Natural Antidepressants for Cancer Patients/Survivors
 

I just wanted to pass on two helpful ideas which may or may not be of any use to any of you but if you know of them at least you can look at them and consider if they might be worth trying.

I have recently started an on-line buddhist training with Pema Chodra, plus a meditation class. And I am finding the simple learnings about how to reduce suffering make sense to me, help me and really hit the spot. I KNOW not suffering is about managing to think about things in ways that stops them devastating me, but CBT tricks seem so inane in the face of something like cancer. Buddhist philosophy works on the whole of me, from the heart and my emotional reality, and is about mindful approaches to being real and finding things that work at a profound level.

My son has had ongoing anxiety and depression for much of his life. He recently discovered Inositol, specifically myo-inositol, which is made in the body, was considered a B Vitamin, and its only side effect is bloating if you have too much in one dose. It tastes sweet. He gets it as a powder in 1pound packs, and takes 1tsp about 5times a day, ie about12gms a day, just as powder in his mouth, and it has greatly improved his mood and emotional comfort. If he is feeling upset, he increases the dose with another tsp immediately and another couple between the doses.
Inositol has been researched and found to help with seretonin-uptake-related depression, and with anxiety. But it does not throw your seretonin/dopamin/norephidrin neurotransmitters out of balance and is a much less toxic drug than most things marketted as antidepressants.