Welcome to my March 2007 Newsletter!
I’m delighted to have appeared on ABC TV’s The View – Special Edition recently in a special segment titled “Understanding, Treating and Living With Depression.“ During my discussion with guest host Rosie O'Donnell I was able to reach millions of women and let them know about natural and safe alternatives for treating depression. Click here to view the segment.
Choosing Healthy Solutions over Pharmaceutical Intervention
The prescription pad all-too-often replaces a thorough evaluation of symptoms, personal history, diet, and lifestyle. An in-depth evaluation, with natural intervention, should be the first line of defense. Nature is still the best pharmacy, providing our bodies with the raw materials we need to produce feel-good chemicals, or neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and norepinephrine. Medications like Prozac, on the other hand, simply fool the brain into thinking there is more serotonin, so the effect eventually wears off, with a high price to pay in the form of side effects, such as nausea, headaches, digestive upset, irritability, insomnia, restlessness, loss of libido and even, suicidal and homicidal behavior.
It is possible to wean off medications far more easily when you take supplements as part of the program, as we can see in this letter I received recently.
"Dear Dr. Cass, I’d been put on Zoloft after I experienced a panic attack a week after my mother died, and was unable to decrease the dose without feeling panic and anxiety. After 2 years, I desperately wanted to get off it but couldn’t afford to have a panic attack. Then I found CALM, took it along with Zoloft since there were no contraindications, and started weaning off Zoloft, with my doctor’s help. It took me just a few weeks, and no pain. How wonderful to find a natural remedy that works with Zoloft to get off it! I take 2 capsules morning and evening, and I would recommend it to anybody!!" |
| Veronica
D. |
My books cover all this information in detail. Natural Highs, starting with a self-test for your own information, explains how you can use various supplements and lifestyle changes to raise your mood naturally (read more in Natural Highs).
Then, 8 Weeks to Vibrant Health, with it’s own questionnaire, covers hormonal and other physiological influences on mood and energy, as well as weight issues. You’ll learn how to ‘diagnose’ and even treat your own imbalances, know when to consult professional help, and what to ask your doctor (read more in 8 Weeks to Vibrant Health ).
My “Mood Favorites” include Metabolic Balance, a high potency multivitamin with blood sugar regulating nutrients, amino acids such as 5-HTP, Omega-3 fatty acids and a variety of other nutrients, including herbs. After feedback from my readers that they were having trouble handling the various individual products, I formulated my own combination products that I’ve made available to patients and readers alike. I get daily emails thanking me for helping people transform their lives.
Another woman, Jill J., reports that “I take your Energy and Focus religiously! They get me going in the morning, and I don’t run out of steam half way through the day. I no longer need coffee to keep me going—I feel energized, sharp and motivated all day long!
You can find your best combination here.
Antioxidants
and The Journal of the American
Medical Association (JAMA)
I recently appeared on national television news to discuss a current article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). (Click here to view segment).The article suggested that antioxidants are not only not helpful, but that they can actually be harmful to your health. I couldn’t let this go by; hundreds of studies have demonstrated antioxidants to be essential to our health.
The JAMA article took a variety of unrelated studies that were using far less than effective doses of the antioxidants. In addition, antioxidants operate in complex systems in nature, work together synergistically. Thus, testing isolated and inadequate doses proves nothing in terms of antioxidant need and efficacy. The fact that some very ill and often elderly people died despite taking small amounts of isolated antioxidants and in the wrong forms (eg alpha tocopherol instead of mixed tocopherols, or beta carotene instead of vitamin A), is no surprise.
There is overwhelming evidence that appropriate doses of the right forms of antioxidants are effective in maintaining health and in fact, in our increasingly toxic environment, essential to our well-being and even, survival. On a more personal note, I take a variety of antioxidants daily and prescribe them to my patients, with positive results. Metabolic Balance is a great start—potent multivitamin with high levels of antioxidants, and you can add in Extension Antioxidant from VRP.
For a more complete discussion, see the response of the Council for Responsible Nutrition.
What’s next for me? I continue speaking to the public and to my medical colleagues, most recently on Natural Approaches to Depression at the Orthomolecular Health Medicine Society in San Francisco in February. In September 2007, I’ll be speaking at the Community Addiction Recovery Association’s New Frontiers in Addiction Treatment program (carasac.org). Then to Geneva, Switzerland in November 2007, where I’ll be discussing natural approaches to women and mood at an international medical conference on longevity medicine (www.saaam.org).
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