Turmeric--the next new (or ancient) wonder drug?

I've slept normally for the past 5 days. This is a statement that most people would probably take for granted--for me, it's an accomplishment that rivals any achievement I have had in recent years.

Turmeric--I actually take standardized pills--you would
have to eat 7 tablespoons of this stuff
 a day to get an effective dose

Back in the middle of December, I went in to a new doctor in order to have a lump on my finger assessed--and went through the normal form-filling-out, list all your medications and relevant medical history, and I did what I should have, which was to write down that I was taking Klonopin for anxiety and aspirin for my heart defect. End of story--or so I thought, while sitting in the waiting room. My new doctor greeted me in the exam room, and then immediately voiced his concern about the Klonopin. Recent studies had shown a link between the use of benzodiazepines (the class of drug that Klonopin is in, along with Xanax and a few others) and the potential for development of Alzheimers and dementia later in life. The lump on my finger was a ganglion cyst (or commonly known as a bible bump) and required no treatment, and would only need surgery if it became painful.

I had considered getting off of Klonopin for a while at this point--my pattern of usage was that when traveling, I would take it every night to sleep, and when not traveling I would taper down to something more reasonable. Due to my difficult schedule last year, this turned into basically taking it every night for the time between August and December. The dosage I was on was small compared to heavy benzo users, and larger doses are more likely the cause for concern with the development of dementia later in life.

The science behind the study is questionable--there is something fundamentally wrong with trying to establish a causal relationship between a drug and a condition for a drug that is used as the first line of defense to treat that condition in most cases. The authors of the study suggest they eliminated this relationship by only looking at people who took benzos more than 5 years before their Alzheimers or dementia diagnosis. Other studies point to the development of symptoms of dementia or Alzheimers as much as 20 years before diagnosis. The flaw in the study is apparent to people such as myself, without a medical degree, and the comments to the published studies between people who are obviously medical doctors or medical researchers are as vehement as Facebook posts about the current slew of presidential candidates.

To get straight to the point, I got off of Klonopin partly because of the possibility of this linkage, but more because it left me feeling run down and tired at times--take too much Klonopin too many days in a row, and you're in a brain fog. Take too little and you can't sleep. Take the right amount for too long, and you grow a tolerance to it, requiring more, resulting in brain fog. It was time to be done with it.

The withdrawal period was ridiculous. I did not sleep for 3 straight nights trying to go cold turkey as my doctor suggested. I then decided to taper off of the drug for about 3 weeks. I was encouraged to use melatonin to aid in getting to sleep, starting at 3 mg, and increasing it until I actually got to sleep. I wound up at 9 mg, well under the maximum dosage my doctor suggested of 20, but I was having problems sleeping through the night, often getting 3 to 5 hours of sleep and not being able to go back to sleep. Three weeks after my final dose of Klonopin, I talked with my doctor again, and he suggested hitting myself with another dose of melatonin when I woke up in the middle of the night, which allowed me to sleep a more reasonable amount of time. I was back to my usual 6.5 to 7.5 hours of sleep at night, even if it was broken up.

My saving grace came from an unusual source. Somebody in my Facebook feed posted an article describing the use of Turmeric as an antidepressant. The study done to prove this pitted the use of Turmeric against pharmaceutical antidepressants in a controlled scientific manner. The conclusion of this study was that Turmeric (when taken at the right dose, with black pepper to aid in absorption) was equally as effective as SSRI meds, but without the litany of side effects. I am still in the middle of the two to four week period that it takes for Turmeric to reach full effectiveness, but I am seeing improvements in my sleep pattern and my mood that rival what I have seen before when on the various antidepressants I have been prescribed throughout my life.

I've had some decent workouts in training for triathlon--but a necessary precursor to heavy training is having the rest of your body and your life in order. I'm getting there--I'm starting to enjoy my workouts again, and I'm starting to look forward to life with some optimism. It's really amazing to me that the solution to the trinity of depression, anxiety, and insomnia may very well be this yellow spice consumed for ages by people in another part of the world.