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Can bi-polar "go away"?

I am 52 years old.  12 years ago, I was diagnosed as bi-polar II.  In thinking back over my life, I can see that I started suffering from depression as a teenager, when I made a suicide attempt at age 14.  I have long contended with my doctors that there was a strong hormonal component to my depression and now that I am in menopause (and had a hysterectomy 2 years ago), I am taking minimal medication and feeling the best I have for years.  I stopped seeing my therapist about 8 months ago, am gainfully employed (make over $70K/year), and basically don't feel at all depressed.  Is it possible to not be bi-polar anymore?  Everything I've read and all the doctors I have asked say it is a life-time diagnosis.  What is your opinion?
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Avatar universal
there are many more people trying to prove that you can never recover than are trying to prove that you can recover...there is almost no research on people using meds only as an aid in crisis..there is no research done on anything else besides psychiatric meds treating illness or healing illness..the fundamental evil of psychiatry is that it brainwashes the world at large to believe that people are lost causes dependant on drugs which are only meant to be a band aid and not an aid to recovery..the ideal situation which can not always be achieved but should always be pursued is use of medication during crisis with the concurrent use of psychotherapy to address underlying issue and god willing and eventual return to unmedicated state after crisis issue has been resolved and dealt with..This school of thought is called Crisis Medication
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Avatar universal
I know this is an old post but I hope my story helps others.

First off I am not a doctor, but I can tell you from experience that Bi-Polar is often mis dxs. I was dxs Bi-Polar when I was 14, due to the emitions I was feeling and because my mom was dxs Bi-polar at about the same age. They placed me on Zoloft and told me and my mom that I would need to be on it for life. My mom understood because she had been on and off meds all her life and had all the classic sypmtoms of bipolar disorder.

However, when I was 16, I found myself feeling like a zombie and no longer like myself. I stopped the medicaiton on my own without anyone knowing. The first two days were rough, but after that I pulled myself together and never got back on them. I truly believe at the time of my dxs I was going through a rough patch in life, and I had just got my monthly friend about a few months before. I believe now those two things put together caused me to seem Bi-Polar, and I was just misdiagonised due to family history and the reactions I was having at the time.

If you feel like you have hormonal issues and you were going through some things get a second opinion before believing you are Bi-Polar...
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3 Comments
That's really interesting.  I would say 14 through 16 to 17 are some of the roughest and most confusing years of life.  So much internal struggle.  I have a son who is 15 and am going to be taking him to a counselor.  It's difficult to know what is right.  I'm resistant to the idea of medication for him.  Want to discuss other ways of treating things. But totally understand your post. That was a difficult time of your life and you got a diagnose that was more of an assumption.  Really important for people to be their own advocate.  Thanks for sharing this.
I work in the medical field for a health insurance company. I see it all the time children being placed on so many meds and dxs with so many conditions. It is heart breaking because many of those meds are hard to get off.

I was stupid for just stopping the meds when I was 16. I was lucky not to have a seizure or something else happen. The best advice give a doctor who will listen. Listen to your own gut as well, and remember it is not wrong to want a second opinion.
depends how bad it was to start with...there are many many people walking around even leading our country who a good proportion of psychiatrists would force medicate in an inpatient setting..a better question would be are there people that are so bad they will need to have some form of treatment? That answer is usually believed to be yes or likely....The world did exist before we were brainwashed to believe we could only function with psychiatric meds as an aid..many people fo benefit from them though and there are people who have no side effects just like there are people who can tolerate drinking or smoking their whole life..our bodies are all differrent as far as what has side effects..WHat makes me sad is there ARE people who through exposure to nature..sunlight..proper nutrition...exercise..love can greatly heal themselves..people suffering from depression from a great loss heal and no longer need meds..where is the line drawn between what you can recover from and what you can't? People who have a death in family go into clinical chemical depression and then mourn and come out of it..Why can't other chemical clinical states heal and improve? I think many more people can recover than psychiatry would lead you to believe
Avatar universal
Thank you. I will give it a go and see if it helps at all. And of course keep track of my results.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
I have never been off meds but always wondered what taking a warm bath with a half to a cup of epsom salts would do to a manic or hypomanic state..I do know hard work and exercise as well as sun have effect..I used aromatherapy calming blend oil drops to fight off an anxiety attack once when I ran out of xanax..I am also curious what lithium waters which you can buy on amazon would do..they are a much more diluted version of the pharmaceutical drug
Avatar universal
Just so you don't waste your time, you are replying to a post that is from last year, so you probably aren't going to get a reply on this one. The teaser posts in the middle are often quite old.

I will give my two bits on the "is it possible to balance bipolar illness by changing the diet without the use of medication"

That depends on how severe the bipolar is. If you have a mild case of bipolar 2, then it may be possible along with therapy to identify and manage triggers. I do know some people who go at it without meds. However the suicide rate of people not using medication is almost double so there is a risk.

If it is has caused you to be disabled in the past, if you've had a suicidal depression, or an episode of mania, I would not be discontinuing meds to try a diet route. I have not seen one, not one, study that has proven that a diet has a postive effect on the outcome of bipolar disorder. It may be because they just haven't studied it, but none of the claims have been proven they are all based on ancedotal evidence. There is a placebo effect of 30% with any treatment someone gets. So 30% of the people are bound to see an improvement at least temporarily, so they will have 'success' stories to draw from. It doesn't mean that the thing works, it just means that doing something, anything, can trick the body into healing itself.

