Anti Meds

I don't think I could do the herbal supplement route. I'm stable on the meds I have now, and that in itself took years of trying. While a lot of things--diet, exercise, meditation, mindfulness, etc.--have been helpful with my overall well-being, none of them have cured my bipolar.

While herbal supplements and remedies work for certain people, I could not get by without medication. I'd end up right in the hospital. That being said, I will occasionally have my meds reduced, based on the side effects and will increase them if I feel it is a must.
I think it is person-to-person. Maybe in mild cases, such as cyclothymia/not full-blown Bipolar, someone is more likely to be able to get by without meds and perhaps herbal supplements and alternates to medication are likely to work. I don't want to doubt that there aren't some out there with BP1 or 2 who do okay without meds and stick with therapy only or just healthier lifestyle, but it seems to be rare. I couldn't imagine going without meds.

Last year I was convinced I could come off meds. I have a weighted blanket, SAD lamp and fidgit toys. I talked to my therapist and friends. I got fresh air every day. I used cannabis. I took vitamins. I think it all helps, but at the end of the day when I didn't take my meds properly I ended up in the hospital. It could have been so much worse.

Many people act like prescription meds for mental illness are evil. I think I owe my life to them.

Just want to pop in and say I am not anti meds however I do have issues where doctors just keep prescribing one after the other. Next thing you know you are on 6 different things, multiple side effects and in the case of my mother, a dangerous combination that her doctor missed but luckily she did.

I try to only take the bare minimum to get by. And right now, which is nothing but I am seriously thinking of a change.

They do, and I owe as well

I don't think it's at all fair to say that people who choose to do without meds must therefore only have 'mild' mental health issues though. That is just as much an assumption as the 'all meds are evil' argument. For people like myself who have basically lived with CPTSD, severe depression, GAD and various other issues my whole teen/adult life I have tried a wide range of antidepressants and although some of them have helped me sleep and helped me cope for periods they largely did so by shunting my problems elsewhere. eg Mirtazipine helped me sleep but also messed up my sleep/wake cycle and I am still paying the price for that now I am off it, it made me able to cope with my low mood to the extent that getting a better nights sleep gave me the energy to employ my usual coping strategies, but I also started offloading the remaining pain by comfort eating, eventually putting on too much weight and getting diabetes - plus it numbed me psychologically which made it harder to use my coping tools of painting and writing, which in the long term caused more harm than good. The decision to come off them was based on having to weigh up these pros and cons, not because I have mild problems. I do not, I score towards the top end of mood/anxiety scales, highly on the Sanity score (139), have daily suicidal impulses and desires to self harm that I have to manage everyday, panic attacks that I have to manage every day, social phobia, social isolation and loneliness, no relationships for years, sexual freezing/touch issues, crappy memory, chronic insomnia, flashbacks, dissociation, emptiness etc. I cope because I have to, not because it's easy.

^^Carmina, true. In my post, I wasn't trying to say that *only* people with "mild" mental health issues can do well without meds. That's not what I was trying to say at all, for the record. Sorry if my post seemed to imply that, but that was not my intention. We all have our own personal experiences, and I don't believe meds are a "slam dunk" all the time. When it comes to mental health, it's tricky. What works for one person can hurt another when it comes to treatment.

I am not against anyone who chooses to live without meds. I'm against shaming those who need them. Everyone is different, but I think we should support each other.

yeah, that's my perspective, too. right now, im trying to do the "alternative" health thing along w/ "standard treatment." seems to help. I"d like to one day be able to taper off the psych drugs, and just...live. nothing againt psych drugs or those who take them, for whatever reasons. its more about what i've seen from mental health "professionals" that makes me want to try to make a somewhat graceful exit from the "patient role," eventually.

I accept that I'll never leave the "patient role." I hope I can keep with BOTH forms of the word, a patient patient.
It's ok to me to take the medicine. If you have a thyroid condition, don't you need the meds for it forever? If you're diabetic, aren't the meds a permanent fixture? The meds for those certainly need to be adjusted at times too. I happen to have a physical chemical imbalance that affects me mentally. I'm sure there's mental effects to the other conditions I've mentioned, one of which I also have, hypothyroidism. I've always been bipolar. It was obvious, just unnoticed. I'll always have bipolar, and unless science cures it (doubtful but slightly hopeful anyway), I'll always need the meds.
I do respect the right to do as you wish with your body. I was surrounded by people expounding that today. If you choose to not take your meds or find an alternative treatment, that's your decision.

I'm working on developing coping mechanisms for BP (well I was until I stopped seeing a T). I'm not for "supplements" I feel if they worked they'd be common medication. I'm hoping I can get off medication after my son grows up. I won't go off meds until he's grown and not living at home.

There is promise for some supplements for some things. Remember that medicine started in nature. Penicillin is a secretion. So many medicines do come from nature and we haven't found everything yet. There's apparently the most powerful pain reliever ever in coffee, though in such trace amounts that aren't enough in gallons of the stuff for one human to feel. I use some plant medicine to help me through when I need it for certain symptoms like anxiety, pain, mood dips...