Disease

A new research study has again shown that a diet rich in omega3 fatty acids can effectively treat and prevent depression and other mental disorders.

The research, published in the February issue of the journal, Biological Psychiatry, has actually shown that omega3 fatty acids and foods that are high in uridine were as good as (and often better than) anti-depressant drugs in reducing the symptoms of depression. The unpredictability of anti-depressant drugs has caused much concern for many years, with a large number of doctors and patients questioning their use, and raising concerns about the negative (rather than positive) effects they can cause.

Recently, both Merck and GlaxoSmithKlein (manufacturers of Paxil and Vioxx respectively) have been taken to court over withheld research results which show that antidepressant drugs cause children to behave violently and can increase the likelihood of suicide by up to 400%.

This has resulted in the FDA in the US announcing that it will ensure that all anti-depressant drugs manufacturers must include a ‘black box’ warning label on all antidepressant medications. The European Union has also warned its member states about the risks associated to antidepressant drugs, particularly since the Journal of the American Medical Association published a review of the 102 clinical trials on anti-depressants which showed that results are frequently misreported or hidden.

There are Many Resources for Online Suicide Help

First of all, if you are currently having suicidal ideations please immediately call:

1-800-SUICIDE (800-748-2433)

This is the National Hopeline and you will be connected to a trained counselor in your local area that can help you.

There are many sources of online suicide help and information. The newest source for online suicide help is www.preventsuicide.net The Preventing Suicide National Journal was started three years ago, and was the nation’s first suicide prevention journal aimed at advocates, and other concerned people who wanted to take action to prevent suicide in their own communities. Since the summer of 2002, over 15 issues have been published with the latest in best practices, technology applications for crisis intervention, legislative initiatives, grant opportunities, and the latest findings in the research field.

The first online suicide help version of the Preventing Suicide National Journal was published in July of 2005. Once again, the National Hopeline broke ground with the very first interactive online suicide help journal. The inaugural on-line edition started off with more of the same and a complete review of the recent three year study of the National Hopeline Network and how effective crisis intervention is when the best practices we know are followed.

What is depression?

Depression is a serious medical illness; it’s not something that you have made up in your head. It’s more than just feeling “down in the dumps” or “blue” for a few days. It’s feeling “down” and “low” and “hopeless” for weeks at a time.

It is not something you can just pull yourself out of! It is not something that you can just shake off. To read more about the signs and symptoms of depression go to this link: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depression.cfm#ptdep3

For many people one tiny thing can set off a huge depression attack. I have suffered from depression now for 8 years, I guess to be truthful I have dealt with depression my whole life but just didn’t realize it till the incident I am about to relate to you.

We’ve all been there? One minute your listening intently as your mother in law tells you for the tenth time about the people she met on her recent holiday? or to the boss as he delivers a presentation on improving productivity levels (yawn!)

One minute you’re listening? the next you’re planning the colour scheme of the new kitchen or what you’re going to be eating for dinner tonight! Basically, your mind has wandered!

It’s called ’stream of consciousness’ and it happens to us all!

Our minds are designed to work like that, flowing from one thought to the next. It’s the basis of intelligent human thought? of creativity? even of survival. Our brains have to react quickly to changing stimuli and they have to be thinking on many different levels at once.

Of course that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to pay attention and stick to the subject at hand! We should control our thought patterns sufficiently so we can learn, so we can live. We should be able to apply this control, this discipline, over our wandering minds.

Depression, in psychiatry, is a symptom of mood disorder characterized by intense feelings of loss, sadness, hopelessness, failure, and rejection. The two major types of mood disorder are unipolar disorder, also called major depression, and bipolar disorder, whose sufferers are termed manic-depressive.

Here are few suggestions to get the better of the depressed mood and get the most happiness out of your daily activities.

Take a Break.

I mean it.

Listen to soothing music. Soak in a nice warm bath. Ask one of your close friends to massage you. Take a break from your stressful workload and spend the day just goofing around. In other words, have fun.

Eat Right and Stay Fit.

Avoid foods with lots of sugar, caffeine, or alcohol. Sugar and caffeine may give you a brief moment of energy; but they would later bring about anxiety, tension, and internal problems. Alcohol is a depressant. Many people would drink alcohol to “forget their problems.” They’re just aggravating their conditions in the process.

