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Raw & Bipolar

clr-1976clr-1976 Raw Newbie

I have recently been diagnosed.. Anyone have any experience? I have to admit I have fallen off the wagon & even getting on to this website is a right royal pain, I'm currently using a one time log in and when I try to re-set my password it keeps saying my email address is already in use, er yes, no s*** sherlock, by me.

Anyway, trying to get re-inspired on raw, strayed away for ages, job crap, going through a grievance procedure as I have experienced disability discrimination, currently off with work related stress. Now got bipolar diag on top of it all, need to find myself again & stop eating rubbish for the sake of it. Have put on a stone since stopping raw, so difficult at work as no fridges or food storage, so am back on croissants and latte's, meat, dairy etc...

Help.

Comments

  • FeeFee Raw Master

    Oh Claire, Im so sad to hear what a rubbish time you are having - have a big Cyber Hug. Have the Drs given you any medication to help? Although you might not want to be taking it - it might help and enable you to get more raw back into your diet. I wish I lived closer so I could come and visit and make some nice food to cheer us both up (if only for a short while).

    Argh - I don't know what else to say, I don't do words very well, but Im thinking of you.

    Fiona

  • springleafspringleaf Raw Newbie

    More virtual hugs from me too! I also don't do words very well. but hang in there! Don't beat yourself up about not being raw at the moment, do the best you can and focus on getting the other stuff out of the way! When I want to get re-inspired for raw I read loads of blogs, having a bit of a raw revival at the mo' which is down to reading loads of kate woods website http://www.rawliving.eu/ and also http://kristensraw.blogspot.com/ and http://beautifullivingfood.blogspot.com/ the last two have loads of really tempting recipies which is just what you need at a time like this.

    I used to have depression (not the same I know) and I found that excercise really helped, running helped clear the head and yoga calmed me down.

    remember to love yourself too, girly treats like new make up are good. -maybe order some raw choc' from kates online shop, I am addicted to that stuff.

    Thinking of you :-)

  • springleafspringleaf Raw Newbie

    P.S. love "no *hit sherlock" tis one of my favorite sayings, was playing round with variations the other day "no muck miss marple" "no poo Poirot " where two that me and the bf came up with...

  • Hello! I feel what you are going through. Yes, I have experience. I was diagnosed with Bipolar in 2001. I was seventeen years old. I am now almost 26 and have weaned myself off of (with my doctor's ok) all 12, yes 12 of the meds I was on. It was pure hell. There is no other way to describe it. Raw food is my savior. Greens, Greens, Greens!! When I begin to feel depressed or off like I am about to become manic I focus on cleansing my body because my mind needs to be as clean as possible. You know that feeling where you don't know your ass from your head and thinking clearly seems nearly impossible. This really helps.

    I also learned to treat my body and mind with love. Raw food became a hobby, something beautiful that I looked forward to. I realized that I am more sensitive then some and if I want to be well I must use raw food to heal myself constantly. I began to get better by making sure my I was eating alkaline foods (tons of green smoothies) and also that I was getting all of the vitamins and minerals that could be disrupting my brain. I have a great book, it is called "Nutritional Healing" if you are interested I can give you an overview on what vitamins and minerals are essential for our diagnosis.

    Also, it really helped me to stop all dairy products. I'm not sure where your diet is right now.Pumpkin seeds are good for depression as are berries.

    I know how lost you may feel. I know from the bottom of my heart. I hope i can help you because there is a way out.

    Another thing, running has also been my savior. What do you do for exercise?

    Take care and I send love!

  • I am very sorry to hear about what you are going through. I can't say I have ever been diagnosed with Bipolar but I have had depression, anxiety and OCD. All pretty much gone now and eating raw has helped immensely! In order to deal with these types of issues we have to seek out a clear mind in order to consciously take on all of the garbage that is coming in and clouding things up! Eating raw is a great way to help obtain the type of mental clarity that is needed to fight this battle and overcome these types of issues (those of the mind).

  • clr-1976clr-1976 Raw Newbie

    Thanks guys, Fee & Springleaf, great to hear from you! I doubt I'll be able to get back on without re-setting password each time so I have left it logged in for today.

    To answer Q's so far, I'm on Citalopram (anti despressant) recently gone down from 40mg to 30mg because psychiatrist thinks it has triggered a manic episode when it went to 40 a few months ago. Only got diagnosis on 17th Sept and not knowing ass from head is a good description. I feel like I really dont know whats normal. I dont know if happy's happy or if happy is manic. He's warned me that lots of people dont like losing the manic-ness, because its fun before it gets a bit too full on. Luckily I only go hypomanic so not quite Stacey from Eastenders!

