As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a subscriber to Joe Mercola’s newsletter. Mercola is a family practitioner osteopath who is something of a pariah in his field. Those who follow Chiron will recognize a good dose of the influence in Joe’s mission. I’ve been following his articles and videos for a couple of years, and my impression is that he does enviable investigative reporting work — some of the best IR pieces I’ve ever read, and the very best consumer advocacy journalism, in the medical field. From what I have read, his facts check out in the long-run; in other words, after I learn about something on Mercola I tend to see it check out over time, many other places.
In today’s edition, he interviews a journalist named Robert Whitaker, who has been digging out the story of antidepressants for many years. In this interview, Whitaker reports that in the short-run most people on antidepressants don’t do any better than those in the placebo group, and that in the longrun, the drugs change depression from an episodic situation to a chronic one. In other words, the drugs do work in the nervous system — to influence people to be more sensitive to depression, have more episodes and less likely to work the process through to resolution.
Here is a link to the page on Mercola’s site.
Diana,
I find your information very pertinent this morning….thank you. Funny, you mentioned in your final paragraph to “apply White Angelica to seal the energy field…..”. I actually have a wonderful soul mate called Angelika who has a vivid head of pure white hair, and it is she I turn to when I need to be grounded in “love, courage, joy, well-being and strength!!” Sadly she is suffering a serious condition at the moment called parathyroidism and I have a feeling that together she and I are going to read through and apply some of the excellent advice you offered here.
I actually logged on this morning to say that I was cringed a fair bit when I reread my post from yesterday afternoon. I didn’t take the time to edit thoroughly and I apologize now for its rambling style (something I know I do on a frequent basis……)
To borrow some Northern Irish vernacular: I hope youse did nae mind and exercised a wee bit a patience with me!
Hello Eric and All,
I too and a subscriber to Dr. Mercola’s site and agree that there is a lot of valid information there. It is amazing how humans have allowed themselves to suppress and hide their emotions with drugs, alcohol, food, etc., but as we know, at some point we will have to face the music!
I am a distributor for Young Living Essential Oils and I am truly grateful for these natural, therapeutic grade essential oils which have the ability to transform many issues, be they physical, emotional, mental or spiritual. The inhalation of pure essential oils is quite a science and has been proven to help because the sense of smell is the only one of the five senses directly linked to the limbic lobe of the brain which is the emotional control center. All other senses, touch, taste, hearing and sight, are routed through the thalamus (the brain’s switchboard) passing stimuli onto the cerebral cortex (conscious thought) and other parts of the brain.
The Limbic Lobe consists of the Hippocampus and Amygdala and directly activates the Hypothalamus. The Olfactory membranes trap odor molecules which fit into the receptor sites on the cells lining the membrane, the epithelium tissues. Nerve cells trigger electrical impulses to the olfactory bulb which transmits to the Gustatory or Taste Center, the Amygdala, which is where emotional memories are stored, and to other parts of the Limbic System affecting heart rate, blood pressure, stress levels, etc.
The Hypothalamas is the hormonal control center. It releases chemical messengers, produces growth hormones (for youth and longevity, sex hormones, thyroid hormones and neurotransmitters (i.e., serotonin), and is the “master gland”. You can read more on my site: http://aromatherapyliving.com.
There is a protocol which many people use successful to help transform emotions and actually have a good day! The protocol consists of using 3 essential oil blends: first apply Valor to the bottom of the feet, then apply Joy to the heart center, then apply White Angelica to seal the energy field in a space of love, courage, joy, wellbeing and strength. It is an amazing, natural solution – and you’ll smell great! Blessings to all on our journey…
There was a “made for tv movie” awhile back called “Night Ride Home” ok – I never watched it, the book happened to be lying around and I read it…..no great literature but one of those stories that stuck because it so throughly portrayed the mis-understanding of grief and our need to express it – among other repression//repressed feelings.
I did and do feel strongly that we as a country/world carry a huge weight at this time and have much need to outwardly express sadness/grief etc. All the chemical warfare we’re using to cover it up is not helping.
When I begin a new story writing project I always seem to need to output a “poem” before I begin. This one had nothing to do with depression at it’s writing this week – but then, maybe it does as our need to express passionately our feelings has us digging our grave just now (oil deep in the bottom of the ocean – needing to be sealed off……)
OK (deep breath) as I do not generally share this stuff but if anyone’s reading, I share humbly with PW:
‘IN A MOMENT PASSES
In a moment passes
through us both Heaven and Earth.
