Subject: Re:Bipolar Illness

From: Cynthia Patridge <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 1995 13:08:02 -0500

I have just found this newsgroup and am grateful.
Our daughter(21) has mood swings; she has recently been hospitalized for 
a short period.  I would like to know some of the best herbs for this 
illness.
She is taking some now.
Cynthia
P.S. Any help will be appreciated greatly!!!

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Cynthia Patridge   Email:[email-masked]

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From: "Cissy . Thorpe" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 1995 16:46:16 -0500

Cynthia - 

My daughter was diagnosed bipolar at 16.  I STRONGLY suggest you and your 
daughter (and anyone else that cares about her) find out all you can 
about her particular case.  Is she a rapid cycler?  Is she more manic?  
All of these will determine what type of herbs/meds/exercise/diet she 
should follow. 

My daughter (now 22) is a rapid cycler and controls mostly her depressive 
cycles with exercise and low sugar/low caffiene diet.  She takes the 
occasional herbal concoction to help her sleep (mostly camomile) and 
ginsing when she is really feeling "blue"

She tends to ignore the manic states because they do little more than 
wear her (and everyone around her) out!  We try to remind her that not 
all of us are feeling what she is, and we don't want to: stay up late and 
talk, go for a ride at midnight, cook everything in the freezer right 
now..all these are things that she has done when she is manic.  She does 
much better now that she is older and has had a child. 

Good luck - but find out all you can.  Patty Duke's book is a pretty good 
overview of the condition. 

Cissy

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From: [email-masked] (Norman L. Rust)
Date: Sat, 12 Aug 1995 08:44:12 -0700

In article <[email-masked]>,

> > P.S. Any help will be appreciated greatly!!!

 My sister has been bi-polar for 11 years she is 34 now, she has
episodes    about every 6 months, she is scizo -affective also so when she
is manic or depressed she starts hearing voices or seeing things or is
dillusional(sp) she has to stay away from mints and caffine, even when she
is not in an episode. She has taken a valarian,cammoile,and hops
combination, it did not stop her mind from racing but it did help to relax
her body. She hasn't tried passion flower yet . She has had blood tests to
rule out thyroid problems as well allergy testing she does not have high
histiamins in her blood, if she did her illness could be allergy caused.
 My sister takes her lithium and tegretol regularly, she has only recently
started taking tegretol, but it hasn't stopped her cycling yet. She has
been able to reduce her symptoms thru high doses of esterized niacin, and
an average dose of magnesium, when she is on loxitane for psycotic
behavior she takes vitamin E to help prevent some of the bad sideaffects. 
  She has only recently quit eating caffine , chocolate and mints, even
the smell of peppermint oil can cause her to hear voices. altho our
approach to her illness is not entirely "natural" we are trying to
intergrate as much healthy stuff as feasible, and hopefully increasing her
quality of life.
 Sharon