bipolar at 16

Hi pollyp,

I can't answer your question about which suppliments can help reduce the symptoms, but it may help reading the Mind booklet on [url]Understanding bipolar disorder[/url].

Namaste,
Myarka

Your concers are noble. The parents of the boy have to understand that they experts in most cases don't always understand the dynamics of symptoms. The idea of authority which can intimidate and impress commands people to go along with experts, completely ignoring their own understanding.
All the people I treated with EFT, This is the first issue I work on
Even Though the doctors tell me I have have (the name of disease)...
In my experience that is a bigger issue than managing the symptoms .
Quite honestly labels are more damaging than the symptoms.

Instead teach him to feel each emotion in its pure form. Dropping the story and labels around it. When you talk about depression it is like a mountain but when you learn to feel it without labels and the various reasons that caused it, It liberates you from its clutches. Simple.

And please stop managing the boy! Constantly looking at the problem is not doing anyone any good, it just keeps getting bigger

Be kind, natural and friends with him not his saviours. saviours are constantly looking down(inadvertently of course)

He needs space and the sense that he is understood and supported. If everyone around him is bent upon 'making him feel better' that alienates him further.

Trust his survival instinct and the instinct to be happy and

never let anybody brand him this or that that includes parents.

I offer free Shaktipat for such cases. It can completely change the course of his life.
Feel free to get in touch

Would anyone have any ideas of diet supplements specfic therapies that i could suggest, steer him towards, or even any web sites you may have come accross.

Hello there. I am bipolar. There are three types of bipolar, depending on the symptoms the sufferer has - cyclothymia or BPD I or BPD II. BPD is notoriously hard to diagnose - because it's a spectrum which IMHO sits between depression and schizophrenia. Just because he doesn't run down the high street naked doesn't mean that he doesn't have mania (or hypomania).

People with clinical depression (who aren't bipolar) tend to slowly improve and stay on a stable level - for months or years. Then an external trigger will cause them to quickly or slowly become clinically depressed. Hence they are either depressed, or... they are not depressed. By contrast BDP is more cyclical - depression followed by improved mood, followed by period of mania, followed by depression, followed by improved mood. Depression is the main symptom of all BPD - because it is easier to collapse into a heap of nothingness than it is to sustain high moods for any length of time. My own BPD, for example is generally 5 months of low mood, and then a slow ascent to normal mood - then 1-2 months of high mood... then a rapid collapse into low mood. And the cycle continues.

BPD has an elevated mood which is foremost characterised by a lack of desire for sleep. Your brain kicks in and keeps you up - not insomnia... it's different from that - it's a lesser need for sleep. Something switches in your head and you stay up, only needing a few hours sleep. Some medics diagnose BPD on this alone - depressives, by contrast, need more sleep - and have trouble getting/waking up.

The fact that he has put on weight, and is sleeping a lot indicates that he is suffering from depression. In that case the first thing I'd do is get him off the junk food (especially anything containing SUGAR) - that will be making EVERYTHING worse. Also, get him outside and doing some exercise. At his age he should easily be able to go for a one-hour walk a day. Buy a decent multivitamin - something from a health food shop, not a supermarket. And ignore the health food shop staff - they'll just confuse you and take advantage of your worries for him by selling you a lot of pills which he won't want to take - and may/may not work. Get him to take the multivitamin with his breakfast (taking it at night will keep him awake). If he likes fish tell his parents to feed him oily fish at least 3 times a week - salmon, trout, tuna (fresh, not tinned - as tinned tuna has had the oils removed), herrings, sardines, pilchards. If he doesn't like fish then buy 1000mg capsules of fish oil (Holland and Barrett sell massive 250 capsule jars - often on special) - and get him to take one with breakfast and one with dinner. Take the fish oil and the multivitamin for at least 3 months. Don't bother doing either if he keeps eating junk food - as it's a waste of money/effort. If he is going to continue to eat crap and not exercise then it might be sensible to have him accept medication. Sometimes folk are too depressed to be able to help themselves - and that's not their fault. In those cases medication will help their mood improve until they are able to self-manage themselves (healthy diet, exercise etc.).

If he does in fact have BPD then that's a whole different kettle of fish. As it happens Lithium is an OK medication for men... and men seem to cope better with it and have less problems than women do. I was on it (I'm female) and it was fine for me, too. But the other meds weren't. Generally BPD folk aren't just put on Lithium - they are also put on antidepressants and/or antipsychotics, depending on what other symptoms they have. Personally I now don't take any medication at all. However it is not easy - in fact managing my moods is a fulltime job. Almost literally. That's not something I was suggest a 16-yo try to do without the complete and total support of his family.

In short, the best thing you can do for him is get him off the junk food - and introduce fresh fruit and vegetables, lean proteins, complex carbohydrates (wholemeal breads and wholemeal pasta and brown rice, etc.), a multivitamin and fish or fish oil supplements. And get him off his sofa and walking for an hour a day. If he is put on medication this will help keep him respond to it better, and ensure the dosage is minimal.

There are lots of other things I can suggest for managing BPD - but I don't want to put them in a public forum. If you'd like to know more then you are welcome to PM me.

Ava x

Thank you so much for your replies,
Myaka the web site was really informative and easy to understand thank you
Jnani i take on board your comments on avoiding labels and 'managing him' i find comfort in the wisdom of your words and will discuss your kind offer with his mother and him!
Ava, i am humbled by your openess and honesty in telling your story thank you and i shall certainly pass on your advise and insights and will do my best to support him in making the choices that are best for him
I dont feel quite so out of my depth anymore
Once more i thank you all
🙂 pollyp :)x

Hi Pollypips

I know that we have left you with more than enough to be thinking about, however in the last few days I have been looking at online resources specifically for bipolar and diet. I'll list a few here. Maybe you'll find them useful/interesting.

1. (she's trying to sell her online book, but she does list the basics on this page)

2.

3.

Ava x

thank you ava i really apprecite your effots and will have a good look at the web sites you recommend (sp) sorry i have'nt got my specs on as usual so only think i can see lol :)xx