Cozima,

Nice to see you are still here on this board. I don't visit here that much anymore just from time to time because I'm more or less all better now. I didn't take meds though but changed various aspects of my life around completely. Stress has a big effect on people I think and that was my trigger for getting depressed and having ocd. There was just so much in my life that needed changing a few years back which I wasn't dealing with. My life changed but I didn't change. I was going through life doing what I always did in the past and it wasn't working. The psychological stress combined with the physical stress of poor eatting habits and bad overall physical health all came crashing down on me at once and resulted in imbalance not just in the brain but through my entire system. I started on my way to recovery by taking it head on. I went to CBT therapy but just CBT wasn't enough so I changed my diet, and started excercising slowly but gradually increasing the intensity. I started taking massive amts of omega 3 fish oil supplements which is proven to be just as effective in treating mood as many ssri's. In additon to omega 3, I took vitamins C, and B complex along with zinc, calcium and magnesium and drank lots of water. My sleep used to be horrible but now I am sleeping through the night great! I used to have horrible mornings so I changed my work schedule around slightly so that I could sleep in a little longer. I suggest anyone with the morning high anxiety problem try doing this as well if at all possible, as the later you wake the lower you wake with high cortisol stress hormone levels. I think the combination of CBT, a health nuts diet (avoiding processed foods, and refined sugars, sodas, and eatting more vegetables), supplements, and lots of excercise gave my mind and body what it needed to do it's job, naturally repair itself. Stress in my life will always be there, but now I can cope with it better both mentaly and physically. I've also learned not to let lots of things build up inside of me so that I'm subconciously suppressing too much. I confide in my wife more, learned better ways and different ways of reacting to things and not jump to my usually negative conclusions. It doesn't happen right away though and takes some time for this to work. First you build a strong foundation physically through what you put into your body and excercise then you modify the thought process so that stress doesn't have the same effect it had on your before. If you want to recover from depression, anxiety and ocd you have to take all aspects of your life and improve on it slowly bit by bit and not be discouraged because it IS doable! There have been those that don't believe that doing this naturally is possible but I know it is because I did it! If you don't believe it make sure you try it first and give it time. It took me roughly 2 yrs since starting this for me to reach this place so it wont be instant response but well worth the effort! Goodluck!

Frank