Natural Remedies for Depression | Holistic Treatments & Supplements

I was feeling down this past winter but after a while realized maybe it was depression. I felt bleak, hopeless, almost grieving. I felt like the future was empty. It was an ugly feeling. Then I began to suspect maybe it was physical / nutritional because I have a great marriage to a man I love who treats me like gold, I have two healthy children and I have a good life with many hobbies and interests. I take good care of my health, eat nutritious organic food - much of it we grow ourselves, and I make time for gratitude every day, but I was STILL DOWN IN THE DUMPS. I realized I might have low vitamin D as it was winter here in the Northeast (Pennsylvania). I started taking D3 (with Vitamin K2 and Magnesium with Calcium for absorption etc) and within a day or two was feeling better. I kept feeling better and better every day and I NEVER FELT DOWN AGAIN. That awful CLOUD OVER MY HEAD disappeared and thank God it didn't come back! Boom! Just like that. I took 3000 IU per day, and now am down to 2,000. In summer I don't need it. I don't wear sunscreen, my skin is olive and doesn't burn. Anyway, it made me wonder how many poor souls out there are suffering needlessly due to low D. Just wanted to share my experience.

2. High-quality canned tuna (due to the fish oils). If/when I get down just having a bit here and there can perk me up.

3. Sauna. It's difficult to be depressed when you sweat it all out. Also gives you time to meditate and get into a better mindspace.

4. "Doing" rather than thinking. For example, trying to get involved in a tasks at home or at work that keep your mind off things. Decluttering, cleaning, gardening, etc. Anything other than negative thought patterns.

There are lots of reputable brands available. Many people take 300 mg three times a day and for some it takes a few weeks to start working. For me, SJW is as powerful as any RX antidepressant.

Take 1 teaspoon natural Pink Himalayan Sea Salt per day, divided in several doses of 1/8 tsp or 1/4 tsp throughout the day with a large glass of water. You will likely feel the effects within a few hours if you are trying to ease depression or reduce anxiety.

And if you have trouble sleeping and wake up in the middle of the night often, this is another indication that you are low on sea salt. Right before bed, take 1 pinch of pink sea salt and put it under the tongue for 30 seconds before drinking a cup of water to wash it down. You will sleep through the night because the salt will prevent your aldosterone from spiking and waking you up in the middle of the night. If you do wake up, take one more pinch of salt under the tongue with water and go back to sleep. You will eventually figure out the best dosage for yourself based on how low in salt and water you really are.

I used to work for a major pharmaceutical company that sold antidepressants and drugs for insomnia, both highly addictive btw, and when I found out about this remedy I was absolutely shocked that it was real.

I used to wake up at 1am, 2am, 3am, until I started taking a pinch of pink sea salt under the tongue each night, and now I sleep like a baby and don't wake up at all until 6:30, it's my personal miracle remedy...sleep well!

I use 5-HTP now after being prescribed pharmaceuticals, and it is at least as effective. The dark secret about meds is that for many of us they don't do much in the first place, and eventually they destroy your liver (which happened to my sister, with many serious health consequences).

My advice for wearning yourself off your meds (which is what I did) is to do it VERY slowly, and introduce 5-HTP as slowly. At least 3 months, until the dosages you are taking are just tiny crumbs. This will keep your side effects down to a bare minimum. Good luck!

Thank you for this!

I have recounted your thoughts to several others today - especially the part about seeing the good.

Negativity is so easy. Your analogy of looking for the color blue was perfect. Being positive or negative is a habit.

Thanks again!

~Mama to Many~

If one doesn't get a result - or, rather, doesn't get the dramatic result others seem to get with regard to skin cancers, warts and moles - they're often advised to sprinkle baking soda on their oil patch which seems to increase the effect.

Which makes sense as both are reactive and particularly to one another - one being acidic and the other alkaline - which means when the O3 fatty acid meets the O3 baking soda, BOOM! An overwhelming army of oxygen carried in on a tsunami of penetrating castor oil! POOF!

I'm not sure about mixing a salve of them. Although, I suppose, the oxygen produced might be trapped by the oil if you were quick about it but, I think sprinkling it on a castor oil pack just prior to application would be more effective as even just mixing the two together is going to provide escape for most of the oxygen produced, as such reactions are so fast.

Even so...I THINK one could even make an effective, alternative OLIVE oil pack. With its O2 fatty acids, if one sprinkled IT with baking soda with its own O3 arrangement...there may not be as MUCH oxygen generated, perhaps, but still quite a bit and olive oil penetrates pretty well...could be useful in a pinch!

I can't believe no one has mentioned vitamin D, but more specifically, UV light. I already take 2,500mg of D3 daily, but perhaps it's not enough because I've been battling Mycotoxicosis for over 5 years. Between that and working a night shift, I got lazy and only tanned (yes, tanning beds! ) once last week. Big mistake! I became unbelievably depressed with constant suicdal thoughts for four days. I finally went tanning (12 minutes in a low level bed), and within 30 minutes, my depression was GONE. My face even filled out (it was getting disgustingly hollow), and my body became less bloated.

