I have been taking EPA supplements for about 3 years now for anxiety and depression. Combined with daily exercise this has been of huge benefit for me. My symptoms are greatly reduced and I can live a normal life. My baseline level of happiness is raised when on EPA.
I currently take around 1g of EPA with breakfast then at lunch 500mg EPA along with 800IU vitamin E. initially I was taking larger amounts of EPA and experiencing strong hypo mania like effects but this levelled off after a couple of weeks. The effects have remained pretty constant since then.
Through trial and error I have learned that a small amount of certain multivitamins can boost the effect. Mostly this will give me increased motivation but sometimes even hypomania. Too much multivitamin however can give me a negative reaction. I can feel increased anxiety, depression and even paranoia when too much multivitamin is take near EPA. For this reason I literally cut a small piece off the multivitamin pills to take each day.
I have found several other substances that when taken near EPA give me this reaction. Some examples are: B complex vitamins, selenium, vitamin D, green tea extract and magnesium. I even have to be careful with some foods. Most types of nuts will trigger a bad reaction if I eat too many. I presume this is because of the high mag/selenium content of nuts. I’m not sure what causes the negative effects but my guess is that as well as raising serotonin and dopamine EPA may also raise glutamate, especially when combined with certain other substances.
Having to avoid these substances with EPA is definitely an inconvenience but it’s worth the trade of in my opinion. Nothing else I tried even came close to being as effective.
I would like to know if anyone else here has had similar experiences to me with EPA. I’d also like to hear any theories of mechanism of action of EPA in mood disorders.
Thanks.
