The CoQ10 is of very doubtful benefit.  Recent studies have shown no 'protection against statins'. Probably not harmful.

Fish oil is good, at least not harmful.

Recent studies have called into question the benefit of a daily multivitamin, though again probably not harmful.

Lexapro & Wellbutrin are both excellent medications for their indications.

Stay well & happy.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on the CQ10 part. There are studies on all these things that go one way or the other but I know the effect CQ10 has on me. I can't speak on how it affects people in general.

That's why I didn't mention most of the other kook things I take because I didn't feel certain enough they are having an effect.

Always anecdotal symptomatic exceptions to the rule, but the data for CoQ10 just aren't there.  Many cardiologists were pushing it hard for awhile based on early smallish studies suggesting protective benefit; more extensive prospective studies failed to demonstrate any such benefit, however.  Clinical inertia being what it is, it's taking awhile for washout to occur.

As I said, there's no reason to believe it is harmful in any way, so if I were feeling better on it, I would continue it.

Sorry about the Statins!  My Cholesterol is not too bad, so I am on a Niacin (and Omega 3) regimen that is controlling it.  The stuff I have read on the Statins (other than doing the job) side effects scare me!  I am glad I am able to control it with natural stuff so far. 

Have you tried Red yeast Rice?  My mother swears by it (along with Omega 3 and Niacin) as her Cholesterol is like mine - not good, but not too bad.  I have not gotten into the Red Yeast Rice yet.

Red Yeast Rice has a small amount of naturally-occurring simvastatin in it (Zocor), which is why it has some effect.

I haven't had any problem with the Statins. 

The reason cardiologists were encouraging CoQ10 supplementation was that some studies (not designed to look at CoQ10 but reviewed for CoQ10 status) suggested statin treatment might result in depletion of CoQ10 - patients being treated with statins were observed to have lower average CoQ10 levels than controls who were not treated.  This was a correlation, not proof of cause & effect.  Further studies specifically & prospectively looking at this failed to confirm any such relationship.

CoQ10 is an 'essential' co-enzyme which is integral to basic cellular metabolism, including cardiac muscle cellular metabolism, so the early preliminary results raised eyebrows.  However, there is currently no evidence that 'low' CoQ10 levels cause or are associated with any disease states and no evidence that treating low CoQ10 levels is beneficial.

Selling CoQ10 supplements has proved to be profitable nonetheless.

When I lived in Alaska my thyroid stopped working.  I didn't know it at the time, I assumed my irritability was from the darkness.  So did my Doc.  Without any real tests at all, he gave me Zoloft.  (They give ADs out like candy during the winter in Alaska.)

For 6 months it seemed to work great.  But after that I noticed side effects like gaining weight, and just not caring, being forgetful.  That was it, I flushed them down the toilet.  I had the worst withdrawal of my life going cold turkey.  Duh!

I was an irritable mess after that until my thyroid issue was discovered.

If they're working for you that's great....as long as the benefits outweigh the side effects, and only you can judge that.

I'm sure your family appreciates a more even keeled husband/father as much as your employees. 

Interesting!  I will have to tell my mother.  Thanks for the info!

I know I'm not the only one who has observed that taking CQ10 reduced minor aches and pains associated with taking statins.

I don't need to see a study that "proves" it or not. I know when I run out of it that it only takes a few days for me to physically notice it.

It's not a placebo effect. Just because they haven't "proved" something doesn't mean it is unproven either. I think you can assume that I've done my own research on supplements over the years. Heck, I'm the guy who measures my own electricity to verify power user. I don't just read some article in People magazine or something and go "Hey, I will take that, Oprah says so." or something.

I assume that's directed at me, so correct me if not.

I'm not disputing your personal experience.  There is a huge difference between data from a placebo-controlled double-blind study of a large population of people and anecdotal experience.  Human heterogeneity being what it is, many agents very likely have actual effects in some individuals without benefitting enough individuals (as compared to placebo) to rise to a clinically significant population effect.  The fact that a drug helps no greater a percentage of subjects in a study than does placebo, does not mean that noone gets any benefit.

While we're on the subject of 'placebo effect' - if placebo didn't have such troublesome and frequent side-effects (look at the data from any placebo-controlled trial), I'd prescribe it a lot more.

D, are you a general practitioner?  (Ignore if that's too nosey.)

Fudging with the natural Seratonin/Melatonin balances in the body is a very very bad idea.  Generally most of that can be handled with lifestyle and dietary changes.  My wife used to take Lexapro, but I got her to try a Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) remedy.  It's called "Free and Easy Wanderer Plus", after a few weeks she stopped taking Lexapro and has been tremendously healthier/happier. http://www.heavenearthchineseherbs.com/6-bottles-for-price-of-5-free-easy-wanderer-plus-p-195.html

Also, TCM links the liver with depression, but now modern medicine agrees. Therefore most people with depression have some sort of liver issue, liver blockage, or too many toxins in their system.  These days, it's very very easy to overload the liver with toxins, especially if you consume processed food and tap water.  After we detoxed ourselves we became amazingly healthy, so I recommend detoxing to everyone at least 1-2 times a year! http://plantcures.com/herbsfordetoxification.html  My wife purged about a pound of worms on this protocol, not kidding..

