# Some success, optimistic for full recovery - long



## inadaze (Aug 2, 2012)

Hello. I have read these forums occasionally for a few years, looking for help. My story in brief. Around 13 years ago, I woke up with DR after a night of partying. I was having some significant depression issues that started around 2 years before the DR. I didn't know what happened to me, thought it might be a mini-stroke or something. I had some knowledge about psychiatry/psychology so I felt pretty sure I was experiencing derealization. I researched it and read that there was no cure, so have been doing my best to just cope. Though dealing with it all the time has been unpleasant, I was lucky enough to be able to live a mostly normal life.

Over time, things were slowly getting worse. Around a four or five years ago, I started experimenting with various supplements to try and improve things. Nothing worked well, but a few things seemed to help a little. Things that I first noticed to help were acetyl carnitine (increased mental sharpness) and coQ10 (increased general energy level). I would take these along with large amounts of coffee to keep me going. I also struggled with smoking since it seemed the nicotine helped my symptoms fractionally.

Around 2 years ago, I started experimenting with DMAE. For the first few days of taking it, it seemed to have a strong positive effect. Things seemed much more immediate and real. It was thrilling after being DR'ed for so long. But the result seemed to fade after a few days, and after a few weeks, I had something similar to a panic attack. I had never had one before, so it really shook me up.

After that, I stopped taking everything, including caffeine. I felt back to baseline after a couple weeks. So back to square one. I started taking fish oil, and noticed a slight but real improvement so I have continued this and have not noticed any negative effects after daily usage for over a year now. Hoping to find more things that helped, I started researching things again and read about some published successes with lamotrigine and eventually got my hands on some.

With lamotrigine I noticed a slight positive effect at 25 mg, but this faded after a few days and I was unable to get it back even after increasing the dose to 100 mg. After several weeks, I stopped taking it as it didn't seem productive. I started back on acetyl carnitine and coQ10 but this time without caffeine or DMAE and they seemed again to help a little without negative effects. I even tried caffeine again for a week or so but can confirm that it definitely makes the DR worse, which is a shame since it provides a nice general boost and some social activity but oh well.

I held steady with this regimen for several months, then I tried several other supplements, some I had tried before and some new ones. Phosphatidlyserine seemed to help a little with mental focus. But, on a whim, I decided to try SAM-E. I have to say, I didn't think I was depressed so I didn't think this was likely to do anything noticeable. In retrospect, maybe I have been dealing with depression. I have not felt sad but there has been this weight like sensation on my awareness since the day I woke up with DR I had always assumed it was just part of the DR itself. I'm sure most of you have heard or read that DR/DP has a strong correlation with depression and anxiety so I'll just leave it there. But the SAM-E actually _did _something.

With SAM-E, colors were brighter, depth perception less screwy, cars on the interstate seemed more real somehow, light outside looked closer to normal. It was very exciting. I had started on (approximately) 50 mg and gone up as high as 400 mg per day. Ultimately, I found that doses higher than 100 mg per day were causing this weird feeling like I was concerned that I might lose my grip on reality (anxiety is a known side effect) so was unable to get any farther with it. I estimate it reduced the DR by about 40-50% and greatly improved overall mood. I tried supplemental methionine also but found it didn't really add anything and was unable to do the same thing as the SAM-E.

After a few months of this, I tried supplementing with inositol. I was taking 750 mg at night and after a few weeks, I got the impression it was helping. I researched some more about it and found that the usual dose for depression is much higher, typically 10-12 grams per day or more. I kept increasing. At around 6 grams per day, I discontinued SAM-E and found that I was still okay, better even. I went all the way up to 18 grams per day. It was great but it made me too sedated.

It was then that I discovered a book called "the mood cure." The information is somewhat dated since it was written in 2003, but it convinced me to try 5htp and tryptophan to further reinforce serotonin production. Soon I was taking high dose inositol, 5 htp and tryptophan together. After a couple weeks, my body let me know that this was too much. I stopped the tryptophan and reduced the dose of 5 htp to 50 mg per day. This was working pretty well. DR reduced overall by around 75%.

Finally, I stumbled across some information about pyroluria. Basically, it's a theory that some people lose zinc and B6 in their urine at a high rate due to binding with an abnormal metabolite. It is thought to cause depression and other mental problems. Not really mainstream science but the theory has its proponents. I thought there was little to lose by taking vitamins and minerals so I bought some B6 and zinc. With my first dose of 50 mg zinc (combined with the high dose inositol, also powder form in a capsule, not a tablet) I had this really drastic improvement in symptoms.

Currently, I am off inositol and 5 htp and still not depressed after a couple weeks. The DR continues to be improved significantly compared to before. My daily regimen includes fish oil, B vitamins (B3, B complex, P5P) and zinc and I feel these are all definitely helpful, especially zinc. In fact, I discontinued the zinc for a few days to see what would happen while my DR only worsened a little, the heavy weight on my mind returned in full force and went away after I restarted zinc. I am also trying primrose oil, manganese, biotin but I'm not sure if these others are actually doing anything useful.

I also am wondering now about copper. If you google zinc and copper you will find that many feel the two are related and that if a person's zinc level is low, the copper levels may be out of balance or elevated. The first zinc I was using had 2 mg copper in it so I have switched to another kind without copper. The new kind is in tablet form instead of capsule and I don't think the absorption is as good. I have ordered several different kinds of zinc supplements to experiment with to see which works best.

I don't know if the above will help anyone, but I'm willing to bet that at least one person will get some benefit by trying zinc supplementation. I know it has done wonders for me and given me hope of having a normal (inner) life again.

Thanks for reading,
inadaze


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## kate_edwin (Aug 9, 2009)

i hope you consult someone with all these mixes of things......taking more then one serotonin modifier can be dangerous and some of those supplements can interact with psychiatric medication


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## inadaze (Aug 2, 2012)

kate_edwin said:


> i hope you consult someone with all these mixes of things......taking more then one serotonin modifier can be dangerous and some of those supplements can interact with psychiatric medication


Yes, I encourage research and medical advice before trying any serotonin agonists. If you are taking prescription meds of any kind check with your doctor first.

Cliff notes of the above is:

Try zinc!


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