Posted by SLS on December 22, 2013, at 10:05:01
In reply to Acceptance is the Best, posted by Cif on December 22, 2013, at 8:53:38
> Thanks for all the replies!
>
> I know and have to believe that acceptance of my condition is the best line of treatment for me and my future!Yes. For me, recognition, education, and acceptance were key to my continuing to pursue an effective treatment for my illness. Among other things, acceptance will help you to develop strategies to cope with the illness while you are in the midst of it. I became more positive, constructive, and resolved to find an answer, and in the meantime, live as best I could. At any moment in time, I try to use all of what little God gives me to work with.
> It is just getting a better quality of life: not feeling so lethargic, losing weight, becoming more social and communicative and overcoming many 'extra-pyramidal'symptoms that I so crave for.
If you can afford to invest the time to experiment with alternative treatments, I don't see the harm in it.
> I am thankful for the cocktail of drugs the doc's have put me on but many times I feel like: "this is enough" or just escaping the reality of my condition...
How are you functioning in your day-to-day activities (work, school, eating, sex)?
I think that in order to help you make your decision as to whether or not to continue with pharmaceuticals, it would be helpful to plot out your life chart with respect to when the illness first appeared, how long, number of recurrences, etc. It sounds like your medical condition is chronic. Under these circumstances, I think most doctors would encourage you to continue with treatment until a better alternative is made available.
Why don't you leave your treatment in place and begin to change your eating habits and perhaps play with a few vitamins and "supplements". Be careful of herbs that they do not interact with the drugs you are taking. Once you develop an alternative regime that you think might be helping, try to discontinue your medication if it is that important to you. However, if you are taking lithium, and it is helping, I would recommend that you continue taking it, as stopping it and restarting it upon relapse doesn't always work.
Rhodiola rosea is one herb that I think has the potential to help with depression. However, it might be more of an energizer than a mood brightener. I have never tried it. The U.S. NIH (National Institutes of Health) began an alternative medicine program in 1993. They have looked at things like St. John's Wort and Kava Kava. The NIH is by no means avoiding or repudiating such treatments.
For depression, you can review the following literature search:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=rhodiola+rosea+depression
Look into curcumin.
Get well and STAY well.
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1056552
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20131209/msgs/1056764.html