Air quality, or in reality "Ionization" is critical.  People are living in positive ion prisons these days, which cause immense immune, seratonin/melatonin, and other issues.  That is, we're living in un-natural environments that simply aren't healthy for the human body/mind/spirit.  OFTEN we find we can cure many/most health issues by fixing the ionization balance in our work and home. Depression has been linked to a lack of negative ions, as has inflammation(cholesterol too high), asthma, SAD, and a plethora of other things. We can help this by adding plants to our home/work spaces, but to really kick-start the improved life, we can buy low cost and highly effective negative ion projectors. (and they DO WORK) http://mysticmarvels.com/ionprojector1.html   
I've seen people with depression experience almost immediate CURING of it after ionizing their work/home environments.  I take this so seriously, I installed a system to ionize the air in my HVAC system.  Nobody has been 'sick' in this home in 3 years.

Stains are junk pills based on junk science. They have been implicated in memory loss, cancer, and bone degeneration. Red Yeast rice in natural form contains a buffered Statin, naturally. However be careful, many of the commercial big name red yeasts have had their statin aspect removed. The drug companies ripped off Statin's from Red Yeast, but when they jerked out and synthesized the component they removed the buffers that make them healthy in Red Yeast. Shop careuflly to find a very potent one, and then toss your statins in the garbage bin.  There are many many natural cures for Cholesterol that work very very quickly.

Try Magnesium Citrate as well, most americans are deathly short on Magnesium.  MSM (Methysulfanomethane) is another one, as our crops are deficient in sulfur, our bodies are 1% sulfur, and this is critical to stopping inflammation and keeping the cells healthy. Generally, our food is becoming 'dead' so we're starving our bodis of essentials required for good health, and replacing them with nasty, dangerous, toxic prescription drugs that cost to damn much. Most people are inflamed, filled with fungus, and loaded down with parasites, and are masking all of this with drugs.

T -

Internal medicine.

bodhi -

OK.

These days, you'd get better care from a VET than an MD.  Vets understand the parasitical, dietary and inflammatory nature of illness while conventional doctors are just 'repeaters' of whatever the drug companies tell them. Vets understand the difference between akalinity/acidity and health. That is, a body that is slightly more alkaline, is a healthier body. We drink Alkalized water, some call it 'miracle' water. Eating more Alkaline foods is best, fresh raw stuff, etc. Interesting enough, Negative ions help promote an alkaline PH in the body!

We're proof these concepts work, we no longer need health insurance. I can quickly and easily cure virtually anything in the home that someone may come down with. I haven't been to an MD in about 5 years, and I am 45 years old, and have no intention of going back to one.  My kids have only been on Antibiotics 1-2 times their entire lives (and probably never will again thanks to my more advanced cures), and do not get vaccinations, vaccinations are more junk science and cause more harm than good.  My 4 year old daughter only goes to the doctor once a year for a physical, and a clean bill of health. Modern medicine is good to stitch up a cut, or mend a bone, but I wouldn't set foot into that system for anything else!

Once one steps outside of the tyranny of the FDA, and mainstream medicine, they discover a wealth of natural cures and modalities that work, and in some cases, have worked for centuries. But because they do not hold patent, and cannot command ridiculous prices there is no vested interest in them being 'known' by the general public. Remember, most drugs are a synthetic derivative of one/two components of long established natural cures..  Mucinex (Guia,etc) is based off a plant from the Amazon. Aspirit is White Willow Bark. TamiFlu is Star Anise Flower.  These cures have been known in some cases, for 1000-2000 years. When they removed one-two aspects of these natural cures, they also removed the buffers that prevented side effects in many cases. (Synergy lost)  Modern medicine if anything, has served to cause more harm than good, and the leading cause of death in this country is in fact, doctors!

If you go further down the rabbit hole, you'll find the level of suppression in science is quite astounding.  The level of tyranny from the FDA by keeping people in the dark defies rational explanation.

Read this, $1 book. It's the science behind negative ions, and why it is so 'suppressed'. Germans found an 85% reduction in traffic accidents by mearly pumping negative ions into the car!  Germans used ion projectors in their fighter jets, and improved reaction times, critical thinking, and the durability of their pilots.  One Irish hospital study found burn patients exposed to negative ions cured on average, 44% faster. This is serious business, and they don't want you to know it..
http://www.amazon.com/Ion-Effect/dp/0553207555/ref=tmm_pap_title_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1295811220&sr=8-1

I've said this before ,and will say it again.. Whole-Food Vitamins!  Centrums are rubbish, made by drug companies with poor ingredients and a 10-18% absorb rate.. Atrocious!
http://www.megafood.com/

People have bad Sodium/Potassium/Magnesium balance, thanks to poor quality soils and crops from factory farming.  In Finland and New Zealand that have a national salt called "PanSalt" which is a mix of those. They found a "Rapid, and Impressive" reduction in heart attacks after this was introduced. You rarely if ever hear about this in the USA, but I know people that are become quite healthy just changing the type of salt they ingest into their bodies, including improve cholesterol. http://www.pansalt.fi/default.aspx?SectionId=681

My mother (74) was on 7 prescription drugs 5-6 years ago. Today she is on none.. All because of the data, products, and modalities we've shared with her. I have seen this with my own eyes work, and it is amazing.  If more people woke up these dastardly drug companies would be held accountable for their genocide. (30,000 alone died from Vioxx!)