by walterstockheim » Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:53 am
There's a few things.
First, if any system is taken to the point of exhaustion it malfunctions. Your two issues are a) finding out why you are driven to this extreme of thought/mood, and b) maintaining your balance as best you can until you find the problem.
Second, those collection of symptoms all occurring in a three day period again suggests that you have some sensitivity. The symptoms you have, and the way they occur could well be due to some complex factor in your diet. If you are able to fast for one week, taking only water and organic fruit juice, you might quickly determine that diet has a strong effect on you.
If you do a long fast, then the first food you eat will have an exaggerated effect on you. Something to keep in mind.
There are different medical systems in the world, as you know, and some of them specialize much more efficiently on the effects of foods than does western medicine.
Third, the things you said about your father suggest that there may be something physiological/genetic, rather than just your messed up upbringing. Bipolar disorder has a strong genetic component, often leads to behaviors like those of your father and you, has several forms, and so on. I'm very sure you have been screened for bipolar in one of your doctor visits, but you might ask a doctor to take a second look.
Some more notes...
Zinc is good, but you could try to experiment with different minerals to see which produces a noticeable improvement. B vitamins of course are the vitamins that have the most effect on many people with stress symptoms.
You answered the nutrition question a bit, but completely avoided the strenuous exercise. If your heart does not reach a high rate from genuine physical exercise at least once or twice a week, that by itself can cause some of the stress problems you have. Exercise really is a powerful medicine.
Epsom salt, magnesium sulfate, is available in every city of every country in the developed world. Rich people use it as a bath salt, poor people as a laxative. If you have a grocery store in your town, go to the aisle with medicines, and look near the laxatives or the bath salts for large (pint or quart or gallon sized) boxes that cost about $2-$4 (it's very cheap). It will say magnesium sulfate on the box (MgSO4). Don't worry too much about dose, so long as you don't exceed the recommended dosage on the box. Magnesium is natural and safe in that form, a large dose would just send you to the toilet. That type of magnesium is probably preferable to some others that come bound with calcium or other minerals. (Calcium is another mineral that sort of goes along with magnesium)
Another note about oils. There are three types of omega-3 oils. Flaxseed oil has a lot of the lowest, and the liver converts some of it to the highest form (epa) which the brain uses. If you are not vegetarian, and you want a shortcut then fish oil capsules are actually better.
Flaxseed oil is good though. Whole flaxseed broken up by your teeth is even better. The seed has other unusual nutrients that are beneficial, and which are not in the oil alone.
One suggestion, again regarding diet. If you write down carefully every single thing you consume, whether food, drink, drug, etc, then you may notice a pattern. For example if you notice that every Tuesday you consume milk, and every Wednesday you are high stress, then you must experiment and find out if milk is one of your issues.