Hello, Lalaang, welcome to the Bipolar Forum,
You're taking, probably,about
the latest medication for bipolar, type II illness, and it's excellent. I don't know what your dosage is, but as you know, you have to build to the proper dose your psychiatrist wants you to use.
In the meantime, while you are building the mood stabilizer, I'd like to ask you to make a few changes in your diet (if your doctor has not already advised you to do so):
1. Don't use alcohol; it makes the illness worse.
2. Don't use caffeine in any form-whether in tea, coffee, chocolate or anything else containing caffeine; it makes the illness worse.
3. Take your meds and
4. Get your rest.
(These were the four things directed for me to do when I first saw a psychiatrist many years ago.)
Changing your diet to add more alkaline-digested foods and using
fewer acid-reacting foods may help, too, to keep your feeling tone in good condition. To know which foods are alkaline in reaction and
which ones are acidic, go to two websites: alkalinefoods.com and/or
acid-reactingfoods.com. Both sites will give you the data on both
types of foods.
Here's a simple example: the lemon, which tastes very acidic, is actually digested as one of the most alkaline foods you can use and is very helpful in cleansing the liver. I would suggest that you switch from using soft drinks (or sodas) to lemonade.
Often, it's the foods we are addicted to that we are allergic to and are
real pressure points in tirggering instability in moods. You have to test foods to see which are best for you.
Your illness can be stabilized with the mood stabilizers--and there are
several--Lamictal is just one of the newer ones. Take care and look
for the rainbow ahead.
You're going to see your talent emerge (whatever it might be) as you
become stabilized. Plan to try to develop it: it may be painting, writing,
music, dancing, any number of creative things that you happen to have a gift in, so please follow your natural inclination for using that gift. It's one of the most rewarding things you can do for yourself in life.
Take care.
It's Genetic
Post Edited (It's Genetic) : 9/6/2011 2:00:44 PM (GMT-6)