All of us have experienced depression at one time in our lives but that doesn't mean we have clinical depression. Symptoms of depression that may need medical attention include: feeling sad or depressed most of the time, unable to enjoy things you once did, chronic fatigue, trouble sleeping - either too little or too much, difficulty concentrating, increased or decreased appetite and weight, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, panicking for no reason, restlessness, feelings of anxiety or worry, and suicidal thoughts. You may contact my office for a simple questionnaire that can give you an idea of the severity of your depression.

Often the medical profession will diagnose depression as a biochemical imbalance and prescribe a drug to change the so-called faulty biochemistry. Naturopathic medicine agrees that there is often a biochemical imbalance, however the research shows deficiencies in vitamins and minerals, enzymes, essential fatty acids and amino acids which make up our nutritional requirements contribute to these biochemical imbalances. If you are on medication at the moment, do not stop it suddenly without medical supervision. However if you would like to consider a natural approach, naturopathic treatments can be combined with your present therapy supervised by a naturopathic physician. Your medical doctor should also be informed of your choice to seek additional treatment to get off your medication gradually. If you are not on medication at the moment, you may need an assessment and the following suggestions may help you first before having to resort to an antidepressant.

In cases of chronic depression where there is no cause Dr. Jonathon Wright finds deficiencies of one to six amino acids (proteins). He diagnoses these deficiencies using a blood or urine test. Once the deficient amino acids are isolated they are supplemented in powder form for some months, although symptoms usually improve within 2-3 weeks. Many folks are not taking enough proteins. It is recommended that 55-65 grams of high quality protein are required per day. If you are not sure how much you are getting I have a simple table that itemizes the number grams of protein per serving.

Dr. Christine Northrup reminds us to check our thyroids. If your thyroid is underactive (hypothyroid) you may have weight fluctuations, fatigue, mood swings, anxiety and sleep disturbances. Dr. Broda Barnes felt that 40% of the population was low thyroid and went undetected by standard medical tests. He measured the basal body temperature using a 10-minute axillary first morning temperature. If this registers below 97.4 on 7 consecutive morning temperatures, then you may be hypothyroid. In addition to this information, physical symptoms and low urinary thyroid levels, naturopathic physicians diagnose hypothyroidism more often than medical doctors do.

Other health conditions that mimic depression are anemia, chronic candidiasis, diabetes, digestive imbalances and chronic fatigue syndrome.