Chapter 8: Amen Clinic, Newport Beach, CA

I decided to go to the Amen Clinic in Newport Beach, California and I had an amazing experience!  Thank you to my family and friends for your support and encouragement. I wanted the added information a SPECT scan could give me. I read almost everything on Dr. Amen's website: http://www.amenclinics.com/, and ordered his book, Healing Anxiety and Depression, on CDs. The Amen Clinic is affordable.  A complete evaluation is $3,375.00, and some insurance companies will help pay for the expenses.  I needed the complete evaluation.  I have been so sick I felt I couldn't afford not to go!

The first time I called the clinic, the person answering the call gave me a lot of information and answered all my questions. After talking to her I knew I wanted to go, I just needed to work out the time frame I could make it happen.  I scheduled my appointments on my second call to the clinic. If you are coming from out of town you need to plan on being at the clinic for three days.  My husband and I flew out on a Tuesday, and went to my appointments on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  We flew home on Saturday.

My patient care assistant emailed me the intake questionnaire and a list of possible places we could stay while in Newport, Beach.  The intake questionnaire can be filled out online, or you can print it and fill it out.  I answered mine online and then printed a copy to take with me.  It was twenty pages long.  It is an extensive and thorough history, and I think it is an important part of the evaluation.

We decided to stay at the Radisson Hotel.  The Amen Clinic has a contracted price for a room there which includes a free buffet breakfast each morning.  We had a beautiful room with soft, fragrance free linen and a firm, comfortable bed.  The bathroom was clean, and had plenty of towels and washcloths. The food in the hotel restaurant was delicious and we appreciated the nice accommodations. 

We rented a car, but the clinic is so close to the Radisson Hotel you could walk to it.  The Radisson Hotel is across the street from the John Wayne Airport, but I think it would be a tricky walk.  The Radisson Hotel may have a shuttle service to and from the airport. I didn't ask for information on their shuttle service. There are also places to eat west of the hotel offering good food.  You could probably do the trip without a car if you wanted to.

I listened to the CDs of, Healing Anxiety and Depression, three times before we left for California.  On the front of the book it says, "Based on cutting-edge brain-imaging science, this book:  Reveals 7 types of anxiety and depression, Provides proven-effective treatment plans for each type, Explains the source of anxiety and depression through brain images, Includes a type-determining self-diagnostic test."  The 7 types of anxiety and depression are:  Pure Anxiety, Pure Depression, Mixed Anxiety and Depression, Over focused Anxiety/Depression, Cyclic Anxiety/Depression, Temporal Lobe Anxiety/Depression, and Unfocused Anxiety/Depression.  I didn't predict exactly which types my symptoms of anxiety and depression fit into, but my results were fascinating!

Chapter 1: Depression, Amen Clinics, Amino Acids

I was hit with postpartum depression after the birth of my first son in 1981. I am 56 years old, and my name is Kathy. If you have experience with depression, my heart goes out to you with compassion.

I recently returned from the Amen Clinic in Newport Beach, California. I first saw Daniel Amen, M.D. on PBS. He was talking about the brain and taking SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) scans of the brain before prescribing treatment for depression and other psychiatric diseases. This was interesting to me because I knew my brain wasn't functioning correctly, and I had been suffering with treatment resistant depression for about a year and a half. Having more information to base treatment on sounded like a good idea to me! I did not have much hope left for feeling well again. Find out more at:  http://www.amenclincs.com/.  This is what led me to the Amen Clinic.

Daniel G. Amen, M.D.:

On December 7, 2007, I started lowering my dose of Zoloft, and began taking amino acids to treat the depression. The process was going well until the day after Christmas. Withdrawal symptoms of nausea, headaches, and anxiety were powerful. I decided I had lowered the dose too quickly and increased the amount of medication.

During the months of January through May 2008, I felt withdrawal symptoms as I slowly cut the Zoloft tablets into smaller pieces. The amount of amino acids taken by most people to help them feel better was not effective for me. I took a urine sample out to the main FedEx Shipping Center (FedEx Kinko's could not accept this package) and it traveled to a lab out of state.

After we received the lab results, my amino acids were changed and increased. This process of urine samples, lab results, and change in amino acids happened several times in those five months. There were many times I questioned what I was doing. I felt sick, but I was so far into the therapy I had to see if it was going to help! Towards the end of May I was off Zoloft and the withdrawal symptoms were ending. It was hard to get the 24 pills of amino acids down each day, but they were working on the depression symptoms.