Hi Ivana,
In my long-history of depression, and experimenting with natural supplements, the only natural product that has
ever worked for me is a couple of top-quality brands of St. John's Wort. And although I find that St Johns Wort
can be extremelly effective at treating depression, even the best brands can be unpredictable and so they aren't always effective in my experience.
But I would never recommend St John's Wort to anyone because it has so many serious side-effects and drug interactions, including interacting with female contraception.
I've tried all the other recommended natural supplements, over a long period of time, and nothing ever worked... But everyone is different, of course, and some people with very mild or transient depression might find some supplements useful.
For depression, I would always advise seeing a doctor immediately and getting some proper anti-depressants.
They aren't perfect, but SSRI's don't usually have bad side-effects, and tricyclics can help with sleep if that is a problem.
In my personal experience it's far better to be taking a prescription anti-depressant than being depressed.
I totally agree with Andrew's suggestion, but you don't necessarily need to see a psychiatrist to get an antidepressant that suits you... You could start with your family doctor...
I wonder why your doctor wanted you to stop something that is helping.
Here's what I did. I went to a psychiatrist (because they specialize in this type of medication). He tried one after another until we found one that worked well for me. Gave each one a reasonable length of time. One thing I learned along the way is that Paxil is not something to just stop cold. A taper off was needed in my case. I think we tried four different ones.
Be advised that what works for one person, might have negative results with another. I'm taking Wellbutrin.
