He managed to crack the thin ice that was still holding me. what about taking meds that cause life-threatening side/adverse reactions… that never quite do anything of therapeutic value or measure… that cause OTHER psych symptoms to form or those you are trying to relieve yourself of, worsen..(ie., anti-depressants that cause suicidal impulsivity or gosh darn – mania, etc.)? ”manic mood is dangerous but it is a great time to develop skills and accomplish the necessities of life” Whaat?? Rock on- I would never suggest meth as a “medication” to bi-polar. Mr John Cicone may I email you directly? when i told my psy he said i was one of few people who had this abilities. First off, it’s important to know that refusing to take bipolar medication and possibly, someday, being off bipolar medication isn’t the same thing. Years ago, Christie had been diagnosed with bipolar. As for therapy and medication nowhere did I say that either was a negative thing. Somehow we both broke down to tears and finally. Develop skills? But I didn’t think permanent short term memory loss for only temporary relief was worth the trade off. There is still no objective test for any mental illness and that’s very troubling. All the best to you all<3, Personally, I hate medication. I can honestly say the only reason I’m still alive is because my Bipolar disorder wasn’t and hasn’t been treated. There’s 50 shades of grey in ALL of the mentally ill. —ALL. Grieving for the fact that if only, a so-called “mental health professional” could recognize my “depression” for what it was (a reaction to getting married to a man who was just entering the military, moving far away from the place I was born and all my family and friends, and being young, lacking some coping skills, and having some growing up to do), then maybe I would have been given some counseling, some social services, access to support groups, and access to services which help spouses make the adjustment to life being “married to the military”… and maybe everything would have turned out much, much different. I often know long beforehand if something is just not right in “whoville” instead of someone who dwells within the Bipolar haze 24/7/365. Mom and Dad got to the rescue. Haha that last line probably isn’t helping my case. I dug a pretty big hole of debt, ran away from my own bridal shower (yup, got lost in the rain with a dying cell phone because I felt the need to be screaming in a Target parkingt lot to my fiance over the phone instead of telling him where I was), have been pulled over for speeding (BADLY) in order to run away from my apartment (not sure why on that one), and have threatened to jump out of a moving vehicle. Email your story to success@truehope.com. This means; not all meds have a effect on me or I can handle just any med. So maybe I’m a little conservative when I think about going off of meds – but that’s me. Medication took the edge off but didn’t provide relief. Just to offer you another example of a successful bipolar life without medication, so that you would know it’s not just one of us out there. The fact that suicides, mass murders, and the like are on the rise, and a disproportionate number of those are committed by people on psychiatric drugs, should set off warning signals. Second, who has mild bipolar. I just can’t seem to agree to the potential and known adverse effects of the treatment.. to then have to go through them all again, at some point later because the meds – since the treatments ended – are no longer working, again. I relied on the psychiatrists to tell me what I needed to take to be well.After several years of taking it , the lithium fog descended on my brain or else depression broke through the protective barrier that lithium is supposed to provide, I stopped taking meds, stopped going to doctors experienced pains all over my body, had nightmares that I couldn’t wake up from and cycled up into mania within a few months. Depressed moods can be a good time to gain insight as you are more likely to look inward, and look to what happened in the past. https://natashatracy.com/medicationtype/antidepressant-comparison-pristiq-effexor/, https://natashatracy.com/mental-illness-issues/brain-scan-diagnoses-mental-illness/, http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/articles/fda-panel-votes-curtail-cranial-electrotherapy-stimulators, How Psychologists Can Harm Your Mental Health (But They Don’t Have to), The Lifeline Can Trace Calls. Live the day they say… honestly I think that’s bullshit some kind of shit. No, I’m not a doctor, but if you have bipolar and do not take meds sooner or later, or feel well when you dont take them, then it’s a bipolar I’ve never heard of. And I know a lot of people are gonna snark that I’m “killing” People with my dangerous, radical views, but you know what? I have bipolar disorder and am meds free. It’s not easy, and I’ve been to the lowest of lows, and it will seem like an impossible task, you’ll want outside help, but it takes some time and patience to rewire your mind to be more positive, to undo everything you’ve believed about yourself, and see that it is possible to recover and be the person you know you are inside. So… I started skipping college, drinking more and driving faster, getting higher, cutting deeper. To the point. anyway i think its giving me more problems then good