    Also on Bromocriptine for Prolactinoma (tumour on pituitary), told last week by endocrinologist that it might not help recent diagnosis and should poss come off it but without it Prolactin will go back up and will stop ovulating. Psych thinks it isnt worth worrying about for the mo.

    The real bummer is that we were planning to 'try' soon. Psych said I should come off Citalopram for that, but saw him today and he said not to for the mo as I'm going down again.

    It seems I'm a 'rapid cycler' so he has said its best to hold off from trying until more stable and to start a mood stabiliser. Not Lithium, something else also prescribed for epilepsy. But said I should wait till about next summer now, those baby plans keep moving further away, but I know he's probably right. He said its emotional enough for anyone stable..

    Also been prescribed beta blockers (Propranolol) last week to help with anxiety, especially when at work, but now I'm not I have stopped taking them. They did help but because they drop your heartbeat etc I found they were making me dizzy and was scared to drive. My cars still at work from when I was sent home last week, had a panic attack, hyperventilated and they called an ambulence. So was picked up. Work's an hour away but hoping to be able to get car with a friend tmrw.

    So, gonna try and do a juice detox/cleanse to kick start myself.. But cant find 'Detox your world' for a plan to follow - does anyone have a good juice fast?? Cant do a hugely long winded one as will be back to work on the 26th.

    Thanks for the tips, alkaline etc.. Greenlove, I'd love to get that nutritional info you mention..?

    Exercise..? Hm, am rubbish, recently been working too much, bad excuse, def feel better when doing more but doing nothing at the moment. Because of the work thing was worried about money so wouldnt even join a gym. Going on a free pass to my local one tmrw and going to try to fit it in with the Friday even yoga class :o) Gonna hurt I know it!

    Thanks for your support, I've missed that from here as I've not been on for so long. Thanks for all your great advice. Ate a whole tub of Ben & Jerrys this afternoon and felt eugh, been shopping now though and bought beetroot, celery, carrots, ginger, lemons, limes, apples, cukes etc to get going with the juicing. Going to make Sarma's fennel and grapefruit salad too as its yummy.

    Any detox plans welcome!

    Thanks, C :o)

  • I'm Bipolar as well, Type II, as well as an anxiety disorder and an eating disorder* that nearly killed me - they all feed off each other.

    I went vegan (and 50-75% raw) after 18 months of getting worse and worse and hitting a low point where I had to be hospitalized for a while.

    It definitely helped - it gave me something to focus on, a way of healing my body. when I start to go down (or up) I end up in the kitchen for hours working on different things, and trawling though nutrition books and sites. It's the one thing I get a sense of peace from, the only thing I have real control over in my life and my head.

    Of course the physical effects also help - I kicked the anorexic habits, and reduced the bulimic ones a lot, I still struggle but it finally seems to be steadily improving, if slowly.

    I'm on meds, but I struggle with them, I don't like taking them so I stop, then I'm okay for just long enough to think I dont need them and i go off the rails. it's a vicious cycle and I have the same problem most bipolar people do in that I love my natural mania (most of the time), and the meds change it, they make it very unpleasant and they tend to keep me there, buzzing uncomfortably for a while before they stop working - so they up the dose and i go full manic - so they lower it...you see how this goes.

    So they offer me different types of meds, more meds, and while I'm not totally against modern medicine in this case, I still don't like the idea of shoving all those chemicals in me - i am who i am, and as painful as it often is, i'm reluctant to change it.

    Yoga is THE BEST thing for, well, everything, but it doesn't help when I'm too low to be bothered doing it.

    *a nasty, fluctuating combo of anorexia and bulimia, pure hell.

  • luxdivonluxdivon Raw Newbie

    i'd be interested to see if anyone that is bipolar could come entirely off medication by being 100% raw. Do you think 100% raw would be enough? Maybe 100% with yoga(or other exercise) at least 4 times a week? It would have to be decided how long you would have to be 100% to see true effect. I imagine with anything there would be detox, your body adjusting. But if you could make it through that, then it seems your body would normalize. As long as you were receiving all of the nutritional/mineral levels necessary. And if necessary to take supplement to up those vitamins and minerals to normal states. Is it possible to change how your body reacts, if it is given what it needs? Or is it, that no matter how pure you were, and how much you tried, your body would still malfunction. What do you think?

  • I don't think everyone could - it would depend on the severity.

    Bipolar is a genetic chemical imbalance - its not a side effect of a lifestyle, so while raw eating, yoga, and a healthy lifestyle can make your body the best it can be - the best it can be is still a healthy body with a chemical imbalance.

    of course, that healthy person might find their level of distress manageable without medication where they might previously have not when they were less healthy.

    Others may not.

