Aug 14, 2024 – After receiving a bipolar depression Diagnosis in response to a suicide After her attempt in 2014, Tiffany Jean Taylor was prescribed antipsychotics and antidepressants for treatment and talk therapy was advisable. But when she found herself in the identical hospital 4 months later, Taylor experienced a full-circle moment when she realized she wasn't improving. She knew she needed to try something different.
“I went home and really started to tackle my holistic mental health journey,” said Taylor, 38, who has been off psychiatric medications for a decade now. “It was at that exact moment that I decided to explore different theories and different modalities for my healing.”
People with bipolar depression are sometimes treated with Antipsychotics for mania and Antidepressants with depressive symptoms. However, some patients like Taylor are in search of other ways to treat the condition without the usage of prescription medications, said Maria Ingalla, a psychiatric nurse practitioner and owner of Paperflower Psychiatry, which has multiple locations in Arizona.
“I've had a lot of patients who just weren't interested in medications or had tried medications before and had really bad side effects,” Ingalla said. “The medication is lifelong because it is a chronic disease.”
While prescription medications are the first type of treatment for bipolar disorder, “I think it's important to be clear: medications are not the only form of treatment for bipolar disorder.” There are so many other things that will be done to handle the issues “ease the symptoms that are often associated with bipolar disorder and particularly bipolar depression,” said Dr. John Leslie Beyer, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine.
Chemical imbalance within the brain play a job in bipolar disorder, and prescription medications will help balance these brain chemicals. But psychiatric medications don't “add or subtract” chemicals in your brain, Ingalla said. Rather, they'll stabilize an overactive chemical that would trigger certain bipolar symptoms.
Historically, considered one of the hallmark signs of bipolar disorder has been a severe and chronic illness during which an individual experiences an episode of depression or mania that they can't control, Beyer said. It can be vital to notice that bipolar disorder is a recurrent illness in 90% of patients, meaning they are going to experience one other episode in some unspecified time in the future of their lives.
But over the past decade or so, the term “bipolar disorder” has been used more fluidly. Because the disorder is known more in a spread between normal emotions and impaired emotions, the term is commonly used not just for full bipolar disorder, but additionally for a milder tendency of moods to diverge from an individual's baseline, Beyer said.
For the latter, nondrug treatments could possibly be an option, especially given certain negative effects related to prescription medications, he said. One of probably the most worrisome negative effects of psychiatric medications are complications that may arise inside the medication liver and the Kidneys. And some medications may also affect your health blood sugarwhich can increase the danger of diabetes.
“I think it starts with recognizing the impact that bipolar illness has on that person's life,” Beyer said. “If it is the case that it has caused significant functional problems, problems in relationships, problems in the workplace, problems with divorce – which is known to be the case with bipolar disorder – then I would not hesitate at all to say that we need to think about medication .”
So who is likely to be a great candidate for a more holistic approach? If your mood is stable but you were diagnosed with bipolar disorder during a traumatic period in your life during which you struggled with emotional ups and downs, chances are you'll be a candidate for exploring treatment options outside of medication. This is particularly true in case you are stable but were diagnosed between the ages of 16 and 24, when the brain remains to be developing.
“It's possible that as the person's brain matures, they've settled into their life to the point where they're able to deal with some of the challenges that arose earlier in a different way than they seemed to have during a bipolar episode,” Beyer said.
“For those people who don't have high-risk bipolar disorder – that is, they have severe and persistent mental illness – we probably need to be open-minded about something that happened during a person's adolescence.”
But remember: It's vital to seek advice from your psychiatrist before stopping taking medication for bipolar depression, as many medications require you to slowly reduce the dose in response to your doctor's instructions. Be much more careful if you've severe mental health problems, corresponding to: destructive manic episodesIngalla said.
“It is possible for many people — but not all — to find a good space to heal and maintain good mental health while maintaining a good lifestyle” while attempting to avoid medication, she said.
After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder six times by six doctors, making multiple hospital visits, and affected by severe depression, Caitlin Pyle was prescribed nearly a dozen antipsychotics and antidepressants at various times over several years. Pyle, 37, began exploring possible causes for her mental health issues, corresponding to increasing stress from a tumultuous divorce. Now, after 4 years of healing from bipolar depression without psychiatric medications, the Florida-based transformative life coach said self-knowledge is a necessary a part of recovery, and in addition refused to simply accept the favored narrative which you can't heal from bipolar disorder without prescribed drugs Medication. Taylor, who now works as a mental wellness coach and practitioner in Ohio, shares this sentiment.
“I had to change my identity. I had to change my behavior. I had to change my reaction. I had to get in touch with my feelings. I had to connect with myself. I had to be aware of myself. I had to be responsible for myself. I had to fulfill myself,” she said.
Possible non-drug treatments
One type of non-drug treatment is social rhythm therapy, which Beyer says has proven to be an amazing alternative for treating unstable bipolar moods. This kind of psychotherapy focuses on lifestyle management and maintaining a day by day routine that features things like a healthy food regimen, regular exercise, self-care practices, and maintaining an everyday day by day routine Sleep-wake cycle.
“There is some really good data about its effectiveness in treating both patients on medication and patients off medication,” Beyer said. “The same ideas that support what social rhythm therapy is are also just good ideas about how to help people manage their own moods and take care of themselves by recognizing if they have mood problems and figuring out where “Stress affects mood.” Reactivity.”
According to Ingalla, traveling, late nights and certain stimulants — corresponding to caffeine, alcohol and medicines — can trigger unstable moods in bipolar disorder. Exposure to brilliant light within the morning will help regulate your mood. If you're having a manic episode, try dark therapy, suggested Ingalla. Between 6:00 p.m. and eight:00 a.m., go right into a pitch-dark room and take a look at to calm down. I'm getting a pair Blue light glasses may be helpful when practicing dark therapy.
Don't let the diagnosis define you
Not letting the diagnosis limit you and believing you'll be able to get through seemingly unbearable moments is paramount to recovery, Taylor said. She remembered a time when depression had left her bedridden for several years.
“I had to be honest and say that no one is going to get me out of this bed,” she said. “I am literally the only person who can force myself to move my body, socialize, shower and eat.”
Taylor also said that she experienced fewer mania symptoms when she broke off relationships during which she felt disrespected or during which certain boundaries were violated.
Remember that your doctor will play a key role in any plans to regulate and even stop medications entirely, Beyer said.
“It's important to have a good working relationship with your doctor to discuss things like, 'What should I pay attention to?' or 'What are the early signs that I might actually have underlying bipolar disorder?'” he said.
If you and your doctor agree, you need to stop taking bipolar medications and seek the advice of a great doctor therapist will probably be crucial for the subsequent a part of your healing journey because they may also show you how to stay on top of things and monitor your emotions, Ingalla said. “Medicines can do a lot of things, but in my opinion therapy does everything.”