things in life. A short story about a boy, that it’s not me. As people who read this bipolar blog know, I’m on medication, lots of it, actually. Then mania. I’m the first one to say this usually isn’t possible; however, today I’m talking with CEO and Medical Director Dr. Kim Dennis from Timberline Knolls (a sponsor) about bipolar disorder without medication. I had the endured the accident in 2012 and was diaganosed with bipolar this year, 2016. Learn the 4,000 year old practice of rigorous critical thinking the same fallacies that politicians, use to stir up votes will be the same that your mind employs in leading you to delusional thinking. I’m concern for my children. I say, live and let live but when someone is so adamant about another’s situation NOT being really Bipolar or minimizing another’s situation with their form of the illness and how they choose to handle it… I get a bit riled. I was sort of feeling happy. I was shocked. Its still electroshock therapy. “In all mental illnesses there are two types ”high functioning” and ”low functioning” Wha?? I digress, again haha. Let that be something you consider. I spent so many nights and many days looking out of the window, waiting for something to happen. I worked as a nurse in the trauma, ER, and ICU and quality of life was always substituted for feeling better. It’s ok. It’s part of me. Then I realized; no matter how bright the sun shines, there is always a place it cannot reach. You have to read up on our illness. You would be amazed at what you can do when you have no choice and no one standing behind you ready to wipe your ass when you screw up, I’ve lived a horrible life both as a teenager and over the past 6 years since my husband died. Shelly, your story is almost identical to mine. I would like to add that there are some of us who treat our bipolar without medication and I don’t think it should be stated as a fact that no one can treat bipolar without medication. I am trying to learn and gain tools. NOW, I’m not suggesting this will happen to anyone who goes off their medicines however he came from foster care, before that he was brutalized, and then brutalized in group homes, actually graduated from high school and then was dismissed to the streets! What should I do? I mean, have you ever tried benzos with scotch on the rocks? I broke my brain, before my stepdaughters diagnosis, trying to figure out how can this bright girl be so reckless. I hate pills. ie: There is no ”one answer” for curing depression –and not getting out of bed does Not beat attempted sucicide on the bipolar Richter scale. People have to do what works for them but pretending that all this conjecture is science doesn’t make it so. Beasts? With patience and discipline you can learn to live the greys with control and hope. Entering the Mill. I finally asked one day, how one can be diagnosed with Schizophrenia but then 1-2 years later get Bipolar? But being the true bipolar that I am every time one of my neighbors have attacked me I never grabbed my gun prefering to vent my rage and beat people with my fists. A 34-year old married man, who was a mid-level manager at a large retail company, was evaluated because of his drug use. I have (on medication) attempted and nearly succeeded in killing myself (incubated for 3 days on life support) ive also had several manic phases which have, in varying degrees, come close to a psychotic break, and off course the torturous months of emptiness where life itself has no meaning or value, so I’ve definitely got the severe form of bipolar. One of the most common challenges Truehope participants face is bipolar. Would be is much easier I say to myself. I wasn’t even talking about alcohol in terms of sobriety. And when I feel hypomania coming on and I realize I’m overspending, I stop taking my money with me (I take my license and a $20 bill with me) until the urges have passed, I keep myself busy with work and volunteering and DIY projects and I ALWAYS make sure, even when I’m not tired, to go to bed one time. Amazed about the higher quality of this narcotics. I’m the first to admit, they are flawed, but I wouldn’t be here without them. I live in my live in my own apartment take care of my own kids and have managed never to get arrested or thrown in a mental ward all while taking street drugs and having no one. I was hospitalized put in a straight jacket thrown into a rubber room and given medication that seemed like fire in my veins. Seek therapy if you need, try medication if you need there are occasions where it can truly stabilize you enough to gain insight, forge routine, develop relationships and ultimately find stability enough that you can try to go without medication. With the proper chemicals and the correct set and setting, I smiled again; for the first time in a very, very, long long time. The doctors all said it was bipolar 1. Also the ending was preachy and took away from the post. Like I said, I don’t have mood swings at all during my days, the only program is when it hits, then I become mania, even have psychosis. a break from reality really. “what I observe is that in searching on google”….over 50% of the internet is BS. The psychiatrist diagnosed me as having bipolar disorder without ever having experienced a manic episode. Well I tried depakote 2000mg lithium 3 pills at a time (i think 450mg) saphris 10mg