Posted by Cyleilo on April 23, 2004, at 11:23:15
In reply to Re: Does Homeopathy Work for Bipolar? » Cyleilo, posted by BarbaraCat on April 22, 2004, at 21:24:35
Thanks SO MUCH for your thoughtful responses. You and Joebob have really been helpful in this difficult decision time. You both seem to be saying the same thing. I feel like I could get out of this hole without a drug, I've done it before . . . but it's taken a long time, even a couple of years really when I think about it, from depth of the hole to "normalcy" and then it tips over into mild mania for awhile, and then - BOOM, back to the hole. I don't have the time. My son needs me as wholly functioning as I can be to address all the issues surrounding his difficulties. My husband - patient and loving husband - would probably be really happy to have a functioning wife again, although he supports unconditionally anything I decide. The thing I fear with meds is something you mentioned, how they just poop out after awhile. I'm afraid to go on Lamictal, have it work, and then have it not work. It was so horrible when I was on Prozac briefly, to feel so good, and then to have it get out of control into mania, then have to go off it, and feel like my sight had been restored briefly and I was back to being blind again. It was worse than never having come out of the cave to begin with, if you know what I mean. That's what frightens me. To get something going again, and then have it peter out once again. But that is projecting and envisioning the worst, something I'm really expert at. Lamictal is not Prozac, and from what I know now, Prozac is not a drug bipolars should take without a stabilizer.
I like the idea that while I'm digging out with meds, I can do some other things like homeopathy, to help the process. And it's been very helpful to hear from both you and Joebob that homeopathy, by itself, probably isn't enough and takes a long time. I've also wondered about my thyroid. The tests come back in the normal range, but then I've heard that the numbers don't always reflect what's really going on, and to look at the symptoms rather than the numbers. I've never been to an endocrinolgist. As for hormone levels: do you mean estrogen/progesterone, that kind of thing? If so, the problem for me is that I have to avoid estrogen because my cancer was estrogen sensitive, meaning my kind of cancer is encouraged by estrogen.
Again, thanks to you and Joebob for your experience, strength, and hope. I've had a certain candle holder I've lit almost every day since Christmas, a little chubby angel with her arms wrapped around the votive. That one little spark of light has gotten me through some tough days, mostly tough days actually. Now this psychobabbling is helping, adding a little more light every day into the gloom.
poster:Cyleilo
thread:338064
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040418/msgs/339144.html