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Old Feb 08, 2012, 09:46 AM
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Resident Bipolar Resident Bipolar is offline
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Member Since: Aug 2011
Location: Midlands, England, UK
Posts: 603
Unfortunately, I don't firmly believe there is any herbal remedy which is effective...especially not for bipolar disorder. Science is able to do one important thing for us - test the effectiveness of medications (including these "home remedies). The evidence really speaks for itself. There have been lab trials for herbal remedies and none of them really had anything more than a placebo effect.

HOWEVER (This is a big, screaming, attention-grabbing however), a good physical health = a good mental health (and vice-versa). Eating healthily to maintain optimum vitamin levels can help anyone feel better in themselves and defend against both depression and physical illness.

Be sure to maintain a balanced diet (fruit for vitamins and fibre; plenty of water for hydration; meat, milk and more for minerals; a bit of chocolate for serotonin; etcetera) and if you would like to, take a multivitamin of some sort. That's all there really is outside of medication and psychotherapy - especially in the case of bipolar disorder.

I hate to say this but medication and decent psychotherapy are really the only SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN treatments for severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder. You've already said you can't take it, but Omega 3 and other fishy oils can help for a general mental and physical well-being...but that's the extent of it (plus the health diet).

I've tried herbal remedies and I've look at studies of them, neither were promising. You can always try, but if you come back with positive results, most of us (including me) will put it down to a placebo effect.
RB ♥
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