1. What To Do If You Are Depressed

    [caption id=”flickrImage_2” align=”aligncenter” width=”500” caption=”Lounging Pup © by Teeejayy”][/caption]

    There are a few people in my life whom I suspect may be depressed. This isn’t the kind of thing you can just ask about - unless you’re super close. Even then, it feels presumptuous, like advice-giving (which I’m trying to avoid).

    But I have a strong urge to help, and I feel like I know a lot about this stuff (from struggling to help myself with migraine disorder.) So I thought I might post some links here just in case.

    This is from Dr. Mark Hyman, who is an extremely knowledgable functional medicine doctor who can help with a lot of different conditions:

    “7 Steps to Treat Depression without Drugs

    1. Try an anti-inflammatory elimination diet that gets rid of common food allergens. As I mentioned above, food allergies and the resultant inflammation have been connected with depression and other mood disorders.
    2. Check for hypothyroidism. This unrecognized epidemic is a leading cause of depression. Make sure to have thorough thyroid exam if you are depressed.
    3. Take vitamin D. Deficiency in this essential vitamin can lead to depression. Supplement with at least 2,000 to 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 a day.
    4. Take omega-3 fats. Your brain is made of up this fat, and deficiency can lead to a host of problems. Supplement with 1,000 to 2,000 mg of purified fish oil a day.
    5. Take adequate B12 (1,000 micrograms, or mcg, a day), B6 (25 mg) and folic acid(800 mcg). These vitamins are critical for metabolizing homocysteine, which can play a factor in depression.
    6. Get checked for mercury. Heavy metal toxicity has been correlated with depression and other mood and neurological problems.
    7. Exercise vigorously five times a week for 30 minutes. This increases levels of BDNF, a natural antidepressant in your brain.”
    Chris Kresser is another very knowledgable functional medicine practiotioner who has an entire series about depression here. He also has a great podcast I listen to which you can find here.

    Kris Carr survived cancer by radically changing her diet, life and mindset — and now she writes about it on her blog. Here you can find her site’s posts about depression.

    I wish I had more time to write about this, but at least this is a start. Mood disorders are such a plague on creative people. Most of all, I want you to know you are not alone. And you are loved. By me.

    X Julie

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    I am reading:

    Original Article

Notes

  1. juliebush posted this