Bipolar Support Group

There was about a month's time when I was in between pdocs when I didn't have to answer to anybody, didn't have to hear, "Why did you do something like that?". So I gradually then suddenly dropped my Lithium. Why? Frequent blood draws, excessive third, excessive peeing, abnormal sweating, severe bloating and weight gain, the destruction of my thyroid, muscle twitching, med after med to help with the side effects . . . I'd rather go mad.

With the recent weight gain I have cut my dose of Geodon in half as well. Call it an experiment: My allergies are well controlled, so maybe my moods won't get out of sorts.

I cut these meds very gradually so as not to shock the brain.

A big reason: I'm done being fat. God can make me bipolar, but He can't make me gain weight.

I usually crash in the Fall with ragweed, and Lithium, etc. doesn't change this fact. So maybe I can make it until then. This is also to test where I'm at with my bipolar. I don't know why, but I suddenly became very conscious of all the pills I'm taking.

In the morning I take multi, fiber, fish oil, and probiotics; in the afternoon I take B-1 (thiamin) B, C, D, and E. Now please don't tell me I'm being stupid, but are there any vitamins / supplements (safe ones) that you think would be helpful? PS: The fish oil does nothing for me . . . .

Thanks,

Zadie

Post edited by: ZadieBlue, at: 05/20/2012 11:57 AM

If I remember right (correct me if I'm wrong), you said you used to be a therapist. Well, I can't help but wonder if there are other therapists out there that would tell their patients to do their own med fiddling behind the backs of their pdoc. Weren't you in the hospital not that long ago? 6 months ago? I'm not sure, my memory isn't that good.

I wish you well and hope you don't become manic or depressed by the major reductions.

Technically I'm not responsible to anyone, so I'm not going behind anyone's back. I see one soon, I could just say I ran out of pills.

The hospitalization coincided with the onset of pollen season. Doesn't seem like Lithium's doing much, huh? Ragweed season will go the same way. 2x / year, I get it . . . lock-up!

You ask about tdocs -- Mine dumped me after 8 years via a third party. I currently think tdocs are messed-up hypocrite assholes. I think I knew this when I quit -- I wanted more self-respect.

Having been a therapist, I think I got sucked into accepting a particular over-medicated, 1-dimensional approach. I want to return to the Scientific Method. It's been a while and I've been blindly throwing pills down my throat. Shouldn't this be investigated every 15 years?!?

Were my old therapist to question my logic, I'd assault her, face first.

Vitamins anybody . . . ?!?

Post edited by: ZadieBlue, at: 05/20/2012 12:44 PM

I would seriuosly try lamictal its weight neutral and i hear you on the weight I promise you wont gain on it so dont worry. You are doing everything u can fish oil is great for mood swings also take a good B complex. Try giving lamictal a shot you may be pleasantly suprised and I bet u drop the weight fast. Lithium to me was poison but that' just my opinion it knocked out my sense of balance made me look all drugged up and was a nighmare I took myself right off and went back to the pdco some people cant take it and it does cause weight gain as its a salt so it effects the kidneys which I am guessing is why you are going to the bathroom so much and thirsty remember its a salt compound so that's what it does,. I agree no reason to be unahappy with your body just try and go on a diet and see if that does the trick.. I am on nurtisystem because a med put on 20 pounds before I knew it, it works well and they run specials it may be cheaper then u think, just a thought. Everyone is differnt just concentrate on feeling good because if u dont like your body you won't feel good.

Just my opinion

Take care Jennifer

Thanks for the advice, but I'm in a sense allergic: It gave me the Steven-Johnson Syndrome rash -- Had it for 6 months and not even my pdoc could figure out the problem (a lapse in reasoning) -- a dangerous condition. Otherwise I'd be all over it.

Depakote: Fat Fat Fat Fat Fat

Tegretol: Fat Fat Fat (but kinda worked)

Trileptal: Fat, made me really bitchy

Neurontin: Funny joke, haha.

The first 3 led to -- what else? -- anorexic "dieting".

Geodon: Fat? -- This med seems to do nothing for me, and it messes with my norepinephrine, which I don't appreciate one bit!

Z

1) E3 Live Brain On - supplement 

liquid refrigerated form. I put in ice cube trays to take daily.

It is expensive and so I cant afford it. It made me steadier and able to think/access words that the bipolar medication ruined. It's an amino acid.  This is a supplement that worked.

