OMEGA 3

Hiya Chris ~ glad you have started linger longer and to post, rather than just passing through the place, so "welcome"! As you will have read, they really are a great bunch here. We are all wacky in one way or another … adds to the colour and ambiance of the place I feel!

I am the person who has been banging on about Omega3 Pure EPA oil recently. I have read quite a bit on the internet recently, (having first heard great things about it some 2 years ago), and I've read a very informative book written by an Imperial College researcher into the subject of this oil and the many facets of depression which it can treat.

There seem to be a number of places to buy this product, but so far the best I have found is http://www.mind1st.co.uk/ and their site is also very informative. The element of Omega3 which is the most beneficial is the EPA part (eicosapentaenoic acid), and I have not been able to find an OTC version with the right composition.

Anyway, I'm giving it a whirl. It's not a overnight fix it has to be said, it's another routine which was has to be strictly adhered to, but I look at it as conditioning my mind and body in preparation for next year's SAD onslaught. It seems that one does 3 months on a very high dose of the oil, then levelling out to half that dose on a 'year in year out' basis. The beneficial effects are evident after 3 months use.

This is a post I put up some time back, I'd link you to it, but I don't know how to do that, so here's a cut and paste :
http://www.psychiatrysource.com/psychsource/Congress_Reports/article905.htm "Treatment with omega-3 fatty acid may alleviate depression
Dr. Basant K. Puri, Imperial College, Imperial College School of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK
Dr. Puri began by noting that the increased prevalence of depression throughout the 20th century correlated negatively with the consumption of oily fish that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, particularly EPA. Therefore, investigators are considering whether depressed patients will find relief in dietary supplements of this omega-3 fatty acid. After one dramatic case in which a young male patient's depression was resolved with EPA treatment after several failed courses of antidepressants, Dr. Puri and other investigators became interested in clinical trials to see whether EPA was effective in managing depression.
One study involved 70 patients with unresponsive depression. The patients were randomized to receive either EPA or placebo for 12 weeks; the patients in the investigative arm were to receive 1, 2, or 4 g of the omega-3 fatty acid daily.
"The group receiving 1 g showed a significantly better outcome than the placebo group on three rating scales," Dr. Puri said. Those scales were the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), the Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and the Beck Depression Inventory. Those patients receiving 2 g of EPA showed little response, he noted, and those in the 4 g EPA group showed a trend toward improvement that was not significant.
"All the individual items on all three scales improved with the 1 g dosage, with strong beneficial effects on items rating depression, anxiety, sleep, lassitude, libido, and suicidality," said Dr. Puri.
In another trial, 20 patients with major depressive disorder participated in a 4-week double-blind trial in which they received either EPA or placebo. As in the other trial, highly significant benefits were associated with EPA in comparison to placebo."

http://www.biovita.fi/english/terveyssivut/e-epa_brain.html E-EPA is a fatty acid manufactured from fish oil. It is 100 % safe and it may be beneficial for persons with the following conditions:
Stress (Song et al 2003)
ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dysphagia, aphasia and other learning and behavioural problems in children and in adults
Epilepsy
Depression
Schizophrenia
Bordeline personality disorder
Dementia (including Alzheimer´s and Huntington´s diseases)
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) or myalgic encephalitis (ME)
Fibromyalgia
Macular degeneration of the retina
Stroke and its sequelae
Anorexia nervosa
Panic attacks

http://www.mind1st.co.uk/
More information and stockists of Omega3 Pure EPA. However, this does work out at about £5 a week for the first 3 months, £2.50 a week thereafter … so it might just be a good plan to ask your gp or psychotherapist if you could trial Omega3. Whoever you approach they need to appreciate that it is Omega 3 Pure EPA Oil, 1g a day for the first 3 months, 500mg a day thereafter. The above site explains it very well. Maybe print it off and take it with you.
It is hard not to be fobbed off, and to stick with what you want to try, when feeling as desperately low as you do Sian, and as does your daughter Robbo. It's hard enough I find just suffering from SAD, if someone says "no" to me, quite frankly I could give up immediately.
But like both of you, I will go down any avenue to secure some self help with the hope of getting better. So I wish you well if you decide to take Omega3 EPA further. Do note that the part of the Omega 3 oil you need is EPA, not DHA.

http://www.vegepa.com/products.htm : another website offering information on depression etc. and a vegetarian version of Omega3 EPA.

