Libraloveshealth (Los Angeles, California) on 02/27/2017
I know this sounds crazy and totally off the wall, people probably will doubt me, and think I'm nuts but overdosing on garlic, it cured my bipolar disorder. I took aged garlic tablets. I have read about garlic causing brain changes it can be very toxic in high doses. When I was taking the aged garlic tablets I took 3 pills with each meal 3 times a day. During the time I could feel lots of zinging zaps in my brain, my brain did feel as though it was changing like. I also felt like a splitting type of feeling in my head. I believe that the sulfur and other compounds in the garlic can change brain cells. Garlic is a very potent compound and used to reverse and repel many things, so I believe it can reverse and repel bipolar disorder as well. I did end up with an anemic reaction from too much garlic and ended up in the ER though, but at the cost of my bipolar disorder being cured. I believe the people who eat garlic and the countries which eat large amounts of garlic do have less incidence of mental illnesses/disorders. I know it is toxic in high doses, but this could possibly be a cure, it did fix me. My bipolar was very severe I tried every medication and even considered electroconclusive therapy. I'm not saying that my bipolar is 100% cured but I would say it is 90%. I am no longer dealing with suidicidal thoughts, mood swings, depression, anger fits, etc. I am very calm. I wish there would be more medical research done on the compounds in garlic for bipolar disorder. As toxic as lithium and Depakote are, this is something to look into.
Just be wary though cause too much of the garlic can cause anemic reactions but I hear there are some special tropical fruits which can prevent it for those who want to take garlic daily for the health benefits.
Magicgal (Cambridge, Ma) on 09/29/2013
In case you are curious, I weigh 50 kg, age 31. I take about 1-2 tablespoons of flax oil daily with my breakfast oatmeal. I also take niacin @100 mg after every meal, making around 300mg/day. I take it along with a B-complex. Both niacin & flax oil are indispensable to my normal functioning. Missing either one will set me in trouble. Hope this helps any of you.
Rcohen (Kingsport, Tn) on 06/21/2012
With that said, MOST illnesses I believe, including Cancer (look at Essiac Tea), Fibro and BiPolar is due to a toxicity, deficiency and lack of good nutrition or at least nutrition that makes it where it needs to go on a cellular level. Most processed foods CLOG the body to the point where it can't ABSORB the nutrition FROM the foods that we consume, if even it WERE good for us.
The answer in most cases is to DETOX as a regularity and to supply your body with a nutritional boost of some kind (specific to your symptoms) to offset the rest.
Cheers, rcohen
Burblemesh (Austin, Texas) on 06/12/2012
Nicholas (Edison, New Jersey, Usa) on 09/03/2011
As a yoga breath therapist I have recently healed a young lady of bipolar disorder. My site is www.thespiritualkey.com .
Jasmine (Budd Lake, Nj) on 03/14/2011
Taylor (Chicago, Il) on 09/30/2010
-Exercise
-Eat a proper diet
-Incorporate Scheduled Relaxation time into your life
-Have a morning and evening routine
-Learn to be organized
-Don't take yourself too seriously
I have also found that marijuana kicks me into mania. I was in denial for a while because I like smoking and mania can be really fun, inspiring and significant, but weed induced manic episodes ultimately threw off my routine too much and put me behind in the more important things in life. So, rule of thumb... Be wary of the weed. Its ok once in a while, but the mania can last well past the few hours after smoking. It's kept me up all night and into the morning through the next day. In college, it can often be normal to be smoking 1, 2, 3 times a week- that just doesn't work if it makes you manic. Cut back. Once a month. Once every three weeks.
You get the picture. When slipping into a manic episode, I have found the following tips helpful:
-do not write emails, send letters, leave comments online, or call someone you normally wouldn't call because what you'll end up writing/saying is likely to be unusual, and you will regret it once you come down. If you really want to communicate, write it down, save it for later when you cool down. -don't spend money. Don't go near a store, don't look at any online shopping sites. -stay off the internet, in general
-don't go to bars/parties, and do not have sex with anyone that you're not currently in a sexual relationship with. Just go masturbate if the horny takes over. -be wary of driving, cooking, lighting candles, operating machinery... Anything that could burn down your house, cause an accident, etc. Mania leaves you pretty absent-minded. -occupy yourself with doing something you like! Don't fight the episode and try to function normally through it. Take a deep breath, admit that your manic, then go make some art, dance, sing, hang out with a friend, workout, listen to music/audiobook, etc. Similar tips for if you're depressed. Make sure to call a friend for help if you need it. If you're feeling suicidal, call a friend for suicide watch. They can just hang out at your place/you go to theirs and chill. They just need to keep an eye on you is all. I also find that taking a really hot shower or burying myself in lots of blankets and overheating can help quell the depression, like literally sweating it out. I'm considering eating a decent amount of cyanne pepper next time I'm depressed- seeing as it heats and stimulates- to bounce out of depression I feel like one needs some kind of a kick. It's probably a good idea to pick a few friends you can count on and tell them about your condition and how to handle it if you come asking for help. And something many readers might not agree with:
-Take your medication as prescribed
Now I know, no one wants to be taking pharmaceutical mind control drugs- eek!! BUT... I find that with the right medicine, taking a pill can make life a lot less stressful, traumatic, hectic, wild, depressing... Etc. I don't plan to stay on my medicine indefinitely, but I consider medicine a valuable tool to help keep you stable as you learn life skills and find a living situation that works for when you go unmedicated. I view it as the lesser of two evils. Medicine helped clear my mind, helped me in therapy to work out all the demons my mind was plagued with from years of my body kicking me with depressed phases. (self confidence, self hatred, negative attitude, etc. )
BUT.. Its very important to find the RIGHT medicine. Thats where tracking the mood becomes vital. I went through a roulette of antidepressants, anti anxiety and add drugs because I didn't have a clear picture of my own situation. Bipolar people, as a rule of thumb, are NOT supposed to take antidepressants. You can get away with a mix of a mood stabilizer and an antidepressant, but if you don't have a mood stabilizer, the antidepressant can kick you into a crazed, off the charts manic episode. Which happened to me. Not to mention that starting the antidepressant can make you uber depressed and suicidal too. Bottom line: track your moods, be wary of ANYTHING other than a mood stabilizer. ***
Love to all the bipolars out there- they say it's a "disorder", but no one has the right to label you in any way. So forget the negativity. Accept yourself and appreciate the fact that most of the general population will never know the depth of emotion that we do. For all the depression we suffer, a good day means more to us than most. For all the mania, we brim with life and energy unlike most. I consider myself blessed.
