Mucuna pruriens: Cure Depression Using Beans
NOTE: Click here to learn more about how to cure postpartum depression.
If depression were a landscape, it would be a desert, or perhaps Antarctica. If you’re one of the millions of individuals who suffer from depression and you’ve tried the various anti-depressant prescription medications on the market, you’re probably ready to try something with few side effects. While many Americans and Europeans are familiar with St. John’s Wort as an herbal anti-depressant, comparatively few have heard about the miraculous healing effects of Mucuna pruriens.
Mucuna is a bean, not unlike black beans or pinto beans. It’s eaten as a staple food item in certain parts of Central America and Asia. In some Central American communities, Mucuna is brewed like coffee and locals call it Nescafe. Mucuna does, after all, have similar neurological properties as caffeine. Caffeine causes the rapid RELEASE of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin in the brain. The RELEASE of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin by caffeine depletes the stores of these neurotransmitters though, which is why people often feel strung out after they drink a lot of coffee.
In contrast to caffeine (which causes the prolific RELEASE of neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin), Mucuna supports the production of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. This is an important difference. If your brain is fully loaded with dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, it has a full store that can be released when it would be natural for the brain to release these neurotransmitters.
Depression can be caused by low levels of dopamine, norepinephrine, or serotonin or a combination of all three. It can also be caused by a release of these neurotransmitters that’s too slow, or re-uptake of the neurotransmitters too quickly by the brain. Prescription anti-depressants often slow the re-uptake of these neurotransmitters, but Mucuna works differently. It contains the amino acid and peptide precursors to make sure the brain can produce plenty of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine which are then stored until they’re needed.
Click here to buy St. John's Wort tincture as an herbal remedy for depression.
Often, taking Mucuna pruriens supplements at 6,000-15,000 mg per day is enough to cure depression. However, in some cases, it might be necessary to add St. John’s Wort into the natural depression treatment protocol to get the desired effects. St. John’s Wort changes the speed at which the brain releases dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine or the speed at which re-uptake occurs.
Click here to buy N-Acetyl-Cysteine to reduce nagging thoughts and foggy headedness.
In addition to Mucuna, St. John’s Wort, you can also add 5-HTP to your natural depression treatment. Like Mucuna, 5-HTP is a serotonin precursor. When you take it, the body is able to make plenty of serotonin that can be released on demand. Serotonin works quite a bit differently in the body than dopamine though, so try out a protocol without it first and see if you really need it. If Mucuna and St. John’s Wort don’t cure depression for you, add 5-HTP into the mix in 400 mg doses taken 1-2 times per day.
If you experience anxiety in addition to depression, add N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC) to your depression treatment. NAC is an anti-oxidant that helps people overcome nervous anxiety related to phobias, obsessive compulsive behaviors, or even repetitive “picking” type behaviors. It should also be taken 4 times per day at between 500-1500 mg per dose (up to 6000 mg per day) for best results.
Basic Protocol: Natural Depression Remedy
To treat depression using these remedies, follow the dosing guidelines below:1. Mucuna pruriens (L-Dopa) - 6,000-15,000 mg daily, taken in divided doses. Begin by taking 1500 mg 4 times per day. --Take 100 mg of vitamin B6 daily so that your body can properly metabolize Mucuna. Ideally, you should take a vitamin B100 Complex supplement because without the B vitamins, your body will struggle to produce and maintain neurotransmitters that contribute to mental health. --Take 200 mg of Magnesium daily so that your body can make Mucuna into dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin 2. St. John’s Wort - For the first 4 weeks of treatment, take St. John’s Wort two times daily in 300 mg doses (300 mg in the AM and 300 mg in the PM). Then, increase the dose to 600 mg twice per day. It typically takes 4 to 6 weeks to really experience the benefit of taking St. John’s Wort. 3. 5-HTP - Take 200-400 mg of 5-HTP 1-2 times per day. 4. N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC) - Take 1000 - 4000 mg per day in divided doses (1000 mg per dose, 4 times per day)
Click here to buy a vitamin B100 Complex supplement.