latuda I got up to 160mg, ativan…a lot, but i can’t remember much from that period of my life, zyprexa, pretty sure it was max dose, it was the major weight gain med for me (160 diagnosed, 320 a couple months ago, 260 now (17 percent body fat though)) abillify max dose, ambien (lol really ambien? Yet why do I feel like trying it..? This is nothing. Even more serious is the fact that some brain tumors may present with changes in personality or psychosis or even depression. I wasn’t so great anymore, actually I was spiralling down into a deep depression. Before my last relapse, I even receive warning signs in my dream that the next one is coming. She left me just like she left Beltram… God’ this is shit. We both deal with the depression side much more than we suffer from mania. I have worked so diligently at all the CBT, interpersonal rhythm therapy, the organized sleep schedule and mindfulness techniques. I don’t feel that ”fighting it” is anyway to conquer this crappy illness, either. Wicked…. the way most people go on about it. You seem to paint bipolar wih way too broad a brush. I do know that there is something very very real, I just don’t know what. The key to being a bipolar success story is stabilization. So instead of changing your brain with drugs to change the thoughts into positive ones, my breakthrough happened from learning where those negative thoughts come from. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress. I am in the final year of a BA (Hons) degree (it’s taken me this long to get this far!) But you’d have to work with counselors and psychiatrists closely. It has to be the bipolar disorder that gives me such a powerful fight or fight reflex. In 2009 after my husband had been dead only a year and after having lost my house I lost my job after testing positive for weed. Has your brother been able to see a professional who can assess him? The reason i’m posting this is to share with people who might be considering going drug free……. Thanks for reading … Mebane, North Carolina, Has anybody had access with bipolar disorder or not taking medicine I’ve tried them all and now I have drug induced lupus because of her medicine lost my job lost everything Dr wouldn’t even tell me about the side effects so has anybody ever had experience without medicine. The trick lies in sustaining that period. You advocate for ”those who cannot get out of bed to receive the most intensive care possible.” No you don’t. How are you doing now? But from my experience drugs whether legal or not, is a short term solution. Do you have a success story using EMPowerplus? One day, I got this story to cover on the east side of the country. WRONG. Do research on a natural alternative and let the rest of us in on the breaking news. My story is almost like yours I had two manic episodes with psychosis where both times I was hospitalized, mine were 21 years apart first one at age of 21 when I had my son and then Med free for exact 21 years, I had my moods up and down but never knew I was bipolar, then exactly 21 years later I had another episode again with major psychosis both episodes were from major stress and not sleeping, but now that I was diagnosed as bipolar 1. ps, i’m rapid cycling bp. Or your side effects are crappy,thus you’ll need fiddling with. I just came out of a bad “mixer”, in that I struggle more with mixed episodes than single cycles.. as I did when younger. I stopped making art, reading. EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and music therapy all by computer and no psychiatric therapy counselling or doctors visits. All my heroes were already dead, but their legacy was still rocking, every verse Jim sung or every adventure with Dr. Gonzo; driving convertibles at top speed in the desert drinking singapore slings with mezcal on the side. You need to be comforted, medicated, seen by a qualified therapist or taken out of your current enviornment and cared for. That was the wake up call for everbody. We start with how well or not their life is working out without medication? They locked my windows, I wasn’t available for visitors, knives, lighters and people who wears hats at night, just because. Absolutely NO drugs is the best option for BP. I was chosen for a cultural exchange program to North Africa. Clever to say you don’t need meds and not tell your story since you quit. I said that I suffer a great deal from this condition as anyone who has it would surely attest to, but I also state that certain aspects of the condition have some positives to them, and that it doesn’t have to be debilitating. Any decision to stop medication needs to be supported by a person’s physician and the process should be slow and highly monitored. I admire you for your courage and the faith in yourself. That was actually under the advice of my psychiatrist as I was reporting memory problems. Most of all, it is good to live without hiding. It’s not really your job to try to “fix” your brother — that would create an unhealthy-for-both-of-you codependent relationship, plus you cannot “fix” another person, but you can do what you need to, to keep yourself healthy. Posted by Natasha Tracy | Dec 2, 2013 | Bipolar blog, bipolar disorder, choosing a treatment, mental illness issues, noncompliance, treatment issues, treatments | 108. Do they believe they can have a different life in recovery? They