Is there any treatment for bipolar disorder that does not involve psycotropic medications?
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not that I know of. Ask your doctor.
Other Answers:
Sure, give all your money to the scientologists, and they will drive out the evil little space demons that are bothering you!
Ask your shrink. Some ideas are talking with people, exorcise, and my fave is act as if..... I make believe I'm OK and make a game of fooling others.
Well I am Bipolar and I do take Depakote. I am seriously thinking about stopping the meds. I feel the same as I did before taking them anyway and it has been a year. If you go to therapy then that will will help but if you already do that and you are not feeling better then you might be one that needs the meds some people really do, but you can take other types of meds that are not psycotropic I know they can give tics and other unwanted side affects. Lithium is very good and you most likely wont have the tics or as much weight gain I have been dealing with my disorder for 15 years now and I am still trying to get it right. Good luck.
Margot Kidder, the original Lois Lane from the Superman movies, from what I understand, has bipolar and treats it with herbal remedies. She has a website (dont have the address)- you might want to check it out. I myself take, on top of my meds, Omega 3 and Lycithin(?) which does smooth the edges for me after the meds ground me down. Go ahead and look into them, but still get some professional advice. (I also take milk thistle and cranberry cause meds wrecks havoc on the liver and kidneys.)
Not really.. Your best bet is if you stay medication and stay out of the psych unit. To many bipolars like to play doctor and play with there meds especially when in the manic phase of their illness. I've witnesses a lot of bipolars present on the unit I worked at after the crash.. Money spent, pissed away at casinos, drugs, booze trying to self medicate and having suicidal depressive ideations.
Electro-Convulsive Therapy used to be used but was generally only a short term solution for people in the severe depressive cycle of bipolar disorder.
Many new meds are on the market that show very good results in controlling bipolar disorder. Plz do not stop your meds. I've seen the result of too many bipolars that do.. Families and lives are torn apart by people that don't do as the doctor says.
Think about it before you play doctor.
I was on lithium for eight years. I started excercising and eating better and I feel better now then I ever did on the medications. I suggest getting a bicycle and riding the hell out of it....it's the best medicine!!!
I know someone who did push away from the drug but that was because lithium slowed his thinking processes and he was in the mathematics program where he needed the speed.
So for 2 yrs. He drowned out his extraneous thoughts with heavy metal music until completing the undergraduate degree. That wasn't ideal but at the time the only solution he could find.
In graduate school, he exercised hard in the gym daily sometimes accompanied by a friend with similar interests: Weight lifting, running in the school gym.
After graduating, when not at work, he tries to exercise daily: running, bicycling and he's compulsively keeping busy with hobbies.
That is a lifelong battle -- with or without medication. I'm not recommending that you do the same as I described. It wouldn't work for everyone.
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