How to fix neuroinflammation and heal your depression – supplements

If you just came from the blog post Neuroinflammation and Depression, you may be asking what can you do to reduce it. This blog post will go over some of the best supplements for depression, targeted specifically to reduce inflammation and help alleviate your symptoms. While these supplements for depression focus on a reduction in inflammation, it is important to know that you may also have micronutrient deficiencies that contribute to your psychiatric symptoms. These deficiencies can be improved on broad-spectrum micronutrient therapies or in a more targeted manner with additional functional testing.

Introduction – Supplements for Inflammation

Supplements that can help alleviate inflammation and help with depression include magnesium, essential fatty acids, lithium orotate, and anti-oxidants such as Curcumin, Quercetin, OPCs, and Ashwagandha. (These antioxidants are super interesting and have their own blog posts on how they can help depression).

In this blog post, we will discuss magnesium, lithium, and essential fatty acids.

Essential fatty acids

Stop eating a low-fat diet. You need essential fatty acids. You can get them from your food, but you can also find high-quality supplements. Some essential fatty acids you should be supplementing if you have depression include:

• Omega 3s
  • Alpha-Linolenic acid (ALA)
    • note; if you are vegan and relying on this to convert into DHA, this is not going to work. Only 0-9% of ALA will convert to DHA. You are likely fatty acid deficient.
  • Eiconsapentaenoic acid (EPA)
  • Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)

If you eat a Standard American Diet full of industrialized seed oils like soy, canola, and vegetable, you are likely already very high in Omega-6 Fatty Acids. But if you are Vegan and not eating any animal products at all, you are not getting enough Arachidonic acid (AA), and your brain ABSOLUTELY needs this Omega 6. Find some algae supplementation STAT!

If you supplement with Omega 3s, be aware that it may take 10-12 weeks at a high dose for your brain to recover from chronic fatty-acid deficiency. Don’t take a giant dose of DHA or EPA for very long periods, and they can cause imbalances in the fatty-acid profile. DHA/EPA are not solutions to your high brain inflammation, and they are not necessarily fixing the source causing the inflammation (unless that source is a low-fat diet). Better to fix the source of what is causing the inflammation than just take a bunch of supplements so you can continue to mistreat your body or stay in unhealthy environments that are the cause of inflammation.

These two are brands I recommend to clients.

Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega, Lemon Flavor – 1280 mg Omega-3-180 Soft Gels – High-Potency Omega-3 Fish Oil with EPA & DHA – Promotes Brain & Heart Health – Non-GMO – 90 Servings

Pure Encapsulations O.N.E. Omega | Fish Oil Supplement for Heart Health, Joints, Skin, Eyes, and Cognition | 60 Softgel Capsules

This one is a nice combo of both Omega 3s and 6s Pure Encapsulations VisionPro EPA/DHA/GLA | Supports Natural Tear Production and Retention of Eye Moisture* | 180 Softgel Capsules

The dose can be between 1-3g. Consult with your doctor if you are on blood thinner medication. I am not your doctor, and I am just giving you a heads up on what might help that are not prescription medications. I don’t know your case, so this is not medical advice.

Vitamin D3

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased markers of inflammation. This makes sense. Vitamin D regulates your immune function. And as you just learned, cytokines are regulated by the immune system.

I promise you are probably NOT getting optimal amounts of Vitamin D. Most of our population in the US are either starkly deficient or have insufficient levels for optimal health. The ideal Vitamin D level you are shooting for is between 60-80 ng/ml. This level will also help you sleep better. But I have learned under functional psychiatrists that suggest a level between 75-100 ng/ml to get brain inflammation down and treat neuropsychiatric disorders.

Ideally, you need to get your Vitamin D tested. I like to use UltaWellness (affiliate) and get a blood draw close to home. There is no need for a provider or doctor to order it for you. You can find them here:

Your regular doctor can also order you a Vitamin D test, and it should be covered by your health insurance.

But if getting a blood draw is too inconvenient, you can find a Vitamin D test using a few blood drops and a kit from Mosaic Diagnostics (formerly Great Plains Lab). A provider is required to order this test for you.

Once you have your level, you can use a Vitamin D calculator to figure out the dose you need to get to the optimal range.

Vitamin D*calculator™

But be sure to recheck because everyone accumulates and metabolizes Vitamin D a little differently, and you don’t want to reach levels over 100.

When you take your Vitamin D dose, pair it with at least 100mcg of Vitamin K2. It helps keep the calcium that increased D releases out of soft tissues like kidneys and arteries. Some good options that I recommend to clients are below. Choose one that makes sense for the dose the calculator has guided you to take.

