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Before I get to my question, I would like to give a little background information. After months of tests I was diagnosed with BP NOS in October. I am currently waiting for an appointment with another psychiatrist for a second opinion. My symptoms and the results of my MMPI were indicative of Undifferentiated Schizophrenia, but there is no physical evidence that there is anything unusual about my brain. Because I was hearing voices (which I knew weren't real) it was even thought that I might have temporal lobe epilepsy. After going to a psychiatrist for the first time she told me that she didn't think I was schizophrenic but that I very well may have some sort of personality disorder. I didn't get the BP diagnosis until the third visit, after I found out that one of my cousins has BP. Obviously, I am skeptical about the diagnosis as it seemed to me like the doctor just wanted to stick me in a category. I tried the Abilify and Geodon to no avail. The Abilify made me feel numb, nothing affected me not to mention it made me violently ill. The Geodon just irritated me. After the Geodon, I refused to take anymore medication and asked my doctor for natural alternatives. She did not share my concern over putting synthetic chemicals into my body — so I stopped going to her. At the end of that week I went to an acupuncturist from China. She focused on correcting my sleep patterns, which I had told numerous doctors about but they all ignored. Now after two months, I no longer hear voices and the inner turmoil has settled down. Just to clarify, I am not condoning that anyone go off of their medication — I had only taken one pill of each that they had tried me on. My situation is not severe, if in fact I do have BP it is most likely a mild case or what is called cyclothymic disorder. Now to my question, has anyone viewing this ever used natural medicine to help them with their symptoms? If anyone has, I would like to know if it has helped or hurt. It might give me some insight into whether my diagnosis was correct or whether the doctor ran out of ideas of how to classify my symptoms. I understand that each person's experiences are different and everyone resonds differently to their treatment. Anything that will help me further understand my situation is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
You know Lithium is not a synthetic compound, it is a naturally occuring salt compound in the body. I tried Kava Kava some years ago and man did it help with the anxiety, I was so veryyyy mellow. However, it was taken from the market. I tried St. John's Wort, it not only gave me severe chest pains but also threw me into a bit of a manic episode - not good. I last tried SAMe but it wore off and I had joint pain not to mention nausea. The more I took the worse the adverse effects became. I have heard of acupuncture being a treatment for some forms of depression -something about the pain stimulating the blood flow and causing the brain chemicals to "pick up" in order to stop the pain signal something or another. If it works for you then I'm very relieved to hear that for you. As you said, each person responds differently to different treatments and medications. What works for one will not work for another and vice a versa. Everyone takes a risk of some magnitude when they try a treatment or treatments. Will it work? Will it not work? If it works for you then great.
