Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 John's Wort, a medicinal herb frequently blamed by conventional medicine for interfering with prescription drugs, is more effective than a popular antidepressant drug in treating depression. The study found that the herb is actually much more effective than antidepressant drugs, since more than half of those taking St. John's Wort in the trial experienced improvements in symptoms of mental depression. Conversely, only 1/3 of those taking the popular antidepressant drug showed such improvements. |
Mike Adams
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 John's Wort, a medicinal herb frequently blamed by conventional medicine for interfering with prescription drugs, is more effective than a popular antidepressant drug in treating depression. The study found that the herb is actually much more effective than antidepressant drugs, since more than half of those taking St. John's Wort in the trial experienced improvements in symptoms of mental depression. Conversely, only one-third of those taking the popular antidepressant drug showed such improvements. |
Jack Challem
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 Note: Work with your physician if you want to transition from an antidepressant drug to St. John's wort. Do not combine St. John's wort with any antidepressant drugs except under the guidance of your doctor.
Ginkgo
Principal use: For memory, mental function, and premenstrual symptoms.
What else you should know: Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is a venerable Chinese herb whose benefits in mental function are now being confirmed by scientific studies. Fuzzy thinking can impair judgment, and poor memory can contribute to feelings of frustration and anxiety. |
Thomson Healthcare, Inc.
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 John's Wort and antidepressant drug interactions in the elderly. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 12(1):7-10. 1999.
Lecrubier Y, Clerc G, Didi R, et al: Efficacy of St. John's Wort extract WS 5570 in major depression: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Am J Psychiatry 159(8): 1361-1366. 2002.
Lehrl S, Willemsen A, Papp R et al: Results from measurements of the cognitive capacity in patients during treatment with hypericum extract. Nervenheilkunde 12:281-284. 1993.
Lenoir S, Degenring F, Sailer R. |
Mark Sircus
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 I was put on nearly every antidepressant drug known and had severe side effects to all of them and felt sicker and sicker. None worked. I lost a lot of weight, and I was extremely constipated. I also had a cardiac arrhythmia.
"On April 12, 2000,1 looked like I was dying to several people important in my life. My psychiatrist agreed and took me off all antidepressant medications and put me on a tiny amount of lithium carbonate (150 mg twice a day). Shortly later, I picked up a 1975 copy of Nutrition Almanac, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, and happened to open it to the magnesium section. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 See my most recent CounterThink cartoon, just released today: Fidozac, the antidepressant drug for dogs!)
Only occasionally does the film retreat from its pressure-cooker drama. Chapter Three offers a series of personal testimonies on Prozac that goes on way too long, for example, but the timing of the film is likely to be tightened up before its final release.
We'll keep you posted on the film's release
Generation Rx won't be available for public release until later this year. NewsTarget will be running exclusive clips from the film, and we'll be covering the film's launch and availability. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Every single school shooting involving a child in the United States in the last 15 years has been linked to antidepressant drug use. Need I say more?
13. Chemical laundry detergents
Parents are shown fancy ads on television depicting how wonderful and clean their clothes will be if they wash them in brand-name laundry detergent. What they're not shown, however, is the toxicity of all the synthetic chemicals that go into most laundry detergent products. The fragrance chemicals alone are often carcinogenic, and they're just as bad for the environment as they are children's health. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 John's Wort was officially recognized as an antidepressant drug in Germany in 1998, is
''''Natural medications such as St. John's Wort, SAMe, and omega-3 fatty acids eventually may prove to he valuable additions to the psychiatrist^ pharmacologic armamentarium, both as monotherapy and as adjunctive therapy for mood disorders. Current research data are compelling, from a standpoint of both efficacy and safety...."
—David Mischoulon, M.D., Ph.D. |
Jack Challem
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| One doctor prescribed an antidepressant drug, which increased Sandy's weight as a side effect but did not completely resolve her feelings of depression and anxiety.The doctor then prescribed a different antidepressant, but that didn't work well, either.
On the advice of a friend, Sandy visited a nutritionally oriented physician. Blood tests found her low in the B vitamins,so he recommended that she begin taking a high-potency B-complex supplement. |
Jack Challem
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 A physician prescribed an antidepressant drug, which resulted in her gaining weight but did not completely resolve her depression and anxiety. He prescribed a second antidepressant drug, but it didn't help.