2) Glucophage - many of the bipolar meds cause hypoglycemia or diabetes (Depakote, Zyprexa). This can cause sugar problems and therefore weight gain. The Depakote I took a few years ago cause hypoglycemia, so I took Glucophage - it made me lose weight. I took it to fix my wooziness when my sugar was off and it fixed my hypoglycemia. The side effect was weight loss.

3) No bread/gluten - what really made me lose weight was stopping bread/gluten. There is some association with depression/anxiety and gluten sensitivity. I am desperate to fix my bipolar so I tried it. My goal was to fix my depression/bipolar, but the side effect was weight loss.

A) gluten and depression - http://www.freefromgluten.com/blogs/health-and-welness/ 2862472-gluten-intolerance-and-depression-anxiety-and-other- psychological-problems

gluten is in everything. Even some of the corn chips and tortillas have gluten. I had to read almost every box. Pretty much if it's in a box, it has gluten. I subbed out bread for corn torillas, rice noodles, amaranth, and brown rice. There are gluten free products out there, but they are kind of expensive. The only one I splurge on is these "gluten free ginger snap flavored cookies" and "fritos." I pretty much stopped eating fast food, because of the bread, but I'd go to In N Out burger and order a hamburger without bread and eat it wrapped in the lettuce. Still yummy. I'd also occasionally eat a taco at Taco Bell.

C) Gluten and Fiber - Since you are not eating 'bread' you aren't getting easy fiber. A person needs 20-30grams fiber per day. So I eat this stuff:

Chickpeas/garbanzo beans, canned (1 cup=10.6 grams) 

Kidney beans, boiled (1 cup = 11.3 grams) 

Lentils, boiled (1 cup = 15.6 grams) 

Peanuts, dry roasted (1 cup = 11.7 g) 

Peanut butter, smooth style (2 tablespoons = 1.9 grams) 

Peas, green, frozen, cooked (1 cup = 8.8 grams) [br

Pinto beans, boiled (1 cup = 14.5 grams) 

Refried beans, canned (1 cup = 13.4 grams)

Amaranth, cooked (1 cup = 18.1 grams) 

Amaranth flakes (1 cup = 3.6 grams) 

Brown Rice, medium grain, cooked (1 cup = 3.5 grams) 

The list of sod to sub out fiber. http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/theglutenfreediet/ ss/HighFiber_4.htm

D) it took me a while to figure out how to eat gluten-free but not using the super expensive products. I buy some of them. The gluten free buzz is coming around, so there are alot of microwave and pre-prepared foods now. They are gluten free but have a lot of sugar.

E) Eat like a Mexican/Native-American - I just think "would a native American or native pacific islander (before columbus brought wheat to the country) have been able to make this at home?" Then that answers it most of the time.

F) I fall off the wagon all the time because of my bipolar, or not having enough time to prepare. Then I get back on.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten-free_diet#section_1

G) The Jewish Passover ended so a bunch of the jewish gluten-free packaged foods may be on sale now. Some are ok tasting, like this cake thing that comes in a box and tastes like a densely-packed angel food cake.

I dont like ti be fat either. Hope this helps.

Thanks -- Where do you purchase E3 and Glucophage? I take a gummy fiber product -- 10 grams -- every day. They're fun to eat. Should I take more? And I take 1000 mg fish oil, but something tells me I should be taking 2000+. Do you know about any of that?

Z

Oh yeah -- btw, tdocs aren't allowed to give advice about med meddling, etc. If they do it's a sure-fire sign that they're incredibly Narcissistic. Nobody wants a Narcissistic therapist (much less pay them).

So I have no experience as an ex-therapist in telling people what to do with their meds -- you always alert the pdoc. And if the meds were so miraculous, we wouldn't need tdocs anyway! And I wouldn't judge them for it either.

Z

Sorry I mentioned the thing about therapists. Best of luck with your med reduction.

I don't have any vitamin suggestions. I used to take fish oil, B-Complex and a few others but felt they were no better than placebos. Most meds don't score significantly higher than placebos either, but they do score higher from what I've read. Lithium has a pretty good track record among the moodstabilizers, but is obviously not for everyone.

I can sympathize with you with becoming Lithium free, i hate the side effects and just recently reduced my dosage, was on 900 now i'm on 600 and the side effects are still there but have lessoned, I wish you all the best if you chose not to take Lithium anymore, i tried a yr ago to go off it and went on Depotoke and that med did not work i became borderline manic so i eventually after 4 mos went back on Lithium, Lithium is the med for me it keeps me fairly well. As far as vitamen suppliments go i don't have any suggestions i pretty much take all the same viatmens as you do. I hope you will do alright.

Post edited by: Dit, at: 05/20/2012 03:04 PM