[Espurr1989]

Back when I would frequent this board a lot more often, I could've sworn I saw a section devoted to people seeking med free treatments of their illness. But now that I am considering exploring my options, I can't find what I'm looking for. Can anyone help me out? Was the board moved to another location? Looking for like minded people who suspect that meds are causing symptoms that require more meds that cause more symptoms and so on and so forth.

[~Christina]

I have been around for years, Was never a forum but .... just on here there was lots more talk about going med free or decreasing meds if possible.

I was med free for over a year... I only went back on meds due to some down right horrible stuff uncovered in T ... Im sure I will go back medfree at some point this year I like my liver, kidneys and brain cells lol

I do miss the days of ideas on coping ...Whether on or off meds

Good to see you around

[Espurr1989]

Thanks. Maybe it was just some of the threads I remember seeing then. I am considering it because I really didn't have all that many issues until I started using birth control, as well as being at a job I hated. Then I started using antidepressants. The antidepressants caused mania, so we had to add an antipsychotic. Then after the antipsychotic made me so sleepy I could barely get my responsibilities done, we added benzos for the anxiety.

Well recently I found out I was pregnant. As soon as I did, I quit smoking marijuana and tobacco, and drinking alcohol and caffeine. MJ and caffeine were the two biggies. The other two, I only did occasionally.

When I saw the nurse at the pregnancy clinic, she said standard protocol for my class C medications is to only be on one and to be on the lowest dose manageable. So we cut out the Seroquel and backed my Zoloft down from 150 to 100.

Then last week they did a vaginal ultrasound and found that there was no heartbeat and there probably never will be this time around. But by this point, I am tired of all the substances and what they are doing to my body. I would like to work on mastering ways of being healthy in my body and mind instead of masking symptoms with drugs. That way, when I get pregnant again, I won't have these same problems.

There used to be one person that talked about many valid alternative techniques people can use. Her username was LucyG. She is no longer a member at PC. I miss her.

It is good that big Pharma creates drugs that have saved many lives but they also look the other way when some of them do real harm but are making them a lot of money. Also, just noticed there is a chance you could get pregnant--this means you have to be extra careful about what you take. I would google info on anything you are considering taking including if there have been any lawsuits brought against the drug and pay close attention to how it makes you feel.

At 48, I was put on Welbutrin and Xanax because of suicide ideation (I admitted it for the 1st time after coming closer than I ever had before). It did stop the thoughts for a while. When a job (and the insurance connected to it) ended--to save money I did not go back to my doctor. About 20 days after taking my last Welbutrin (Bupropin) dose, I was a mess of paranoid thoughts/rumination/anger. I still was taking Xanax because my psych always prescribed to me more than I needed. When I tried to do the same thing a 2nd time--I felt numb to the fear. I feel like my medications contributed to being able to attempt yet I still take them today--they do alleviate some of the pain/rumination that just seems to plague me periodically.

I have very mixed feelings about psych drugs. Many have side effects that make them untenable. Everyone has to weigh the benefits verses the disadvantages but one problem with this is that some of them are hard to stop once you start. Hopefully better psych drugs will be discovered in the future.

My advice is that you may need a psych drug but before you start get a good physical (for instance problems with your thyroid can make you depressed), read the latest info on nutrition and make sure you're eating healthy (lack of omega 3 oils, vitamin D, to much sugar, etc. can contribute to depression), exercise, and try therapy. However, many of us do have a chemical component to our depression. I keep denying it to myself, but I do. I could manage without my drugs but my mood swings would be more extreme--this is hard on both me and my family.

Good luck with your research!

[bizi]

I am cutting back on my antipsychotic, Went from geodon to abilify now from 20mg to 10 and now nothing, will see if there is any aftermath.
bizi

[Sunflower123]

Originally Posted by bizi

I am cutting back on my antipsychotic, Went from geodon to abilify now from 20mg to 10 and now nothing, will see if there is any aftermath.
bizi

Good luck with that. I wish you well. Best wishes.