I highly suggest labelling this cure as UV light if you don't want to mention the controversial tanning bed, but don't just say D3! I think I took 10,000IU at the beginning of the week, and it wasn't enough to make up for lack of tanning. Nothing compares to your body making its own vitamin D. It's common sense - humans need sunlight. Believe me, if the weather wasn't so crappy here in Jersey, I'd be tanning my butt outside.

I have a diagnosis of Dysthymia, Bipolar 2, Cyclothymia and Depression. (From different psychiatrists). I have been battling chronic sadness for years, and long ago I took antidepressants. They made me hypomanic, so I took prescription-strength Lithium, 900 mgs./Day, which brought me back to how I was. For years I stopped all drugs, and I have t tried many things to cure my mood disorder. Recently I found over-the-counter low-dose Lithium, and it is working excellently so far. My mood is better. My chronic depression lifts. Below I wrote some of the forms of OTC Lithium. I've been taking the first two. The Amazon reviews for the OROTATE form are also stellar. I would avoid Lithium Aspartate because the Aspartate part is not good for neurons. It's excitatory. Micronized IONIC form is available on Amazon, and ionic minerals are reputed to be the best absorbed. Lithium is also helping my sleep. It is reported to increase serotonin. I've been taking one dose at night and one dose in the late afternoon, when my mood begins to slip. I take both ionic Lithium concentrate and Li-zyme, as needed. (See below, with the forms.) A DNA test I took showed a higher-than-normal risk for Manic Depression. So I assume this mood disorder has genetic etiology. The ionic form I take is liquid, so I take it sublingually, and that way I need less, since none is being lost in digestion. You can see from the forms of OTC Lithium (below) how low the doses are. I don't even take one milligram per day. Amazingly, Lithium is effective at these low doses. Studies show that Lithium may also help to heal from STROKE, because it encourages Neurogenesis.

THREE MORE NOTES ON DEPRESSION:

1. Mine is also alleviated by cutting out foods I am sensitive to. The big ones for me are Gluten, all Dairy (yes even the fermented forms), and Night Shades, especially potatoes. If you have depression, it is IMPERATIVE to find out if some foods may be causing your problems. When I cut out gluten, I got a whole new life. I was in graduate school, and before I cut out gluten, ALL of my term papers were late, and I labored over them. After a gluten-free diet, NONE of my term papers were late, I whizzed through them and started taking more classes at the same time. My brain was cleared. Most people think nightshades only cause arthritis in sensitive people. Well depression goes along with the achey joints. (For me, potatoes are the main culprit.) So find out what foods you are sensitive to. JJ Virgin's book THE VIRGIN DIET is a good place to start to find out about food sensitiviy. If you are sensitive to a food, it can ruin your day, not to mention your life.

2. Eat fermented foods--best before meals, but anytime is fine. Your gut has more to do with your brain than you know! Get your good bacteria and you will be smiling. I said before meals because on an empty stomach you will get most benefit. You can go to culturesforhealth.com or wildfermentation.com and learn to make these great foods. It's a cinch. Probiotic powders, capsules, etc. are fine. However, you get FAR more of the good bacteria in the fermented foods, and eating them with food also prevents stomach acids from destroying them.

3. You can also try sleeping grounded. It helps me a little. Look up "earthing" online and you will learn a lot. You can also walk around barefoot--on MOIST ground is most effective. If the earth is dry, take a spray bottle and spray your feet with water or better, salt water for best conductivity. OTHER THINGS: I don't have to tell you what you already know: cut out sugar, take omega 3, cut out omega 6 oils (they are inflammatory and block omega 3), exercise, do not expose yourself to computer-screen or other bright lights at night (the blue waves in light block melatonin and disrupt sleep), get some sun and Vitamin D, etc. I'm trying to concentrate here on what isn't so well known. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet: people are not aware that inflammation can also cause depression. Some people have a genetic defect which makes it helpful to cut out foods with high sulfur. You can get your entire genome by 23andMe. It will cost $99.00. Then you plug in your genome to sites that will interpret it for you. Some people need more dopamine: you can take Tyrosine (be careful not to take it with any other protein), or try the herb Mucuna Pruriens, which has natural dopamine. If you need more serotonin, try Tryptophan or 5HTP, without taking any protein within an hour or so of them. (Or try OTC Lithium--see above.) Low barometric pressure, as before or during rain or storm, can also bring on the blues in susceptible people. (I'm one of them). FORMS OF OVER-THE-COUNTER LITHIUM "Ionic Lithium Concentrate" (Lithium Chloride) I bought from New Beginnings Nutritionals. Liquid. 10 drops = 500 mcg. www.nbnus.com (see also micronized ionic) "Li-Zyme" or "Li-Zyme Forte" Biotics Research Corporation . Widely available on Amazon, and the nutritional-supplement companies. I bought mine from ProfessionalSupplementCenter.com or Pureformulas.com. 1 tablet = 50 mcg or 1 tablet Forte =150 mcg. "Lithium Orotate" Available at all the above places. many manufactures put it out. It's usually sold in 5 milligrams. New Beginnings, above, has 10 milligrams. AVOID LITHIUM ASPARTATE

First, again Lilac you have great information which comes from your ample research. Please continue informing the EC community about your insights and progress. There's nothing like living through an issue that makes suggestions have real meaning.

