I spent years on the self-medication supplement train. I still take Vitamin D and a few other modest supplements, but I finally got REAL relief after just biting the bullet and trying nearly every anti-depressant under the sun. After a few, my doctor did a DNA test to determine gene-drug interaction because of the wild results I was having. Thankfully, this was covered under my insurance. It shed a lot of light on why many of the pills I had taken failed -- the test showed they're likely to have bad reactions based on my genes.

We used the information to choose Viibyrd, a fairly new anti-depressant (2011). I've kind of become an evangelist for it since.

It works like a traditional SSRI but also affects the 5-HT1A receptors. Another great feature of the medication is that it usually takes less than a week to notice results -- and results I noticed.

I've been plagued with anxiety since age 18 and depression since I was a kid. For the first time in 11 years, I'm anxiety free. For the first time in a long time, I'm nearly depression free.

The best part? I'm myself. I'm not dull. I'm not a zombie. Some of my other impulsivity and ADHD symptoms vanished. I'm way more productive, social, and less afraid to take on life.

It was fun and interesting to do the whole supplement stack, but ultimately a huge time and money waster. I spent far less time going to my Psychiatrist and trying different options to get REAL results.

I feel like in many ways Nootropic supplements are the Homeopathy for Nerds -- we're using cutting edge research to anecdotally try to fix our issues, and ignoring that even we're just as susceptible to the placebo effect as the rest of the population.

Here's a good read that's sort of on topic about the stigma of medication and mental illness:

https://themighty.com/2016/02/myths-about-mental-illness-med...