Those of us who have had to suffer through many years of depression, like me, may not find this information to be so surprising.  I think it would be rare occasion where doctors actually write prescriptions for the perfect antidepressant the 1st time someone makes them aware of being depressed, but that’s just my opinion.

Prozac, Cymbalta, Zoloft, Paxil, WellButrin, Effexor XR… the list goes on. These are just a handful of Brands I was given to ‘help’ with my depression. Effexor XR seemed to work, but after the first 2 weeks it was all back to the same old feelings of worthlessness, insecurity, sporadic crying, not to forget a Huge drop in my sex drive, which is not usual for  me

I spent over 10 years of my life making great attempts to find the proper medication that fits me the best, break free of the horribly rapid mood swings which often resulted in a deeper depression at the spur of a moment. Little did we all know, we were being ripped off by Big Pharma ~ BIG TIME !!! Even worse, they put our personal health at risk just to make a buck! How pitiful.

Posted by: Mark Hyman MD;  April 24, 2010 07:00 AM ~ The Huffington Post

Here’s some depressing recent medical news:  Antidepressants don’t work. What’s even more depressing is that the pharmaceutical industry and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have deliberately deceived us into believing that they DO work. As a physician, this is frightening to me. Depression is among the most common problems seen in primary-care medicine and soon will be the second leading cause of disability in America.

The study I’m talking about was published in *The New England Journal of Medicine. It found that drug companies selectively publish studies on antidepressants. They have published nearly all the studies that show benefit — but almost none of the studies that show these drugs are ineffective.

That warps our view of antidepressants, leading us to think that they do work. And it has fueled the tremendous growth in the use of psychiatric medications, which are now the second leading class of drugs sold, after cholesterol-lowering drugs.

The problem is even worse than it sounds, because the positive studies hardly showed benefit in the first place. For example, 40 percent of people taking a placebo (sugar pill) got better, while only 60 percent taking the actual drug had improvement in their symptoms. Looking at it another way, 80 percent of people get better with just a placebo.

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Here are a few things you can do to start treating your depression today.

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.

Overcoming depression is an important step toward lifelong vibrant health. These are just of few of the easiest and most effective things you can do to treat depression. But there are even more, which you can address by simply working through the 7 Keys to UltraWellness.

Mark Hyman, M.D. practicing physician and founder of  The UltraWellness Center is a pioneer in functional medicine. Dr. Hyman is now sharing the 7 ways to tap into your body’s natural ability to heal itself. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on Youtube and become a fan on Facebook.

*Study: The New England Journal of Medicine ~ “Results Among 74 FDA-registered studies, 31%, accounting for3449 study participants, were not published. Whether and how the studies were published were associated with the study outcome. A total of 37 studies viewed by the FDA as having positive results were published; 1 study viewed as positive was not published. Studies viewed by the FDA as having negative or questionable results were, with 3 exceptions, either not published (22 studies) or published in a way that, in our opinion, conveyed a positive outcome (11 studies). According to the published literature, it appeared that 94% of the trials conducted were positive. By contrast, the FDA analysis showed that 51% were positive. Separate meta-analyses of the FDA and journal data sets showed that the increase in effect size ranged from 11 to 69% for individual drugs and was 32% overall.”

It has been a little over a year since I’ve been on ANY chemical medications for depression and I still have my moments but it really has gotten loads easier to overcome, compared to when I last took them. I couldn’t understand why, Not One of these medications worked for me! I knew I was depressed, so I swallowed “Anti” depressants (doctors orders), and expected at least one of them to actually work!!

Well, now I understand why not.

~Tiffi