Quitting antidepressants often leads to withdrawal symptoms, with severe effects making it hard to stop. While there’s debate about low serotonin causing depression, it’s not always true. A year of antidepressant use can deplete the brain’s serotonin, highlighting the need to replenish the brain when stopping antidepressants. Enhancing brain health involves increasing five HTP, omega threes, and B vitamins, improving diet, and cutting down on sugar.
Coming off of Antidepressants: how to support your brain
Transcript
Are you hooked on antidepressants?
Have you tried to quit and get some terrible symptoms?
Well, that’s actually extremely common.
About half of all people who try to quit antidepressants get, uh, withdrawal effects, and half of them, they’re so severe that it’s almost impossible to get off.
You can get these brain flashes complete anxiety and sweating, and insomnia and depression.
Uh, so this is an issue.
And while there’s a lot of debate as to whether low serotonin is the cause of depression in the first place, I think not always.
That was the pitch for antidepressants, is that they promote serotonin.
There’s very little debate about the fact that one year’s use of antidepressants deplete the brain’s serotonin.
So that’s why it’s terribly important, and you’re coming off antidepressants to reload the brain.
Serotonin, which is made from the amino acid tryptophan, and most directly from the, the amino acid, five hydroxy tryptophan or five HTP plus plenty of omega threes, plenty of B vitamins.
Vitamin C is really helpful.
Cleaning up your diet, less sugar, more oily fish, and so on.
So in other words, you’ve really gotta support your brain health and increase that five HTP and then slowly, slowly get off the antidepressants, uh, with the support and guidance of your doctor.