Natural Remedies and Supplements that Work?

Hi there,

I have been feeling kind of down lately. I am not feeling fulfilled in my current job, yet I am scared to change it, because the pay and benefits are above average.

I have also been experiencing a lack of motivation and a lack of joy for the mundane aspects of my life.

I am looking to try out some natural supplements or remedies to hopefully help with these feelings and help boost my mood (I am not a fan of taking medications and like to do things the natural way).

Does anyone have any experiences with using St. John's Wort or other supplements? What would you recommend? Did supplements have a positive impact on your mood?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

I had a friend who took Rhodiola Rose. They said it helped them.

I've never talken natural supplements.

Some vitamin deficiency can cause or make you feel like your depressed.

Hypothyroidism is also another thing.

You can go to the doctor and get things checked out to see if there is something physical causing your mood.

There is some research on St. John's Wort that it can help with depression and iffy research on others. I take melatonin occasionally to sleep and it works well but I also need valarian root to keep my dreams from going too crazy. I have tried various things, especially for anxiety, none of which worked at all. I also take a lot of vitamins and other supplement to keep hormones from dropping. I take fish oil, B stress complex, C, D, ginseng, CoQ10, magnesium and fenugreek. Since I started on that my various hormone levels have more than doubled, still low but moving in the right direction. None of it help my MH issues, but it is making me more healthy otherwise. The suggestion for blood work is a very good one, thyroid, various hormones, iron and a host of other things can trigger depression and should be ruled out. If there is an underlying cause, treating that is the way to go.

The thing to keep in mind is that these supplements are not regulated and studies have shown as much as 1/3 of supplements contain things other than what the label claims. You truly do not know what is in the bottle unlike pharmaceuticals, which of course come with their own large list of problems.

That is not to say that they are worthless, you just need to do your research and be very careful of which brand you buy.

Aromatherapy is good to me, as well

Depression | University of Maryland Medical Center

+1

Lavender candles/oil can calm me down a lot.

I took St. John's Wort for a long time. I tried it for help in improving my mood, but it didn't. What it did do was help a lot with the chronic low-grade anxiety I was experiencing at the time. Knocked it right out.

The only all-natural thing I ever consumed that helped my mood noticeably was drinking whole leaf, green tea--not tea bags which is a lower quality of tea. The improvement on my mood was dramatic, and I didn't even know drinking green tea would effect my mood. (So, it wasn't a placebo effect.) There's lots of research supporting green tea's effect on mood. If you are not experiencing a major depression, I recommend you try this.

Be careful with supplements because, even though they are not regulated, they are chemicals (drugs) and can cause problems. There's research on some that they cause liver problems and other problems, and they can interact badly with other medications you may be taking.

I suggest you Google for research on supplements you are thinking of taking. And talk to your pharmacist, particularly for recommendations on reliable brands.

--Ceara1010