Hi nancy,
in addition to prescription medications,
mood can be improved by several vitamins
and supplements. Which are likely to help
you depends on the underlying cause of the
problem.
(1) low mood and tiredness may be due to
low thyroid function, so add tyrosine and
iodine (kelp) to your diet to provide your
body with the precursors to the thyroid
hormones, which promote energy, elevate
mood, and reduce the body's tendency to
store fat.
(2) anxious moods (like your tendency to
cry) may be improved with more of the
calming neurotransmitter, serotonin. Try
providing your brain with a serotonin
precursors, tryptophan or 5-hydroxy
tryptophan (5-htp). Tryptophan is
converted into 5-htp, which is converted
into serotonin, the calming
neurotransmitter that helps sleep. Taking
5-htp itself may cause drowsiness, so it
is taken just before bedtime.
(3) nervous tension may be helped with
gaba, the brain's natural relaxing and
calming agent.
(4) anxiety sometimes results from
stimulant induced nervousness so consider
reducing your use of caffeine, ephedra,
and other stimulants to improve your
mood.
(5) anxiety and fatigue can be due to low
blood sugar, so consult with your
physician to see if you have pre-diabetes.
Try vanadium and/or chromium (part of
glucose tolerance factor) to improve your
glucose metabolism.
(6) for the depression itself, try st.
John's wort, and/or s-adenosyl methionine
(same).
I recommend starting with a tolerance test
for each of these supplements. Try each
individually for one week, and identify
any that make you feel worse (different
people have different side effects). In
this process you may also identify a few
things that seem to help. You can
continue taking them as you test
additional supplements for side effects.
Next, find out what the maximal benefit
you can achieve is. Take everything you
didn't have any side effects from -- a
combination treatment will have several
components that neither help nor hinder
your condition, and by testing all
products in combination, you will get the
maximal benefit from those supplements
that work well together. Expect 1 or 2
weeks for the maximal effect to develop.
Now you will know whether or not
non-prescription products benefit you
significantly. If they do, this is
great, and if they don't, you can
definitively say so, and stop wasting
further time, money, and effort on
them.
If they do help you, continue taking
them, and eliminate one supplement every
two weeks. If you notice no difference
without it, eliminate it permanently.
If you notice a decline in your mood,
restore the supplement to group of
products you are taking. Keep
eliminating products until all the
products you are taking are helping your
mood.
At this point, you will have identified
which supplements help you, and which do
not.
To be sure you are getting adequately
potent products I recommend using the ones
found at
valuevitamin.Com.
That way you will know that the tests you
performed on yourself will not give false
answers due to using less potent
supplements.
I hope that this information will help.
Take good care of yourself!
