Inositol

[marileew]

Hi Everyone!

I was wondering if anyone on the forums has tried using inositol as a treatment for depression? Did it work for you? Did you try it on your own, were you part of a clinical trial, did your doctor prescribe it to you or did an alternative practitioner "prescribe"/suggest it? What dose did you take? How long did you take it for?

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Oh... a little back ground info...

Inositol is something that you can buy at most health food stores or at some pharmacies in the vitamin section... it comes in pill form or in a powder form. Clinical trials were done that showed (@ about 12g per day) it was as effective as SSRIs for treatment of depression. Other clinical trials were done for depression that didn't show improvement over the placebo group. At the same dosage, multiple clinical trials were done that showed it was more effective that placebo for panic disorder and also as effective as SSRIs for panic disorder... I don't think there have been any clinical trials done that have thrown any of these findings into doubt, so, as far as inositol as a treatment for panic disorder, I think it's pretty legit.

Clinical trials have also been done using inositol as a treatment for bipolar disorder (at different dosages). I'm not sure that any improvement was seen in those trials. But, other trials were done where they added inositol to existing treatment plans for patients with bipolar disorder (patients on lithium I think) and I believe that there was improvement in those trials... or maybe it was just that the side-effects of the lithium were decreased... I forget... but, there was some sort of improvement, I remember. Although, there are WARNINGS about NOT taking inositol if you have bipolar disorder unless a doctor tells you to (like, because you are part of a trial or something) because it can apparently make manic episodes come on or make them worse.

Also, according to wikipedia (I didn't check the source on this one) trials were done where they gave inositol to patients with OCD and apparently, it worked as well as SSRIs in that case too.

AND! There were also trials done where they tested to see if it would help with eating disorders. I don't know the results of those trials either. But, apparently some people say it is supposed to help people who have bulimia recover from bulimia.

And, I read an interesting peer-reviewed article that was about how the authors of the paper I guess compared the inositol levels in the brains of suicide victims (like, during autopsy) to the brains of non-suicide victims (during autopsy), and the brains of the suicide victims had lower inositol levels. The end of the paper said that they were sure if it meant anything necessarily or if it meant something, they couldn't be sure what it meant (as far as I could tell from reading it) ... but, that it was interesting. Here is a link to the paper: http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/reprint/154/8/1148.pdf

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ANYWAY! I thought it was all very interesting. And... so, I've started to take inositol to hope that it will help with my mood. It's supposed to be a nootropic anyway (a smart drug) ... so, I'm going to try it out for about three months and see. But, I wanted to know what other people's experiences were with it. THANKS! :)

[Ambrosia13]

I have tried both prescription anti-depressants and inositol and I will say inositol works better, hands down! And with none of the side effects I had experienced on the drugs. I have not been able to sleep completely through the night in two years, waking up every hour or so. From the first day I took the inositol, I slept straight through till morning and have every night since I started taking it 2 months ago! It is incredible! I take a teaspoon in water, twice a day. There is snake oil out there and just as often as not, it is the prescription drug companies pushing it and then discrediting natural, unpatentable and therefor, unprofitable alternative health care methods.  

[marileew]

hi opus88!!!

Oh wow! Thanks for finding kellyjgbj4 through the related links! That's so cool! I wouldn't have thought to do that. And thanks for PMing her!!! Let me know what she tells you. I am really interested in knowing what a clinical psychologist and a psychiatrist would have to say on the stuff.

Yeah, I don't have OCD either... but, according to everything I've read, it is supposed to help with anxiety the best as far as the results of the clinical trials go. And, probably depression next. But.. it's pretty interesting that it is also supposed to help with things like OCD and eating disorders and bipolar disorder. (the dosage is supposed to be 18g per day for OCD and eating disorders... so a way higher dose than for depression or anxiey or bipolar disorder)

Anyway... yeah... If these clinical trials are legit, it could turn out to be some sort of wonder psychiatric drug... I wouldn't be surprised if they began to market it as a pharmaceutical soon... (although apparently it hasn't been shown at all useful for ADD, autism, schizophrenia or depression that doesn't respond to SSRIs in the first place... it only seems to work on conditions that respond to treatment with SSRIs... so, I assume it must act on similar, or maybe the exact same, neurotransmitters as SSRIs do...)

Anyway. Let me know if you get a reply to the PM you sent. Thanks so much for doing that!! :)

[marileew]

Hi Hensley258,

I totally agree that "natural remedies" are almost always 99.9% snake oil and I am always repulsed by the people that try to push such "remedies" on seriously ill people in need of real medical attention (such as those suffering from depression... untreated depression can lead to suicide or any other number of seriously dangerous outcomes... and putting someone on just a natural remedy is as good as leaving a person untreated in my opinion.) But... inositol isn't just something found in health food stores. This is something found in clinical trials in hospitals... the hospital a few blocks from my house did a clinical trial that showed very positive results, as positive as SSRIs. And, just in general, in quite a lot of the trials, inositol showed good results (at the proper dosages). Especially for anxiety.

That's why I am curious to know if anyone has actually tried it using the proper dosages used in clinical trials and if anyone has tried it under supervision of a medical doctor or as part of a clinical trial. Although I am also interested in the results of anyone who has tried it, I am especially interested if anyone has had positive results using the dosages and prescribing instructions as per the clinical trials (i.e. 12g per day for depression or anxiety; 2g, 3 times a day, in addition to mood stabilizers for bipolar disorder; etc.)

Everything I've read on it has been from the medical community, and has been in the form of peer-reviewed articles, usually written about double-blind clinical trials. That's also why I'm curious to know if anyone has actually had any first-hand experience with the stuff... because... as great as reading about clinical trials are, it's always nice to know at least one person who can say they've tried the stuff (be it an SSRI, an MAOI, a mood stabilizer or some random substance they're trying out in clinical trial somewhere.)

[opus88]

hi...I haven't tried it, but I've heard something on the national news abt it recently..and I wrote down the name but with my memory I've forgotten what it was all abt except that it was something some medical community was very excited abt. It apparently is a for of Vit. B.
I will ck out the website you copied, I believe in alternatives of any kind.
saw a link listed above on 'related discussions' and followed them both, they were on OCD with I do not have, but the second poster there kellyjgbj4 is a clinical psychologist and she said her psychiatrist has gone to a medical convention regarding the good results of inositol that was in 2008, so I've PM'd her for more info is she is still around?

[Hensley258]

Just more witch oil. Might help a person with very mild depression, but can not be expected to offer the theraputic effect of a real antidepressant.

Heath food stores are filled with this kind of natural stuff. Truth is that 99.9% of it never works even for mild depression or anxiety dissorder.

If you can name a natural remedy then I have taken it. Fact is they don't work.