Like a song deeply sung as night falls
throat husky from the use of day
to a babe at bedtime.
In a moment there comes sleep; the song passes, and is no longer for the having,
Not that song will ever sing again.
In a moment passes
through us both Heaven and Hell.
Neither keeps for long at hot or cold
quickly coming temperate when left untasted,
bland and lifeless.
Common day and night becoming metronome of this and that and either or.
None of which are any choice.
In a moment passion
through us both Contained and Free.
Lights the sky and hearts embrace
like fire wraps branches within its reach.
Untamed for riding wild pony style
if not then left to die unkindled like rhythmic deep-song lullaby that quiets babe
and forever the moment passes.’
Dear Patricia/moonrose69
Thank you so much for both your posts. I read the first one this morning and the second just now as I readied myself to add my two cents to the thread. I relate to the crises you experienced so very deeply and especailly the one where you say you were on your hands and knees, accepting a need to surrender knowing that something was rising in you that had to be faced and integrated.
I tried antidepressants twice and both times I know that my mind and body were rejecting them in the initial adjustment stages where I experienced dreadful episodes of debilitating and frightening psychosis. I learned they were psychotic experiences not while they were happening but upon deep reflection afterwards, especially after the second treatment about a year ago when I called a halt after only just a few weeks and at a very low dosage. I knew the second time around that I was hyper sensitive to the drugs not because I was very sick but because I was actually very well (HA) — in the sense that I was in my truth but not able to be rooted in it, own it, or express it. I simply didn’t know how to claim it and integrate it. I lacked the proper nurturing that my soul needed in my childhood and have constantly yearned for wise and compassionate teachers ever since. By rejecting the drugs and also ending my relationship with my psychiatrist, I have chosen to let my spirit grow and be free, and really owned that fact that I can be my very own teacher.
I have just read the Dr. Mercola interview with Robert Whitaker (thank you Eric for the link and the conversation here) and one comment from doctor stood out for me:
“The serotonin theory of depression is comparable to the masturbatory theory of insanity.” I had to laugh at that one because the one thing that I truly hated about SSRI’s was they prevented me from orgasming, right at the very time in my life where I was beginning to allow myself to indulge that pleasure (Irish/Catholic guilt is such a pleasure killer…..right?!) while claiming that I was owed a lifetime of orgasms. I knew that my insanity did not need SSRI’s but lots and lots of the healing act of self loving and surrender. That was indeed a more appropriate direction for my path to my sanity to take!!
Choosing to break down the dependency of the psychiatric profession’s hold on the mentally ill (I prefer to term us as people who suffer a deep malaise of the soul) is surely the work of Pluto in Capricorn, and now added and abetted by Chiron in Pisces. That energy is weaving its way through the thin but growing cracks in our crumbling institutions, penetrating right to the inside, the inner sanctum of ages old structures. These insitiutions are mercifully being exposed to their inabilty to tune into the dire circumstances our planet is facing to survive. We have new directions to go now and mega work to do and we all need to be alive first and foremost to ourselves in order to nurture and educate and reconnect the dots. It’s happening within and without and any drug, any law, any rule that attempts to control or impede our growth must be challenged every time they arise.
I applaud the work of Dr. Mercola and Robert Whitaker and such like alternative thinkers among the allopathic field. It is heartening and soulful that work such as theirs is being done to build and support people who struggle with mental and emotional difficulties and desperate attempts to find their place in life. By building them up instead of drugging them out of the chance to trust and embrace a more conscious and ultimately healing way of engaging fully with life on earth. I know refusing to medicate myself was a pain-filled and tortured birthing (and what birth isn’t painful?) that, I will be honest, I fought every step of the way from chronic fear. But what I feel now, at the deepest core of me is something no drug could ever come close to replicating and to that I say, Yee-bloody-ha!
😉
Patricia,
Thank you for your trust in sharing your story here – I have not gone through what you have – but in sync with you in that early on I could tell that hormones out of wack had much to do with many factors that stayed with me until menopause – mostly what is termed in simple language “foggy brain” and/or such. The ramifications of not being able to focus (as only one generic symptom for purpose of this post) are very great over the years – and accompanied by constantly lowered self-esteem etc.
