Taken from Nutrition in the Treatment of Depression
Unavailability of Prostaglandin E1 and Depression
Another biochemical cause of depression is a genetic inability to manufacture enough prostaglandin E1 (PGE1), an important brain metabolite derived from essential fatty acids (EFAs). The problem is the result of an inborn deficiency in omega-6 essential fatty acid. Alcohol stimulates temporary production of PGE1 and lifts the depression.
If you have been depressed since childhood, your introduction to alcohol was probably an extreme relief. But this relief is short-lived. When you stop drinking, PGE1 levels fall again and depression returns. To banish it, you turn again to alcohol. Thus a deadly spiral begins toward alcoholism.
During the last fifteen years, researchers have learned to restore normal PGE1 levels in alcoholics and eliminate both the depression and the need to drink for relief. A substance called gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) is easily converted to PGE1. I have seen some amazing recoveries from depression within three weeks of GLA treatment. Take the case of Colleen, a high school English teacher:
Colleen described her childhood and teenage years as withdrawn and lonely, "I can’t remember not being depressed," she told me. In college, she drank alcohol for the first time and received the shock of her young life. Her world brightened in a way she had never before experienced. She felt different. Friendly. Happy. The effects lingered into the next day, and then gloom closed in again. After experiencing the dramatic lift in her spirits, she was convinced that she had discovered a magic elixir in alcohol. In a short time she was drinking a few beers every day. The alcohol never failed to banish her depression.
As her college years passed, Colleen’s alcohol consumption escalated. She needed to drink more and more to get the lift she sought. She also began to experience deep depressions in the days following heavy drinking. After college, she began teaching high school English. Controlling her depression with alcohol became a real balancing act. Eventually, her drinking came to the attention of her peers and her students. Colleen was appalled at the idea that she was a problem drinker. She decided to prove she could live without alcohol. The next ten years were some of the most miserable of her life. She joined AA and sought psychiatric help for her severe depression. Sadly, no antidepressant drug relieved her misery. It was hard to keep teaching, hard to keep living.
Her depression had reached the suicidal stage when she reasoned that alcohol could put an end to her despair. Her decision to resume drinking didn’t take much reflection. Predictably, her alcohol intake began to escalate rapidly. This time, no one sympathized. Her principal ordered her to treatment. Three weeks after completing an inpatient program, she was back at employment and drinking again to medicate her depression. A second round of treatment left her temporarily dry and depressed. Colleen was on a merry-go-round she couldn’t get off. When she called the Health Recovery Center, she was crying, "I have alienated everyone because I won’t stay sober, but being drunk feels better than being depressed."
I often think someone up there does watch over people, it seems more than coincidence that Colleen found her way to one of the few treatment centers in the country that would run tests and restore her chemistry to normal. Within three weeks, her depression had vanished. She no longer needed nor craved alcohol.
Colleen’s was a classic case of chronic depression caused by too little PGE1. Although alcohol blocks production of additional amounts of this metabolite, its active effect is to enhance what little is available in the brain. Eventually, a no-win situation develops and alcohol becomes the only way to prevent depression. The solution, of course, is to provide the brain with the PGE1 needed to reverse the depression. If your body can’t do this normally, you can correct the problem by taking gamma linolenic acid (GLA) in the form of Efamol ( a trade name for oil of evening primrose). The formula for EFA deficient depression (see table below) includes three supportive nutrients in addition to Efamol: zinc, needed for formation of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA); vitamin B6 for metabolism of cis-linolenic acid; and vitamin C, to increase production of PGE1. When you take GLA and its co-factors, depression magically lifts and won't return as long as you continue to take the formula. Colleen now uses this natural substance daily instead of alcohol, and her world has brightened up permanently.
Do You Have an EFA Deficiency?In his book "Essential Fatty Acids and Immunity in Mental Health, Charles Bates, Ph.D., provides a list of factors that suggest an essential fatty acid deficiency:
* Ancestry that is one-quarter or more Celtic, Irish, Scandinavian, native American, Welsh, or Scottish.
* A tendency to abuse alcohol or feel that it affects you differently from others; trouble with alcohol in your teenage years.
* Anxiety or depression during hangovers
* Depression among close relatives
* A family history of alcoholism, depression, suicide, schizophrenia, or other mental illness.
* Depression that persists while you are abstinent from alcohol.
* A personal or family history of Crohn’s disease, hepatic cirrhosis, cystic fibrosis, Sjogren-Larsson syndrome, atopic eczema.
* A personal or family history of ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, premenstrual syndrome, scleroderma, diabetes, or benign breast disease.
* Experiencing an emotional lift from certain foods or vitamins.
* Winter depressions that lighten in the spring.
Formula for Depression due to EFA Deficiency
Nutrient Dose Directions
Efamol 500 mg 3 capsules, 3 times per day with meals (9 per day); can be reduced to 6 per day after 1 month
Zinc picolinate 20 mg 1 capsule with food
Vitamin B6 50 mg 1 capsule 3 times per day
Vitamin C 1000 mg 1 capsule per day
Niacin 100 mg 1 capsule with food daily