[Espurr1989]

Same. I think I will wait a full month to see how it goes symptomwise, before deciding on anything else. So far it has been a week and two days. I have gotten a little bit moody, tearing up over happy and sad things. But I know my hormone levels have also been fluctuating a lot. Also, feeling a little bit worthless at times. But that I attribute to quickly bombing out of a career I'd been preparing for for about a decade earlier this year and now by not having the perfect pregnancy that everyone was expecting me to have. I dispute negative and irrational thoughts and continue reminding myself that I am now dealing with emotions that I have tried to block off since I started on medicines. I know what is causing the feelings, so I never feel like or think about hurting myself. I make sure to sleep at least six hours per day so I don't go into mania. I think that so far, everything is okay and that it will be worth it in the end. But we shall see how the next three weeks go.

[Sunflower123]

Originally Posted by Espurr1989

Thanks. Maybe it was just some of the threads I remember seeing then. I am considering it because I really didn't have all that many issues until I started using birth control, as well as being at a job I hated. Then I started using antidepressants. The antidepressants caused mania, so we had to add an antipsychotic. Then after the antipsychotic made me so sleepy I could barely get my responsibilities done, we added benzos for the anxiety.

Well recently I found out I was pregnant. As soon as I did, I quit smoking marijuana and tobacco, and drinking alcohol and caffeine. MJ and caffeine were the two biggies. The other two, I only did occasionally.

When I saw the nurse at the pregnancy clinic, she said standard protocol for my class C medications is to only be on one and to be on the lowest dose manageable. So we cut out the Seroquel and backed my Zoloft down from 150 to 100.

Then last week they did a vaginal ultrasound and found that there was no heartbeat and there probably never will be this time around. But by this point, I am tired of all the substances and what they are doing to my body. I would like to work on mastering ways of being healthy in my body and mind instead of masking symptoms with drugs. That way, when I get pregnant again, I won't have these same problems.

I'm sorry you had that experience. I hope you find the answers you are looking for and everything works out. Best wishes.

I plan to stay on my meds for a year while building coping techniques. Long term use of these meds has terrible consequences on the mind and body. Untreated bipolar has terrible consequences so it's just st a crapppy position to be in. I am so terrified of becoming delusional again it's consumed my whole life. Unless a person has been delusional, where everyone they love has turned against them and they are utterly alone in this terrifying world, they simply don't understand. I truly believe that taking antipsychotics caused my paranoia to turn into full blown delusions. I'm so confused and scared on this topic. I want to be med free so bad, these meds make me feel so sick. I just want to be well and if taking these medications will help I must do it for now. Maybe you can start a coping without meds thread. I've yet to find any coping strategies which will help me when I'm in full scale delusion mode but that doesn't mean they don't exsist, it just means I haven't found them yet. I'm thinking of making myself a recording....kinda like Adam Sandler did for Drew Barrymore in 50 first dates.

Originally Posted by Espurr1989

Then last week they did a vaginal ultrasound and found that there was no heartbeat and there probably never will be this time around.

Espurr--I am sorry I skimmed over this. So sorry this happened. You will never know for sure why you miscarried so I hope you are not beating yourself up to much. You are doing what is best--aiming to live as healthy as possible in case you are ever pregnant again. If it happens, I am sure you will be a very good mother.....

I am deeply sorry for your loss. Deeply, deeply sorry. (((Hugs)))

[Wild Coyote]

Deepest sympathies for your loss.

(((((( espurr ))))))


WC

[bizi]

I too am sorry espurr.
(((((HUGS)))))
bizi

[liveforsummer]

I'm sorry for your loss

I am very interested to see what others say about managing med free. I was prescribed escitalopram 10 mg and divalproex 250 mg 2x daily back in January and stopped them twice. Not on anything at the moment (mild to moderate cycling at the moment) but seeing pdoc for first time later this month and I've been told his clinic philosophy is based on mindfulness. I'm not sure how effective that will be but I'm open to giving it a try.

