soluble.
No wonder getting off the dumb things is worse than being on them…our bodies already know how to support us. What is the simple explanation of Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine is simply using data to SUPPORT the body in healing, rather the the conventional medical approach which is to use drugs or surgery to treat disease. Our bodies have an amazing capacity for resilience – when they have the building blocks they need. Stress, surgery, poor diet, lack of sleep all deplete the body of what it needs to heal. It is so satisfying to be able to help people find the missing pieces and watch as body functions start to normalize – digestion, energy, muscles and joints, mood and hormones.
As opposed to conventional medicine, which focuses on diagnosing disease and then following the prescribed protocol to treat that disease, Functional Medicine looks at the improving function. It’s a radical approach! For example, with adrenal fatigue rather than giving an external source of adrenal hormones we can use an herb that makes your own hormones last longer.
I like the idea of fixing what is the problem rather than just covering up the symptoms!
Wow…I knew there was a reason I didn’t want to take anti-depressants to heal from depression when I was depressed. These drugs are bad news. I learned that I had to heal my spirit in order to heal the depression. But I am interested in learning more by taking one of these saliva tests. We must connect. Thanks again for the fantastic information. Everyone needs to know this.