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Anti-depressants and going raw

nycgrrlnycgrrl Raw Newbie

hey all i started raw foods diet on monday, am about 80% raw. I have a question. Has anyone detoxed off anti-depressants while simultanouesly detoxing off cooked food? I take an anti-depressant, and have for about 15 years, but I actually missed 3 days of my meds this week and didn’t even seem to notice. I am thinking of cutting my dosage in half (talking to my MD of course) while continuing raw food.

thoughts?

Comments

  • i find that i’m just as sensitive to missing my main medication as i was prior to going about 75% raw. however, i have been able to come off all my other medications, which is nice. i’ve been on this med for a few years now and it’s made it possible for me to settle my life enough to want to make myself healthy again, but i’m not excited about coming off it at all. i want to, but i don’t know if i’m ready yet.

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    The way most antidepressants work is that they build up in your system (that’s why you don’t feel an immediate effect the day you start taking them), so if you miss a dose or two, you won’t feel the effects of missing it right away, either. So missing a couple of doses isn’t an accurate way of judging if you still need it or not. Therapy/learning new skills & communication helped me a lot, and then filling my body with good food, getting out the toxins, and spending more time in the sun and exercising have all been factors in my coming off my antidepressants successfully. Even with all this, there are still times when I get really weighed down and wonder if I should go back on them again (and it has been probably 3 years). Now, though, I have enough of those other resources that I have been able to deal with things okay without going back on meds. Still, I have the awareness that if I don’t/can’t do those other things enough, I may need the meds again, and that keeps me motivated to do the other things. (Dancing is more fun than taking pills anyway.)

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    The way most antidepressants work is that they build up in your system (that’s why you don’t feel an immediate effect the day you start taking them), so if you miss a dose or two, you won’t feel the effects of missing it right away, either. So missing a couple of doses isn’t an accurate way of judging if you still need it or not. Therapy/learning new skills & communication helped me a lot, and then filling my body with good food, getting out the toxins, and spending more time in the sun and exercising have all been factors in my coming off my antidepressants successfully. Even with all this, there are still times when I get really weighed down and wonder if I should go back on them again (and it has been probably 3 years). Now, though, I have enough of those other resources that I have been able to deal with things okay without going back on meds. Still, I have the awareness that if I don’t/can’t do those other things enough, I may need the meds again, and that keeps me motivated to do the other things. (Dancing is more fun than taking pills anyway.)

  • lzhptlzhpt Raw Newbie

    I think if the world was raw there would be no depression. Just for me personally, i find this food happy food! I’ve seen patients literally transform in a week. One of the first things that happens is a change in mood. This is not my medical advice. 15 years is a long time and i don’t know the process in coming off these meds, but absolutely work on coming off, either with someone here who has successfully been there or with a good naturopath who gets where you are going.

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    please be careful! I have had some VERY bad reactions to going off meds too drastically. if i were you i would wait and let the raw effect take place then go off the meds.

    when i did go off my meds for awhile, i switched over to st. john’s wort, flax and borage oil and spirulina. i did this all with the help of a psychopharmacologist who knew what he was doing. in fact, he takes natural anti-depressants as well.

    please be careful and i think a good rule of thumb is to pace yourself.

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    ps: yes i would like to get off meds too. all of my meds are for my pain and low energy so when that gets better i plan to do it with my naturopath’s help. i admire your courage.

  • have_merseyhave_mersey Raw Newbie

    Wean off of them(slowly, they can be dangerous). 100% raw cured my longterm (all my life!) BAD depression. I was really on the brink before raw. The only time I have REALLY mild relapses, is after eating naughty. Even then, I can handle it. I am so amazed at the human body. It’s not that I don’t have things to worry about, I have as much, If not more, but I can handle it better. My body isn’t already bogged down with poisons, it can devote it’s attentions to my current stress and attempt to handle itself.

  • Yes—I actually used raw foods to help me transition off of my antidepressants, so the detoxing did happen at the same time. While I couldn’t say whether doing that is right for anyone else, my faith in my own process really helped me over all the bumps in the road. And I’ll say this too: it made going off them a LOT easier than when I did it years ago on the SAD diet!

  • KrystaleKrystale Raw Newbie

    My opinion: Go raw first and let your detox happen while on the meds still. Then decide. Detox is hard. I’m on antidepressants and detoxing, and due to my weight and resulting raw weightloss I’ll be detoxing a long time. I’ve taken a small reduction in my daily antidepressant due to my generally being better on raw and in life, but with an increase in occasional anxiety meds for the panic attacks. If you detox first you’ll have a healthy body to bounce back after the hard time off meds. (Similar detoxing in an odd way.) I also think you should consider if you’re taking them for depression that is a chemical imbalance or trauma resultant, or both. Raw can take care of many chemical imbalances, I believe. But trauma is different. If you take a long term cyclic antidepressant you likely won’t notice a few days without it until a few days after you’re without it. Some meds take two weeks to change levels in your system. Always talk with your doctor when it comes to meds, but it’s good to use your own noggin, too. I believe that anyone who believes they can get off meds of any sort and really works for it can. Good thoughts are powerful. Good food makes good thoughts easier.

  • nycgrrlnycgrrl Raw Newbie

    thank you all for your kind and smart resposnes. I am cutting back my meds very slowly, and we shall see. If I start feeling poorly, I know myself well enough to reup with the meds. I used to fool myself that it was the world that was having issues, and not me, but now I can recognize when depression is creeping back (dh is good at it too!) For me, it manifests as ANGER, so if I find myself snapping at my kids, I know that something is wrong.

    I am worried because I feel SO GOOD on this raw diet. It seems odd to worry about something like that, but it’s very new to me, to feel this way, to have this energy, that it’s almost scary. I mean, I see the world going to hell in a handbasket, and here I am feeling GOOD. Does anyone understand this?

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    nycgrrl – I know what you mean. I see clearly, now more than ever, that so many things are wrong with this world (see the thread on overpopulation and sustainability)

    but i find myself happier than ever in my life. i’m grateful that i found raw, i’m relieved that other folks care about the earth, i’m more relaxed than ever. this morning i watched this video and it made me elated:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVgER57v-I0

  • sarawsaraw Raw Newbie

    I have been off of my anti depressants for over a month now. I went raw first, and then I SLOWLY weaned off of them. I was taking 150mg of zoloft. It took a good long while to feel “normal” though. I had detox symptoms for many weeks after being off of them completely. I feel that I no longer need them now.

  • Keep in mind too that detoxing off antidepressants takes at least six months, especially if you’ve been on them for several years. So it’s something to keep an eye on for awhile, and also to know that you may have some difficult patches in that time but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should go back on the meds—it might just be part of your system re-experiencing the drugs as they’re on their way out.

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