Natural Treatments for Depression

Giving birth to my son was one of the happiest days in my life. Keller was a welcomed addition to our family. My husband and I had been trying to have a baby for three years with no luck. After many years of trying, we finally got pregnant. We felt so blessed to finally have a baby and were ready to start a new life with our little bundle of joy.

Right after my son was born, my doctor informed me that I might go through some depression while my hormones balance out and get back to normal. About six weeks after the birth of my son, I started to feel a little down. I brushed it off due to having my son in the wintertime and lack of sunshine. I figured it would just go away once spring was in full bloom and I was able to spend time outside and enjoy the weather. But when spring came, I didn't feel better.

After months of feeling down and trying prescribed medicines for depression from my doctor, the symptoms still did not go away. I called my doctor and made yet another appointment for my depression. The doctor wanted to prescribe me more medicine. I told the doctor that I did not want to take any more synthetic drugs and did not like the side effects I was having from the first batch of pills he had me on. I asked the doctor about natural treatments that I could take for the depression. Needless to say, the doctor had no answers for me.

I knew after my doctor appointment that it was up to me to find a natural treatment for depression and low moods. My husband suggested that I research the web to find a healthy alternative. When I first started doing some research I came across The Way Up website that had a plethora of information on depression. Finally after months of suffering from this aliment and taking prescribed drugs, there were alternative health products available that could help ease my depression.

Reading the e-book on the site helped me to understand all the natural treatment of health conditions that were available. There was even an "ask the doctor" feature that I could access at anytime. Since discovering this great informative site, my depression has subsided and I am starting to feel like my old self again.

Back to Basics: What is Magnesium and Why Do We Need It?

We've been told many times that calcium is essential for strong bones, and iron is needed for energy. However, we also know that lead causes illnesses as well as birth defects, and mercury is even worse. When it comes to metallic trace elements, it's difficult to know what is a good thing … and how much of a good thing is too much! So today we are examining magnesium in alternative health products, starting a series of posts where we look at the important of minerals to the body.

What is magnesium?

Magnesium itself is a metallic element. It occurs naturally in biology as the MG2+ ion. The element is easily excreted through the kidneys in excess amounts, so while there is no benefit in taking slightly more than the recommended daily allowance, there is little risk also. Alternative health products will usually include close to the recommended daily allowance.

Why do we need it? The close-up view

The basic reason that our bodies require magnesium is that it binds to adenosine triphosphate in order to make this molecule, the main source of energy in cells, usable by our bodies. Also, DNA and RNA synthesis processes require magnesium to bind to the phosphate compounds in cells, to ensure stable synthesis.

Why do we need it? The big picture

Looking at the big picture of body function, the following organs and processes require sufficient magnesium:

• Blood pressure and flow is kept healthy by Mg
• Kidney function
• Heart muscle strength and electrical function in the heart
• Usage of energy from fat and sugar
• Excretion of toxins from the blood
• Support parathyroid function and antagonized thyroid hormone

Why do we need alternative health products with magnesium?

Most American adults get around ¾ of the recommended daily intake of magnesium. If you don’t eat enough leafy greens, nuts, seeds or bran, you may need an alternative health product containing, or focused on, magnesium.

What scientists are finding about magnesium-focused alternative health products

Colorectal cancer is quite common in the Western world, and is thought to be encouraged by large amounts of meat in the diet. However, calcium and magnesium together play quite a large part in protecting against colorectal cancer.

Preterm babies born quite a while before their due date are at increased risk of developing cerebral palsy. However, University of Adelaide researchers have discovered that giving mothers who are at risk of preterm birth magnesium sulphate injections can greatly reduce the risk of their infants developing the disease. This alternative health product protects the baby's brain, with no long lasting effect on the mother. There are several uncomfortable side effects, including flushing, sweats, nausea and headaches. However, the benefits are thought to outweigh these temporary conditions.

Glandular Support -- Why You Need It

Of all the alternative health products that have been developed in recent years, none is less understood, and in some ways, more potent, than glandular support products. Your glands play an enormous role in how you feel day to day and how your body behaves. They regulate hormones like adrenaline, thyroid hormones for weight control, and our reproductive glands can control hormones that affect specifically male or female conditions.

Glandular support alternative health products often support the functions of the following glands, according to the manufacturers:

• The pituitary gland, which makes growth hormone and stimulates the female reproductive system
• The pineal gland, which creates melatonin to help regulate our sleep and waking cycles
• The hypothalamus, involved in stimulating production of thyroid hormones for weight control
• The thyroid, involved in regulating basal metabolic rate
• Adipose tissue is also considered a gland, and stimulates metabolism as well as increasing appetite.
• The pancreas, which helps stabilize blood sugar through insulin
• The adrenal medulla, which creates adrenaline, noradrenalineand dopamine and is highly involved in mood regulation

Thyroid support alternative health products

Thyrosine is a hioghly recommended product for thyroid support, to help you regulate your weight naturally and offset the effects of some drugs. It uses substances like vitamin B12, iodine, magnesium, copper, manganese, molybdenum and L-tyrosine to support your thyroid gland's natural function. A bottle of 100 capsules costs $18.50.

Adrenal cortex support alternative health products

You can buy a bovine extract of adrenal cortex hormones, which is designed to help you maintain healthy blood sugar and blood pressure, help with stress induced fatigueand exhaustion, help correct allergies and stabilize your mood. This alternative health product costs $36.95 for 15ml.

Pineal gland support alternative health products

You can buy melatonin to support he function of your pineal gland -- this is useful for people who have trouble getting to sleep or trouble waking up. You can start your dosing at around 7 p.m., and no later than 10 p.m. It is potent, and hangover-type symptoms can actually result from having melatonin later at night.

Hypothalamus support alternative health products

The hypothalamus is important for its production of human growth hormone, a decline in which is associated with many of the symptoms of old age. PROhGH symbiotropin helps provide an HGH boost to your hypothalamus, and comes in an easy effervescent tablet. It helps restore muscle mass, decrease body fat, reduce the appearance of wrinkles, restore hair color and thickness, and help increase the size of a shrinking liver, pancreas and heart.