Posted by Lao Tzu on May 23, 2008, at 13:26:31
For those of you who have a mood disorder accompanied with a lot of mental fatigue and low energy including seasonal affectives, omega-3 fish oils definitely helped my mood. However, in my experience, if I was having low energy and I took fish oils alone my depression would get worse, not better. So, I found that other supplements needed to be taken with the fish oils, namely, B1, B5, vitamin C, and acetyl-l-carnitine (for energizing the mitochondria). This seems to work for me so far. So it's not only about controlling mood, but also balancing your energy levels. Also, I found that I could only tolerate 1 or 2 fish capsules a day for a week or two. Then I had to take a break and not take the fish oils for a while until my bad moods returned. I think, but I'm not certain, that the fish oils build up in your brain, so if I took a break from them for a few days, my mood was still okay. I must also mention that I am already on a prescription mood stabilizer which has to be taken every day no matter what. No breaks from the meds. I just think the fish oils help a little more with mood. I learned that the best results from clinical trials with fish oils was that 1,000mg a day of EPA and DHA had the best results, and anything over 1,000mg didn't help further. However, I can't take even close to 1,000mg a day, but that's just me. I have a lot of low energy during the summer months, so I have to take B1 (thiamine) 200mg, B5 (pantothenic acid) 100mg, vitamin C 500mg, and some Acetly-l-carnitine 250-500mg. Hope this information is helpful to some of you.
poster:Lao Tzu
thread:830714
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20080326/msgs/830714.html