Posted by BarbaraCat on April 23, 2004, at 14:13:43
In reply to Re: Does Homeopathy Work for Bipolar?, posted by Cyleilo on April 23, 2004, at 11:23:15
I'm glad to be able to lend some support for you during these difficult days. It gets very alone feeling after a while, especially when you've been struggling for so long and others around you depend on you and/or are getting a tad frustrated ('why can't she just snap out of it?'). There's always a sense of weak-will we blame ourselves with, not matter how our rational mind tells us we're really sick and simply don't have the spark to move through the day without being overwhelmed.
When I say estrogen for hormone therapy, not necessarily. It turned out that I ended up with a pre-cancerous endometrial condition from the cookie-cutter HRT I was prescribed, even though it was a 'natural' form and not the horse-pee stuff. When I got test (saliva test through my naturopath), my estrogen levels were way too high in comparison with my progesterone and the kind of estrogen pills I'd been taking orally were interferring with another hormone channel that was aggravating my fibromyalgia. I wasn't getting enough progesterone to offset the estrogen, mainly because I wasn't able to metabolize it orally (hence, the transdermal creme route). The overall imbalance of progesterone/estrogen ratio was a carcinogen as well as causing anxiety and interferring with thyroid production. I was also very deficient in DHEA and testosterone. The last two really contribute to mood, energy, motivation. So, a compounding pharmacy concocts up a transdermal cream based on what I'm lacking and it's made a huge difference as far as woman-y yuck feelings go. My husband also sees her and has been on natural testosterone therapy and help for a low cortisol condition and it's made a major difference in his energy level, mood and general lustiness (although that's the last thing I've been in the mood for recently - sigh).
As far as seeing an endocrinologist, don't get your hopes up unless they're willing to look outside the box. It's not in the general health provider's education, be they psychiatrists, endocrionologists, gynecologists, how crucial having the right hormone balance is to mental health. We need all those little hormone critters to be in proper supply and balance to even create neurotransmitters! Hormones are the chemical messengers of the entire body and neurotransmitters don't reside only in the brain. If the hormonal system is out of balance (and there are so many more than just the estrogen/progesterone we usually hear about), we simply can't maintain health. It's tragic how ignored this whole field is. Most mainstream docs rely on blood tests but unfortunately, blood tests only show the free circulating hormones, not what's actually getting metabolized in and out of the cells. Therefore, they can't really interpret the results. The mainstream medical community simply does not know how to achieve that balance since it's such a symphony that can't be achieved with their current blunderbuss methods. And thyroid, ohmygod! If that's not functioning at a good hum you are going to feel awful.
The best results I've had in my many years of desperately searching for help has been with my current naturopath who has been researching this hormonal link to depression/fibromyalgia especially. She uses saliva tests to monitor how things are going with my hormones and blood tests where appropriate otherwise. It's a slow process getting things in balance, but without that balance, everything else is a band-aide.
But, one wonders, why are these hormones going so haywire? It's not just change of life stuff but the 40's really start exacerbating things. Actually, the current theory and one that she and I support (from my own research), is that our hypothalamus/pituitary/adrenal axis is malfunctioning, and this brain axis controls hormonal balance and general homeostasis. The way it gets that way is probably good old stress in its many manifestations. You've had alot, gal, as have so many of us trying to survive in a world that's really insane. What happens is that the adrenal glands, which are the master stress handlers, cannot handle the burden after a while and become exhausted. This hypoadrenal state causes all kinds of very familiar symptoms, inability to handle stress, fatigue, wired but tired, and then eventually the hypothalamus is actually damaged by the chemicals the poor whipped adrenals are pumping out to keep up with stress control. Cortisol gets depleted and that creates its own set of immune function problems. Adrenal exhaustion is not a household word in most medical clinics, but is a very real condition and one that contributes to probably 90% of the dis-ease we're seeing. There's a book you might want to get: "Adrenal Fatigue, The 21st Century Stress Syndrome" by James L. Wilson. He has a website that Google can find for you.
Also, check out http://thyroid.about.com website. There's more information in there about the thyroid than you can imagine, all of it very enlightening. Drs. Richard and Karilee Shames have written a book "Thyroid Power"". They're frequent guests on the thyroid website. Check it out. Very informative. But you have to have patience to navigate the site.
We can take psych meds all we want, but they do eventually poop out because the underlying imbalance isn't addressed. While you're finding out about the metabolic dyfunctions you surely have acquired with all the massive stress in your life, you should probably bolster yourself with something that's going to help your brain chemicals get stabilized. But don't expect the stabilization to last forever without addressing the underlying imbalance. You can only pile up so many band-aids on a wound that isn't healing, you know?
There are so many areas to discover about what your body/mind/spirit need to survive and thrive. When you're starting to get more energy and focus, think of all this as a grand opportunity to embark on an amazing journey of discovery. It's been incredibly fascinating for me to learn all I have because of this disability. One thing that's very important is to drink lots of water. Our cells can't function without proper amount of water. Drink at least half your weight in ounces. So, if you weigh 160 lbs, you should drink 80oz water, about 2.5 quarts a day. Adding a pinch of sea salt to the water helps its permeability. This is so important to do.
Giving SSRI's without mood stabilizers is pretty awful for bipolars, don't you agree? I think lamictal is probably the best one out there, but you may need to take it with another. At least, my experience was that lam by itself was too activating. Again, that pinch of lithium was the ticket. But, dang, that thyroid thing...
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:338064
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040418/msgs/339197.html