This is my first post on psychcentral, so please bear with me.
First, a bit about me. I'm an 18 yr old male who was diagnosed with depression and anxiety 18 months ago, got on 4 different antidepressants, bad reactions lead to a diagnosis of bipolar ii. Got on Lamictal, had a gallbladder episode, went to the ER (fueled by a panic attack) The ER docs told me to get off lamictal. I was pretty peeved at meds by this point because they had caused more harm than good. I was running out of options (that's what the psychiatrist said) my Pdoc had me on valium throughout this time, but my psychiatrist wouldn't let me have it because I admitted to drinking and smoking pot on occasion. instead, the psychiatrist said the only option would be Buspar for anxiety, which didn't help me and gave me headaches. I asked my psychiatrist to either give me better meds or let me have valium. He said there was nothing he could do. that was the last time I set foot in a psychiatrists office. Back to the pdoc, he gladly prescribed me valium but admitted he wasnt really equipped to treat people with psychiatric problems. still taking valium which helps a lot ffor anxiety, but depression is seriously threatening my success in school. I discovered kratom (a legal herb that acts on the opiate receptors but has many other mechanisms as well to successfully treat depression and anxiety. My chief concern of course is addiction to the substance. Has any Bipolar/depressed/anxious case benefited from this herb? I am a little weary of it because it can sometimes be too powerful of a drug and be extremely euphoric (this is the real deal.) any input is great.