Exercising regularly is a vital depression buster because it allows your body to produce more endorphins than usual. Endorphins are sometimes called “the happy chemicals” because of their stress-reducing and happiness-inducing properties.

I attended the Vagus Nerve Stimulation Therapy Conference at the manufacturers’ (Cyberonics) headquarters in Houston, TX in late July. The Conference presenters included senior management, psychiatric thought leaders and study investigators from the investigational clinical trial. In this article , I will limit the discussion to the question that I am asked most often; will insurance companies or Medicare cover vagus nerve stimulation for depression?

Third Party Reimbursement

I had received several e-mails from patients, who had the implant prior to final FDA approval and their insurance covered all or most of the procedure. These were isolated cases, but I think it is worth noting. The presenter for this portion of the Conference was Shawn Lunney, Vice President, Market Development and Engineering.

Will third party payers reimburse VNS Therapy for depression? Shawn’s answer was yes, but it will take some time and vary policy by policy. Three main issues:

• Coverage
• Coding
• Reimbursement

In my book, Out of the Black: The Patient’s Guide to Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Depression, I list all of the coverage codes as well as guidance (with help from The Patient Advocate Foundation) as to the reimbursement process. The reimbursement fundamentals for VNS Therapy related procedures are very solid. “Coverage in epilepsy is virtually universal; coding is clear, adequately describes the procedures performed and provides reasonable payment for services rendered by all providers”-Cyberonics

Many of us feel depressed at one time or another, but for some, depression may be chronic and even debilitating.

Emotions are a normal part of our life. We all experience anger, sadness, worry or fear on occasion and it does not lead to disease. It only leads to health problems when emotions are excessive or repressed for long periods of time. Emotional stress will tend to weaken your “Qi”, or energy, or your Qi can stagnate or move in the wrong direction.

Depression can also start from a physical source. For example, insomnia, working too much, or a chronic illness can weaken your Qi, resulting in being upset easily or out or proportion to the situation. A weakened digestive system or lack of proper fluids can cause the quality or quantity of blood to be poor, resulting in depression. A lack of exercise easily leads to Qi stagnation and depression.

We all have days when we are down, worn out and just not feeling all that happy.

That’s okay. You need to have days like this, otherwise how would you know when you are happy? You appreciate your good days even more when you have the occasional bad day for contrast. What is black without white?

Even though sadness is a part of life, let’s try to make it a small part of life.

With that said, here are a few tips to help you feel better when you are feeling down in the dumps. They are easy to practice every day, and they work!

Millions of people sufferaround the world from a depressive illness. They think that depression is just a normal occurrence in their lives, which will go away after a short while. If you think of the fast moving and complicated world we live in today it’s easy to feel a little overwhelmed and dismiss how serious depression can be.

Did you know that words related to depression are searched around almost 1 million times a month? Much attention has been centered to this global health problem as one of the rigorous challenges of the 21st century.

No one is safe from being affected by depression because it affects everyone. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a male or female, rich or poor, educated or uneducated. Once a person starts becoming depressed, he or she usually behaves in a manner that intensifies the illness.It is a viscious circle that can be very difficult to break free

Symptoms can include :

Miserable frame of mind over a period of time, sometimes in a number of weeks

Disheartened thinking - negative approach about oneself, the present and the future

Difficulty in focusing and remembering

Feelings of unimportance and desperation

It is now no secret that people all over the western world are turning to high grade ethyl EPA omega 3 fish oil to treat a number of conditions, but can it really work against a problem that knows no boundaries of age, race or gender. It is a condition that affects millions of people at some time in there lives, it’s called depression.

Depression

So can high grade ethyl EPA fish oil help with depression and low moods, lets take a look at the evidence. In one study involving 20 people with recurrent depression, researchers studied the effects of the specific omega 3 fatty acid known as pure EPA.

Patients involved in this study randomly received either the ethyl EPA fish oil capsule or a sugar pill in addition to the anti depressant medication they were taking. After only four weeks, six out of ten patients receiving EPA had significantly reduced symptoms of depression.

The leading researcher in this study Boris Nements said " the effect of the fatty acid EPA was significant from week two of treatment" he also noted that " the symptoms of depressed mood, guilt feelings, worthlessness and insomnia had all improved by week three."