I'm happy you're feeling better...it is definitely a journey!

TJ

I want to weep!

I'm on a list for people who want to talk about Taubes. Someone posted a message the other day about the ketogenic diet for epilepsy. Old news, but someone else came on and said that she had BP and she'd noticed that when she was in ketosis she could reduce her Lamictal from 75 mg to 25 mg. She asked if anyone had heard anything about the use of ketogenic diet for BP.

I told her that I'd heard such a theory, but it hadn't been formally tested because they couldn't find enough research subjects willing to eat a high fat diet. I gave her the email address of a psychiatry prof who was interested in the subject. I also asked her if I could post about her success on the NAMI forum.

Pooh! I posted about the ketogenic diet and the diet was soundly attacked. Not balanced! Hard on the kidneys! Not enough fruit!

I mean for heaven's sake. Would you rather take powerful psychotropics for the rest of your life or maybe try a high fat diet and see if it helps? Are we so afraid of dietary fat in this country that psychiatric meds seem benign in comparison?

So frustrating!

I have read a lot about celiac disease/gluten intolerance and I've come across several articles claiming that many bipolar, schizophrenic and depressed people might also be gluten intolerant or have celiac disease. That may be one reason why a ketogenic diet works well on many levels for them. I have a bipolar niece that I'd love to help.

I posted about going low carb on a mental health forum. You would have thought I was advocating eating broken glass! LOL

From all I have learned about low carb and mental illness over the past decade, I DO BELIEVE there is some kind of connection with seizures and mental illness. Maybe the underlying brain structure can result in MI for some people and seizures for others while some get both.

Don't know for sure. I guess I will have to wait for a study.

I do know that the brain is mostly fat and requires a lot of fuel. It makes perfect sense to me that giving your brain crappy fuel would make it not run correctly.

Thanks for making me laugh about it! I've been getting myself worked up into a dither over it. It makes me sad that someone reading that forum might think, "Gosh, I'd like to try that diet, but I'm scared of eating so much fat! Guess I'll just stick with my Zyprexa."



I'm convinced too, but I also have no evidence. I glanced through a couple of books on insulin resistance/metabolic syndrome and MI. Both authors noted the correlation then pretty much concluded that mentally ill people don't take very good care of themselves, so they become obese and diabetic and have heart attacks.

If we continue to try and make our new research fit our old, unproven hypotheses we'll never make any progress.



Yep. But, hey, that dietary fat is dangerous! Far safer to down whatever medication your psychiatrist is pushing this week!

The conversation on that forum is all about which meds they're taking and how to deal with the side effects. No one ever comes on talking about how well their lives are going now that they're on meds.

One woman came on outraged because her pdoc wouldn't prescribe a sleeping pill. Seems she can't sleep at night but she sleeps during the day. So her doctor told her to stop sleeping during the day. Makes sense? Well, a number of people responded telling her to switch doctors! I mentioned that a low-carb diet cured my lifelong insomnia. No one even responded. My comment was ignored.

Ah, but suggest a ketogenic diet and all of a sudden they're all wanting to consult their doctors! Scary, dangerous, radical diet!

I've heard that too. And I have a son with SPMI I'd love to help. He won't try to modify his diet though. Too hard and he doesn't believe it will help.

My niece won't try it either. Too hard to change. Who would pay for the higher grocery bill? (She doesn't have to pay for her meds because she is on govt assistance.)

Sadly, for many people it is just easier to take a pill than to take charge of their diet and try something different. I've been there myself. But I'm not going back. Being healthy feels so much better.

Can I bump this topic? Anyone out there still interested in ketogenic diets for bi-polar? I have MILD rapid cycle - weeks on weeks off, and I'd like to connect with someone in the same situation. I'm not on any meds. Get headaches! I'm not really sure if what I have is rapid cycle bi-po or simply depression. But the ups and downs seem to be a pattern which makes me wonder.

I will re-start meat/fat to see if that will help as I've just begun a down cycle after almost a month of feeling great - but I've also started to eat many more carbs...wonder if they are connected. I hate to be a woosie but I really wonder if being in ketosis could make a difference?

I'd appreciate any advice/support from anyone familiar with MILD rapid cyclers. (I realize no one will give MEDICAL advice but experience is a great teacher!)