  • springleafspringleaf Raw Newbie

    By chance was reading DYW last night. There is a three day juice detox in there that I wanted to try. Cant remember all the details but it was 5 fruit/veg juices per day with 2-3 liters of water. Drink water with lemon juice in it just after waking (about 1/2 a pint if I remember correctly). Then have the five juices throughout the day when you want them, and also the water. The juices were quite simple ones, eg: one was definetly 4 oranges and 4 apples. Other ingrediants included romaine lettice, little gem, carrots, tomatoes, okra, strawberries, celery, a grapefruit, cucumbers. Sorry I can't remember more than that. Hope you find your copy soon!

    greenlove mentioned that running helped and it really helped me with my depression too. also from reading your post is good because it can be free! I have included the running plan which is the one I always use when I start running again from scratch (3 times now!). There are loads of others on the internet but I like this one cus it starts easy .

    Hope some of this helps!

    m = minute not mile!

    Running plan

    Run on three days per week

    Walk for 5 minutes at the start and end of every run

    Week 1

    Run 1m, walk 3m. x4

    Week 2

    Run 1m, walk 2m. x6

    Week 3

    Run 1m, walk 2m. x7

    Week 4

    Run 1m, walk 2m. x8

    Week 5

    Run 1m, walk 2m. x9

    Week 6

    Run 2m, walk 2m. x7

    Week 7

    Run 2m, walk 2m. x8

    Week 8

    Run 3m, walk 2m. x7

    Week 9

    Run 3m, walk 2m. x7

    Run 3m, walk 1m. x9

    Run 3m, walk 1m. x9

    Week 10

    Run 3m, walk 1m. x9

    Run 3m, walk 1m. x9

    Run 3m, walk 1m. x10

  • Hello this is a really nice community which consider mania in other ways.

    http://www.newlightbeings.com/

    My mum is bipolar and this views helps me a lot in my job ( im psychologist)

  • Hey! I mentioned in my first post that I came entirely off meds through raw, exercise, meditation. It is really difficult though and I wouldn't say that it is the path for everyone. I also suffered from a very nasty eating disorder that raw helped curb also. Clr-1976 I will get that info to you by tomorrow night, I am out the door to work. Have a beautiful weekend, you deserve it!

    I would like to add that my doctor told me that sometimes people improve as they get older. Seeing that I was seventeen when I was diagnosed that leaves a lot of time for changes in the brain to occur. I am not sating that this is what everyone should do, but it was the key for me.

  • zinfandelzinfandel Raw Newbie

    i think a lot of mood disorders are caused by allergies to things like gluten and dairy. going 100% raw can probably cure your moods, although you may go through some periods of detox/withdrawl.

  • luxdivonluxdivon Raw Newbie

    Thanks Annamsate for that link. Looks like a cool one with more cool people. I was thinking about it after posting my thoughts, and I think the other crucial element that changed in my life...I felt loved, and was able to start loving myself. I found good friends, people that i really like to be with. Oh and one other thing. I started doing what I really WANTED to do. As soon as i started to do that, I was alot less depressed. Those things + raw and i'm a happy happy girl. So i guess i can see how sometimes 100% raw wouldn't be enough. Good luck to all those still finding their way. You will find the way to balance, truth & happiness in your life. Just don't give up :) best wishes..

  • Luxdivon, I love that you say that you started loving yourself and that has helped you. How wonderful! It makes a world of a difference. It is as if once we feel love coming from ourselves we then are able to take action (raw eating, positive thoughts, yoga, etc...) to eliminate these nasty disorders and diseases from our lives.

    Zinfandel, that is a good point you make. I can feel a very strong correlation between my diet and moods. I feel that dairy slows my brain down and leads to depression, where caffeine and sugar lead to disorientation, a feeling of being detached and sometimes even mania.

    Jaimie, It sounds like we have a lot in common. Even though my eating disorder is not the hell that it used to be I feel that it is always lying beneath the surface. I feel so alone with it sometimes, like no one else is crazy enough to feel the way I do. Thank you for sharing:)

    Clr 1976, Ok this is where I started. I did some research on what my body could possibly be lacking or have too much of. I began taking supplements and then realized my diet needed to change. So I went to a vegan and then to a raw diet. "From Prescription for Nutritional Healing", P Balch:

    Very important- Free form amino acid complex (to supply protein for normal brain function)

    L-tyrosine (stabilizes mood swings, helps with depression. Do not take a L-tyrosine supplement if taking MAO inhibitor).

    Taurine (Deficiency can result in anxiety, hyper activity and poor brain function)

    Zinc and copper (protects brain cells)

    Vitamin B (essential for brain function and nervous system)

    Others mentioned are EFA, 5-hydroxytryptophan

    The book explains that sugar and all foods with colors and flavoring can have a large negative impact and to be aware of food allergies.

    How is your juice cleansing going?

    I hope this helps and that you are well.

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