The vogue of processed “foods” after WW II and lack of nuturing in the nuclear family have certainly created and perpuated much of the human suffering in America today.
That said, as I feed my self, my kids and my friends, I always consider that many of the “foods” we trusted even as kids are not what they were. Chemicals have taken over, in our ground, seeds, water, and then onto the processing plants. Would that our only concern today were “red dye #2”.
I believe that one of the biggest “problems” in American today is the lack of actual food in our “food” – and that the growth of our psycological issues stem from using chemicals to treat issues steming from use of chemicals – in a vicious spiral. I hope we are alive and alert enough to continue to raise our awareness of how this is killing us not just with new crops of physical “diseases” but our mental and emotional faculties.
Here’s to a Happy Healthy Loving Mother’s Day back around to you.
Thank you, HazelF.
I woke up several hours ago and had the thought “oh no! what have i done?!”. I was feeling vulnerable and concerned. I fell back to sleep for a few more hours.
One thing I might add to this tale is that I believe my experience was so extreme because I was never willing to look at things, myself, or to do the work necessary throughout the many years and opportunities I had along the way. I was in blame mode, caught up in a story I was unwilling to let go of. During one short stint of therapy many, many years ago (during the time when I first admitted out loud I had an eating disorder – ouch) I wanted the doctor to fix me. He was a psychiatrist and a man I’ll never forget. So compassionate, kind, caring… he would have me close my eyes and do deep breathing exercises while he slowly read me the poem Desiderata. But, I also remember wanting him to fix me; that was his job.
How wrong I was. And if only. But there is no if only.
The other thing I would add is that during my crisis I maintained a strong belief that I didn’t need the meds, that I needed to experience what was occurring, and that it would eventually pass and I’d find myself in a balanced place, no longer teetering on the outer edges of the extreme. I did wonder a few times if those ideas were self-indulgent, ignorant, and selfish.
Also, I was fortunate I could allow the time needed and I had the means ($).
It wouldn’t be for everyone, and I whole-heartedly recommend healing step-by-step rather than by one giant leap.
I visit PW infrequently, but when I do I’m always amazed at the depth and fullness of many of the posts made. Very rich.
This will be my last post. I’ll just keep reading here and there.
Happy Mother’s Day to those who are.
xo
Patricia
moonrose69 – What hell indeed; what you must have endured; and what an important life story. Thank you so much for sharing this here.
All love, H.
E2 – I really appreciate your post.
It’s been quite awhile since I’ve posted anything but this subject matter compels me.
You see, I went through a period of psychosis, mania, delusions, hallucinations (but how can one possibly ever know), euphoria, dysphoria, depression. The gamut. In total it was about 3 years in length, some parts of it much more acute than others.
I was diagnosed with bipolar 2 with psychotic features, or something like that, I refused medications, and went through hell in a handbasket. I spent time in a pysch ward at the height of my wake up call and I just have to say I have the utmost respect for those who work with folks that are out of their senses. Not all do it well, but thank god/goddess for those who do and for those who try.
What I experienced was nothing short of the real me — the me underneath all the layers of lies, deceit, control, scars, wounds, denials, myths, and who I ‘thought’ I was — the real me bubbling to the surface crying out to be seen, heard, noticed, acknowledged, validated, and, ultimately, healed. All my fears were there… again… my worldview became the one I held as a child when chaos ensued daily and I wasn’t given a sense of security, or nurturing, that is so very important. I became that scared child again who had to learn, at the age of 40, to choose… to choose… to trust, to live, to breathe. Because I had no other choice, but to die, and I was more afraid of that. I had to learn to be ok with not knowing. To get down on my hands and knees and cry out loud in anguish and surrender. To let go.
It was a most challenging and difficult time. So much so that I doubt words could ever express what I went through. But maybe one day. Or maybe in bits and pieces. I remember so very much of it.
And I came through it. And along the way a 20+ year severe eating disorder was healed. I see that now as the cork on the bottle that could no longer hold the pressure of that which would no longer be contained.
One thing I did notice is that early on when I went through my most psychotic-by-definition phases my menses would cease. This happened twice. The second time I literally felt a “click” of sorts in my brain. Hormones certainly play a role. And I couldn’t get my physician to run a panel.