Once you get started on a Mucuna protocol for depression, set the date on your calendar for 5 months later and check in with yourself. This protocol is designed to help heal dopamine and serotonin receptors in your brain and it takes about 5 months to do that. After 5 months of this treatment, you may be able to slowly take less and less Mucuna and the other medications.Mucuna pruriens is often labeled as L-Dopa and this creates a lot of fear and confusion around this food-medicine. Many people believe that the Mucuna pruriens form of L-Dopa is identical to the drug that is also known as L-dopa (also called L-Dopa) that’s used as a Parkinson’s Disease treatment. Levodopa, the pharmaceutical brand, has a reputation for causing serious side effects. But the pharmaceutical version of Levodopa/L-Dopa is actually a combination of L-Dopa and Carbidopa. When you take Mucuna pruriens, the L-Dopa on the label is a naturally-occuring amino acid that’s present in meats, dairy products, and other items that contain protein. It does NOT contain carbidopa or any other toxic ingredient. Our brain requires a certain amount of L-Dopa or L-Dopa precursor molecules in order to produce dopamine. We naturally produce L-dopa, the amino acid, in our bodies from L-tyrosine, another amino acid that's present in a variety of foods.
Remember, people eat Mucuna beans daily in various parts of the world. They’re beans and you can cook them and put them in chili. You can make Mucuna burritos with the beans. If you grow Mucuna pruriens in your garden, they’ll make the soil healthier and more fertile.
Click here to buy Mucuna pruriens powder that you can use in recipes for mental health.
Contrary to popular belief, Mucuna is not addictive. In fact, Mucuna pruriens can be used to cure addiction. Because it provides adequate levels of dopamine, people find that they’re able to quit just about any habit from methamphetamines to social media addiction. I have personal experience with Mucuna as both an anti-addiction medicine and as an anti-depressant. I take it every day though, ironically, I sometimes forget because this bean actually helps people question their own behaviors and forget to engage in any kind of repetitive or addictive processes. So people who take Mucuna often question the use of the bean and take breaks from it unintentionally.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing / EMDR for Depression
Depression is often a combination of a chemical imbalance in the brain and body, nutrient deficiencies, inflammation, and also a buildup of trauma that has not been released from the autonomic nervous system. It would be remiss to not mention the role of trauma in depression. I have written in other places about how I developed panic attacks years ago after taking Sapito, a frog venom that is administered as a sacred medicine. The panic attacks were actually related to a traumatic dental appointment that I had at the Mexican border. I recount the entire story here of how I figured out the cause of my panic attacks, triggers for these panic attacks, and how it all related back to trauma in this article about substance use disorders. Though initially of course, when I suddenly develop panic attacks, I had no idea how they were related to Sapito, the Mexican dental appointment, or trauma. I have taken Sapito many times since then to resolve the panic attacks as they were essentially brought about by my body's need to release trauma, but where one dose of Sapito just wasn't quite enough to release the trauma fully. Depression can happen when a person has been traumatized in some way. Trauma can be anything from a really painful dental appointment (as in my case) to severe sexual abuse as a child. Trauma happens when the body (not necessarily the mind) feels seriously threatened, but cannot physically do anything to prevent or react to the threat. Trauma builds up in the body when it can't be released. Click here to see a video of how an animal (in this case a polar bear) reacts naturally to having been exposed to "trauma" (he had been shot with a traquilizer). As humans, we are animals and like the polar bear, which shakes uncontrollably for a few minutes after awakening from the tranquilizer shot, if we don't "shake off" what traumatizes us when we're traumatized, the trauma builds up and can turn into mental illness such as depression, anxiety, addiction, etc. There are a number of ways to release trauma from the body. Almost all of these methods involve some kind of treatment that targets the autonomic nervous system. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing / EMDR is one of these methods. Using EMDR for depression, patients simply use a tool that helps them focus on a facet of their depression, essentially locating a problematic thought or feeling in the brain and in the body, and then the patient watches a ball move across the screen to mimic the eye movements of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. During REM sleep, people release trauma and process stress. But many people with depression also have insomnia. EMDR releases trauma which in turn relieves depression.
Click here to do a free trial of EMDR online.
