New Treatment Approaches for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jun 6, 2012

I have been known to lament that there’s nothing new under the sun when it comes to depression treatment, and thus, there is little hope for people with true treatment-resistant depression. (And by treatment-resistant depression I mean people who really have tried everything, and there are few in this category.)

But I forget how far we’ve come and how fast. It isn’t fair to say there aren’t new approaches to treatment-resistant depression because there are new approaches being researched and approved every year. Here are a few noted by Current Psychiatry article Innovative approaches to treatment-resistant depression:

N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) – Inexpensive Treatment for Bipolar Depression

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Nov 22, 2011

N-acetylcysteine, also known as N-acetyl-L-cysteine or just acetylcysteine is a supplement that shows promise in the treatment of bipolar depression. This is really big news because there are very few drugs, supplements or anything else that show promise in the area of bipolar depression. But N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is even better than most because:

N-acetylcysteine is an over-the-counter supplement
N-acetylcysteine is cheap
N-acetylcysteine has very few known side effects

New Antipsychiatry Discussion, L-Theanine, Rapid Cycling Markets – 3 New Things

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Sep 1, 2011

This week’s three new things include:

A new supplement that may help brain health and mental illness: l-theanine
A poor comparison between rapid cycling bipolar disorder and the financial markets
A new discussion of antipsychiatry

Five New Bipolar Depression Treatments You Don’t Know About – Part 2/2

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jun 22, 2011

As I mentioned, people with bipolar type II spend 35X more time depressed than hypomanic, and yet there are very few treatments available.

As we discussed last time, the neurotransmitter glutamate and the inflammatory complex are two new, badly-needed areas of bipolar depression treatment research. Here are three additional bipolar depression treatment areas you probably don’t know about: diet, antioxidants and modafinil.

What You Should Eat When Taking Geodon – Food and Geodon

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Apr 3, 2011

Long (long) time readers will recall that once-upon-a-time I took the atypical antipsychotic Geodon. I found this to be an unbearably painful and side effect laden psych med. I hated Geodon. I wouldn’t wish Geodon on my worst enemy. I lost touch with reality with Geodon. I passed out at work on Geodon. I got sick constantly on Geodon.

You know, that being said, Geodon works for a lot of people.

I gather my reaction to this antipsychotic was fairly atypical. And if I had known what to eat when taking Geodon that might have helped.

Unusual Bipolar / Depression Treatments

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 29, 2010

I’ve been “living the bipolar lifestyle” for over a decade now, and due to my general obsession over all things factual, I’ve done lots and lots and lots of research on bipolar treatments. Lots of research on lots of psychotropic pharmaceuticals specifically, but I’ve looked at, and tried bipolar disorder treatments too. I’ve written about unusual mental illness treatments here from time to time but I decided to put together the top 5 list of bipolar / depression treatments you might not know about for HealthyPlace.

Unusual Bipolar Disorder / Depression Treatments

Included is:

L-methylfolate: A Burbled Article – L-methylfolate as Antidepressant Enhancing Agent
Omega-3: My Burble Article – Diet and Depression / Bipolar
Calcium Channel Blockers – Burblicious – Anticonvulsants as Calcium Antagonists in Mood Stabilization
Thyroid Hormones – I was on Levoxyl, oddly I didn’t write about it.
Light Therapy – somehow I can’t find anything on this either. Which is weird, because I actually like this one.

It’s probably that I just didn’t get the chance to write about the last two. Sometimes I really mean to say something but I don’t get around to actually doing it. Anyway, you can check out the HealthyPlace article for more.

Caffeine and Mental Illness and Caffeine Disorders

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Feb 21, 2010

Caffeine is the world’s most popular psychoactive substance. So many of us love it a la Starbucks, Tim Hortons or just out or our home coffee machine. Me, I love coffee and I’m a fan of caffeine too. Coffee’s the nectar of the gods and nothing will convince me otherwise.

It seems though, caffeine can actually hurt you. I know, I never thought my beloved coffee could harm me, but I suppose anything that you abuse, will abuse you back. So, here is everything you ever needed to know about caffeine, caffeine disorders and caffeine and mental illness but were afraid to ask.

Diet and Depression / Bipolar

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jul 20, 2009

I’ve written about this before, but due to the amount of misinformation on the internet on this topic, I feel compelled to write about it again.

Omega-3 and Depression
Folic Acid and Depression
Low-Carb Diets and Mood

Now, first off, I do not believe you can cure depression or bipolar using diet. Let me be clear, people who tell you this are mostly flakes. There are ways though that you can possibly improve your treatment plan using dietary components.

L-methylfolate as Antidepressant Enhancing Agent

Posted by Natasha Tracy | Jan 6, 2008

I do a lot of psychopharmacology research reading. Like, a lot. I try to post things that I find interesting and not bore you with everything else. Similarly, I try to post things that are decently easy to read and understand....