I feel like I have absolutely no control over my treatment and what goes into my body, and that makes me really angry. When I ask for something specific, I am either turned down or given something else. When I ask for a change in my care, nobody takes me seriously and I am just sick of it. Yesterday when I went to the doctor to talk about the depression and severe anxiety I'm feeling, and ask for an antidepressant that can help with both, I was told that they didn't feel comfortable and that if I still feel the same in a month they could refer me to someone who knows more about bipolar disorder. This coming RIGHT AFTER a psych consult where they psychiatrist recommended that I go on an antidepressant along with my lithium.

So, I wound up asking if I can take 5HTP instead and the doctor said fine although she didn't think it would help. She also okayed Valerian to help me sleep at night. This led me into the health store today, and after looking around I also found a book on natural medication for bipolar disorder.. There are a LOT of options that are available that I had no idea about and haven't tried. It would be more expensive but it would save me the trouble I have every time I see the doctor..

I am thinking about picking up various supplements and then telling the doctor I would like to try weaning off the lithium and trying natural.. if it doesn't work for me, I can always go back on it. There are many supplements but I can't take them with Lithium so I guess to try this I would have to go off. I'll talk to my counselor about it next week, she can help me figure out what to do I guess.

It's just.. It's my body. And my life. And I don't like not having control over my own care.

Has anyone tried the natural approach? I would be taking Taurine and GABA for mood stabilization, 5HTP and Tyrosine for depression and anxiety relief, choline+inositol for emotional control, and probably a multivitamin. And Valerian for sleep as needed. I may look into eating in a way that would help my moods as well, since my eating is horrible...