This is Part 2 in a 2 Part Series. To read Part 1 See Bipolar Disorder: When Medication Doesn’t Work
Before you read further I need to make two things VERY clear.
First, I am not a mental health professional. Everything I am sharing is based on my personal experience and I encourage you to do your own research, as I did, to find what is right for you. Some people respond well to medication and the side-effects are manageable. If that is the case, wonderful, the first piece of your puzzle is solved!
Second, if you do decide to try the supplements that I use, I strongly encourage you to do so under the care of a mental health professional–your psychiatrist, or a licensed psychologist. DO NOT EVER go off of psychotropic medications cold turkey or on your own. They are very dangerous and can have severe, sometimes life threatening withdrawal symptoms.
I DO NOT RECEIVE ANY COMPENSATION FOR RECOMMENDING THIS SUPPLEMENT. I RECOMMEND IT BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN SUCH A BLESSING IN MY LIFE.
If you are feeling that you may cause harm to yourself or someone else, please seek immediate professional assistance.
Pregnancy and Postpartum on Medication
Pregnancy brought an entirely new set of issues. Most of the mediations I took over the years were dangerous for pregnancy, so in order to safely navigate pregnancy I had to go off of all meds except one very low dose of an antidepressant. I had a plan set up with my psychiatrist and my obstetrician when my husband and I decided to try conceiving to make sure I was safe. Both of my pregnancies during this time followed the same trajectory. Each time I got severely depressed at the beginning of the pregnancy, in fact that was how I discovered I was pregnant each time. I was so depressed that I decided it was unwise to try this, and I was asked to take a pregnancy test before going back on my medications. Each time I was pregnant.
The first trimester I was depressed and very morning sick, but as soon as I began the second trimester I felt better physically and emotionally. The rest of the pregnancy was wonderful. I used to joke that the hormones of the second and third trimesters made my chemical imbalance disappear. The only real issue I had during my pregnancies was anxiety–excessive worry and nightmares–but even this wasn’t really too bad.
The real problems occurred about three months after I gave birth. The first three months postpartum were like a happy little bubble, and then the world came crashing down on me. Both times I began to rapid cycle, from depression to hypomania and back, and I had to stop breastfeeding immediately and go back on all my medications. Then the nightmare really began.
Each time I developed postpartum hyperthyroidism. My thyroid went into overdrive, I lost most of my hair, I lost an excessive amount of weight very quickly–I was eating a ton of food, but I was always hungry and I was 25 pounds underweight. I looked anorexic and some people thought I had developed an eating disorder. The worst symptom was that I was dizzy all the time and even passed out occasionally. I was afraid to drive or carry my baby because of it.
The postpartum hyperthyroidism corrected itself both times, but the second time was significantly worse and I was warned not to have any more children or I would destroy my thyroid.
Hospitalizations
In 2008, after ten years of treatment, I had two small children and I was clinically depressed and suicidal. This was the beginning of the hospitalizations. The first hospitalization covered a period of 6 weeks and included a full-course–12 treatments–of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which wiped out my memory of that time. I also experienced my first psychotic episode, which changed my diagnosis to Bipolar I.
The treating psychiatrist at that hospital didn’t believe me when I told her that I didn’t react well to lithium and insisted that I go on it. I became suicidal as a result and ended up with a second hospitalization. My primary psychiatrist notated my file with lithium as an allergy after that. After I was released from the hospital for a second time my mood swings were so severe that my husband didn’t know what to do anymore. I had serious personality changes, intense anger and hypersexuality, and I attempted suicide, resulting in another hospitalization at a third facility.
When I was finally released from that facility I felt like my life had no value. I had actively sought treatment, done everything my doctors told me to do, and nothing worked. I felt like my life was going to just be about surviving. I felt sorry for my husband and children. I had no hope anymore that things would ever get any better, but I didn’t want to put my husband and children through a suicide, so I felt completely lost and helpless, and so did my doctor.