I have seen research evidence of certain natural things helping. Omega oils have been shown in some studies to help. I take them because of that and because they are just an overal great nutrient for the body. They reduce inflamation systemically. Magnisium has a study showing it to be helpful. I don't take it because I have kidney disease and it contraindiates for that. Another one is something called N Acetyl Cysteine (sometime they add an "L" before the Cysteine.) at 2 gram a day. On this study they kept people on their psyc meds, and used it as an adjunct, it helped with the depressive end but not the manic end. I just started taking it (after checking with the pharmacist to ensure it wouldn't affect my meds)Aruyvedic (think I spelt that wrong - East Indian Medicine) and Chinese medicines you need to be careful of as they often contain a lot of lead or other heavy metals. The other  non medicinal thing is meditation. - more for stress and anxiety versus bipolar. Haven't seen a study for bipolar.

It may be worth trying diet to see if you can minimize the meds you take, but I wouldn't go off them altogether. And never go cold turkey, always taper off slowly with the knowledge of a psychiatist.
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Avatar universal
1) I notice that my symptoms are made worse by certain foods - especially WHEAT/GLUTEN, DAIRY and certain SUGARS. In the absence of them, I am much clearer and happier and most symptoms are not present. So, please do a thorough examination of possible intolerances and allergies that your body may have whether to foods or people; AND

My questions are:
How did you come to realize that these foods affected you?
Also what have you replaced those foods with?
Which sugars were the worst?
Is it possible to balance bipolar illness by changing the diet without the use of medication?
And lastly what do you mean by: or people?
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1590362 tn?1297486868
Bipolar or manic depression is a mental disorder and is incurable. Medications can manage symptoms and you may have periods of remission. I lived very stable life and maintained a job/marriage for 7 years but the symptoms eventually returned full force.
I was diagnosed in my late 30,s and started medication and have found that I am actually deteriorating. This is apparently not uncommon when treatment starts late. My symptoms started at 15, Enjoy your life and feeling good, dont worry about the label "bipolar' just relate to physicians when symptoms interfere with daily life.
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Avatar universal
Unless you didnt have it in the first place?

I would say you are very lucky you can take a minimal amount !
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Avatar universal
I find this topic extremely interesting and pertinent. In my own personal experience, I am noticing that there driving factors that can manage bi-polar without the use of medication AND there are also behaviour that mirror the symptoms of bi-polar but are not indicative of the illness being present.

For instance,

1) I notice that my symptoms are made worse by certain foods - especially WHEAT/GLUTEN, DAIRY and certain SUGARS. In the absence of them, I am much clearer and happier and most symptoms are not present. So, please do a thorough examination of possible intolerances and allergies that your body may have whether to foods or people; AND

2) Much of the bi-polar symptoms DISSOLVE or RECEDE once I adhered to a strict protocol known as the Pfeifer Protocol. It is important to get your urine tested to determine if you have excessive kryptopyrroles in them, which could indicate the presence of PYROLURIA together with UNDERMETHYLATION OR OVERMETHYLATION. There could be a genetic impact that results in the body dumping and discharging large amounts of B6 and ZINC, therein causing the bi-polar tendencies due to high COPPER LEVELS and/or HIGH HISTAMINES... it also impacts on allergies too...

3) IF POSSIBLE, SEE AN EXCEPTIONAL KINESIOLOGIST. ONE WHO IS WELL-VERSED IN NAET, NET, NOT, TFH-PKP, EFT, TAT and many other healing streams that can enable you to properly investigate HEALING AND TREATING THE CAUSE!!!!!!
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209384 tn?1231168306
DLA
No, like V said bipolar is for life.  However hormones are not.  You could also have had hormone imbalances that were what the medical profession considered still in range no matter how high in the range they might have been.  And most drs won't treat on symptoms if the "numbers" are in "range".  So not having the hormones may make a big difference in the way you feel.  

I am NOT a dr, I just play one on. . . .kidding. ;)  I'm not a dr that's just m 1/2 a cent worth.

Dac
Helpful - 0
212753 tn?1275073111
No you are bi polar for life. If you sop taking your meds you will go back to being bi polar .I know because I have done this 3 different times.I now take my meds and go to therapy faithfully even though I suspect I really dont need to go to therapy but I jsut love my therapist .
I too am a successful bi polar story.I have been married 22 years,I have a great job and my family is jsut great.I enjoy my life so much .I know this wouldnt be possible with out my meds.
  so stay on you meds and enjoy you life. what is taking some littlke pills compared to how we feel.
Love Venora
Helpful - 0
2 Comments
I was diagnosed with Bi polar 2 over a decade ago first I was on lietium but due  to bloods going out of range I was changed to Elfexor and lamictial so I have being on this 9 plus years I recently stopped taking lamictial approx. 10 weeks ago and I feel fine and have mentioned this to my doctor as well as my siblings and they would not be any the wiser if I had not told them.
Is there a train wreck coming that I should be aware of?
in the perfect world I would rather be on neither drug.
I tried going off Elfector but the withdraw was too much on my body so had to go back on it.
hard to say if thst is true there aren't enough people who try to get off meds..the entire trend is to keep people on them..probably some people can heal and work through issues it is hard to say
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