antidepressants on raw

[rawcenter]

Just wondering if theres anyone here who has been very high raw to 100% raw for some time who still needs to take antidepressants? I know raw helps with this but Im wondering if raw is enough to cure it or if a lose dose of something will still be needed. Also depression caused by chemical imbalances...is there a test for it that shows how far off and maybe what it is thats off?

[Dimond]

Antidepressants never worked for me so I'm not on them. Being raw so far hasn't cleared up my depression (possibly not long enough or other factors are involved), but I'm probably the exception as many people on raw have been healed. Every person is different. You may find you need to supplement with B12 & other vitamins/minerals. You may need more or less of certain foods. You just need to experiment. Working with a nutritionist or holistic doctor can be helpful as well. I'm sure others will jump in with their success stories.

[karenisraw]

rawcenter,

Hi!!!! I am happy to tell you about my experience as I am now cured seemingly!! I had pretty severe depression my whole life. I am now 40. I went 100% ORGANIC raw about 4 months ago. I immediately became "high and euphoric". I messed it up by trying to cut down of fats (nuts and seeds and avocados and bananas) to lose weight. Big mistake. I plumeted and became depressed. I also got prickly feelings on my legs. I heard at a lecture that raw vegans should make sure to get their B-12. I did tons of research and found that you absolutely need B-12 methylcobalamin for your central nervous system (that includes brain and mood systems) and began to take it. I immediately became very happy, clear headed, stable. I no longer seem to be bothered about emotional problems or past family issues. I also seem to have fixed my concentration, learning, focusing and memory problems since supplimenting especially with B-12 methylcobalamin. All around feeling like a normal person that I always admired and wished I was like. Basically, I don't seem to have any problems anymore and attribute it to eating 100% organic, 95%-100% raw, excercise as often as possible, and supplimentation of various things but mainly the B's.

I wish you luck. I know you can fix your temporary problem. Just research and google things like "brain nutrients" and you will find all sorts of information. I also have a thread called "The brain, The brain" that has all sorts of info on research I have done.

k

[kyrie]

I am very suspicious when psychiatrists talk about depression caused by chemical imbalances,after being the victim of one who was an unscrupulous bastard and totally destroyed my life, when there was nothing wrong with me.

I would ask in your shoes, what chemicals are out of balance. I would want hair analysis, blood analysis, and additionally electrical scans of the brain to prove it physically, otherwise, I wouldn't go along with it.Look at the Prozac situation.

Quite often depression has to do with your body being physically out of whack, so unless you have some kind of proven psychosis, I'd do my own research to find out what is wrong with me.

This is just my opinion, though.

Carla.

[lissomllama]

I'm 19 and I've struggled with manic depression and borderline schizotypal syndrome since I was little and I went on antidepressants for a while and they almost ruined my life. I ended up hating everyone and I got really narcissistic and cut of all my friendships. I couldn't understand why I was doing this and when I got off the drugs I went back to normal and began to mend my life back together and even though I still had the mental/emotional issues, they weren't being messed up with drugs and I was aware enough to know I needed to do something to change it, so I went raw. I've noticed that the more raw I am and the more I get my nutrients and B12 the longer my manic/happy/euphoric phases last. This isn't a cure because I still get those manic phases where I feel all high and hyper all the time but I do notice that my lows are few and far between now whereas before they were frequent and would last for months where I would be angry, sad and hopeless all the time. I'm willing to bet that the longer I go raw and after this detox I'm on ends I'll be getting better, maybe I won't see and hear things that aren't there as much or maybe they'll just be good things, I'm not sure, it's a journey. I do know that drugs are not always the answer though and while counseling is effective, it depends on the people involved on all sides and it can all go wrong as well. My advice is to be raw and keep yourself toxin free.The more congested your system becomes with poisons and junk, the worse you will feel emotionally as well.

[Smileen]

I have read that green smoothies can help depression. It's the greens that are helpful, but the green smoothie seems to be a good form of ingesting greens.

