You or someone you love may be one of an estimated 25 million Americans currently taking antidepressants for a wide range of psychiatric and physical disorders. But there is a dark side to these "wonder drugs" --- punishing side effects such as weight gain, lethargy, and sexual dysfunction that afflict up to 80 percent of the people who take them. Until now, side effect sufferers have had nowhere to turn for help. All too often their doctors dismiss side effects as "necessary evils" and urge patients to "learn to live with them." Even compassionate doctors rarely have the specialized expertise to manage side effects.
In The Antidepressant Survival Program, Dr. Robert J. Hedaya, a leading psychopharmacologist and clinical psychiatrist, shares his comprehensive mindbody program to reduce or eliminate the side effects of antidepressants. Now everyone can benefit from Dr. Hedaya's life-restoring prescription that has worked wonders for hundreds of his own patients.
"Why settle for half a life," asks Dr. Hedaya, "when you can have a full and satisfying one?" Drawing on his expertise in multiple fields, including psychopharmacology, nutrition, and endocrinology, as well as from his extensive clinical practice, Dr. Hedaya has created an integrative program of nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, and hormone supplementation that corrects the imbalances created by antidepressants. Best of all, his program actually enhances the benefits of medication while reducing or completely eliminating its side effects.
Beginning with a Five-Day Jump Start that motivates and shows quick results, Dr. Hedaya takes you step by step through his lifestyle program for restoring lost vitality, sex drive, and desired weight. Then he offers results-oriented advice about how to work with your doctor to supplement vital hormones, vitamins, and micronutrients that are often depleted by antidepressants. There are also special sections written expressly for your doctor.
The Antidepressant Survival Program supplies a medically proven solution for everyone who is caught between the rock of depression and the hard place of antidepressant side effects. Dr. Hedaya has created this program for everyone who believes, as he does, that it is not enough to survive depression -- you can thrive!
One of the world's leading psychopharmacologists, Robert J. Hedaya believes that the treatment should not be worse than the disease, especially in the case of depression and other physical disorders often treated with antidepressants, such as bulimia, migraine headaches, and PMS. He believes he's found a solution for the 20 million Americans who take antidepressants and find the illness is no longer so much of a problem, but that its symptoms are replaced by debilitating side effects, such as weight gain, lethargy, and sexual dysfunction. Dr. Hedaya says there's no need to learn to live with these problems and has developed a plan to combat them using nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, and hormone supplementation that he says can actually enhance the effectiveness of many antidepressant medications. Where many doctors tell their patients to stop complaining about side effects and be thankful the depression has subsided, Hedaya believes in a holistic approach to treatment, one that fills the patient with vitality, improves self-esteem, keeps sexuality intact, and even helps bring more passion and spirituality to one's life.
Hedaya's plan is designed to bring positive results quickly. A five-day "jump start" includes a regular sleeping schedule; daily aerobic exercise and strength training; the elimination of coffee, chocolate, refined sugar, and alcohol; and a diet with plenty of protein, fruits, and vegetables, with every meal and snack mapped out (vegetarian options are included). The jump start is designed to keep food cravings and mood swings at a minimum while regulating levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.
The "real" plan, which Hedaya says needs three months to fully kick in, would make anyone feel better, whether taking antidepressants or not, but also includes specific supplementation for deficiencies commonly found in those who take antidepressants. "At least 70 percent of the patients who come to me with 'treatment-resistant' depression actually have some sort of nutrient deficiency--such as low levels of fatty acids or zinc," he says, which can lead to a deficiency of serotonin. This deficiency prevents SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, such as Prozac and Zoloft) from working. He also recommends an "adrenal stress index," detailed tests for hypothyroidism, an organic diet free of hormonally treated foods, liver detoxification, and food-sensitivity testing. For his patients having problems with sexual side effects, he advises a change of medications (with a doctor's supervision), experimentation with certain herbs, and simple alterations in the time of day the medicine is taken. While Hedaya's program is time-consuming and some of the tests may be expensive for the uninsured, it's empowering, delivered with much empathy, and has proved effective for hundreds of patients. --Erica Jorgensen
