Skeeweeaka, have you ever been tested for diabetes? How long have you been on any type of low carb diet? Have you seen Barry Groves' web site? I wonder if this link

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/hypoglycemia.html

might be of interest to you.

ohhh please please all you people her check you blood glucose it is the one advice i received i am so thankful i did. I have never been diagnosed with bipolar but i always had depression. I realised that my depression and enrgy directly coincided with blood sugar lows.

But hypoglycemia is caused by too much carbs in the first place...

Hey Costello...

No I definitely cannot take either of those meds ever again, however, I take seizure meds to control my seizures.

I can do the 80% fat, I am following Eat Fat, Get Thin, but based on that diet I can have up to 40 grams of carbs and that keeps me satisfied. I have noticed that if I go very low carb 20 or less, my depression gets worse! I try to get in 3 servings of vegetables a day and one fruit...and even with that it is not enough fiber...so I take supplements...


TJ

Lamictal is a good example of this.

I have a loved one with bipolar and a side of seasonal effective disorder. Not only do I recommend low carb/high fat, I am trying to get said loved one to up their vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is a pre-hormone and low levels cause all kinds of problems.

I've been taking D3 for about six weeks...5000 i.u. but haven't noticed a difference. I have suffered from depression since the age of 12, however, so it is clinical.... We'll see if I notice a difference, winter is coming and it is worse during that time...

TJ

We received our MCT oil last night, and each of us took some. Yuck! Drinking oil! It made both of our throats itchy, and it gave me a stomach ache. Hopefully it will actually help, because my son is barely in ketosis. I think I'm going to have to ask him to eat less protein. And he's already doing this to humor me.

Costello, at least he is willing to do it to humour you.

Maybe he will feel better while he is still "humouring you" and find some motivation for the diet of his own.

So far I haven't seen any improvement in my son's condition, nor has he. I'm not sure how well he's staying in ketosis or abiding by the diet. I believe he's trying, but he tends to forget things.

We're on day 13 of this thing, so it's early days yet.

It could take MONTHS to see improvement. Even psych meds can take months to show any effect.

You can keep trying. The fact that they know so little about human brains, does at least mean there is room for hope.

It could be really hard for a very depressed person to resist comfort foods. It could be very hard for a manic person to apply discipline at all. Does he want to feel better? Does he believe that this could make him feel better?

No, I don't think he believes it will help. It's only the fact that I've lost 40+ pounds and had some other improvements on Atkins that's keeping him in the game.

I'm not sure what he wants. He seems to have a weird lack of understanding of his situation, a lack of insight. He has flashes of understanding that something is really wrong, but most of the time he doesn't seem to "get it."

In general he seems confused about everything. It makes me very sad. I work in a law school, and many of our students are about my son's age. They're bright and interested in their work. And my son is so confused and lost. The contrast makes me sad.

I hope the diet will help, but I'm feeling very discouraged right now.

I missed where you said what meds your son is on & whether or not he has a therapist that he likes.

It sounds like your son could be experiencing anosognosia, a common symptom of Bipolar disorder (& other psychiatric disorders, like Schizophrenia and Alzheimers).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anosognosia

If he was recently diagnosed he may also be experiencing denial &, if he was recently medicated, may still be experiencing symptoms full force. As someone else mentioned, they take a long time to kick in, and even after they do there is a complete 360 in adjustments one must process. It's difficult to explain, but after medication minimizes symptoms one is left wondering who they really are.

Before I was correctly medicated I related my symptoms as part of me. I was "Crazy" "Free-spirited" "Irresponsible" etc. It's taken me years of sucessful medication & therapy to figure out who I am and what my goals are. Before meds, everything ~ especially my Self ~ was unpredictable. Stability is a remarkable adjustment to make for someone who is used to chaos.

Your son may benefit from finding a Bipolar support group. Some are "formal," like those through DBSA, but you might find others in your community through places like meetup.com

http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/Pag...r?pagename=home

You will also benefit from finding a support group for families of Bipolar individuals or a seasoned therapist. Living with Bipolar disorder is hard, but loving a person with Bipolar disorder is harder.

I hope things come into an upswing for you both.

I agree that it does take months and months sometimes to see any positive changes from meds so it might take much longer for him to see any improvement via diet as well. Personally, I had to up my veggies to see any real change in how I felt... I do have more energy on the plan and less brain fog...that for me is a huge thing...but I cycle rapidly so I struggle...

Hope that he sticks with it long enough to notice some sort of change...

TJ

Zyprexa, for the last 3 months; Pexeva, for the last 1 month; Geodon, for the last 4 days. He told his pdoc he was concerned about weight gain on Zyprexa, so she's added the Geodon and will gradually phase out the Zyprexa. I'm glad. I'm grateful that the Zyprexa finally brought his psychosis under control, but frankly the drug scares me.

He doesn't have a therapist. I've urged him repeatedly to ask his pdoc or case manager for CBT or DBT, but he won't. For the last three years he's been resistant to meds. Now suddenly they're his savior. He was clearly better last night, and we both think it's the Geodon. He doesn't seem to understand there's a downside to the medications, and they won't solve everything. But drugs are easy. Changing your diet or your way of think is hard work and doesn't show immediate results.



From the wiki article: "The three kinds of insight that are most vulnerable to severe mental illnesses are the awareness:

that a person is suffering from a mental disorder
of the effects of medication; and
of the social consequences of having a mental disorder. "

He used to have the first, but now seems aware that he's ill. Now, though, he's suffering from the last.



Another thing I've suggested that he won't follow up on.

I feel very frustrated, but he may just have to figure this stuff out for himself. He wants to quit the diet, because he wants to eat potato chips and be able to drop in on his aunt and uncle and eat whatever their eating. I think I'll just let him stop. He doesn't believe it will work anyway.

I have two cousins who are totally disabled by this illness. I just don't want that to be my son. I want him to fight back.



I recently took a DBT class with my younger son. I just covered the section on radical acceptance. I think it's time to radically accept that J is an adult who will make his own decisions and have his own successes and failures.

I'm concerned that his psychiatrist has him on an SSRI. SSRIs are a deadly combination with Bipolar disorder... they do NOT help with the illnesses' depression and they trigger manic episodes = extremely depressed person with the energy & mentality of a madman.

http://www.google.com/search?source...r+disorder+SSRI

Please don't let fear of Zyprexa or weight gain keep him from the drug. What he needs most now is stability, and Zyprexa is the "miracle" drug just for that. It's unique because it helps mania AND depression. His doctor can prescribe him METFORMIN to combat the metabolic syndrome.

As for the other med he's on:

http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Se...&ContentID=7399

Your son sounds like he's depressed. This medication is an antipsychotic, which helps with mania/psychosis/delusions etc.

& I agree, the most important thing for your family to focus on right now is stabalizing your son & finding the right medications.

Here is an article listing medications approved to treat Bipolar disorder: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publ...tion.shtml#pub7

Here is a fun little message board & website that your son might enjoy:

http://www.crazymeds.us

http://www.crazymeds.us/CrazyTalk/index.php?

You are totally right about acceptance, but he is very lucky to have you. I hope you find a good therapist / support group for yourself & your other family members. I can't imagine what it's like to go through watching your son in the tremendous amounts of pain he's in.