When Shelley went to a nutritionally oriented physician, he tested her urine for kryptopyrrole, a chemical that binds to and excretes vitamin B6 and zinc, two nutrients that influence mood. Shelly tested positive for this genetic predisposition, and work-related stresses increased her production of kryptopyrrole and loss of vitamin B6 and zinc. |
Thomson Healthcare, Inc.
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| Black cohosh extract significantly reduced the period of immobility, a result comparable to that of imipramine, another antidepressant drug (Winterhoff et al, 2003).
Anti-Inflammatory Effects: Methanol extract of Cimicifuga rhizome demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory activity in rats (Kim & Kim, 2000). Virus-infected mice were found to have lowered interleukin-8 levels and reduced numbers of exuded neutrophils (obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage) after treatment with ferulic acid, isoferulic acid, or a Cimicifuga extract, as compared to the control group (Hirabayashi et al, 1995). |
| Clinical evaluation of 5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan as an antidepressant drug. Folia Psychiatr Neurol Jpn 1978;32:223-230.
Nardini M, DeStefano R, Ianuccelli M, et al. Treatment of depression with 1-5-hydroxytryptophan combined with chlomipramine: A double-blind study. J Clin Pharmacol Res 1983;3:239-250.
Poldinger W, Calanchini B, Schwarz W. A functional-dimensional approach to depression: serotonin deficiency as a target syndrome in a comparison of 5-hydroxytryptophan and fluvoxamine. Psychopathology 1991;24:53-81
Puttini PS, Caruso I. |
Mike Adams
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| Conversely, only one-third of those taking the popular antidepressant drug showed such improvements. Not surprisingly, those taking the herb also showed significantly fewer negative side effects compared to those taking the prescription drug.
Depression and mental disorders can be prevented and treated with simple healing foods
A study published in the February 15, 2005 issue of Biological Psychiatry shows that certain foods are better at treating depression than antidepressant drugs. |
Gary Null and Amy McDonald
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 More recently, there have been studies of a natural derivative of folic acid called methyl folate, showing it to be as effective as the antidepressant drug to which it was being compared. This supports the claim that nutritionally oriented doctors including orthomolecular psychiatrists have been making for many years now: folic acid prescribed in megadoses appears to be a stimulating antidepressant for some patients.
The amino acid tryptophan can be another key substance in the treatment of depression. According to Dr. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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 ANTIDEPRESSANTS
Patients with Alzheimer's often have symptoms of depression that can be treated with antidepressant medications. An antidepressant drug in the monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) class that is often used is selegiline
(Eldepryl). Overall, studies have not shown this medication to be effective for treating mood or cognitive problems in AD. Side effects include hypertensive crisis (the blood pressure suddenly becomes very high, to the point at which it can become a medical emergency) when patients eat high-tyramine foods like cheese, wine, or beer. |
Thomson Healthcare, Inc.
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| Effectiveness of 5-hydroxy-L-trytophan as an antidepressant drug was studied in 59 patients with depressive symptoms in a double blind clinical study using a Rating Scale for Depression (Nakajima, 1978). A daily dose of 150-300 mg of 5-hydroxyl-L-tryptophan was administered for three weeks. Favorable responses were observed in 40 patients (67.8%), of whom 13 patients were markedly improved. These effects were noticed in 32 patients (80% of the improved patients) within a week of the treatment. |
Shannon Brownlee
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 Eventually the reps asked him to lecture about a new version of their antidepressant drug." That's when Hal Elliott pulled the plug on his short career as a thought leader.
Plenty of other academics don't pull the plug, deciding instead that they can maintain their academic and intellectual integrity and still take the money. Today, a third of academic clinicians have financial ties to either the drug or the device industry, though nobody (except the companies themselves) has any idea how much money actually changes hands. |
Andreas Moritz
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 Prozac Scandal Revealed; Antidepressants
The most favored antidepressant drug to make people "happy" is Prozac (fluoxetine). In the U.S., it is now used by millions of people to cope with stressful living conditions. This may lead people to believe that the drug is safe. The first studies on Prozac, however, show that the drug is not harmless after all. Researchers from the University of California made the discovery that women who take Prozac while pregnant are more than twice as likely to give birth to babies with defects. |
Jack Challem
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| He prescribed a second antidepressant drug, but it didn't help.