[bizi]

Since I am bp1 I will stay on lamictal and I have to hae something to sleep at night.
bizi

Originally Posted by liveforsummer

I'm sorry for your loss

I am very interested to see what others say about managing med free. I was prescribed escitalopram 10 mg and divalproex 250 mg 2x daily back in January and stopped them twice. Not on anything at the moment (mild to moderate cycling at the moment) but seeing pdoc for first time later this month and I've been told his clinic philosophy is based on mindfulness. I'm not sure how effective that will be but I'm open to giving it a try.

I am no expert and am on meds but from what I have read--exercising everyday, keeping your life stress free, having good sleep practices, and paying attention to your mood cycles are the main tools. Even as a kid, when I got upset, I would go outside and blow off steam riding my bike, etc. Ran and/or swimmed laps most of the time during college. I intuitively knew I needed to do this. Since seeing a T who asked me to journal and posting here--I noticed I "go off the deep end" when I am under stress. Many of us at PC do not do well during holidays--I think it's because there are sometimes more demands/expectations during this time.

[Espurr1989]

Yeah, being able to sleep at night is my primary concern. The first few days without Seroquel were a little hard. First night I got a major headache and stomachache, but I eventually camped out in the shower and my husband gave me Tylenol and some Benadryl which all combined helped the headache and helped me get sleepy. Been weaning down on the Benadryl and the last few nights I haven't needed it every night to fall asleep, only sometimes. Soon I think I will be okay with it altogether, and I intend to get some Melatonin to take on occasion.

I'm not saying that anyone should stop taking meds they need to stay safe, I am just starting to think that maybe the risks are outweighing the benefits for me at the time. It could change at any moment, but for now, I think it might be the way to go. I am taking it one day at a time.

And thank you everyone for your kind words. It is certainly disappointing, but it helps knowing there was never a heartbeat and we never saw an actual fetus. I think I only got to about three or four weeks along. So it is sad, yes, but I am trying to think of it as I didn't actually lose something that wasn't there. And we will try again as soon as the doctor gives an all clear. It will just be a few months longer to wait than we thought. It would have been a lot harder if I got to second or third trimester. For religious reasons, I always had the mindset that life begins at conception, but now I'm not so sure about that. We saw on the ultrasound what would've become the placenta, just nothing was inside of that.

[liveforsummer]

I too miscarried my first pregnancy (a long time ago now) and it is definitely a grieving/healing process. At the time I felt a little hope knowing that I could conceive. Hang in there.

I certainly agree that medications do have an important role. In fact my family doc was not too happy when I told him I'd stopped everything. I'm actually reconsidering cause I'm just feeling so blah again this afternoon. Its been a roller coaster since early December. I can usually get away with a half tab of immovane for sleep if my mind wont shut down at night. I know a lot of people that swear by melatonin.

[~Christina]

I am sorry for your loss...

One thing I will tell you or anyone going off meds , you have to consider the half life of the med AND your brain has to remember how to function OFF meds. I got off Lithium it took almost 3 months for my brain to go back to what for me was normal function..

[liveforsummer]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

I am sorry for your loss...

One thing I will tell you or anyone going off meds , you have to consider the half life of the med AND your brain has to remember how to function OFF meds. I got off Lithium it took almost 3 months for my brain to go back to what for me was normal function..

I really just don't know what to do. The meds scare me, not being on meds scares me....ugh...big sigh..

[liveforsummer]

Thanks for the hugs, made me smile. Ok wont worry about the meds right now, instead I'll make supper and get some nutrition in my body and brain

[Espurr1989]

I think daily exercise is my biggest weakness. I've never been very athletic at all. I was training myself for a 5k back in March, but then I started a temp job in April to get the bills paid while I wait to see if my disability application will go through and so my routines kinda fell apart. Then the whole pregnancy thing happened and I've been downright exhausted since halfway through May. I'm hoping everything will get back to normal in a few days since things seem to be running their course now.