Guided Meditation and Hypnotherapy for Depression
So let's say that you begin taking Mucuna pruriens, a vitamin B100 complex vitamin, magnesium, St. John's Wort, NAC, and 5-HTP to treat depression naturally at home. Mucuna pruriens is a fast-working herb that usually begins to work within only 4 hours after the first dose. NAC also works fast to relieve toxic thoughts that are diagnostic of depression. And let's also say that you do a free trial of EMDR online at home and you find it to be helpful. This is a solid protocol and it should give you enough of a lift to at least restore some hope. But let's also say that your depression is caused by an underlying trauma that you don't remember and that maybe didn't even seem like a big deal to anyone in your life when it happened. Maybe your depression is ultimately rooted in a childhood memory of watching a young friend get beat up on a daily basis on the playground and feeling powerless to stop it. Or maybe your depression comes from repeated episodes of fighting between your parents when you were growing up. If you suffered some form or repeated trauma, even if it wasn't severe by other people's standards, you may find that as you actually begin to get to the root cause of your depression that it worsens temporarily.Essentially, what I'm suggesting here is that, as your dopamine receptors begin to regrow and become healthy again and as you begin to take nutrients to help your neurotransmitters work optimally in your brain and body that your body--specifically your autonomic nervous system-- may decide in its natural wisdom to release trauma more quickly. For you, the release of trauma may actually sound like toxic thoughts that make you feel depressed. I highly recommend that people read Richard Schwartz's book No Bad Parts to learn how to speak to the part of you that experienced the trauma that caused your depression. Richard Schwartz's theories mirror the theory of sub-personalities that have been in use by hypnotherapists for decades. Consider working with the DreamLight.app to gain access to traumatized parts that are hiding out in your unconscious. These traumatized parts become accessible when you go into a trance state. The DreamLight.app was developed as an alternative to Ayahuasca, Sapito, Psilocybin, and other sacred medicines to help people access healing states of mind even if they can't gain access to the sacred medicines. Lydian and I use dreamwork, sacred medicines and trance states regularly to find cures for diseases for our health coaching clients. Typically we have dreams about our client's health issues (usually just prior to our client contacting us in the real world) when our client's spirit guides aren't able to speak to our client directly via the client's unconscious mind. The DreamLight.app is a tool that we developed to help our clients "gain access to themselves" and become empowered to heal at deep levels that's similar to what can be done when a person takes Ayahuasca or some of the sacred medicines.
Click here to learn more about the DreamLight.app, a guided meditation and brain-entrainment tool.
Is there a cure for treatment resistant depression?
Treatment resistant depression is one of those mental health issues that has not been addressed properly in mainstream conventional medicine. I suffered from severe depression when I was a teenager. It was no joke. I made two serious suicide attempts. I took Paxil when I was in college. I never thought I would overcome depression but I did. For starters, Paxil contains fluoride, which should clue people in to a root cause for depression: iodine deficiency. You see, fluorine and iodine are in the same family on the periodic table. They are in the same column which means that the outer electron shell of these elements behave similarly inside the human body. The body can mistake fluorine / fluoride for iodine / iodide. This is also true of bromine / bromide, another "toxic halide" that resembles iodine inside the human body. When the body is deficient in iodine, it becomes desperate for anything resembling iodine which makes people vulnerable to the bioaccumulation of toxic halides. Click here to learn more about how to remove fluoride and bromide from the body while restoring proper levels of iodine.One of the reasons why Paxil can relieve some forms of depression (but never cure the depression) is because fluoride interacts with iodine receptors. I had an iodine deficiency and, as it turned out, this deficiency was corrected when I met my husband who was an amazing cook. I ate horribly in college, but my husband fed me and voila, my moods became less volatile.
But that was over 20 years ago when food was less toxic, and when it was easier to find and know what "good food" was. I didn't realize then that a lot of the reason why my moods improved was because I started eating some foods like dairy products that contained iodine. Nowadays, dairy products are toxic and within just 5 years of meeting my husband, we eliminated all dairy and cow-products because the antibiotics and organophosphates used on the cows gave my husband Irritable Bowel Syndrome. But if you have treatment resistant depression, take note and work with Lugol's iodine to purge bromide / bromine and fluoride / fluorine from your body.
