I suffer from a mood disorder that was diagnosed as Bi Polar disorder, but feel that I suffer from PTSD from my time in the Navy and severe brain chemical imbalance resulting in erratic behavior and depression because of my time in the Navy (extreme stress and poor sleeping habits) and poor diet. I'm labelled as Bi Polar by the Veteran Affairs (not trying to knock them, they try the best they can for veterans). I find that when I exercise, eat right, do yoga, and seeded meditation my brain and body function properly. A good book to read about broken brains, as the author puts it, is 'The Ultra Mind Solution' by Mark Hyman. I've also found that diet and exercise aren't enough for me so I'm finally content with staying on medicines that don't make me feel terrible.
I've been on a number of anti-psychotics and they made me feel suicidal and generally weird. Recently I completed my sixth stay in a closed mental ward at the VA in the last three years and now I'm finally back on Lithium and a new medication to me called Geodon. Both mood stabilizers or one of them, not sure since I've been taking them together, help a lot and I'm finally feeling better.
My plan is to be well so that I never have to go back. Once I start exercising and change my diet etc again I'm sure I'll feel even better. I took Lithium before but the side affects of constant urination and very loose stool affected my work, at the time, so I had to switch to something else.
About my diet. Unless I went to a Functional Medicine provider I wouldn't know that I'm allergic to soy, gluten, and dairy. All or just one of them can affect body and brain function. I had blood, urine, stool, and saliva done to see what was going on with my body. I also found out I have hook worm and another bad bacteria in my digestive track. The provider sent away my lab results to an expert to figure out what medicines to give to me to rid me of the parasites and bad bugs in my gut. Now I have to clear the medicines with my Psychiatrist to be sure that they don't interact with my other medications. The gut is very important and in some circles is known as the second brain - more on that in another post. I think everyone with mental issues should see a functional medicine provider in addition to whatever treatment they are seeking.
The real reason I wanted to blog today, but needed to do a short introduction, is that the VA found that I had a severe deficiency of Vitamin D. Makes sense since prior to the diagnosis I was sleeping about 12 hours a day. So once I started taking both vitamin D2 and D3 and then more sun, once summer came around, the depression and severe need for sleep went away.
I continue to try to be well and I'm glad I found NKMT today from reading Joe Pantoliano's wikipedia page. It's nice to spend 30 minutes or so getting what's on my mind out there. Thank you for the opportunity. I'll try to write more, because I've read a lot of books and read a lot of information on the internet.
Tags: VitaminD Diet Lithium Geodon Exercise
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