I do hope that it is all ok with the Forum that I post up so many other websites, but it is not competition, and I hope that it will be seen as factual and constructive input as the majority of SAD people have an underlying depressive trait which this might alleviate.

Note from the management. Lots of info about this in a book by David Servan-Schreiber a psychiatrist. title Healing without drugs aka Guerir, a huge best seller in France. It's now somewhat compromised by his going into business selling Omega 3 capsules, but hey he's French. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1405067187/qid=1102013480/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-5921132-9971801
I attended some talks, he rather favours fish over veggy.
There was a study around 5? years ago (for non seasonal depression) where the results were so obviously goo that the ethics people made them stop it early and break the placebo (the ethic being you cannot deprive subjects of a known effective treatment)
(Julie of course it's ok to put links up)

Thanks for that Management, the info and the approval of links, only just seen your note on the bottom of my post!

Anyway Chris, hope that helps, go for it, nothing to lose!

Kindest things, Julie :D

Hi all :D I'm stillaround and holding out against Mr Sad

I have been using Flax seed oil for some time now and is rich in the Omega oils. Plus it has other benificial aspects to its use....

If you pop over to Google then put flax seed oil in the serch box and read up on it . I use the pure oil in liquid form, I hate taking the capsules...

Hi OldHippy, Ive been using flax seed oil too - for about 6wks, but have noticed that my skin seems to have become quite oily and ive started to get spots and pimples, which at 30 is taking me back to my teenage years!

Are you finding anything similar?

I guess the answer is to take a lower dosage. I'd like to keep taking it, seems to be helping.

Hey AMom, I think I am - I don't drink anything else. I drink a pint of water before I go to work, a 2ltr bottle while at work, and a few glasses when I get home in the eve. I'm sure that could even be considered to much! But I don't like tea or coffee, herbals are ok but I'm happy with water.

Hey AMom, I think I am - I don't drink anything else. I drink a pint of water before I go to work, a 2ltr bottle while at work, and a few glasses when I get home in the eve. I'm sure that could even be considered to much! But I don't like tea or coffee, herbals are ok but I'm happy with water.

hmmm.... that seems odd... I wonder if it's because you're only using flax and your body isn't using it as well. Or are you taking it all at the same time...


great link Julie!!

Hi there. I have read this thread with interest. Bagpuss, in one of her replies to another thread, said that she was taking Omega 3 fish oils and that it helped her.

I wonder if other folk are taking the bog-standard Omega 3 (which has both EPA and DHA in it i.e. not the pure EPA supplement)? And if so what dosage are you taking?

I have bipolar depression which is made worse over Winter (hence being here and using a lightbox).

Hi Bagpuss. Thanks for that. I am interested in finding out what dosage of the bog-standard EPA+DHA Omega 3 folk are taking. Could you please tell me what dosage you are on?

Thanks!

p.s. You probably know this, but bipolar depression isn't the same as depression (i.e. it doesn't respond to SSRIs etc unless you are also taking mood balancing medications (like Lithium)). Hence stuff targeted for depression usually doesn't have much effect on bipolar depression. Sorry if that sounded like a mini-lecture. It wasn't meant to.

Tim - I've not seen any Omega 3 supplements which have higher amounts of DHA than EPA. Which brand are you taking? Did you choose that one because it has a higher DHA to EPA ratio?

Thanks!

Ooh, very interesting. Thanks Bagpuss - those sites have given me a lot to think about. Thanks for posting them up.

xx