Treating the Cause–Finding the Supplements that Saved My Life
In early 2010 I was introduced to the first of two supplements that would change my life. My mother called me to tell me about a friend of hers whose husband had bipolar and had started taking a supplement that helped him lessen his mood swings. I was dubious because I had tried some natural supplements before that didn’t do anything for me. But, I didn’t feel like I had much to lose at this point and my doctor agreed that it wouldn’t hurt to try, so I started taking it.
Over the following couple of months I started to feel overmedicated with my mood stabilizer and my doctor slowly titrated me off of it. I was cautiously optimistic. The most dramatic change for me was the cessation of the migraines that had started after I had ECT. I was so excited, but I stayed on my antidepressants because I didn’t feel safe going off of them.
A few months later a good friend of mine told me about a supplement called EMPowerPlus that was produced by a nonprofit company called True Hope. This company was dedicated to helping people with chemical imbalances to live healthy, mentally balanced lives through supplementation aimed at balancing out vitamin and mineral deficiencies common in many people with chemical imbalances in the brain. What was more, they had research to back it up that I was able to provide to my doctor. They had 35 clinical trials at different universities across the United States and Canada, and an 80% success rate with helping people manage their illness with few if any symptoms.
After I provided the literature about EMPowerPlus to my doctor he was happy to help me transition off of my medications onto this new supplement. He was as desperate to find a solution as I was. Over the next few months, with the help of my doctor and True Hope’s nutritional support staff, I carefully titrated off of my medication and onto the supplement. It felt like a miracle. As my mind began to clear and heal I started to “wake up” and my brain felt healthy for the first time in my adult life. I still had a lot of work to do–counseling, exercise, meditation and yoga–but taking the supplements put me firmly on the path and made mental wellness possible.
Pregnancy and Postpartum on the Supplements
One amazing benefit to taking the EMPowerPlus was the healthy experience with my third pregnancy. Because it is a natural vitamin and mineral supplement it was not only safe for pregnancy but highly beneficial. I experienced no symptoms of depression during the pregnancy, and most exciting I had no health issues postpartum. My thyroid has worked perfectly over the past 10 years, and I had no recurrence of the postpartum hyperthyroidism. In fact I had to work hard, like most women, to lose the ample “baby weight” that I gained during the pregnancy.
EMPowerPlus is Unique, not Just Another Vitamin Supplement
One important lesson I learned over the past decade is that EMPowerPlus is not a “normal” vitamin and mineral supplement. It won’t hurt someone to take it for general health purposes, but it is specifically designed for people who suffer from mood disorders like bipolar, depression and ADHD. Other vitamin and mineral supplements will not do the same thing, as I discovered for myself one year when I tried to switch to a different supplement I thought would work the same. I found myself cycling between mood swings about five months after I started the other supplement, and I finally recognized the mistake and switched back a few months later.
True Hope’s founders developed the supplement based on common vitamin and mineral deficiencies found in many people that suffer from these mood disorders. Over the years the formula has been refined to meet the specific nutritional needs necessary to help people with bipolar disorder, depression and ADHD to have more balance in their mood and mind. They have also continued to do research and discovered additional supplements that help to further refine and personalize the treatment for each individual.
Over the past ten years, with the help of the True Hope nutritional support staff, I have been able to tweak the supplementation, figuring out the appropriate dosage, healing my digestive system so that it could appropriately absorb the nutrients, and adding in a few additional nutrients that my body was deficient in so that I could experience optimal mental health. With these supplements–together with my work with counseling, exercise, meditation and yoga–I am learning to live a beautiful, productive and hope-filled life.
This is the First Step on Your Journey to Mental Wellness
Again, I am not advocating that someone go off of their medications on their own, especially not cold turkey–that is dangerous and can be life-threatening.
I transitioned off of my medications and onto the supplements under the care of my psychiatrist. True Hope can provide your doctor with the documentation on the clinical trials that will help him or her to see the efficacy of this treatment option.
These supplements may not be right for everyone, but they were right for me. If you are struggling finding a medication(s) that work for you and you feel hopeless, I encourage you to investigate EMPowerPlus with your psychiatrist to see if it might be right for you.
The path to mental wellness is begun by first giving your brain the help it needs to function well–either through medication or supplementation. Then you will truly be capable of taking responsibility for your life and working towards real mental wellness.
