RowenaMay

It was actually a kinesiologist who told me I was deficient in vitamin D. Within a week of first taking it in a fairly heavy dose twice a day my mood changed and I felt like a different person. My energy levels were higher and I felt consistently happy - after six years of depression it felt amazing. Vitamin D was the only change at that time. I have since found that I need to continue supplementing vitamin D (I don't eat fish which is a main food source and don't get much sunlight) and if I stop supplmenting it for more than a couple of weeks my mood and energy levels begin to decline.

I would recommend vitamin D as a fairly cheap starting point for treating depression especially to those who don't eat much fish or get ample exposure to sunlight (early morning is the best time before it gets too hot). It is worth bearing in mind however that often one nutritional deficiency can cause another, so always take a good quality multivitamin and mineral to help prevent the body from going out of balance and review diet.

I have found St Johns Wort to be an effective anti-depressant. It seems to be quick to work - I usually found its effects to begin within 24 hours of my first dose followed by an increase in effective of the days that followed.

Having exchanged experiences of using St Johns Wort with friends I do think the quality of the herbal supplement taken can make a big difference to how effective it is. In my own experience I have used tablet forms from three different manufacturers in the UK. Two of them worked well, although one was better than the other. The third was a waste of money and I so I went back to one of the better ones (the reason for trying different ones was running out and the health shop not having my preferred brand in stock).

The effectiveness of St Johns Wort also seems to depend on individual physiology - while it worked for me originally, when I suffered post-natal depression after the birth of my first child it seemed ineffective. Then three years later I tried it again and it once again worked well.

St Johns Wort is a good option for depression but unfortunately does not address the cause (the cause for me was nutritional deficiency). I have put my husband on it for a few weeks when his father died and he was showing signs of depression and it really helped support him. When he felt ready he just stopped taking it and there were no ill effects.

I would defintately recommend it with the only caution being to make sure you source it from a good quality brand even if it means paying a little extra.