For the last year, i have been successfully off of lithium. Lithium was the only medication I was taking. I have dealt with a severe form of manic depression all of my life, I was suicidal for years.
My bipolar was so bad that i couldn't even think straight at all. i lived in constant fear and i have a very vague memory of my life.
I realize what I have done may not help everyone who suffers from similar mental problems but it helped/worked for me. What changed things around for me was reading the book "The Salts Of the Earth And Synthetic Insanity" by Dennis Miller. http://www.amazon.com/Salts-Earth-Synthetic-Insanity-Explanation/dp/0595314996/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325562622&sr=8-1The book was written by a pharmacist who has bipolar. His son had a severe case of it and tried to kill himself in his teenage years. Dennis decided that the medication his son was put on wasn't doing a good enough job of helping him. Dennis began to look at the symptoms his son was experiencing and made a startling discovery [suggesting a link between bipolar disorder and kidney function] The author recommends taking a vitamin B supplement, taking tums for calcium, vitamin e, vitamin c, magnesium, zinc, and he recommends that you stay away from taking vitamin d and limit consumption of vitamin d fortified food. [mod edit: always check for drug interactions before beginning supplements. Calcium and zinc both interact with certain bipolar meds.] the book is written like a medical textbook and i have to admit that i don't understand the technical aspects but I get the theory behind it. i began following the treatment he recommended because i saw no harm in trying to take vitamins and minerals. i started the treatment back in December 2010 and i decided to get off of lithium a month later after i saw my self healing from this disease. my understanding of what he says is that mania is caused because the kidney is compensating for a lack of energy and the only thing that it has to work with is vitamin d. i believe the author is right because i have noticed that my mania has leaned towards euphoric during sunny times. i believe this is because the vitamin d i got from the sun was that extra boost that really got me manic. during the winter times, i faced terrible dysphoric mania. the worst thing i've ever faced in my life. the author also says to avoid carbohydrates. he says that a diet high in carbohydrates and/or sugar is a diet of destruction for bipolar people. i notice that whenever i eat too many carbs or too much sugar things always get bad. i also notice that diet pop is so terrible for me. i stay away from man-made sweeteners. so now i just have half a pop instead of a whole can. i make sure to take at least one vitamin b-1 pill whenever i eat carbs or sugar. when i slip up a lot and eat too much, i take 2 vitamin b pills, at least one vitamin c pill, and a chromium picolinate pill. increased sugar or/and carbohydrate consumption increases their leakage. so i've been following this treatment since december 2010. i no longer feel the exhaustive depression i used to feel all the time. i have been manic free. the main thing that i have to stress to people is that you must be in tune with your body to follow this treatment and you must be disciplined. the answer to conquering this disease is not popping a pill, at least for me. you must make a lifestyle change. the main change i had to make was changing my diet from a high carb sugar one to an extremely low carb high protein diet. in the beginning this was hard. now i hardly crave the junk. i sleep much much better now. i used to look at the times i felt the euphoric mania as the only times things felt good. now i know that my mind is healing and my thinking is more clear. i also know that once my brain heals, i will experience thinking far superior maybe not in quantity but at least in quality to the unhealthy manic boosts of euphoria i used to feel. the hardest thing to deal with is that healing is a process. you don't get better overnight. there is a lot of damage done to the brain that takes time to heal not to mention the psychological pain that this disease leaves. i have been doing almost everything i can do to speed up the healing process in my brain (i have to admit that i rarely exercise but my diet is much better and i am more active) i have been taking 6 grams a day of lion's manes mushroom powder for about a year now. it is reported to increase myelin in the brain after 6 months of taking it. myelin is the coating around your neurons and the thicker the myelin the faster your thoughts tend to be. 5 grams of this powder has helped people with alzheimers in a study i read. i don't know why but i decided to go on 6 grams instead of 5. i figured it couldn't hurt. it is supposed to aid in nerve cell regeneration. 3 months ago, i felt a sudden sharp pain in my foot and in my head at the same time. this pain lasted for about 3 seconds and made me scream. i never felt anything like this before in my life. i believe that what i felt was my nerve cells regenerating. i also take al carnitine which is supposed to boost the nerve cell regeneration.i also play a game called dual n back and i have noticed improvement in my thinking (better memory, faster thinking) when i stick to it continuosly and keep pushing the limits of what i can do on it. the game dual n back which can be downloaded for free by searching under download brain workshop 4.8 this game is an exercise for your working memory. there is a high correlation between intelligence and working memory. the higher the intelligence the higher the working memory. by following the recommendation of playing the game for four weeks straight every day for at least 20 minutes and by pushing my limits, i have noticed i experienced heightened thinking. my brain is healing though and its hard to keep it at the heightened states i have had it on. if i slip up a little and eat too many carbs, it all starts to go back to hell. Also whenever I am more stressed out than usual because of high amounts of physical exertion, thinking, or sleep deprivation (which i hardly experience anymore) I make sure to double up on vitamin b, vitamin c, magnesium, tums (calcium) and zinc. i have been able to maintain my newfound normalcy by doing this. in fact, a day when i am suffering from sleep deprivation is far better than a normal day i used to have.
