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"Most people with depression feel much better after taking SSRI drugs like Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft, but about one-third of sufferers don&amp;#039;t improve enough (or at all). Fortunately, there are a host of other things you can try, such as talk therapy and exercise, including yoga. You may have also heard about add-on medications like Abilify and Seroquel XR, which can be taken in combo with an SSRI to give it an extra &amp;quot;boost.&amp;quot; But you might not have heard about Deplin. Deplin capsules contain L-methylfolate, a form of folic acid. For years experts have known that folic acid deficiency is associated with certain forms of depression, but just taking a regular folic acid supplement or eating more folate-rich vegetables like spinach might not do the trick. &amp;quot;L-methylfolate is the only form of folic acid that can cross the blood-brain barrier. Some people don&amp;#039;t have a problem converting folic acid into L-methylfolate, but others do. If someone with depression has a problem with this conversion, then she&amp;#039;d be better off taking Deplin instead of taking a folic acid supplement or getting more folate from vegetables,&amp;quot; says John Zajecka, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Woman&amp;#039;s Board Depression Treatment Research Center at Rush University in Chicago. How effective is Deplin? A few studies, including a soon-to-be published one led by Dr. Zajecka, have shown that people with depression improved more while taking Deplin plus an SSRI (compared to an SSRI alone). Another study, published in in the journal Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience, also found that it helped, but the study was relatively small (less than 250 patients). So more studies will probably need to be done to confirm these benefits. In the meantime, there probably isn&amp;#039;t much harm to giving Deplin a try if your doctor thinks you&amp;#039;re a good candidate for it. Deplin isn&amp;#039;t technically a drug but a prescription medical food, and side effects are unlikely. A medical food, according to the FDA, is formulated to be consumed or administered &amp;quot;for the specific dietary management of a disease or condition for which distinctive nutritional requirements, based on recognized scientific principles, are established by medical evaluation.&amp;quot; You can learn more about Deplin (from the manufacturer) at deplin.com. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/a42648/when-antidepressants-arent-enough-10624/>