[liveforsummer]

I hope you feel better soon

[bizi]

(((((hugs)))))
bizi

[NoIdeaWhatToDo]

I've been away from PC for quite awhile, but today thought I'd check back in to see what was going on. This thread really caught my attention. [After typing this out, realized what follows is pretty lengthy...sorry for that.]

I was looking for a non-med option to manage my symptoms about a year ago. I came across some of LucyG's posts, read them, and decided to give amino acids a try. My experience with them, in tandem with two rounds of neurofeedback, has been amazing. I'm actually starting to test out cutting my usage to every other day instead of daily, to see if I can manage without the supplements every day.

For background, my experience with BP2 has been primarily depressed - in a mostly depressed state for about 15 years now. I would say I had maybe 4-5 hypomanic episodes in there (maybe more - my memory is pretty spotty). Most of that time I was unmedicated; I tried a couple of antidepressants during that time, but it felt like they were worse than the depression and I really didn't want to go through the struggle of adding more meds to manage the issues of the first ones. So I tried to just soldier through it - it was awful. But you know how depression is - I was unable to motivate myself to find a way to make it better. During this period, I did exercise at least a couple of times a week, and I generally ate pretty well because that's a concern for me raising kids. I would eat a fair bit of sugar on top of the healthy stuff, but was getting pretty well rounded nutrition. Despite all that, most days were a struggle just to get through whatever had to be done (out of bed, kids to school, 'appearance' at work though I work from home).

After finding LucyG's posts on amino acids, I decided they were worth a shot. Within a week, I was feeling less depressed. Within 2 weeks, I felt like baseline - I was able to feel a range of emotions, including joy, but I wouldn't tailspin the second something negative happened. Somewhere between the supplements and the neurofeedback, I managed to develop a resilience - a buffer to insulate me from the reactivity I had gotten so used to. I could tell in the moment when something happened that would have tanked me for days or weeks in the past; now I could just take it in stride. I still get sad, frustrated, defeated, unmotivated, etc., but it lasts for minutes or hours at most, not days/weeks/months. My husband has noticed a significant improvement, too - he still mentions it a lot, 10 months or so after the changes started. He didn't trust it at first (neither did I), and spent a lot of time still walking on eggshells around me.

In the end, I think the amino acids have made a huge difference for me in terms of how my brain produces and manages the neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin) that neurotypical brains deal with naturally. I have energy and motivation now to do the things that people without depression always tell depressed people to do - exercise, eat healthy, find something you enjoy doing, socialize, get outside, etc. I really couldn't do most of that while depressed, and the bits I did didn't seem to help - they seemed like overwhelming burdens to take care of.

The only thing I have a hard time with is that I figured out what to take based on LucyG's posts; there isn't much out there that I could find to help guide me about what to take and how much. I'm glad it's working for me, but I would love if there was more info about this available and/or a professional in my area who could help me monitor this. I've been thinking about checking out a naturopath in my area; we'll see. My regular doctor knows I'm taking the amino acids and didn't have any problem with it, as long as my BP symptoms are managed and I don't experience any other symptoms physically. Incidentally, this isn't something I talk about at length, because I have found that people who rely on RX meds seem to take it personally when someone else either doesn't want to medicate or has success with more natural avenues. I saw several posts that I thought were unnecessarily harsh towards LucyG because she found a natural avenue and thought that RX meds could contribute to symptoms as readily as they could help them, and it made me reticent to talk about my experience.

So in the end, I guess take my post with a grain of salt. I found something more natural, non-RX, that really opened my life back up to me. I don't know where I would be today if I hadn't. Obviously, my experience is not universal, and I'm certainly no professional to recommend anything to anyone about their own medications or management of their mental illness. But I do believe there is more out there for people who are looking for alternatives.