If you take blood thinners please do not take K2 without consulting your doctor

NatureWise Vitamin D3 5000iu (125 mcg) 1 Year Supply for Healthy Muscle Function, and Immune Support, Non-GMO, Gluten Free in Cold-Pressed Olive Oil, Packaging Vary ( Mini Softgel), 360 Count

And here is a nice Vitamin D3/K2 option in the same capsule:

Vitamin D3 + K2 | 5000 IU of D3 (as cholecalciferol) for Optimal Calcium Absorption | 100 mcg of K2 (as menaquinone-7) for Circulatory Health | Supports Bone & Immune Health | 60 Vegetarian Capsules

Magnesium

When you eat a highly processed food diet, magnesium is one of the first minerals to disappear. Even if you eat organic produce, the amount of magnesium found in those items is down about 30% from what it used to be due to industrialized agricultural processes. And if you are stressed for any reason at all, you use up magnesium stores very quickly. Your cortisol levels go up when you are stressed, and this triggers your immune system, and this increase in immune system activity depletes magnesium stores.

Add to this that if you eat a lot of carbohydrates, this further depletes your magnesium because molecules of magnesium are needed to unlock the energy from carbohydrates.

Is it any wonder that you are magnesium deficient?

No really. I promise you that unless you are supplementing, you are almost certainly deficient. And I am not even going to bother to tell you to test your levels of this nutrient. Most of your magnesium is hiding in your cells and bones. Only a tiny portion is floating around in your blood. So a blood test won’t really give you a good idea of your levels. You would have to go after some advanced functional testing with a provider to figure your levels out.

Just assume you need some. Especially if you are depressed and trying to modulate inflammation. Magnesium has direct anti-inflammatory properties in the nervous system, which is incredibly helpful for depression.

The form of magnesium I most often recommend for clients is magnesium glycinate. For someone with depression, I will encourage 600-800mg daily. You cannot overdose on magnesium. If you do, you will just get loose stools. If you notice this, you would just back off a dose.

CanPrev Magnesium Bis-Glycinate 200, Veggie Capsules, 240 Count

Pure Encapsulations Magnesium (Glycinate) | Supplement to Support Stress Relief, Sleep, Heart Health, Nerves, Muscles, and Metabolism* | 90 Capsules

Lithium Orotate

This is not a medication. The use of elemental lithium as a supplement provides levels no higher than what you would find in drinking water to varying degrees around the world. These small doses do not appear in blood tests and are not dangerous.

But supplementation with lithium orotate can be a powerful intervention, especially if you suffer from depression and have suicidal ideation and/or substance abuse. Generally, you would supplement 1mg to 5mg, and people can start with 1mg and slowly work up to whatever dose they like. Don’t do this without a practitioner if you have kidney disease. It just would need to be monitored, but would still possibly be very helpful. Some people need more lithium than what is provided in the drinking water they have access to in their area. You are not going to increase your lithium levels to any appreciable amount with dietary changes. Lithium is almost non-existent in food.

What is the mechanism of action thought to be at play with lithium and the treatment of depression?

You guessed it. Lithium reduces brain inflammation, possibly by adjusting how the brain metabolizes existing Omega 3 fatty acids.

Below is the supplement I will suggest to clients.
Pure Encapsulations – Lithium (Orotate) 1 mg – Support for Calmness and Behavior – 90 Capsules

After you work up from 1mg (if you choose), Weyland is a good brand with 2.5mg and 5mg options.

You may need higher amounts than this, and I encourage you to work with a knowledgeable practitioner to help guide you.

Conclusion

Do I think supplements like these are sufficient to treat depression? Absolutely not. You have to figure out if you have low Vitamin D or insufficient amounts of other micronutrients you need to make your neurotransmitters and reduce inflammation. You need to find the source of your neuroinflammation. You need to figure out if there is a vascular component or a poorly controlled blood sugar component to your poor brain health. You very likely need to change how and what you eat. If you were my client working with me, these supplements would not be presented to you as a sufficient root cause intervention.

That said if you have depression and are in bad shape, reducing your neuroinflammation and providing some of these micronutrients can help you feel a little better. And if you feel a little better, you are less likely to be overwhelmed to make the other changes you need to make in order to recover. So, I am happy to present these options here. Because I want you to know all the ways you can possibly feel better!

You can learn more about me here. If you would like to learn about my online program, where I do what I do as an educator and functional health coach using ketogenic diets for brain health, you can check out my Brain Fog Recovery Program below!

Brain Fog Recovery Program

Be sure to check out the other two articles in this series!

Neuroinflammation and depression

If you want to learn more about the underlying mechanisms that cause depression in more detail, you will enjoy my posts on the topic.

Can keto treat my depression without medication?

Great resources regarding supplements for depression can be found on Psychiatry Redefined. They provide free webinars, and you may even be able to find a functional psychiatry provider near you.

Another great resource on eating to combat depression is Georgia Ede, MDs site diagnosisdiet.com

Like what you are reading on the blog? Want to learn about upcoming webinars, courses, and even offers around support and working with me towards your wellness goals? Sign up!

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