I also changed my diet in the middle of that phase to a mostly high fat, high protein diet, as pure and as close to the way nature made it as I could get it. While researching the effects of a mostly high fat, high protein diet I came across this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet
The relevant point to me was that this diet was used to control seizures before anti-convulsants came along. Anti-convolsants, like depakote, are now used for mood disorders. Makes me think of the potential link between the high carbohydrate, nutrient lacking, diets of so many people, and mood disorders. I have seen personal emails from parents whose children were once on the autism spectrum and diet was the key. So many have low-level allergy sensitivities that go undiagnosed. Now, whenever I eat too much of the wrong thing, like a large bowl of popcorn, I feel it in my joints, popping and stiffness.
Sorry, I digress. I do believe that if I had chosen meds… well, I don’t know where or who I’d be today. I sincerely and nearly certainly doubt I’d be right here, now. I see 30+ years of healing within a fraction of that. I don’t think the meds would have given me that success rate. I think it would have prevented, hindered, my healing. They certainly wouldn’t have cured what ailed me!!
A good article with an alternative view of depression:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/magazine/28depression-t.html?pagewanted=print
According to this read, it has a purpose.
This post is a first in the spirit of wholly owning my experience, but more importantly my view, thoughts, and beliefs about it. I thank you, Eric, and all, for allowing me the space to do it. Some things do start right here.
I’ll say good night.
xo
Patricia
feeling very blessed and grateful
John Stewart interviews Rosalynn Carter at the end of this full episode about her book on mental health reform:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/tue-may-4-2010-rosalynn-carter
Some of her experiences and the facts around her frustrations are amazing.
Seldom discussed or understood pharmacologic problem: Psychiatric drugs, as a class, have a tendency to induce the very problems they are meant to treat when given in large doses. For example, Depakote, widely used in bi-polar disorder, can induce symptoms of the disorder when taken in large doses. Typically, the lower level of the drug will fail to work, then the doc will prescribe a larger dose which will work for a short period, and then induce a worse case of the problem. Larger doses aren’t necessarily better.
Another large and largely undiscussed issue: when you introduce SSRI type anti-depressants into the system, you are interfering with a variety of complex hormone interactions simply by raising something called sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG). This increase in SHBG means that many of your hormones will be bound up to this protein instead of freely available in the body. This is why the sex drive tends to drop or disappear after a few months of SSRI’s. The testosterone is now tied up and unavailable. For men, a lack of testosterone is associated with……..depression. You can add back testosterone, and in fact, if you do that, often the patient will need a lower dose of the SSRI, but way too few docs seem to know about this. They seem to think loss of sex drive is an untreatable side effect. Women are also more likely to feel depression with a loss of testosterone, to say nothing of the friction in sexual relationships when one partner loses interest.
Another aspect: the thyroid. Taking an SSRI can interfere with thyroid function due to the same SHGB binding problem. My favorite thyroid doc, Ridha Arem, finds that Celexa and Lexapro interfere the least. He also finds that once he has brought the thyroid hormones back in balance, the anti-depressant can be tapered off. If the patient is female and having problems with insufficient estradiol, then the estradiol levels must be corrected as well in order to reach a point where the depression is eliminated. All brains are not the same and will respond differently.
The active thyroid hormone at the cellular level, called T3 for it’s structure, brand name Cytomel, is known to be an excellent psychiatric booster. A low dose of 5-10 mcg daily, when taken with the psychiatric medication, will quite often allow the patient to decrease psychiartic medication doses quite a bit, because it stimulates the ability of the brain cells to uptake the drug, just as testosterone and estradiol (and other hormones) do. Few docs know about T3, and the most common way to get it is to beg and plead for it as a “please just let me try it” drug. Best results for most people are found when a reputable compounding pharmacy mixes it into a slow release form, or, try taking a 5 mcg in the am and a 5 mcg in the pm taken on an empty stomach and hour before food. This needs to be monitored since too much will result in irritability, increased sensitivity to heat, racing heart, and even bone loss. This is not a do it yourself project and is not the answer for everyone.
Men tend to have a drop in thyroid function as they age, particularly around age 40 or so, but it tends to be a subtle decline that will only be teased out by detailed thyroid blood work, which doctors don’t want to do anymore. The treatment parameters for a low performing thyroid have narrowed, but are still too wide. If your cholesterol is going up and your mood is going down despite healthy eating and exercise habits, get a detailed thyroid check and see if your free levels have declined. Again, look at the whole body.
