Hello friends!

I have not been on in a while. I have missed it terribly. It is such a relief to be among a community of people who understand this experience. Phew...

When I first began coming on, I was not sure I had bipolar, but since I have been diagnosed three times over, prescribed Lithium, but I am not taking it. I chose instead to begin work with a nutritionist first, just to see how much progress I can make without meds before going on meds. Especially because I was living such an extremely unhealthy life style before being diagnosed, I figured it was worth cleaning up.

Make no mistake, the bipolar is still there, but the upper and lower extremity of my emotional experience has gone away. Before I began the diet which I will tell you guys about, I was routinely having black manic episodes that would include punching and hitting myself, suicide threats, and just general flailing around and freaking out, followed by extreme black depression that would last a few days. I am a rapid cycler, so I have never been debilitatingly depressed for weeks at a time or anything. But these depressions were extreme, though short.

Since beginning the diet, those extreme moods have gone away entirely. I still go into hypomania, get confused and irritable, and then feel depressed and down, but it all happens within a more manageable range of experience. It is not the end goal, but it is a huge step in the right direction. Here is what I am doing.

Organic, local, grass fed, free rang, wild, etc... meat. Vegetables, low glycemic fruits (no tropical fruits) and basically, that's it. No beans, nuts, dairy, and absolutely NO starch, carbs, sugar etc... Additionally, and this was big for me, no alcohol, and no coffee, I can drink green tea, that's it. And I don't think I am supposed to smoke weed, I haven't been, but I don't think you are allowed to on this routine. It is a detoxification diet.

I cannot tell you how different I fell, it is absolutely indescribable. I attribute this primarily to the sugar and the caffeine (alcohol turns to sugar so I am counting that). I used to experience this incredible magnetism to food, drink, smoking (oh, I quit smoking too)... And now that quality of compulsion is gone. It is unbelievable the degree to which this was exacerbating the bipolar.

I am continuing to explore more life style shifts, controlling sleep (which is still hard for me), exercise, meditation, mood tracking, therapy, etc... Some I am doing, some I am struggling with, and the bipolar is definitely still there, but it is nice to know that I have SOME control.

Still not ruling out taking lithium, just want to see how far I can get on my own.

So if anyone is interested in non-psychiatric methods of treatment, I highly recommend this diet. If you write me, I can tell you more about it!

Good bye friends of the moods!
<3
Soon...
MT!