I'm still interested. I don't have BP myself, but I know of a woman - unfortunately not on this forum - who is using a ketogenic diet to control her BP. She posts on a yahoo group called LowCarbHighFat. Her name is Susan, and I think she's pretty active on that group, although it's been a while since I participated there.

I first ran across her on a different yahoo group. She mentioned that she'd gone on a low carb diet for weight loss and found that her BP symptoms lessened and she was able to reduce the dosage of her medication.

I gave her the name and email of a researcher in Kentucky who is very interested in the potential for the ketogenic diet as a treatment for BP - Rifaat S El-Mallakh, rselma01~louisville.edu. I believe he has asked her to monitor her symptoms and make reports back to him for a year. She has agreed to do that.

Apparently it's difficult to find enough people with BP to try the ketogenic diet for research purposes. As I've said, when I brought it up on a forum for those suffering from BP, I was booed down. It's not safe - although apparently powerful psychotropic drugs are!

On a related note, my son stopped taking his meds about 3 weeks ago. He's convinced he can control his problems with willpower alone. A couple of days ago we were talking on the phone and he suddenly asked if I thought the FBI was monitoring the call. <sigh!> Here we go again.

Hey all I am new here and stumbled across this thread while searching the net for info on ketogenic diet and bipolar disorder. I've been checking the net every now and then to find others doing the same but so far have found very limited info.

I was diagnosed bipolar 7 years ago now and have been on a wide range of drugs to try and manage my moods. I have been using the keto diet to control my bipolar with a much greater success than any other medication or method I have tried.

Hope to share more experiences with others utilizing the keto diet to manage bipolar!

Welcome, Fibs!

One interesting thing that might apply here is the effect of coconut oil on the brain. In this article, it deals with alzheimer's and not BP...but you get the idea. Seems to me that even if a high fat diet isn't a cure, proper fats help the brain work better even when there is illness.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/aging/article879333.ece

After six months in ketosis, I am now off my bipolar meds altogether. It was a bit rough, went off and back on twice, but the third time appears to be the charm. I have been on Lamictal for years, and finally figured out that the skin rash that my doctor said was a fungal infection was the Lamictal rash. It is totally gone. Yay!

Costello 22 writes:
I'm still interested. I don't have BP myself, but I know of a woman - unfortunately not on this forum - who is using a ketogenic diet to control her BP. She posts on a yahoo group called LowCarbHighFat. Her name is Susan, and I think she's pretty active on that group, although it's been a while since I participated there.

I first ran across her on a different yahoo group. She mentioned that she'd gone on a low carb diet for weight loss and found that her BP symptoms lessened and she was able to reduce the dosage of her medication.

I gave her the name and email of a researcher in Kentucky who is very interested in the potential for the ketogenic diet as a treatment for BP - Rifaat S El-Mallakh, rselma01~louisville.edu. I believe he has asked her to monitor her symptoms and make reports back to him for a year. She has agreed to do that.

Apparently it's difficult to find enough people with BP to try the ketogenic diet for research purposes. As I've said, when I brought it up on a forum for those suffering from BP, I was booed down. It's not safe - although apparently powerful psychotropic drugs are!

******************

Sorry, I don't know how to answer messages with the formatting I see in some notes. Hope I did this right so that it is clear to the readers.

That Susan would be me. I am completely off my meds now, although it took three tries. Three must be the charm, because it has been about two weeks, and I'm feeling pretty good most of the time. When I get agitated or depressed, I just tell myself it may only be for a day or two - and it usually is. I also try to get my keto reading up to at least 40 if I'm having a bad day. I am working with the doc in Louisville, and he said the keto diet is now my medicine, and the higher my reading, the higher the "dose." So if I have a bad day, I do hamburger with butter all day, and that usually gets things cleared up in a day or so.

He said I have stayed on the diet longer than anyone he has worked with. It isn't easy, but then, neither is anger and agitation and depression. My mood is much more stable now, and when it is a little rocky, I seem to be able to deal with it in a more rational manner.

Just hit the "quote" button at the bottom of the message you wish to reply to.



I'm so excited for you. Wish I could get my son to try this. Of course, it may not be the answer for him, but it would be worth a try.



It must be very challenging to stay on the diet. But getting rid of the negative feelings must be reinforcing. Low carb cured my life-long insomnia. Whenever I'm tempted to give up the diet (because I'm not losing anymore ) that's what keeps me on it. I hate insomnia!