When Shelley went to a nutritionally oriented physician, he tested her urine for kryptopyrrole, a chemical that binds to and excretes vitamin B6 and zinc, two nutrients that influence mood. Shelly tested positive for this genetic predisposition, and work-related stresses increased her production of kryptopyrrole and loss of vitamin B6 and zinc. The effect was comparable to a deficiency of both nutrients.
Her physician recommended a high-potency B-complex supplement, containing 100 mg of the major B vitamins. |
Dr. Timothy Scott
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 If an antidepressant is eventually going to be given to those who are at high risk for suicide, have bipolar disorder, have an eating disorder, are obsessive-compulsive, are antisocial or experience general anxiety, then those people should not be purposely excluded from an antidepressant drug trial. But they are.16 Those designing these trials are not looking for subjects who are the most like those who will be prescribed their drug. They are not looking for participants who have a problem that has gone on for years and are less likely to respond. |
| In 1987 the German equivalent of America's Food and Drug Administration refused to allow Prozac (the only antidepressant drug approved for use by children in America) to be marketed in Germany when studies revealed three times as many suicides among study participants as among those on a placebo.14 Their studies were particularly disconcerting because, unlike correlational studies which can lead to false conclusions, the Germans used an experimental design. If antidepressants correct the chemical imbalance, why would there be more suicide among those on these drugs? |
| This discovery led to the title of a subsequent article, "Yes, There Is a Placebo Effect, but Is There a Powerful antidepressant drug Effect?"15
To answer that question Dr. Kirsch and his colleagues submitted a Freedom of Information Act request. They wanted to see the data the drug companies submitted for gaining FDA approval for the six antidepressants which were most widely prescribed between 1987 and 1999—Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor, Serzone, and Celexa. The FDA released to the researchers the data for the 47 clinical trials used for gaining approval for the six antidepressants. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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 The antidepressant drug sertralin (Zoloft).
• The erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil.
• The transplant rejection drug cyclosporine (Sandimmune, Neoral).
• The protease inhibitor saquinavir (Invirase, Fortovase), used to treat HIV.
• The anti-arrhythmic heart drug amiodarone (Corda-rone, Pacerone).
Reducing Your Risk of Interactions
There are many things you, as a consumer, can do to reduce your risk. First of all, be aware that drug interactions do exist, and that nutrients and vitamins, along with food and beverages, must be included in the equation. |
Joseph E. Mario
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 The company was never censured, but antidepressant drug Prozac was introduced at that same time. Tryptophan had proven to be safe for 25 years without incident, and remains off the market because it is natural, cheap, and works too well against depression. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 I think that's a phenomenal number, and I know that if the antidepressant drug manufacturers could see this report, they would be alarmed to learn that simple, open-source health information is helping people overcome depression without dangerous, expensive prescription drugs.
Eleven point six percent reported receiving praise from their doctor for making positive health changes. |
Dr. Timothy Scott
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| Thase believes that even if "for every 10 patients treated with an active SSRI (instead of a placebo), one more did only slightly better than the placebos—the placebos accounting for over 80% of the antidepressant drug effect.35 Yet, if it were not for the Freedom of Information Act, no one would imagine that even the drug studies responsible for Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Effexor, Serzone and Celexa receiving FDA approval found these drugs work only slightly better than a placebo. |
| If you have access to a computer, you can discover for yourself that many of the published antidepressant drug studies are conducted by the very pharmaceutical companies who own the drugs (see Box #7-2, Investigation: How Much Research Is Published by the Drug Companies?) or you can experience how drug studies are "authored" by researchers who likely never even saw their article before it was published (see Box #6-1, Guess How Many Authors Wrote This Article). These experiences are enriching, and I hope you will take advantage of them. |
Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels
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 Some of the action took place in Australia, where a less experienced PR firm was hired to cultivate the social phobia market—on behalf of Swiss giant Roche, at the time keen to promote its antidepressant drug Aurorix for the condition. One of the classic press releases from that effort claimed that a million Australians were suffering from a little-known but soul-destroying psychiatric disorder called social phobia. |
Mike Adams
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| Lacasse and Jonathan Leo reach the following conclusion about antidepressant drug advertising:
A recent study by Kravitz et al. found that pseudopatients (actors who were trained to behave as patients) presenting with symptoms of adjustment disorder (a condition for which antidepressants are not usually prescribed) were frequently prescribed paroxetine (Paxil) by their physicians if they inquired specifically about Paxil; such enquiries from actual patients could be prompted by DTCA (Direct-To-Consumer-Advertising). |
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