What is Bipolar disorder? How many people have it? How should it be treated?
A personal view of Bipolar
How sensitivities to food and other substances can affect the mind
Iatrogenesis is “medically-induced illness”. Many patients don’t realise there is such a thing.
Further reading
(These are all links within the post)
A diagnosis of Bipolar is subjective. Please understand: it is absolutely clear that any diagnosis of Bipolar relating to someone who has been taking antidepressants is untrustworthy and should not be accepted. The way to heal is not with powerful, toxic pharmaceutical drugs.
We do not know of an authoritative, clinical, objective diagnostic tool that absolutely identifies Bipolar disorder. Often, the side effects from prescription drugs, street drugs, alcohol abuse and/or problems with blood sugar regulation and nutrient absorption are what lead to a diagnosis of Bipolar.
What is Bipolar disorder? How many people have it? How should it be treated?
You can read about the three main different types of Bipolar disorder in this article. It also mentions the possibility of misdiagnosis, albeit not as a result of taking antidepressants.
The article linked here gives helpful explanations and definitions. However, please be aware that the recommended treatment is a combination of CBT and medication. We believe adding more drugs to a mental health problem is extremely dangerous. We have seen so many people given drug after drug after drug, to the point where it is no longer clear what is causing what. This is called being polydrugged. If it is a misdiagnosis – very possible if you have been taking antidepressants – this can cause you appalling damage.
Please benefit from the knowledge about Bipolar that this offers, but never consider taking more drugs to help. If you are not yet convinced, follow some of the links below.
A personal view of bipolar
I came off Cymbalta cold turkey, knowing no better. I wasn’t aware of it, but I became manic. I got engaged to someone I scarcely knew. In a foreign country. Crazy. When the withdrawals really hit, I went into such depression that I could scarcely move or get out of bed. Then I decided I couldn’t look after myself and should sell my lovely home and move to an old folks’ home. Crazy. At my mother’s ashes-scattering, I was catatonic.
Yet sometimes, I would come out of this and be normal. Or the opposite. I even had a special name for when I was being hyper, being manic. Doctors had no idea what was going on. It would have been understandable if they had said I was bipolar and treated me accordingly, with more dangerous drugs.
Based on my behaviours when I went cold turkey, I took the test for possible Bipolar here and it told me I may well have Bipolar. I do not. That was the result of my not tapering slowly.
How sensitivities to food and other substances can affect the mind
It is clear that an allergy to foods and chemicals can adversely affect our mood and behaviour. Allergies can affect any system of the body, including the central nervous system. You may have heard of the Salem Witches, way back in Massachusetts in 1691. Historians believe their behaviour was caused by an ergot infestation. We now know that ergot poisoning can lead to convulsions, spasms, hallucinations, crawling sensations on the skin and erratic behaviors.
Sensitivities and allergies can cause a wide range of symptoms including fatigue, slowed thought processes, irritability, agitation, aggressive behaviour, nervousness, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, hyperactivity and learning disabilities.
Three things that suggest someone is allergic to particular foods are: food intolerance; lack of absorption of food; positive results from fasting. These people often have low blood histamine, a fast pulse and may be particularly fussy about food.
It may be that favourite foods are the ones causing the problems.
Iatrogenesis is “medically-induced illness”. Many people (most?) don’t realise there is such a thing.
Sometimes, this is translated as Adverse Drug Reactions. Many doctors clearly don’t want to consider this possibility. One way or another, when antidepressant withdrawal triggers chronic pain, this is often diagnosed as fibromyalgia.
When it creates chronic mental disturbance, it may well be diagnosed as Bipolar disorder or depression; or some other mental health problem.
So what happens then? They are given more medications to help them cope. And, increasingly, antidepressants are being used as pain-killers. Beware!
Further reading
Is there one thing that causes bipolar? No!
After 12 years searching for the cause of bipolar disorder, researchers concluded it has many causes. “No one genetic change, or chemical imbalance, or life event, lies at the heart of every case of the mental health condition once known as manic depression.”
https://neurosciencenews.com/bipolar-cause-8198/
Can antidepressants trigger manic symptoms?
Yes. There is almost universal agreement. This article is very readable, although quite old now. Don’t use antidepressants for bipolar!
https://psycheducation.org/antidepressants-in-bipolar-disorder-the-controversies/#kindling
Do five million Americans really have bipolar disorder?
Are you really bipolar or misdiagnosed due to the use of or abrupt discontinuation of an antidepressant?
Bipolar disorder has skyrocketed since the introduction of SSRI antidepressants – a shocking increase of 4,000% just from 1996 – 2004!
“These patients have been labeled, categorized, and offered an understanding of themselves as diseased, sick, and permanently broken.”
https://www.madinamerica.com/2016/03/do-5-million-americans-really-have-bipolar-disorder/
Antidepressant discontinuation-related mania
There is plenty of evidence of this deeply unsettling phenomenon.
https://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/antidep-withdrawal-mania.htm
“antidepressant discontinuation actually induces mania”
Without antidepressants would we have world bipolar day?
This traces the history of bipolar and its huge growth after antidepressants began to be prescribed.
https://www.drugawareness.org/without-antidepressants-would-we-have-world-bipolar-day/
“SSRI induced psychosis has accounted for eight percent of all hospital psychiatric admissions over a 14-month period.”
“Who am I nutritionally?” The answer to this question … may be crucial for persons with mental health problems.
This interesting article discusses the effects of nutrition and vitamin supplements on the brain and mental health.
https://www.walshinstitute.org/biochemical-individuality–nutrition.html
“Scientists tell us that the number of different genetic combinations possible in a child from the same two parents exceeds 42 million.” Just think about that!
Further reading for those looking for more information.
We cannot guarantee they all match support group guidelines or that they are easy to read. But they make fascinating reading, watching or listening. They may open your eyes to something unexpected.
Natural treatment for bipolar: (audio only)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bngPW55Po1k
Bipolar disorder may be an adverse effect of antidepressants
https://www.medicaldaily.com/bipolar-disorder-may-be-adverse-effect-venlafaxine-and-ssris-2-commonly-prescribed-365400
Do antidepressants increase the risk of mania and bipolar disorder?
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/12/e008341
Brain Scans Cannot Differentiate Between Mental Health Conditions:
https://www.madinamerica.com/2017/01/rain-scans-cannot-differentiate-mental-health-conditions/
https://www.realnatural.org/are-mental-disorders-the-result-of-neuroinflammation/
These next two statements have lost their source/s. They make good points.
“Some patients have relieved their symptoms of depression and Bipolar disorder by taking Essential Fatty Acids. Many of these have stopped using medications completely. Are these people still bipolar?”
“There is now a bipolar IV disorder. A patient with an adverse reaction to a medication, such as an antidepressant, who exhibits signs of mania, therefore, is labeled bipolar. If they had never taken the medication, they would never have been given that damaging diagnosis.”