My Story, Maybe a happy ending!

I am a 44 year-old male who until 9 nines years ago, never took any psychiatric medications. First, I was prescribe Wellbutrin, which was initially effective save for insomnia, then it stopped working. SSRI augmentation failed and I was switched to a trans-dermal MAOI.

The following describes what happened:

"My older daughter's onset of bipolar disorder had initially presented as depression. Given an antidepressant, the psychiatrist missed that she was slowly cycling between hypomania and depression. It was the typical slow cycling at first, but being left on an antidepressant even while hypomanic exacerbated the illness until she was cycling faster and faster, culminating in ultra-ultra rapid cycling (ultradian cycling) with mixed states."

http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com

I went from a white collar professional earning $150,000 a year to mentally disabled and heavily in debt.

The girl above was finally cured via diet (gluten and casein-free) and Thyroid Hormone.

9 years ago, I suspected a thyroid problem but since my tests were in the "normal" range, my psychiatrist at that time would not consider Thyroid Hormone. As I became crazier and crazier from the MAOI, three other doctors missed my mix state and did not recognize that my problems were caused by medications and that adding more medications would not solve my problem.

Finally, when one found "nothing wrong" with me from a Thyroid perspective, and said that I should "accept that you are bipolar", something clicked -- maybe its the MAOI that is making me appear to be Bipolar.

I found a new doctor online who appeared willing to prescribe Thyroid Hormone. A few weeks before my visit, I started tapering the MAOI. Almost immediately, I could sleep better and all obsessive thoughts stopped.

This doctor agreed to Thyroid Hormone treatment, but first want to get me back on Wellbutrin, for fears withdrawal issues from the MAOI. That "worked" but I was still depressed. It took me over a year to convince my current to prescribe T3, as Summer heat was slowly bringing me into a mixed state of severe insomnia, racing thoughts, plus depression.

I have been on T3, 10mgc, for one week and it's like somebody turned on a light switch in a dark room. The depression was almost immediately lifted. I had been have some 'borderline-like" symptoms over a current relationship and racing thought ending.

While the relationship difficulties are ongoing, I am no longer hyper-sensitive to his every word.

I know longer feel the need for an afternoon nap. I wake up feeling like I had a good night's sleep.

It is only one week, but the change has been immediate and spectacular.

Per ItsNotMental:

➢ Patients with thyroid disturbance and psychiatric symptoms are most often diagnosed with one of the following:

atypical depression (which may present as dysthymia) **
bipolar spectrum syndrome (mixed mania, bipolar depression, rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, cyclothymia**)
borderline personality disorder **
psychotic disorder (typically, paranoid psychosis)


➢ Psychiatric symptoms of hypothyroidism can include:

psychosis
depression**
mood instability**
mania
anxiety**
hypersomnia**
apathy**
lack of energy**
impaired memory**
psychomotor slowing**

** symptoms I experienced before additional rapid cycling problems caused by the MAOI.

again http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com

More coming.

I hope this really is a happy end. Perhaps you can be helped by changing the food you eat. I was shocked when I learned how many strange ingredients are added to our food after the industrial revolution. These ingredients cause mental disorders, diseases, and obesity.

I’m vegetarian. My mood and my health are much better since I stopped eating meat.

I think that's a perfect example of how not every mental issue is.completely mental. Professionals get really wrapped up in neurochemical answers for everything because that's where the money is. There's also a particular gene mutation, the MTNFR gene known to be responsible for frequent and intense panic attacks, fibromyalgia, and several other conditions. There Are a lot of alternatives for mental conditions and while it's hard to always catch everything, physical issues should always be considered before a mental diagnosis is considered. It's too bad that rarely happens to the extent it should.

martha33 wrote:I hope this really is a happy end. Perhaps you can be helped by changing the food you eat. I was shocked when I learned how many strange ingredients are added to our food after the industrial revolution. These ingredients cause mental disorders, diseases, and obesity.

I’m vegetarian. My mood and my health are much better since I stopped eating meat.

For me the diet issues, if any, would be Casein (in dairy products) and Gluten. I have an allegist appointment at the end of the month.

Alucard wrote:I think that's a perfect example of how not every mental issue is.completely mental. Professionals get really wrapped up in neurochemical answers for everything because that's where the money is. There's also a particular gene mutation, the MTNFR gene known to be responsible for frequent and intense panic attacks, fibromyalgia, and several other conditions. There Are a lot of alternatives for mental conditions and while it's hard to always catch everything, physical issues should always be considered before a mental diagnosis is considered. It's too bad that rarely happens to the extent it should.

One more day feeling good, which is remarkable right now because I am on three different antibiotics and typically, antibiotics make me very depressed.

Other things I noticed:

1) No longer feel constantly hungry;

2) No alcohol cravings - I would get these when depressed.

3) Typically, I would wake up at the crack of dawn, unless my room was totally dark. Last night, I slept 8 straight hours for the first in nine years.

I recently found out many of my problems are caused by a number of allergies (polyester and synthetic blends, which I've worn all my life, not knowing why I always felt so bad and lethargic---I also had red swollen gums despite no cavities or bad breath, and dark circles under my eyes, and many foods are triggering inflammation in me---dairy in particular causing acne and joint pain) and hypersensitivity to excitotoxins such as MSG/glutamate and aspartame, and where I live, there is also a black mold problem that was unknowingly causing excessive brain activity.

I had to find this out all on my own. The system just kept stringing me along and making me worse with their poisons, insisting mental illness. When a psychologist found no evidence for any of my numerous diagnoses listed on my chart after a 4 hour session, I decided to completely excise the #####& from my life. I now just need to get my health records amended since I was being mislead and improperly treated for 10 years.