After reading a book late last year called Brain 2.0, I have seriously gotten into curcumin for general health - particularly brain health.
However I am most interested in its effects on monoamines and consequently, mood disorders. In the past I have used SSRIs (for mild anxiety) but can't now due to them interfering with my pain medication. Ditto for SJW.
For the last couple of months I have been taking the BCM95 curcumin, the curcumin phytosome version and piperine for bioavailability. I seem to be getting a definite moderate mood boost which is most evident in terms of improved stress tolerance. However, usually I can keenly feel when my serotonin is getting boosted - there are various telltale sensations I recognize. I don't get this with curcumin - no druggy or "high" feeling. Perhaps curcumin is more of a MAO-B inhibitor? I don't discount placebo either - apart from the fact that I generally have very poor experience with anything "natural" so I don't think I was consciously expecting anything (I could be wrong however).
So I am curious -
1. How would you rate curcumin's potency as an antidepressant (MAOI) versus other options like rhodiola or SJW?
2. Have you seen any difference in effectiveness between variants (BCM95 v others etc)?
3. What has been your personal experience?
4. Can you think of any downsides? (curcumin seems to be suspiciously lacking in adverse effects)
This month I have even started giving curcumin to my elderly dogs to see if there is any improvement in their joint inflammation (only measurable by improvements in gait - as I can't get CRP tests done on them!)