Here's something else I came across in my recent wanderings NinjaSidekick. It sounds as if this woman is using nutritional supplements as a means of management. I don't know if it might be another option you or others could consider; it certainly will be one I'm willing to look at on behalf of my own child.
Quote:
I have a long established history of Bipolar Disorder (type 1). I also have a plethora of funny (and not so funny) stories that all end in psychiatric hospitalization. If you add up all of the time I've spent in a psychiatric hospital for manic episodes, it adds up to just over a year.
At any rate, in March of 2003, I was delighted with the news that I was pregnant with my first baby. Problem was, there aren't any medications that my doctor was aware of that do not cause birth defects. My only options were to not take any medication or to not have the baby. The latter option was not acceptable to me.
Having said all of the above, I heard about Margot Kidder's success with orthomolecular medicine and then discovered Truehope.com while doing a little online research on orthomolecular medicine. I was nervous about taking only vitamins to treat my bipolar disorder so I started seeing a marriage and family therapist (MFCC) because they are trained to recognize a manic epsode (hypomania) before I went completely manic and out of control. If they recommended that I seek hospitalization or traditional medicine, I would do whatever was necessary to keep my baby healthy.
I've been on the EMPower + vitamins since March of 2003. Since then, I've had two beautiful and healthy little boys, no post partum depression, no depression, no manic episodes, and no medications or blood tests to determine whether or not the drugs I was taking had destroyed my liver.
I'd be curious to hear other's experience with complementary medicine.
Source: Bipolar Disorder and Complimentary Medicine
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Note, I went to the truehope website and was pleased to see some evidence there suggesting that the product named above really does help people. Apparently, the company had to prove as much to the government to be able to sell their product in stores and they were able to produce results that demonstrated an improvement -- they say, up to 80%. I haven't heard of this product before, nor tried it but I'm surely not alone in my desire for something that can help my child without the potential risks of the medication.
The website can be found here:
truehope.com