Fish Oils for Postpartum Depression Treatment

F

ish oil’s are an important natural treatment for general depression and can be very helpful in a natural postpartum depression treatment plan. There are some details, however, that can make a difference in what kind of effect you get from using fish oils for effective postpartum depression treatment strategy.

If you have  been supplementing with DHA during pregnancy and are still having symptoms of postpartum depression, then you may want to  increase your amount an switch to taking a higher dosage of EPA versus DHA. During pregnancy, DHA is usually taken in higher amounts than EPA for the baby’s benefit. For relief from depression, however, EPA fatty acid is more effective as a natural anti-depressant.

For some women, a noticeable improvement in mood can be noticed as soon as one hour after starting high dose fish oil supplements. From my experience, I think that the most benefit comes from taking fish oil in liquid form instead of capsules, especially when you’re trying to quickly effect postpartum depression or general depression. If you take a smaller amount and lengthen the time of digestion through encapsulation, the effect is slower and can make you discouraged with the treatment. Liquid fish oils have a strong taste, but you can chase it down with citrus juice. Start with the liquid form for intensive rejuvenating time of  around a month until you go into a maintenance phase, and then switch to less fishy tasting capsules. For many though the liquid is too hard to take and so capsules are the next best thing. Take with or with out food, separated in two doses or if you forget just take them all at once.

The total Omega-3 fatty acids dosage most recommended in the treatment of depression is 35oo mg total omega-3 per day.

Per serving, the product you choose should have both EPA and DHA, but with a higher amount of EPA (it should not though have a significantly reduced amount of DHA, though). Aim for a ratio of 500 mg or more EPA , and around 300 mg or more DHA per serving. For example, Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega contains 650 mg EPA and 450 mg DHA per serving (2 capsules for 1280 mg total). You would want to take twice the serving size, or 4 capsules, of this brand to get close to the recommended daily dosage of 3500 mg for depression. Remember, we are each unique in our chemistry, so your body may need more or less than another woman. Hopefully this information can help you to get the most out of using fish oils if your wanting to choose natural postpartum depression treatment options.