Gean (Salina, Ks) on 05/24/2010
Sheryn (Milwaukee, Wi) on 04/17/2010
The solution for you may lie in working with other parts of your brain chemistry. Maybe see what folks are recommending for bipolar/cyclothymia.
Phyllis (Scottsdale, Az) on 12/03/2009
Warning
Sveta (Des Plaines, IL) on 07/28/2009
Jeremiah (San Diego, California) on 07/19/2009
I have also tried Chamomile Tea with positive effects, but since I suffer from enuresis (bed-wetting), I have had to discontinue, because even if I take my medication for enuresis, I still go, which normally wouldn't happen otherwise.
That is not to say that I don't recommend Chamomile Tea. I would actually highly recommend to anybody, except if you have enuresis, even if you take medication for it.
Heidi (Ogden, UT USA) on 03/08/2009
He said he felt like his brain was sitting on a frying pan and sizzling, and if he'd had a gun, he would have shot himself in the head, not because he was suicidal, but simply to bring an end to the sizzling sensation.
It took a year for the herb to saturate into his system enough to bring this on, but it was a VERY unhappy side effect for him. It lasted an entire afternoon, three or four hours of brain sizzle. Not something he ever wants to repeat.
Kira (Saratoga, NY) on 12/20/2008
Warning
Donnie (Albuquerque, New Mexico) on 09/26/2008
Teresa (Kenedy, Texas) on 09/01/2008
Using blue light for "light therapy"
As you probably know, there's a version of depression called "Seasonal Affective Disorder" (SAD), or "winter depression". This kind of depression -- which is very common in people with Bipolar II -- can be treated with light. Plain old light will do, but in some parts of the country in December plain old light is hard to come by So several decades ago researchers studied whether sitting in front of a bank of lights for 30-60 minutes might help reverse the seasonal sag in mood, and found that indeed some people seemed to respond very well. In the most recent study of "light therapy", sitting in front of a box of light every morning during a Canadian winter was as effective as fluoxetine (Prozac).
But the light needed for this, from a suitcase-sized "light box", was hard to get: insurance companies almost never pay for these boxes, which are expensive, usually around $250-300. They are not very portable.
However, now a very small light box is available for around $140 (e.g. from Costco last winter) that's much more portable, so you can use it where you happen to be in the morning. The key was finding just the right wavelength of light for this purpose, which allowed the box to be much smaller. I hope you already know, from the story above, what wavelength that is: blue light -- the striped peak in the graph above, which comes from the manufacturer's website (I have no financial connection to that manufacturer, and get no gain from telling you this story. I'm telling it here because I think it's a great story, and because understanding it may help people get an effective treatment they might not have considered otherwise).
This little light box has been tested for effectiveness just as the older bigger light boxes have, and shown to be superiorGlickman to the "control" condition -- a dim red light, admittedly not the greatest control condition, but this research has been hard to do, coming up with a plausible "placebo" treatment. A better test would be a comparison of the blue light versus white light, which might be more plausible as a placebo, as the older light boxes emit a white light. That study has been done, and the blue light was superior (not yet published, the manufacturer tells me, as of June 2006). The best test would be a head-to-head study of the little blue one versus one of the older big ones, which we know from years of research are truly better than a placebo. But the blue-light manufacturers have little incentive to do that study (what if theirs was not as good?), so we're not likely to see that research unless one of the manufacturers of the old light box pays for it!
link http://www.psycheducation.org/depression/BlueLight.htm
Daniel (Los Angeles, California) on 08/16/2008
Monique (San Diego, California) on 08/07/2008
Arlene (Findlay, OH) on 07/16/2007
Trevor (Cambridge, NY) on 08/04/2005