One of the most memorable persons we all know who had depression issues was President Lincoln. So severe were his manic depressions, that he would not carry a pocket knife with him for fear he would use it on himself. At least that is in one of the biographies on Abraham. I have four or five.

And to both you and Mama to Many, thank you for your condolences.

I am such an impatient person, and I expect instant recovery after a short time but find that grief is more persistent and perplexing in this case (loss of a mate) than I'd anticipated, even though I knew for years the prognosis of her cancer.

One would think the mind and soul would be ready when the end finally came. Oh not so. Very rarely in my life have I experienced mental confusion. Quite frustrating. So many cross currents seem to be at work with a spousal loss.

I can now better sympathize with those who suffer the death of a husband/wife. It's only been a month so really what should I expect? The "rawness" is still there, and the strange quietness of the house when I'm here alone...always nearly expecting her voice. But knowing that is an impossibility and then the intellectual refusal to talk to her; she is not here. Not here. The thought seems so self contradictory..."she"...not here...in her own home. You see? An impossible demand; a command by the emotion to expect the "normal" but the "normal" is a "goneness" that is mystifying. Then the "brain" says, "no quit that...she is gone." Not just left me...even for another man...that would be easier I think. She is just gone.

The only consolation in a way, is I am convinced that "absence from the body is presence with the Lord" and that can console me when the extremes are working me over...overloading both sensation and reality. The reality. That insatiable reality will not leave me alone. I'm told again and again by wiser than me that time will take the edge off. OK. It's just been a month.

The "reality" is an "un-reality"....and that is so frustrating to deal with. Why can't the mind just control the emotions? It is what it is...now let's move on...would be the mind's command.

So is this depression...or still a bit of shock? The last two months were very hard. She died at home. In my arms. And I'm oddly proud of that. Interesting that I observe my most emotional moments come in recollecting what "we" went through during those final weeks. Is much of grief about "me" and not "her"... ? My mind wants to put it all into an analysis.

I was her "nurse" for about 15 hours a day and her sister the rest. So I saw it all. At the end she could not speak except to blink a "yes" at my questions..."do you want water?" "blink"...then I bring water. She could only walk with help and a walker for her to lean on. And she died taking a tour of the upstairs...she wanted her normal clothes on...and then we "walked" her holding the walker and I holding under her arms. She inspected upstairs bedrooms and then she had to sit down on the walker so I could push her back to her bed. While standing...ready to sit...she made dramatic eye contact ... eyes became like saucers...huge....I'd never seen that before ... in 29 years of marriage. I though somehow I'd hurt her, even though the eyes were not "grimacing" as if in pain ... no facial expression of pain and then, she fell into my arms. She was dead. Instantly.

She left over a period of two weeks, in dramatic downturn. And then died while standing. Just like her. She was a tiger. A very alive person.

So the unreality permeates..."she"... a most alive mate for all these years is not here any longer.

Many who write here to EC are facing dire situations and potential loss of a loved one ... we see that often on posts. And I sometimes have just glossed over the intensity between the lines; the desperation for help.

I will never be so glib; so quick to fire off some "answer" without sensing the hurt...the dawning of loss written in those lines.

So many who write to EC are in pain and are suffering. Those are emotions. So many have suffered for years; for decades.

I cannot fail to consider that suffering when I read their stories. Never again will I just focus on the "answer" without "feeling" their suffering....to some degree to empathize. At the tomb of Lazarus ..."Jesus wept.

@Timh Just because it's a naturally occurring amino acid does not mean that it won't cause problems if dosed unnecessarily. Overdosing on any essential nutrient can cause harmful side effects and even death. I have done my research and found that these are all documented side effects of 5-HTP, so clearly it doesn't work for everyone.

Also, I don't believe I need to detox. I eat very clean (paleo and mostly organic), live in a rural area, and detox several times a year. I rarely ever get sick and do not have any other symptoms that indicate toxicity.

However, thank you for your recommendations. I have tried St. Johns Wort, but it doesn't work for me either. I do take some L-Tyrosine in a supplement called True Focus, but I have never tried it separately. I did see marked improvement with SAMe in the past, but I tried 5-HTP in the hopes that a less expensive alternative would work for me.

5HTP can be started at any time and will not interfere with an SRI. Start with 50mg/day of 5HTP, then increase to 100mg/day if required.