MyDoorsAreOpen
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2003
- Messages
- 8,549
I feel I owe it to readers of this forum to make a correction to what I used to preach, based on my recent experiences.
Awhile back I decided to switch from taking 6g fish oil a day, as my doctor recommended, to taking a tablespoon of flaxseed oil. My doctor had told me that a lack of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids in my diet were probably responsible for my depression and anxiety problems ("ideations of despair" is how I'd describe them). Fish oil capsules worked like a charm. All of a sudden I became the upbeat, nothing-can-get-me-down kind of guy I'd always wanted to be.
At first I blamed it on the fact that I'd just rolled. Then as the negative vibes continued, I blamed it on the dark, the cold, the slush. But I even felt this way in comfortable, dry, warm settings surrounded by people and food I loved. It was the old feeling I used to think was normal up until last year when I began taking fish oil.
So I visited a pharmacy, where the pharmacist told me most definitively that these two oils were not interchangeable. Fish oil contains two SPECIFIC Omega 3 fatty acids that relieve stress and depression, whose chemical names are abbreviated EPA and DHA. Flaxseed oil, on the other hand, contains a motley mixture of every sort of Omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids, and is mainly useful for cutting cholesterol and relieving bowel problems. EPA and DHA are in very low concentrations in flaxssed oil, she said, and thus it was useless against depression.
This is important for anyone taking Omega 3 fatty acids for depression. It's specifically fish oil you want. The others won't cut it. Sorry, all you vegans -- as if getting adequate nutrition weren't already a challenge for you guys
Awhile back I decided to switch from taking 6g fish oil a day, as my doctor recommended, to taking a tablespoon of flaxseed oil. My doctor had told me that a lack of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids in my diet were probably responsible for my depression and anxiety problems ("ideations of despair" is how I'd describe them). Fish oil capsules worked like a charm. All of a sudden I became the upbeat, nothing-can-get-me-down kind of guy I'd always wanted to be.
At first I blamed it on the fact that I'd just rolled. Then as the negative vibes continued, I blamed it on the dark, the cold, the slush. But I even felt this way in comfortable, dry, warm settings surrounded by people and food I loved. It was the old feeling I used to think was normal up until last year when I began taking fish oil.
So I visited a pharmacy, where the pharmacist told me most definitively that these two oils were not interchangeable. Fish oil contains two SPECIFIC Omega 3 fatty acids that relieve stress and depression, whose chemical names are abbreviated EPA and DHA. Flaxseed oil, on the other hand, contains a motley mixture of every sort of Omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids, and is mainly useful for cutting cholesterol and relieving bowel problems. EPA and DHA are in very low concentrations in flaxssed oil, she said, and thus it was useless against depression.
This is important for anyone taking Omega 3 fatty acids for depression. It's specifically fish oil you want. The others won't cut it. Sorry, all you vegans -- as if getting adequate nutrition weren't already a challenge for you guys
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
