What to do to treat bipolar naturally?
I have been unmedicated for over 10 years, I have slow cycling bipolar. For a few of those years in the beginning I used marijuana to treat and it worked well, however that is not legal and I need a treatment that will help both the depression and manic parts that does not involve pharmaceuticals. I've been able to control until lately but have had some changes in my life that are making it hard to control. Suggestions? (not looking for a doctors opinion)
Not a doctor, so this is just the insight of an herbalist. This is not medical advice, I'll just tell you my own experience.
St. John's Wort is an herb that has been used historically to treat depression. I use it myself, and am a fan of its cheerful effects. Instead of sitting around full of anxiety wondering what I should be doing, or what I might be forgetting, I find myself sitting around thinking "hey, everything's alright." I drink it as a tea - here's how to prepare it: http://leetea.hubpages.com/hub/Brewing- … s-Wort-Tea
Kava kava is an herb I use to curb my urge to drink alcohol at night. It helps quell my need to want more, or want different, and helps me be ok, even feel good, about right now. I buy it ground up and drink 1 Tbsp mixed with warm chocolate milk. It's grainy, thick, and makes your tongue a little numb. It tastes pretty bad, but the effects are pleasant bordering on euphoric.
Ginkgo biloba is an herb that helps with mental function and memory recall. When my mind is feeling sluggish or I'm getting frustrated with tasks in my day, Ginkgo tea helps get me back on my game. I steep 1 tsp. in 1 cup hot water for 5 minutes.
Eleuthero root (aka siberian ginseng) helps with physical stamina and energy. I steep 1 tsp to 1 cup of hot water for 5-10 minutes. I make a tea with both ginkgo and ginseng, you can find that here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/114998632/ … um-ginkgo?
Getting into the more exotics, kratom is an herb that mimicks the effects of an opiate without being one. It can seriously downshift your mental and physical activity, but I find it comes with a moderate amount of anxiety.
I understand bipolar symptoms can range extreme along a "manic/depressive" spectrum. So for me, I would treat symptoms individually as they come. My mother is a manic depressive bipolar schizophrenic that has been on pharmaceuticals for over 20 years. If she could be stable without them I'd have some teas for her to try...but weaning her off her medication has not proven successful, and I foresee she'll need them throughout the rest of her life. Even still, she likes my chamomile, lavender, and peppermint teas for gentle relaxation. My shop makes aromatherapy sprays too, body and pillow sprays, specifically designed to relax, rest, release, and renew. My business stems from my desire to help others like my mom naturally - maybe it can help you
Be well,
Lee
Thank you for the in depth look at the different herbs. I guess I need to do some research and figure out what may work best for me. Thanks!
Small warning on Kava Kava - it can be addictive and you can overdose on it!
A lot of people note improvement in this condition by removing all additives from their diets. Certain food allergies can cause tremendous shifts in mood and mood cycling. I would find a naturopath who is knowledgeable in this area.
I'm bipolar and have been unmedicated for two and a half years. I'm rapid cycling, though, so I don't know if there's a difference. There are a few things I do and things that I watch for.
No Nutrasweet. In anything. It worsens my mood swings. I found that out after breaking a Diet Cherry Pepsi addiction - it's been almost three years and I still crave the stuff.
I try to watch excessive caffeine and sugar intake. They're all nice and all while you're eating/drinking them, but the crash after has a bad effect on my mood.
Exercise helps and taking vitamins to make sure that my body doesn't let me down on top of everything else is important, too.
I do take a supplement that I get from VitaCost called Mood Plus - it's got St John's Wort and 5HTP (tryptophan). I take one before I go to bed and I find it helps me regulate my moods.
by cvwearle 13 years ago
Looking for info on how to treat bipolar disorder naturally without medications
by Poppy 7 years ago
What helps cure anxiety and bipolar disorder?I've been diagnosed with both and given a week off work. What should/shouldn't I do in this time I've been given?
by cpettijo 12 years ago
Is Manic Depression the same thing as bipolar disorder
by Simone Haruko Smith 11 years ago
We all encounter diseases, disorders, and conditions some way or another- usually firsthand, though even more frequently through friends, coworkers, and family members. What have you learned from your experience that might help others suffering from a particular condition? Share your knowledge and...
by Rosemary Amrhein 12 years ago
I am a survivor of a dysfunctional family,emotional abuse, and bipolar.....I'd love to meet and greet and possibly make friends withand follow, others who are SURVIVORS (of any kind)be it cancer, alcohol, depression, anxiety, you name it!!I could use more inspiration in my life!Let's make a club...
by Rosemary Amrhein 11 years ago
The following is an account of what I now remember better:Starting to RememberA Reign of ControlI had a normal childhood up until my 15th year when Catherine and my mom started influencing me. Catherine told me to wear nun clothes like her. I lost my friends. Then she decided to enter a...
Copyright © 2024 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2024 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |