I've heard about the Omega 3 phenomenon. I've been vegetarian or vegan since 2004 so I'm still against taking it although people say it helps with sense of well being. To give you a little background I've always had depresson and hypomania as long as I can remember, but to me the depression was the real problem so professionals thought it was unipolar. I responded badly to all the SSRIs and SSNRIs. My p-nurse and therapist suggested that I might be bipolar but I fought the diagnosis until I did enough research, reevaluated things I used to call my "creative periods" or my "impulsive periods" and decided it was a better dx for me. So the label was finally attached in June of this year.

My p-nurse thinks I'm Bipolar II because she's never seen me manic in the course of a year. My therapist of only 2 months helped me ID several manic episodes and I've thought of even more since then.

I'm currently on a natural high or "hypomania" as some people call it, hence the hour here that started on Tues of this week, although the insomia started last week when I came off of Seroquel. Anyway, they've suggested I should be on Lithium for a while now, but from what I've read it scares the **** out of me. If it's half as bad as Seroquel, count me out! Seroquel at first helped me to sleep and took away the critical voice that was talking to me sometimes. But as it built up in my system I was tired, shaky and weak all the time, couldn't remember things, had my thoughts slowed down, and just wanted to sleep to relieve the depressing pain. I could hardly walk a couple of weeks ago. It sucked big time! So now I know the professionals will call me noncompliant but hypomania beats that any day. Either give me a better medication or I prefer this state. Food tastes better, I'm not sleeping away the day, I can feel cold, heat, wind more acutely, and I have my sharp mind back. I actually lost weight on Seroquel because everything was so bland and my stomach was like, "full" after a half a plate. So I've gained a couple of pounds already in the past week, but I don't care.

So all this to say I hear you and I'm considering natural remedies too. There's a person in the documentary (you can find it on Youtube by the British comedian, Stephen Fry, called Secret Life of the Manic Depressive) that switched off all her meds to omega 3, cod liver oil, etc. She says she feels great, but the vast majority of people need both nutritional supplements and some psychopharmic meds. Tons of people I've met here and elsewhere take all the B vitamins, E, D3, and all the others good for depression and calming effects, yet still they need high doses of anti-convulsants and/or anti-psychotics and/or anti-depressants to prevent a relapse high, low, or mixed. Me, I've looked at the natural supps online and other than the omegas you can't get in veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds, I was already taking all of the things just to keep from getting sick before they even tried an anti-depressant or a mood stabilizer. So I know unless I need to double my dose of vitamins & minerals (which it doesn't look likely from the research I've done), I will probably need some form of chemical to combat my lack of brain chemicals for the rest of my life. It's nothing to be ashamed of...just like if you need insulin to control your blood sugar or whatever. The disease is manageable.

But hey, if you find that omegas are all you need, I would be very interested in giving it a shot, esp if I can find veggie alternatives. I know the docs hate us to be hypomanic because they think subdued is somehow better, but to me it's just the opposite of hypo-depressed and they both count as better than the manic or depressed pole, so why not enjoy life and get some things accomplished? Sure, they claim, the crash is coming, but it's better than no high at all plus constant depression and tiredness.

I was 29 at my dx, now I'm 30, so I'm fairly new to treating and understanding this disease I've always had.

Those are my thoughts, sorry so long-winded!