Posted by bleauberry on February 12, 2012, at 10:56:56
In reply to All you wonderful experts on bipolar meds, posted by 10derheart on February 8, 2012, at 17:54:39
Honestly, most or all of the routine lab tests done for depression patients will not show anything unusual. Not helpful in my opinion. The tests are good however to make sure there isn't something obviously wrong, such as a glucose spectrum thing or urine thing or whatever. If there is something unhealthy going on, we need to know about it, but it probably will not play any significant role in the depression treatment.
The tests are not going to show toxins in cells (petroleums, aluminum, cadmium, mercury, lead, plastics, herbicides, pesticides). They are not going to show occult stealth unsuspected chronic pathogenic infections of either viral, bacterial, or fungal origin. They are not going to give a good picture of what the immune system is doing or what the state of inflammation is. I mention these particular topics because in my opinion the vast majority of psych patients have one or more of these as the primary root cause of all their problems.
In my early days as a new psych patient I thought like everyone else that the doctors know what they are doing and that the drugs they say work actually work. Neither of those are reliably true. Despite our perception of having advanced medicine, what we know is far less than what we don't know.
Prescribing an AAP for what looks to someone to be bipolar is common. And often enough to keep trying it, they can be rapidly helpful. The problem I see is that most of us look at this approach as THE approach, the ONLY approach, and that somehow this one little pill is going to fix all the faulty biochemistries and damage? I think that approach is what keeps most of us sick. Illness is too complicated to approach that way, in my opinion. The AAP, as I see it, should be viewed simply as a temporary 'symptom manager', but the real work is other stuff.
Better mood stabilizers are available at Whole Foods Market or health food stores and include Rhodiola, Ashwaganda, Schizandra, and the cost is around $10; and some other supplements such as specific vitamins, minerals, and precursors.
But that's just my opinion for whatever it is worth. If the guy is really going to get better, it could happen with just an AAP but I seriously doubt it. We wish disease of the nervous system was that easy and straight forward.
poster:bleauberry
thread:1009736
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120212/msgs/1010051.html