Do note, however, that when you first start taking Lugol's iodine, bromide and fluoride are often purged from the glands which is a good thing, but when these toxic halides enter the blood supply, they can cause depression, nightmares, and negative thoughts. Be sure to have someone who can watch over you during the detoxification phase. Read The Iodine Bible to better understand how iodine can heal depression naturally and work with Salt Loading and Salt Flushing to keep bromide and fluoride detoxification symptoms to a minimum. Also note that if you begin working with the supportive nutrients in the Lugol's iodine protocol at least 2 weeks to 2 months before beginning to administer Lugol's iodine, you can avoid many of the symptoms of depression, nightmares, etc. while still encouraging your body to permanently cure depression.
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For those who are looking for a cure for treatment resistant depression, it's important to rule out thyroid gland issues as a contributing factor in depression symptoms. You don't have to go to a doctor to find out whether your thyroid gland can benefit from supplementation with the following nutrients and in fact, your doctor won't have any idea about whether these nutrients will help you or not as doctors receive practically no education in nutrition. Thyroid hormones are made from the amino acid tyrosine and iodine. If you are deficient in either of these nutrients, your body may not be able to produce thyroid hormones in adequate quantities or the thyroid gland may become sick. Note that L-tyrosine is the precursor to the amino acid L-dopa that we discuss above. If you are deficient in L-tyrosine and L-dopa, you also won't be able to produce adequate levels of dopamine. If you are deficient in both thyroid hormones and dopamine, you may experience this problem as a profound depression. None of the existing anti-depressant medications on the market address the problem of thyroid issues as a factor in depression.
As a natural cure for treatment resistant depression, Lugol's iodine 2% can work wonders for the mind and the body, but if you're deficient in this nutrient as most people are, be sure to take Lugol's as part of a protocol that includes a long list of supplements. This long list of supplements may seem excessive, but if you're committed to finding a way to get rid of depression by healing the underlying problems, this is an excellent place to start. Click here to read more about the Lugol's iodine protocol.
Click here to buy Lugol's iodine 2%.
In addition to taking Lugol's iodine, you should also take L-Tyrosine at a dose of at least 8000 mg per day (taken in 4 divided doses of 2000 mg every 4-6 hours) if you suspect that you have a thyroid issue. Clues that you have thyroid problems include weight issues -- either difficulty losing weight or difficulty gaining weight. Taking L-Tyrosine with Lugol's iodine can cure thyroid problems while simultaneously working to get rid of depression naturally.
Click here to buy L-Tyrosine to treat both depression and thyroid issues naturally.
Please don't ignore what we're saying here about Lugol's iodine! The two forms of iodine contained in Lugol's iodine (potassium iodide and molecular iodine) are two of the most life-changing nutrients that we tell our health coaching clients about. Most people in the world today with rare exception are deficient in iodine. In the past, governments of the world would fortify the diet with iodine to prevent iodine deficiency, but in the 1980s, Big Food and Big Pharma realized that by effectively removing iodine fortification from the food supply was more profitable because it would cause diseases that would seem incurable. Lugol's iodine works well with Mucuna pruriens and L-tyrosine to ensure that the glands that stand as representatives for your chakras and your energy field are properly healed and properly charged.
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Lugol's iodine is a supplement that we recommend to a lot of people and it works to treat the body in a holistic way. What this means is that, though you may be trying to cure depression, you might end up accidentally getting rid of an autoimmune disease at the same time. Though your depression symptoms may be the most distressing to you, you may find that the Lugol's iodine protocol also clears up menstruation problems or fertility issues too. Iodine is like that, just be sure to buy Lugol's iodine and not nascent iodine or other iodine products that don't contain both potassium iodide and molecular iodine.
Click here to buy The Iodine Bible.
NOTE: The Mucuna pruriens protocol minus 5-HTP and St. John's Wort mixes very well with Methylene Blue, another potent antidepressant that works by scavenging for free radicals in the brain. Methylene Blue is a powerful antidepressant and it works through different mechanisms that 5-HTP and St. John's Wort to modulate serotonin levels and levels of other neurotransmitters in the brain that become imbalanced during depression and bipolar depression. Methylene Blue is an over-the-counter product and you can read more about how to use Methylene Blue for Depression in this article.
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Resources:
Kamkaen, N. et al. (2022). Mucuna pruriens Seed Aqueous Extract Improved Neuroprotective and Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitory Effects Compared with Synthetic L-Dopa. Retrieved September 22, 2022 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35630617/
