Dear Health Conscious Friend,

Depression is a health hazard on its own. Suicidal thoughts and behaviours are just some of the dangers experienced if it’s left untreated. So your doctor gives you a script for anti-depressants because, after all, nobody wants to live with these dark thoughts. You pop your pills and you feel so much better. Ideas of "offing" yourself subside and you're happy again. But then something completely out of your control happens...

Dr Douglass shares research that reveals anti-depressants could cause strokes and death!

In the name of good health,

Taryn Strugnell
Managing Editor of Nutrition & Healing

P.S. Kicking an addiction is a tough battle - and I'm confident it's something you wouldn't want to experience. Especially not from a nasal spray! Dr Wright tells us the solution to relief without sprays and inhalers...

Common drugs increase risk of stroke and death
Dr Douglass
Editor of  Healthier News

Reasons #47 and #48 to avoid antidepressants: They increase your risk of stroke and death.

If your immediate reaction is to toss them in the trash or dump them down the toilet, wait just a second. The researchers would like you to know that it's a "relatively small" risk - so there's no cause for alarm and, of course, there's no reason to stop taking your meds.

Of course that's what they said. No matter how great the risk, or how small the benefit, the best line these scientists can come up with is that you need to weigh a drug's risks against its benefits. I could be wrong here, but isn't that what this study just did?

Out of the 136,293 women in the Women's Health Initiative, the ones taking SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) were 45% more likely to have a stroke and 32% more likely to die, compared to those not taking the drugs.

Those are odds I'd rather not take my chances with, especially when the drugs aren't that effective to begin with – and when there are plenty of other safer ways to beat the blues.

In study after study, placebos routinely outperform antidepressants. In fact, just about anything researchers put up against these meds beats them. I wouldn't be surprised if a study proved that you could beat depression by going fishing. After all, staying active is one of the best ways to pull yourself out of the dumps.

So if you're battling the blues, skip the meds and take a vacation... go out to dinner with friends... take up a hobby.

Or, as one new study suggested, have some green tea. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that seniors who had four or more cups of green tea per day were 44% less likely to suffer from depression.

And if you STILL feel like you need to pop a pill to feel better, try some St. John's wort. It's cheaper, safer, and more effective than most commonly prescribed antidepressants.

Nasal relief without nasal spray

Q: I get a stuffy nose almost every night. I've heard you can get addicted to nasal spray, so I'd rather not use it. But nothing else I have tried does any good!

Dr. Wright: The best way to eliminate the problem is to determine what's causing it. The most obvious cause of stuffiness is inhalant allergies, but food allergies can also play a role. Chronic problems can be caused by infection. But antibiotics might not be much help because a surprising number of chronic infection-associated stuffiness problems are caused by fungi, not bacteria.

To determine what is at the root of your particular problem, it's best to work with a physician skilled in nutritional and natural medicine. (To locate one in your area, contact the South African Society of Integrated Medicine on 021-887 5364 or lucia@integratedmedicine.co.za)

In the meantime, the natural sugar-alcohol xylitol is sometimes helpful for treating stuffy noses. It is used as a nasal spray, but since the ingredients are all-natural, xylitol spray doesn't carry the risks associated with many of those patented, over-the-counter nasal sprays. It works by reducing the ability of allergens to stick to the lining of the nose and sinuses. A spray or two as far as possible into the nostrils twice daily should offer some relief.