If my dispensary was on an island and could only stock 3 items, S-adenosyl-methionine would make the cut. That’s how important this nutraceutical is to my practice and has proved itself to be to so many of my patients. Regularly, I cross paths with practitioners who declare similar favouritism and then there are many others who remain apprehensive and uninitiated in its use. Often this results from 7 myths and misunderstandings, such as…
No.1 Giving someone SAMe will impair their own synthesis of it
No.2 If it’s not ‘right’ for your patient it could go horribly wrong – the risks are big!
No. 3 SAMe will increase homocysteine in your patients & shouldn’t be used if the homocysteine is high, or high-normal, to begin with
Wrong. Wrong &, you guessed it, wrong. But many of us don’t believe anything till we see it with our own eyes. Like a mentee of mine who is a seasoned SAMe savant but, like us all, continues learning more all the time through her own prescribing experience. Case in point:
“Remember when we discussed my patient with stubborn high homocysteine, who has not responded to high dose methyl factors? You suggested a trial of SAMe because other things pointed to her being an under-methylator. You were right (standard!)- it came down from 9 to 5 with 2 months of 400mg/day SAMe. She’s also been able to stop other supplements she was using for her mood and overall is much more stable emotionally, so turned out to be the perfect solution. Thanks as always :)”
So exciting to bring SAMe, together with other important CAM options in mental health management, to the attention of an increasing number of psychiatrists and other health professionals of late. It easily makes my top 3, and the other 2 supplements in my island dispensary?…well if we’re still talking mental health, Zinc and N-acetyl-cysteine, due to their versatility, potency and accessibility regardless of income. But I think you could have guessed those & likely have shared confidence, right?
This 3hr recording & resource is overflowing with case studies and the latest research relating not only to psychiatric presentations but also as a key nutraceutical to consider in liver pathology, Gilbert’s syndrome and some pain presentations. Together with this ‘literature lowdown’ we clear up a lot of misunderstandings practitioners tend to have about its prescription – busting the 7 SAMe myths along the way and giving you the confidence to know when SAMe is likely to be the solution and exactly how to prescribe and what to expect.
I’d love to continue this conversation with you… so join me and be part of my ongoing dialogue on this and my other blogs by following my Facebook page.
