Hi everyone,

For those of you that know me.......it has been particularly revolting lately......hhhmmmm.

I started on Fish oil about 2 months ago for joint pain and skin care and had to wean myself on to it (I do not have a good tolerance for food, supplements or blessed drugs). I got up to a good dose and my joint pain abated.......then about 3 weeks ago depression with a capital D hit. I have PMDD so crushing melancholia is no stranger along with all the other lovely symptoms as well as peri. But I have always been loathe to name it "depression".

I have suffered clinical depression in the past and been hospitalised for it.......peri melancholia is different for me as well as the PMDD symptoms. It does not have the same longevity as depression, but with the same intensity(peri/PMDD sadness comes and destroys and then leaves almost as quickly...but happens ALOT). This was different. For the last 3 weeks, I have known DEPRESSION and more periods of intense and unrelenting anger and so on. Nothing new right? But this felt DIFFERENT......constant and potent suicidal ideation, inability to feel anything, enjoy anything and just basically feeling horrible.

I thought is this getting worse with age, with time? When will these blessed periods cease and desist? Is it just a REALLY bad cycle? Where are my cognitive skills that usually have gotten me through?.....Yeah well.....

Fish oil is the only different thing......maybe I was taking too much, but the dose I was on was the same dose my mum takes(post meno) and it really helped with my joint pain. Did a bit of a search on it and came up with a nifty enzyme in fish oil that is related to central nervous system and neurotransmitters.......still pretty ignorant on this but interesting that I found some experiences from depression sufferers that complained of the same thing. This enzyme is called acetylcholinesterase, and it can play havoc with people it seems who are "sensitive to it".......not sure what that means yet......but very interesting.

So cut it out 3 days ago, and today I am able to talk at least even if I am supposedly a day away from my period. Better than I was 3 days ago......for those that fish oil helps, that is awesome......but for those that it does not, you are not alone.

Joint pain.....or......depression? Sick of these choices with meds or supplements. Why can't I just take something that helps for goodness sake?

Thanks babes,

Michah

How interesting I have purchased Fish oil for my arthritis in the spine but stop taking them as when meno hit hard i was taking Vitamins, fish oil to get relief after hearing others found comfort in them. Strange how your body knows and triggers something telling you STOP. Maybe that had an impact on me as well, like I said to my hubby I am just going to stick to what I need at the moment and see if things clear. i am with you why cant there be one thing women can take and it address's all our symptons instead of having to try this and that for quality of life. Even my dentist said with all the technology etc out there now you would think they would come up with something for us. Thanks for that information I will keep that in mind for when my daughter hit this terrible time in her life.

I can so relate to your intolerance problem. Which makes trying to feel better even more difficult. I have chronic fatigue syndrome but I dont tolerate alot of healthy food. I cant eat fruit,nuts, most vegtables or dairy I also dont tolerate vitamins well. I can take vitamin D but thats about it. If I try to fix one thing it makes something else worse.

Trying to figure out how to feel good is so all consuming. All we can do is keep trying right?

Lara

I am not huge fan of fish oil either, mainly, I believe it caused nose bleeds, as any oil that has too much Omega 3.
As weird as it sounds, I feel better mentally and physically with plenty of good old saturated fats in my diet from clean sources, LOL and less sugars than taking supplements of any kind, they all hurt my digestion.
I am also prone to SAD, as the winter approaches, I crave my saturated fat,as soon as it gets dark and cold.
I believe fish oil in high doses can create essential fatty acid imbalance, so I eat fatty fish often, sardines, or herring, or salmon, and I believe it is plenty.
My muscles and joint hurting from tension and related to lack of estrogen and also depression known to cause aches and pains.

I have read that UV lamps are customary in Scandinavian countries during long winter, perhaps, it works for SAD, fish and seafood, and lots of saturated fat from delicious dairy.


I remember how my mom chased me with a tbs of fish oil until I was almost 10 , it was customary to give it to growing children to avoid rickets, not sure if this works same for "grown up" and menopausal ladies.
best,
I.

Hmmm, that is interesting. I had always read that fish oil was supposed to help depression, but these things can affect different people differently. Have you ever tried Sam-E?

I have heard that it is supposed to be good for your joints, cleaning your liver and depression.

What type of fish oil are you taking. Don't take the moleculary distilled fish oil since it changes the chemistry of the fish oil (it makes it rancid- oxidized fish oil not healthy) rendering the fish oil kind of useless.

Wholemega doesn't go through heavy processing so the fish oil still has its natural benefits.

I have read before that fish oil isn't good to take if someone has a mental illness,and that if someone is bipolar it can cause mania.Yet i have read so many good things about it too.....i don't take it at all cause i don't know what to believe.

When I read that you don't tolerate a lot of foods, I wondered if you have ever considered lactose intolerance and/or fructose malabsorption? I only drink lactose free milk. I haven't eaten apples, pears, etc for years and onions, garlic for the last 9 months. Cutting onions and garlic have made a huge difference. With fructose intolerance, you need to watch out for food with fructose, fructans, and sorbitol. To get a dr to diagnose it is a real issue. There is a test where you drink something with a lot of fructose in it and then they test your breath at certain intervals. Try googling Sue Shepherd Australia. She has a lot of tips and ideas. Fructose Malabsorption also causes depression which might be involved with fatigue.

take care!

I am very sensitive as well...whatever I take to "help" natural or whatever, it often makes me worse. I tried fish oil and for me it made my brain fog a lot worse and I had to stop. I recently found out that my sister has parathyroid problem...this is often underdiagnosed and I won't say anyone has it, but for anyone who is having trouble getting diagnosed with something beside menopause or regular thryoid problems I recommend testing for this...symptoms often same as meno and thryoid...........test PTH and serum calcium to start....lots of doctors don't test this as it is not so common...but not uncommon either! My sister had this problem for years and did not know it...suffered with joint problems, vision problems, and hyper symmptoms and osteopenia and a few more....Joan

Hey there !

That is some awesome information about fish oil usage. Thanks a lot for sharing such a useful note. Hope you would continue doing so.