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Anti-depressants: Major study finds they work
Scientists say they have settled one of medicine's biggest debates after a huge study found that anti-depressants work. The study, which analysed data from 522 trials involving 116,477 people, found 21 common anti-depressants were all more effective at reducing symptoms of acute depression than dummy pills. But it also showed big differences in how effective each drug is.
The authors of the report, published in the Lancet [open, DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32802-7] [DX], said it showed many more people could benefit from the drugs. There were 64.7 million prescriptions for the drugs in England in 2016 - more than double the 31 million in 2006 - but there has been a debate about how effective they are, with some trial[s] suggesting they are no better than placebos. The Royal College of Psychiatrists said the study "finally puts to bed the controversy on anti-depressants".
The so-called meta-analysis, which involved unpublished data in addition to the information from the 522 clinical trials involving the short-term treatment of acute depression in adults, found the medications were all more effective than placebos. However, the study found they ranged from being a third more effective than a placebo to more than twice as effective.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday February 23 2018, @06:31AM (3 children)
Hasn't the serotonin hypothesis been all but debunked?
I seem to be one of those people who can't handle SSRIs, so no big loss there, but what I did to cure depression was a lot less medical. And I mean major depression, lasting almost my entire life, which became comorbid with PTSD, anxiety disorder, and Cthulhu knows what else over time. Have you ever met a suicidal 8 year old? I was one.
This might not, indeed probably will not, work for everyone, but for me, this is what did it:
1) Magnesium, about twice the RDA, as Mg citrate in morning and night doses. This is in the powder form, Natural Calm or similar.
2) 5-Methylfolate (NOT folic acid!), single dose of 100% RDA in the morning. These come as dissolvable little sublingual tablets.
3) Dry vitamin-D3, single does of 100% RDA in the morning.
4) A big morning vitamin C dose, one of the ones with some rutin, hesperidin, etc. included in the pill
5) Also niacin in the morning. This will give you flushing and burning, but endure it.
6) Dissolve some turmeric, some black pepper, and some Salt Sense (i.e., potassium salt...) into the evening Mg dose, and chase it with something with a little fat in it.
I suspect a MTHFR gene mutation, which would explain the effectiveness of the 5-methylfolate. The thing that seemed to have the most effect was the magnesium, followed by the turmeric/pepper regimen, which would also suggest that inflammation was playing a role here. There's been some new research suggesting that depression may either stem from or actually *be* an inflammatory condition. I know I feel much calmer and less achy on this regimen, and seem to have a lot more tolerance for life's constant absurdities.
Again, this might not and probably will not work for anyone else, but all of these are fairly cheap and seem to have no harmful side effects. I can't really say this is a "cure," as some of the mental scars left by my past simply won't go away, but they're far less painful and obstructive now.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Friday February 23 2018, @10:10AM (2 children)
I'm also one of those that react badly on SSRIs, in my case MAOIs* helped
Also, have you tried any SSRE**? My shrinks refused to prescribe it for me.
* (MonoAmine Oxidose Inhibiter) For those that are unaware, that is the generation of antidepressants between tricyclics and SSRIs, if fscks up up in a more pleasant way than SSRI if you suffer from unacceptable sideeffects, it also comes with some interesting dietary restrictions.
** Reuptake Enhancer
(Also - try aloo gohst, the indian dish, you basically just described a lot of indian food but that is my favorite with tumeric in it)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday February 23 2018, @09:47PM (1 child)
My body is bizarrely sensitive to medicines of all kinds; things work at lower doses than they should and have slightly longer half-lives. So I try to avoid anything stronger than paracetamol (Tylenol) unless there's absolutely no alternative, and attempt to keep inflammation down through diet, vitamins, and a little biofeedback.
Restaurant curry isn't something I get to eat often, maybe a couple times a year, but I cook with lots and lots of spices and fresh ingredients. Lunch today was a modified ma po tofu recipe (made with lean ground turkey and sliced onions) over brown rice, and hot enough to clear other peoples' sinuses from across the table :)
Aside from that, cutting out ALL sodas including diet ones, not drinking milk, limiting fried foods, and avoiding refined sugars and white flour seems to do the trick. That and getting enough sleep, not drinking or smoking or doing drugs, etc. Maybe this sounds boring, but I feel so much better this way than even a year ago it's amazing.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Friday February 23 2018, @10:42PM
I know that feeling - for me I react at insanely low doses (a high dose of paracetamol for me is about 100mg, good thing the liquid kiddie-version has a great taste) combined with a very short halflife [nothing really is quite like having painkillers wear off while they are stiching you up after minor surgery]. Funnily enough I can take close to LD50 doses without much more effect than I had where the dose went to "strong" for me. I guess my basic physique has a lot to do with this (oxygenation and heartrate is what is expected from an athlete, I'm a couch potatoe with bad knees).
I rarely eat resturant curry as well due to allergies, but my gf loves indian food so I basically just learned to make a couple of dozen indian dishes (personally I favour the japanese and persian regions). My lunch today was gyudon in which I'm currenty experimenting with making "lazy packages" I can keep in my freezer. Yesterday it was a chicken and potatoe coconut curry (reviewing how to stuff as much fat as possible into food without it adversly impacting taste in order to help friends with eating disorders to keep their bodyweight up - so far I'm up to about 75g of butter per portion).
Oh, and due to some bananas being close to overripe I also made banana sponge-cake.
Due to a bowel disorder I can't really eat much high fibre food (I miss high fibre bread) and need to stick with white rice.
Good that you found a way that works :)