Hello!

I am manic depressive, or, for the technical diagnosis, I have ultra-rapid cycling bipolar 1 disorder.

I wondered if anyone with manic depression experienced changes in their mood, either positive or negative, when doing Low Carb?

Also, does doing low carb interact with any medications?

Thank you!

Hi Seaneen,

I don't have brain cooties, but my hubby does. He is sort of low carbing...I say sort of because I do most of the shopping and cooking so the house is full of lc food and I make lc chow, but he still does the occasional pizza night with our youngest.

Anyway, there has been no interactions with his meds so far. He takes seroquel and lamictal. I would call LC neutral in his particular case. But with you being a rapid cycler, it may be different.

I am making a guess here, but if you do have problems, they will most likely appear as you wean your body from carbs. I was a tad moody when I first started getting in to ketosis. And I did have a few headaches too, but all of that went away fairly quickly.

I haven't had a problem in terms of mood.... You might notice a change during induction on Atkins but after induction you can up your carbs because the brain needs carbs to function properly....

i have the same form of bipolar. im not taking my meds so i dont know about that. induction made me really tired and depressed. after about 7 days or so i felt a lot better though and now i am feeling really good.

The woman who introduced me to the LC-WOE many years ago is Bi-Polar and she has had much success in all areas of her life since being on LC.

On Dr. Eades blog there was a woman who cured her disorder by low carbing. Me personally, I wouldn't have a hang nail without low carbing.

How have you managed to be a member of this board long enough to make 830 posts and still think that myth is true?

Your body can make all the glucose it needs, and the brain needs, out of protein by a process called gluconeogenisis.

In line with this. Carbs/glucose distroys brain cells which is the center of all nuerological disorders such as Parkinsons Disease and Alzheimers. Many of these patients have been treated successfully following some form of ketogenic/low carb diet. There is a forum that I belong to where families incorporate this diet to treat epilepsy. This was inspired by the movie "First Do No Harm". This is about a mom who discovers the ketogenic diet and makes an attempt to take her child from the clutches of a hospital which was not helping him at all. Once she is able to feed him in this manner his seizures ceased completely.

With my mood disorder, I do better eating more carbs imho. Personally my brain functions better and I am not as foggy. I apologize if I offended anyone just speaking from personal experience and from some of what I have read. The carbs don't have to be from bread, potatoes, etc. but I eat more veggies and my moods are much better.

I have a BPII rapid cycling diagnosis. I always have improved moods when LC'ing, which has been off-and-on since 1996.

Since a ketogenic diet is used for epilepsy, and epilepsy drugs are used for BP disorder, I believe it is a valid treatment for BP, not just not harmful to it.

This is not offensive at all. As low carbers, yes, our carbs come from veggies and even some protein products like eggs. Carbs should be limited to protect brain cells and other cells.

http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.c...ced-by-low.html

I don't know about BP disorder but I know that some people are having success with brain issues with gluten free diets. I would imagine that a GF low carb diet would be even better (by far).

Check out the Gluten File in my signature there's a lot on brain health in there (neurology).

Those who are interested in Dr McCleary's recommendations for improving Brain Health via better nutrition may like to visit his website and maybe buy his book.

I've put his recommendations for supplements on my Website but he's also very keen on us all eating more fish, berries and green veg, eggs and avocados also receive and special mention as do spices and coffee, nuts and seeds washed down with a little wine.
His weekly meal plan for brain friendly meals do not include potatoes, ordinary rice (wild rice gets a mention) or pasta. He does make a few suggestions that include a slice of multi-grain bread or cracker but these are the exception to the rule.

If you're worried about short-term effects while on Induction, as your body adapts to LC, you could ease into low-carbing more slowly.

When I first started eating LC, I didn't start off by eating 20g of carbs per day for a few weeks before increasing slightly. Instead I had a week of 100 grams or so, then a week of 70g or so, then slowly reduced my daily carbs until I got to 40g per day. I found this approach to be much easier for me, and less of a shock to my system.