[honeybee joy]

I have been off of my antidepressants since december 2005. I was on them for like 3 years. I noticed my depression got better when I stopped them. I stared off with lowering them with my doc, then eventually cut them out. I cannot say that I do not get depressed anymore, then times that I do are basically when I am struggling with my heath and my healing. They are not low depressions like they used to be, but sometimes a sad thought or feeling that I forget about very quickly. I get a little dissapointed sometimes, but it is alot better than when I was on them. I think it has to do with circumstances and not a chemical imbalance. Alot of times I am really happy though, happier than I have EVER been. Raw has really helped me out in that area. I know that when I am done healing thru raw, I don't think I will have depresion issues at all. I am glad I got off of them. It was a really good desision for me. I hated how they made me tired, fogged, and sad.

[ryana]

I used to take them I was force by my parents a few different kinds. it's a trial and error thing. how do they test for imbalances? well they drug you and if it "works" guess what you had an imbalance. I used to take prozac which worked I was wired and wouldn't stop talking felt so up in the air. well the prozac also gave me anxiety so then i was given anxiety medication in small quanties because they are addictive and the side effect was depression. I never met anyone who needed to be on antidepresants. Most people just need to lean coping tools. I went threw several psycratists and i found anyone who talk to be for 10 min then gives me a drug has no clue what they are talking about. Anothing interesting thing is if you change your thought you litterally change the chemicals in your brian. I woudl experiment and wean yourself off of them. also you can try to take saint johns wart instead. I know there is a lot of debate about wheather or not it works. I tried it didn't work for me but hey it's worth a try. I just get very angery about psycratic drugs. When I was younger and I attempted sucied and was cutting I was put in a coupple of times into a psyc hospital and watched so many people get over druged. good luck i'm done rambling

[Dimond]

also you can try to take saint johns wart instead. Yes, there are tons of natural remedies you can experiment with.

[shakti17]

i also used to take them (prozac). i was a happy zombie - just what i needed for a while! but then i decided i wanted to have feelings again.

have you read gabriel cousens book, depression free for life (he recommends sam-e)? i also have a book called "Natural Highs" that talks about natural remedies (i think the auther is Cass or Hass?). i have tried st johns wort, which does work i think.

lately i feel it is the raw fats that are very good for your brain. i started taking borage oil supplements (i know, it is a supplement - i do it sometimes and it helps) get your EFAs!!! golden flax seeds, you grind them fresh and have 2T per day - yum! :)

anyway, i think it is important to gradually go off the meds. i wouldn't go cold turkey. tell your doctor you'd like to go off - raw diet is the best anti-depressant ever!

[rawpriestess]

you know people have happy days and not so happy days, now I believe that there is mental illness, as my brother has been hospitalized his entire life, and I do believe that there are chemical imbalances in our bodies at different times for different reasons, but I don't believe ALL of this depression, ADD, ADHD stuff I read or hear about.


The first thing I want to know is, what is depression getting you?

Now, please don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that you aren't depressed, what I am saying is what is being sick keeping you from, or allowing you to receive, as in what secondary gain are you receiving my being sick.

I used to get sick all the time that I worked for the city, when I quit my job miraculously I never got sick again. hummmmm, well, I did really hate my job, so I manifested this wonderful sickeness to keep me from going.

also, I've known people who manifest really terrible sickness just to get into a hospital, now they didn't know they were doing this, but once we started counseling, we found this out, and once we understood the underlying concern,then we were able to work on the solution.

usually it is an unhappy home life, as people will often be nice to you when you are sick, or it can be like me, a job you hate, so you get sick to keep from going to that job, or any number of other reasons.

But jus realize that this isn't a bad thing, this is your mind doing what ever it can to keep you from a stressful situation, and your body helping you to keep away from this too.

So, take a look at what positive outcome you can have, or what negative situation you can keep from by allowing yourself to manifest depresson.