Posted by Christ_empowered on March 12, 2011, at 18:56:03
In reply to Re: High potentcy vites for Schizophrenia, posted by Lao Tzu on March 12, 2011, at 14:28:07
hey. Don't beat yourself up about not starting supplements earlier. When I was younger, my symptoms were milder but I was way over-medicated--stimulants, neuroleptics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, benzos--and I think part of my problem now (which I think the supplements are helping/have helped to correct) is b/c of brain changes/damage caused by the over-medication early on in my illness.
I only recently came to the (one would think) rather obvious conclusion that a mix of supplements and carefully chosen medication(s) just might be the best way to deal with my madness. I think I may have gone a bit overboard in terms of the number and dosage of the supplements I'm taking, but, hey--it's probably a whole lot safer (maybe even somewhat beneficial) to take a whole bunch of antioxidants than it is to take a whole bunch of psychotropics.
I don't understand a lot of the alternative theories of mental illness. My own view of the situation, which is completely non-professional and based on a rudimentary understanding of how these things work, is that I need a tranquilizer in my life to calm down the agitation that can lead to mania and/or "agitated psychotic depression". So, the neuroleptic is the center of my treatment plan. To the neuroleptic (in my case Abilify b/c of the weight profile, lack of sedation, and once-daily dosing), I first added vitamins E, C, selenium and niacianmide, primarily for TD prevention and also for possible anti-anxiety benefits (especially the niacinamide).
I later added in NAC (for my overall health) and alpha lipoic acid. I also added in a rather large amount of green tea extract. I ended up having to take celexa; thanks to the supplements, I've had an excellent response to the celexa w/o any side-effects (I'd tried abilify+celexa years before w/o any real success; then when I tapered the celexa, I had terrible depression).I recently added in fish oil because, well...why not, right? Sometimes I feel that I'm spending too much $$$ on supplements, but then I think: how much do I stand to lose if I develop TD? Or if I have to add in something like Seroquel or even a less expensive drug, such as Depakote, lithium, or lamictal?
I hope you're able to tweak your own vitamin program to get what you need out of treatment. I always enjoy your posts, btw.
poster:Christ_empowered
thread:980270
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20110214/msgs/980403.html