I am slowly healing and overall my life is slowly getting better, I am still looking for more ways to increase my healing, I recently added about 1,400 mg of ECGC and 600 mg green tea extract in my daily routine to boost Neurogenesis.
[mod edit: green tea contains caffeine, a dangerous stimulant for those with bipolar disorder. Green tea may cause liver damage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea]
i added these after reading an israeli study about ecgc repairing damaged brain cells. I have been getting headaches ever since i started taking this. i guess that they are a good thing though. i get less intense versions of the feeling i had in my feet and head. i noticed the other night that as soon as i played dual n back for 20 minutes i felt a lot more warm sensations in my feet and head. now i am sure i am healing. it is a somewhat painful process but my nerves are regenerating.
[mod edit: nerve cells continue to grow unless injured (severed). Nerves regenerate (poorly) in the case of injury. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroregeneration Pain or discomfort caused by supplements should be investigated by a Dr.!]
i will give you guys an update on how i am doing. i have been healing since december 2010 and i predict that by the end of 2011, i will completely healed. i do not recommend getting off of your meds if you choose to experiment with the treatment i am doing. i recommend trying this treatment and seeing if it works for you first. i got off of lithium after a month of treatment when i saw the evidence that the treatment was healing me. the lithium never healed me. it just covered up the symptoms. best wishes to everyone reading this. bipolar has been a nightmare but i am finally waking up from it.
UPDATE: I recently went into the hyperbaric chamber for an hour. After ten minutes of being in there, I felt a severe pain in the top of my right foots big toe. This was the same area i felt the pain in when i felt the pain in my foot and head at the same time. during my time in the hyperbaric chamber, i felt this pain (usually much less severe) quite frequently. it feels similar to the sensation my toes felt when i warmed them up after being in a hypo or near hypothermic condition. when i got out of the chamber, i noticed and still do notice the newfound clearheadedness. the painful sensations went away for three hours after being in the chamber but then i got them back. i haven't been able to sleep or think very many complete thoughts most of the time because of these sensations. The strange thing is that even though i wasn't able to sleep for one night, i felt no negative consequences from this. i am at peace now. i am finally content with myself. there were none of the usual negative thoughts circulating in my head that night. I can tell that i am thinking faster and clearer now even though the pain interferes with my thinking ability. I feel like a brand new person. fear has left me. now i am just waiting for the pains to leave. i believe they are a necessary part of the healing process. i have been taking liquid Vitamin b12 after my naturopath recommended it. b12 is supposed to be very good for the nervous system. i will keep you guys posted but i can now finally say that whereas before i had escaped the darkness to feel some of the warmth of light, now i am now stepping into that light. best wishes to everyone.
Regarding the editing of this post: My intent was to loosely mask a concept which could cause an unstable person to go off medication without medical assistance, to warn against advice that may not be safe for those with bipolar, AND to encourage alternative thinking and complementary alternative medicine.
Post Edited By Moderator (tortoise11) : 1/2/2012 9:12:50 PM (GMT-7)