Rebuild from Depression Blog

In early 2006, Michael Moore put out a call for stories about the health care industry for his documentary Sicko. While I didn't have a specular story (thank goodness), the email hit me at the right time and it inspired an email campaign to Michael Moore. I'm sure that wine was involved (not the best thing for a person to be drinking who is rebuilding from depression) but I am not sure how else to explain my willingness to beat on a rabbit.

This one is from some time in early February:

Hi Michael.

I intended to write to you back in the early 90s with a marriage proposal after seeing "Roger and Me." Apparently I was too busy with college to follow through. But we're both married now (and perhaps you were then), so I write to you some 15 years later in response to your request for "Sicko" content.

I have a pretty compelling story about what the health care industry should be providing but it isn't because it is making too much money by not providing it.

Below is a draft of an article I am working on for a magazine and it will give you the flavor of what I am talking about. It begins "My grandmother died at the age of 61 of complications from postpartum depression."

Read it for old-times sake.

The article content comes from a book I am writing about depression. (I'll send you a copy in a few months.) It provides medical research on the link between nutrients and depression. Things like zinc and magnesium are at least as therapeutic for depression as pharmaceutical options, they just take a while to correct.

And if I don't make it into "Sicko" based on this content, perhaps you could squeeze me in for a cameo. I would be happy to color-analyze you incorrectly or beat on a rabbit or two for old-times sake.

Send my best to your wife.

Amanda

All relationships require follow-up. Here's how it went:

Hi Michael.

You need me to butcher a rabbit on Sicko.

I sent you a letter back in February (you know, mine was the letter with concerns about the health care system). I told you that I almost sent you a marriage proposal after seeing Roger and Me back in college. But I bet you get that from all the girls.

The rabbit butchering would be a great Roger and Me tie-in and would highly amuse your long-term fans. It would be a great inside joke for all of us.

Well, it's not really a joke.
Or at least I can play it straight if you want me to.

Here's the science: I've been researching nutrients and depression and have identified six vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids that are most commonly linked to depression. There have been clinical trials using these nutritional supplements with depressed patients and the studies find that the nutrients actually augment anti-depressant medication. The nutrients work without the medication too. It's amazing that the American public doesn't know this.

But here's where the rabbit comes in: I used a USDA database of 7,000 foods and identified foods that I call "depression-busters." Depression-busters are foods with the highest concentration of the six "depression nutrients." And guess what meat made the list? That's where the rabbit comes in. Rabbit is a depression-buster.

Michael, we could hunt some rabbit together. I don't know how to hunt and last time we shot a rooster on our property, I had to call my dad to do the deed, and I ran far away to avoid stray bullets. I would have looked like an 8-year-old school girl if it were not for my 200-pound frame. But I would learn to shoot for you. I could even try to trap a rabbit, much like the bear I tried to trap in college the time when I caught the family dog instead.

And I'm willing to learn how to hang up the rabbit and skin it. I was a Future Farmer of America. This is no kind of challenge at all.

You and your crew could enjoy a rabbit barbecue immediately following the filming and we can all have a slumber party here in my house: www.our-craftsman-home-restoration.com

Or you tell me where to show up, and I'll show up in my best hunting gear, which may still have the shopping tags on it.

In the meantime, I'll be sure to send you the book I'm working on or I'll bring it with my hunting gear.

Sincerely,

Amanda Rose, your long-time fan