May 07, 2015
You’re are on an antidepressant
and it puzzles you that YOU
ARE STILL NOT WELL.
Increase dose? Switch Medication?
Add A 2nd Medication? Change Clinicians? Go Natural?
What Should You Do?
Inflammation
Increases the rate at which you burn through your brain chemicals: neurotransmitters
Inflammation
Decreases the rate at which you make new neurotransmitters
Inflammation
Is associated with low levels of CNS folate.
So What If You Are Inflamed? All of w
hich leads to:
Low Serotonin Low Dopamine
Low Norepinephrine Low Acetylcholine
(And that keeps you depressed!)
• Overweight • Elevated hs-CRP (a
measure of systemic inflammation
• Age (especially > 70) • Medications such as
Lamictal, Tegretol, Depakote, methotrexate, Prozac, metformin, birth control pills, niacin
• Excess alcohol/smoking and poor nutrition
• Genetics
What Else Causes Low Folate?
Genetics? If you suffer from depression, you have a 70% chance of having a genetic in-born error impairing
your ability to make L-methylfolate from dietary folate (green leafy vegetables) or from the synthetic folic acid that is in
your multi-vitamin.
C/T Polymorphism 56%
C/C Normal
30%
T/T Polymorphism
30%
• If you have this genetic error (formally referred to as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the enzyme – MTHFR – that converts dietary folate into L-methylfolate) then you will have low levels of L-methylfolate in your central nervous system (CNS).
• If you have low CNS L-methylfolate levels you will have low levels of the key neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.
Get Tested Here!
When to consider taking L-methylfolate: • Mild to moderate depressive symptoms
for those who don’t want medications; • At initiation of new antidepressant
therapy; • Inadequate response to antidepressant
therapy: • Before raising/maximizing does • Before switching to a different agent • As a first-line augmentation-
combination strategy.
Where Do You Get L-methylfolate?
Methyl Essentials from IP Formulas
You’ll Be Glad You Did! (Not actual patients; artist’s rendering) 1) Buy Methyl Essentials from IP Formulas online
2) Visit us online at Integrativepsychiatry.net 3) Arrange for an individual consultation:
(800) 385-7863 [email protected]