Last, but by no means least, be on the lookout for hormone problems masquerading as psychological problems. PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrome) in a teen and young woman can look like bi-polar, ADHD, major depression, eating disorder, etc. When you have multiple system failures, please demand a complete hormone work up. Most of your hormones work in multiple areas of the body and therefore a failure of any of them can result in multiple problems that our current medical system tends to treat as unrelated issues. Depression can be an early symptom of cancer, PTSD, hormone problems, environmental exposures, etc. However, this kind of careful investigation and diagnosis has been defeated by the “prescribe a pill and they’ll go away” mentality.
Psychiatric drugs are a godsend in the hands of a really careful prescriber, if you can find one, but it has been too easy psychologize physical problems. I can never forget the story of a man in the psychiatric ward who became steadily worse until a nurse finally realized he became worse right after taking his bright orange meds. That bright orange coloring cause an atypical allergic reaction which manifested as a psychosis. He returned to full sanity, but how many other patients were never diagnosed correctly?
We really need this Chiron in Pisces transit.
oh…I wasn’t clear — meds prescribed without any examination or therapy or alternative input from anyone – to a 5-year old child – just based on what a parent who walked in the door with lies and a child in tow requested. (That’s just one event.)
AND that’s only my son. Then there’s the dad’s story and his constant companion the tackle box full of meds. And the pushy attempts to convince the grieving mom to take meds – totally without cause — and the friends who have immediately been prescribed meds when they too are in a situation that involves a period of “down time” or “griveing” and such.
I’ve been reading about the negative effects that common meds on the brain for at least a decade – the info’s been out there = but then, I went looking for it. Yes, I agree — “worthy of more inquiry to be sure”.
Amanda,
My personal experience is that “the standard psychiatric stance” is to prescribe meds. That’s their job. For counseling, hire a psychologist. When they don’t want you, they refer you to a psychiatrist in order that you will be prescribed meds. If you don’t want meds, you don’t go to a psychiatrist.
I have lived with the “lie” for the past 13 years – with my son’s father constantly taking him over the course of those years (illegally per custodial agreement) willy nilly to psychatrists who prescribed anything for my son that dad requested. on and on my personal stories go.
I am not really interested in reliving them now in this space the past is finally past — only suffice to say – yep….that’s what psychiatrists do – prescribe meds – “trying” this or that as if it were a new hair color or style of jeans. Oh yes…..I could fill volumes….
And so it is said directly not left to inference, this is no attack on competent psychiatrists. Only my personal experience of what appears to be all to common situation.
worthy of more inquiry, to be sure. the standard psychiatric stance is that *without* treatment, depressive episodes will worsen in frequency and severity over time. hhmmmm…
I lost a good friend to strong anti-depressant meds. They did to her just what the Mercola report suggests — in the long run her depression became chronic and overwhelming instead of merely episodic.
This occurred after her doc put her on progressively stronger and stronger meds.
She became so addicted to them that she demanded the strong scripts from her docs, and when she couldn’t get them she would change doctors.
Eventually she became impossible to be around and I am sorry to say that I left her to the care of her family, as I could find no workable to remain her friend.
I am extremely dubious about these drugs and am horrified by Dick Cavett, who has taken them himself for many years and blindly advises readers of his columns to go out and obtain “the strongest antidepressants you can find.”
Very troubling. Thanks for posting.
Wow. So interesting you should post this Eric – as I have just 3 minutes ago forwarded this very same Mercola article to a friend.
I learned first-hand over these past years all about depression. And being strongly anti-drug I needed different solutions for both my son and myself.
Exercise and DIETARY change are absolutely at the root from my experience. Brian function became prirmary topic of research and no matter what direction I went at it from – it always came down to awareness of body’s movement in space (exercise) diet (we ‘are’ what we eat- and are ‘not” based on what we eat) and awareness of natural cycles and responses to external stressors (such as, depression forces us inward which doesn’t need to be a bad thing even though we are often taught to believe that it is.)
I strongly recommend Mercola’s email newsletter to everyone.
Bob Whitaker is a great author and investigative reporter and lives here in Cambridge, MA. His first book on mental health is an incredible piece of work called “Mad in America- Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill.” Whereas that first book takes a strong focus on anti-psychotic medicines, this new one focuses on anti-depressants. Some good friends of mine are interviewed in this new book. Bob is a good guy- very humble and easy to talk to- rich conversations.
His site is http://madinamerica.com/madinamerica.com/Home/Home.html