Alternative Medicines for Depression

So, it's been determined that your depressed. This could be done through a number of ways: you've been to a psychiatrist or psychologist, you've seen yourself in one of those depression commercials with the sad music and people sinking into the background, or you just find it hard to smile. First, welcome onboard and join the rest of us hiding behind the bookshelf. Secondly, what do you do now? If you are like me, you could have opted to try talking first before going to medicine. If talking doesn't work (which I don't think will with me), or you just want to take a pill and smile, then you have the choice of different pills to take. However, which one do you take since all of them have a list of side effects that are longer than the negative feelings you're experiencing. So, you could take pill A and no longer have depression but be a constipated, overweight overeating, nauseous person with no sex drive. Sounds like fun right? Well, here's a list of some alternatives to normal medicine that may help and have little to no side effects.

St. John's Wort- St. John's Wort is one of the most popular over the counter alternative anti-depression medicines. However, you have to make sure (much like a drug addict) that you have the 'pure' stuff. According to amoryn.com, you have to make sure that your St. John's Wort contains at least three to five percent of an ingredient that is called hyperforin. If it has at least that amount, it will be effective in treating your depression and has been found to work as well as Paxil and Prozac but with fewer side effects. Some of the side effects for St. John's Wort, according to answers.com, include anxiety, rash, sensitivity to sunlight, and forgetfulness. As good as St. John's Wort may sound, please consult your psychologist or psychiatrist to make sure that this herb will not interact with any other medicines that you may be taking.

SAM-e- SAM-e (often pronounced 'Sammy' or 'Sam E') has been prescribed in Europe for depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and even liver problems for quite a while. It has only been released in the United States since 1996. SAM-e (or S-adenosyl L-methionine) is actually a chemical that is found in your body naturally and helps cross the blood barrier where it affects the synthesis and activation of different brain chemicals. The main side effect with SAM-e is that if you take it and you have too much in your system, you will begin to experience extreme manic moods. For most people, a manic mood versus constipation would be a good trade off. However, read up more on this before you decide to take SAM-e. The other draw back is the cost, as taking the recommended amount of SAM-e can run you $60-$100 a month.

5-HTP- This is seen as one of the safest alternatives in the world of alternative depression medicine. 5-HTP is an amino acid that helps increase the body's production of serotonin. Low levels of serotonin, of course, are found to be the cause of depression. As this is an amino acid, there are no side effects. Generally, taking anywhere from 50 to 300 mg a day of 5-HTP. A better combination is to take 5-HTP in combination with St. John's Wort to create a high level anti-depression cocktail. As always, please do your research before going ahead and taking any of this medicine in place of traditional methods.

I hope you found this information useful. So, get up off the couch (which may be hard to do), do some reading, and try one of these alternatives.

Sources: amoryn.com, answers.com, http://www.raysahelian.com/sam-e.html, sam-e.com