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The following material regards the use of amino acids and other natural measures to treat depression. Additionally, it discusses concepts that are often germane to the treatment of a depressive state. The concepts and approaches suggested in this material certainly do not apply to everyone suffering from depression. However, many of the concepts and approaches discussed below may be germane to many, if not most, persons in a depressed state. These concepts and approaches certainly apply to myself. They have also applied to every one else that I have treated for depression (admittedly only about six persons). Currently the medical model almost summarily uses various antidepressant medications in to treat depression. Simplistically stated, these medications operate to increase availability of, or the usage of, certain neurotransmitters in the brain such as serotonin and/or dopamine. They do so to alleviate the symptoms of depression. Many orthomolecular and naturopathic practitioners and books extol the use of 5HTP or the amino acid tryptophan to order to increase one's serotonin level, and the use of the amino acids tyrosine, phenylalanine, or both to increase the dopamine level in the brain. They recommend this for the treatment of depression. Certainly, these amino acids, taken along with the necessary vitamin and mineral cofactors, do exactly as intended, which is to increase serotonin or dopamine in one's brain. And certainly, doing so often substantially alleviates the symptoms of depression. The substitution of antidepressants that work on the serotonin or dopamine axis with nutrient precursors that do the same represents "an allopathic conceptual approach" to depression. However, depression, far more often than not, is not simply a lack of serotonin or dopamine or both. This is true even if raising the levels of one or both of these two key neurotransmitters often brings substantial relief to this state of mental and physical dysfunction. Depression, far more often than not, is a broad deficiency state across most, if not all, of the entire neurotransmitter range... and there are about 100 known neurotransmitters. Once depression is recognized as such, it is profoundly treatable in an amazingly short time. Incidentally, stress is often blamed for the onset of a depressive state. This fact skews the real truth here. It is simply the fact that stress is very biochemically depleting, and therefore depression is the end result. A depressed person is just not getting enough nutrients in which to deal effectively with stress as a result of malabsorption, an inadequate diet, or both. A nutrient replete person can deal with a rather inordinate amount of stress, even if this stress is felt on a chronic basis. However, as soon as a person under chronic stress falls short in the nutrient department, depression is the inevitable end result. And despite the same stressors being present, as soon as this same person under great stress becomes nutrient replete again, they are no longer depressed in any degree whatsoever. This I know for a fact as a result of hundreds of informal self trials of inducing and then correcting depression in myself within the past four years, and as the result of a great deal of research and other experience. In my recovery from manic depression, I began to use tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine in mid 1997, with very substantial and positive mood effect. I initially used tryptophan, taurine, and GABA daily for brain inhibition and to assist with sleep (this regime is very similar to what Julia Ross suggests in her book "The Mood Cure"). I also used the key nutrient combination of 500 mg. of L-carnitine in the morning and phosphatidyl choline throughout the day to slow the spontaneous rate of neuronal firing in my brain, an effect that was very similar to lithium. In addition to this, to treat depression in myself I used both tyrosine alone and/or a tyrosine/phenylalanine combination on a fairly regular basis from May 1997 until February 2000. The use of tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine did substantially help me to alleviate depression in myself, and I learned a great deal from the use of these amino acids... however... I later found that just increasing my serotonin and dopamine levels, as helpful as this was to my mood and well being for a few years or so, was a rather weak approach to treating depression in both myself and other persons vs. increasing the levels of all of my neurotransmitters all at once. One must realize that out of the roughly 100 known neurotransmitters, 99 of them are amino acid based, and the key exception here is acetylcholine. Assuming that all of the vitamin and mineral cofactors are present for all neurotransmitters to be produced, the entire amino acid range, choline (or phosphatidyl choline, it's more active form), and L-carnitine (an often key accessory nutrient) represents precursor loading of the entire neurotransmitter range, for all ostensible purposes. In February of 2000, I began to experiment with taking broad based amino acids, rather than simply taking a few individual ones to treat depression in myself. Almost immediately, by a process of trial and error, I found that a mixture of two readily available blends of amino acids, along with added tryptophan, carnitine, phosphatidyl choline, and vitamins B complex and C, would boost me out of any degree of depression that I was in and/or keep me out of depression entirely if I took it in adequate quantity often enough. Specifically, the two blends of amino acids that I am referring to here are Pure Form 20 and WAC blend from www.jomarlabs.com. After trial and error of a number of Jomar Laboratories blended amino acid products in early 2000, I settled on a 50/50 mix of these two specific blends to affect mood change in myself. These two blends are quite reasonable in cost, reasonable enough for most persons to be able to afford in quantity. Pure Form 20, which is 20 different amino acids, costs only $11.00 for 125 500mg caps, $38.60 for 500 500 mg caps, and $120.60 for 1000 grams (one kilogram) of powder. WAC blend costs only $28.30 for 505 450mg caps. or $88.00 for 1000 grams (one kilogram) of powder. I would commonly get a kilogram of each blend in either powder (the powder does not taste too good… yuck!) or capsule form and take between 30 and 50 grams or more in total of these blends on a daily basis (15 to 25 grams of each blend). To these amino acid blends, I would add some tryptophan, for which I had a prescription, and ALWAYS add carnitine and phosphatidyl choline as well (if I did not add choline I would get a bit of a headache if I took too large a dosage of these two blends). I would also always take vitamins B complex and C at the same time, along with lots of water. The effect of my using the broad based neurotransmitter precursor approach discussed above on my mood and well being was, and still is, absolutely awesome!, compared to my prior approach of just using tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine in order to effect mood change in myself. A crucial catch to my taking amino acids and other nutrients orally in order to change my neurotransmitter levels was that I had to be adequately absorptive in my gut for enough nutrients to be absorbed. Being adequately absorptive in the gut is not always the case in a person that is depressed. The reverse here is almost invariably true in myself, i.e. when I have become depressed, I am seriously malabsorptive as well. Depression and a serious degree of malabsorption are nearly synonymous.
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