How i beated for all the time long lasting depression

Gene Health
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Hello everyone,
i just connected to this community and did not read all the topics, but i read topics about depression and did not find answers to my questions.

My history:
After 17 years lasting endogenous depression (i had 5 epizodes of major depression. All of these episodes - after 4-5 months i quit antidepresant Escitalopram) i found out, that i’m MTHFR A1298C heterozygous.
Then, after one month i did saliva test at ancestry.com and got all the genome results from livewello.com . Then i found out, that my genes, who are responsible for MITOCHONDRIAL FUNCTION almost all are mutated… Methylation is not the best too…

I’m taking 15mg of escitalopram per day and every day, in morning, with breakfast I’m taking:

  1. nasal spray vit b12 (Yuliv “focus”) hydroxycobalamin 1000mcg,
  2. vit b6 50mg, P5P tablet (Phoenix nutrition),
  3. Methylfolate 1000mcg capsule.

BUt results are not good…
Anxiety and depression stil rules me.

Could anybody share your expierence with beating depression looking at my genes variance?

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Hi Senius,
My sympathies re. your struggles w/ depression & anxiety. I can’t speak to any personal experience w/r/t depression or successful treatment thereof. However, as I lost a brother to a type of depression (Bipolar II), and as I’ve suspected that there may be a genetic predisposition in my family, I thought I’d offer the following:

First, though I don’t have the MTHFR variants, I do have other methylation-pathway defects: variant SNPs and at least one anomalous blood marker (serum homocysteine (Hcy)- a pro-inflammatory) I discovered these along with some clotting factor variants when I was researching poss. causes for DVT.
With a knowledgeable M.D.s approval, I am now taking daily folate, P5P & B12 supplements, similar to you… and the homocysteine level has dropped into reference range. I also take other supplements related to energy pathways… ALA, COQ10, and others. I think they’ve helped even beyond merely reducing the homocysteine; though other improvements are purely subjective.

As for depression: I might suggest that you also upload your raw DNA data to Promethease.com . I think there’s a fairly modest charge…perhaps it was $10 . For that you get to download not just a simple report, but a report-engine which you can then run anytime from your PC, and which has flexible search for various Genes, or medical conditions. You can filter just for “Depression”, for example, in the “Medical Conditions” drop-down list.

In my case, I found a number of SNPS in ABCB1 gene (also known as the MDR1 gene) that indicate “7x less likely to respond to certain antidepressants”. (Some of those are identified in the accompanying text, which comes from SNPedia.) That information might be valuable to you and your doctor, as it might point to optimal therapeutics.

I also found (when filtering for “Bipolar disorder”, quite a number of SNPs increasing odds of developing same. (Happy to say that thus far, I haven’t seemed to have developed it!) Once you id the variants, however, there is at least the possibility of looking at various research that is associated…including hints at treatment optimization.

I’m glad that you’re continuing to look to optimize your treatment. It’s no doubt a challenge, but I believe it’s quite doable; and you seem to be on the right track. Good luck.

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I am very sorry you are having such a hard time. I have the variants you mention. Food can greatly affect depression.Check out this link http://www.musingsmemoirandmedicine.com/2018/04/mental-illness-and-mood-disorders-part-i-the-role-of-food/
I also recommend Mega Folinic which is a bioactive form of folic acid. Methylfolate does not work well for me. Here is a list of supplements I take that have helped with depression: 5-HTP, Lithium, Acetyl- L Carnitine, Creatine Monohydrate, Magnesium, DHEA, Zinc, SAMe and Fish Oils. Some of these may help with the mDNA mitochondrial function: NADH, NAC, Beta carotene, melatonin, boron, glutathione, Korean ginseng, spirulina and Gingko biloba. Thank you for the info re: Yuliv.

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I’ve had intractable depression and anxiety all my life; I was the only depressed/anxious child I knew. My first year of college, I became dangerously depressed and was put on SSRIs. Over the years, I tried any and all prescription antidepressants, meds for bipolar, and even prescription amphetamines. Nothing helped. I was a pharmaceutical guinea pig for 20 years.

After my DNA testing, I discovered several things that ultimately helped with depression/anxiety:

  1. I carry the homozygous MTHFR C677T mutation. It took almost a year, but I was finally able to tolerate 15mg of prescription methylfolate. It made a big difference. (I also have homozygous DHFR and MTHFS, so I absolutely can’t tolerate folic acid.)
  2. I have high dopamine, insane sugar cravings, and several mutations related to serotonin. My transporter is messed up, and I don’t convert tryptophan to serotonin very well. I also have a significant family history of depression, anxiety, and alcoholism. 5-HTP supplementation has made a huge difference. You have to be careful: if you are not badly mutated, as I am, you can develop serotonin syndrome. There’s also a risk of causing cardiac valve damage. My sugar cravings and anxiety were much better after 6 weeks of 5-HTP; if I am off it any length of time, they come back. (I also removed sugar from my diet.)
  3. I was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. It turns out, I actually have complex PTSD from being physically and emotionally abused by my [much older] half brothers when I was a toddler/preschooler. I later married a lovely man who turned out to be a criminal psychopath, which only made things worse. When I finally saw a PhD therapist who specialized in trauma (versus the many therapists I saw prior to that who said they treated trauma but didn’t have a clue), she said it was not unusual for adults with complex PTSD to be misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. She also mentioned children and adolescents with cPTSD are often misdiagnosed with ADD/ADHD or autism. I underwent 9 months of neurofeedback therapy and EMDR. I work in healthcare, so I was skeptical, but the changes to my mood and my brain maps were undeniable. (Incidentally, I had a sleep study about a year before seeing the PhD, and the tech said she had never seen so much alpha wave intrusion before. It turns out that alpha wave intrusion is typical of cPTSD.)
    I had not realized I was a victim of child abuse. I had carefully hidden away the trauma. My half brothers were not a part of my life after the age of 3, and I did not think of myself as having an unusual childhood. I also didn’t realize that childhood abuse victims have dysfunctional romantic relationships; my first husband turned out to be so autistic he could not successfully live independently, and my second was a psychopath.

Tangentially, my teen daughter had severe depression and anxiety. She saw therapists, to no avail. She was recently diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) by an adolescent medicine specialist. It took 4 days on progesterone for her depression to lift. She was like a different girl: talkative, smiling, and motivated. Previously, she was sullen, withdrawn, and unmotivated. Doctors had been telling me she had inattentive ADD (meds didn’t work).

Truth is often stranger than fiction. There are many ways to help anxiety/depression without prescription drugs. (In fact, those of us with low serotonin levels should avoid SSRIs in the first place.) Don’t give up hope!

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Hi Angela,
Thank you very much for your story and recommendations!!!

I’ll try to analyze my genes more accurately :slight_smile:

BR,
Arūnas Rimkus

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Thank you very much, Roger :wink:

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Thank you very much, RadRosie :slight_smile:

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My genes report:

https://livewello.com/snps/share?id=4931523771105280

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Hi again. When clicking the link I get: “Access to this page has been disabled”.

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I am unable to access your gene report. One other thing that has helped me is reducing my exposure to wire less radiation from smart meters, cell phones, wifi, cell towers, cordless landlines and more. A good resource for information regarding this is ehtrust.org

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Then i can send it by email.
Write me: senius44@gmail.com

Pagarbiai,
Arūnas Rimkus

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I am not a health care professional just someone who has worked on my own and family members DNA issues.

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