When I first came here I was pm'd by 7 people, to say that this is an anti-med site. The founder has since denied this is the case and I think it is safe to assume that the site and its various boards aren't antimed. I think a thread is entitled is it possible to manage bipolar without medication? is bound to draw out people's issues with medication - as well as the best ways to manage the illness if for some reason you can't or won't take medication. Independent of any beliefs of the staff or the members of a site, I think everyone has to work through what is best for them, by correctly processing evidence with trialling various options. I don't think that can be shortcircuited by adopting a mindset and having one's healthcare lazily fall into that mindset. For example, even though I have a lot of trouble with metabolising these powerful medications due to both liver and kidney issues, I still am a lot better off with trace amounts of these medications in my blood stream than, not taking any at all. I take spurilina to try to offset the toxicity and milkthistle to try and get my liver functioning properly. I take cranberry to keep my UTI's in check rather than having to live on antibiotics. I think whether something trialled is proven to help symptoms is the way to get the most effective health care. I think it is good that the author of the thread is interested in managing an illness. It's usually cheaper to start with whatever substances research turns up to be the most effective first and work your way out from there. Online forums are not always the best samples to make conclusions about what is effective and what might be trialled first. Hope this makes sense

(Also my pdoc is really holistic and very thorough. My pdoc brings up natural solutions as almost as often as she does medical solutions. I appreciate others mightn't have that same quality of care from their pdoc ).