may help you, but not helping me. So even though I was a naive innocent kid who never committed a crime off to juvenile detention I went I guess in NY it’s a crime for a kid to be depressed. I write a blog that’s so bizarre I decided to take it private for a while. I married the love of my life a year and half ago, We live in an apartment that we pay our rent and all our bills for, I lost over 70 pounds in the first year off of the medication, have ran 3 full marathons, and qualified for The 2016 Boston Marathon which I will be running at in 12 days from today. I am on many mood stabilizer medication, and Xanax, for the panic attacks. She might not believe ever about how pretty she looks in the morning, these sincere words, never taken seriously laying by having a little sample of a women scent, love. Thing is: Your Bipolar is not my Bipolar and my Bipolar is not your Bipolar… our Bipolars are not the same as Natasha’s Bipolar. Story of My Successes at ATMC Benzodiazepine, Success Story. Over a year of regular shocks. James Bailey, But now I see it as just a normal part of my routine. Manic-Depression, car crash and rehab at the five star room. If I become aware that I am in the state of mania, then I can change it. Everywhere I went, was fresh new to me. Even my super health-conscious little brother is on GI meds… its a nice twisted world we live in and i like it cause its my own world. I only managed to quit after bankrupting myself because of it. Hopefully we can have some kind of break thru in the treatment of mental illness. I admit that sometimes I get a bit sad, and I sometimes get more “hyper” than usual and talk too fast and overspend. PTSD is a definite. It is just a question… I think my brother can have this mental disordee, he refuses to take medication and as I’m writing he is having an episode… believes we (family) are trying to kill him, he hears voices and when apparently sleeping his face moves involuntary. I think there are other (arguably more effective) means of managing psychosis. I left those hotels on my own terms and in good standing with each company I’ve worked for. You start to think “If they can do it, I … The Difference Between Being Suicidal and Wanting to Die, Live Successfully with Mental Illness — Top 5 Coping Skills Ebook — FREE, Passive Suicidal Depression – I Wish I Didn’t Wake Up, Saying Goodbye to Someone with a Mental Illness, Mixed Bipolar Disorder – Mixed Mood Episodes in Bipolar 1, What to Do When Someone Refuses to Take Their Medication – Treatment Noncompliance. But my favorite above all of them always was fine whisky. I pay my bills, though often in catch up mode especially when right after a manic cycle. Hope you're all feeling well. You’d have to have a icense for something as serious as that. The danger is that you may misdirect the clinician or even yourself. I think perhaps the hardest thing about it (except for the physical withdrawals… shudder) has been to shed the label of being “mentally ill”, the stigma of “craziness”. I stay off work for two months getting stabilized on a new medication combination. It brought serious side effects, and he ended up hospitalized 5 times. Put yourself on his shoes; a healer who doesn’t know how to heal his very own blood. Milka, sounds like textbook schizophrenia. In 2006 after my husband almost died from a brain injury I had a breakdown and sought treatment. Those only got me with a feeling of numbness in my face and my hands; and it usually disappeared a few minutes later. Bipolar is a very difficult thing to live with, and there are times when I want nothing more than to take medication to stabilize my mood. so, the dude was mis-diagnosed and placed on a plethora of Schizo meds for some years? I have met and worked with a few (psychs) that do not think too much of the Bipolar spectrum (those are the ones that have been practicing for a long long long while).. you either HAVE it (Bipolar I) or you don’t have Bipolar at all, type mentality. And to think, as a teenager I had tested at Einstein – level IQ! My husband was involved in a lot of criminal activity he was probably afraid I might say something to a therapist about his crimes. I have had major mood swings my whole life, impulse control issues, suicidal ideation, guilt, memory issues and I thought they were all normal… until Last summer, I had always had spells or bursts of energy for 4-5 months where I would (now I know) become slightly hypomanic. There is? You should know first, about the radical change in my persona. III. Mine is not the same as another’s and that’s okay. What is needed is a sense of self and medications cannot provide that. But as you can see, above, a professional thinks it could be done in a limited number of cases. There are many alarming side effects that the meds bring, and I am not fond of it. It may be hard for me though. Writing each other ‘hate letters’, that no one will ever read. I don’t know what makes you so sure from that one statement that I could not have bipolar. CBT, talk therapy, and support for lifestyle changes can go a long way, trust me. I don't personally feel that giving up on medication is the best route in terms of controlling bipolar disorder. I had no awareness of mania and didn’t even research it or consider its implications in my diagnosis. 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