Bipolar Disorder information
bipolar mania fish oils manic herbs natural therapy bipolar vitamins

Bipolar disorder is a long-term illness with a variable course. Some of the symptoms may include mania, an excessively elevated, expansive, and irritable mood; hypersexuality; decreased need for sleep; rapid speech; racing thoughts; increased activity and agitation; occasional delusions. It may also include periods of depression and other symptoms such as excessive guilt; anhedonia (absence of pleasure); or thoughts of death. See bipolar for more up to date info on this condition.

Natural Therapies for Bipolar disorder
We are slowly beginning to discover that natural supplements may play a role in the therapy of bipolar disease. Much has yet to be learned, but there are at least two nutrients that offer some hope:
   It's quite possible that one of the biochemical abnormalities in bipolar disorder is a higher amount of omega-6 fatty acids and a shortage of omega-3 fatty acids. If this is the case, Fish oils may help. You can buy Fish Oil Fisol here. For children, fish oils are available as chewable DHA-children.
   Choline, a nutrient that converts into phosphatidylcholine, has shown to be beneficial in bipolar disease, particularly those who are prescribed lithium. You can buy Choline Bitartrate here.

We am not aware of any other natural supplements that have been tested and found consistently effective in the treatment of bipolar disorder, however eating cold water fish, or taking fish oil capsules are a help.

Bipolar disorder diagnosis - are psychiatrists overdiagnosing at the expense of our children?
The number of American children and adolescents treated for bipolar disorder increased 40-fold from 1994 to 2003. It is likely that doctors are more aggressively applying the bipolar disorder diagnosis to children and it is quite likely that many of these children treated with drugs may not have a correct diagnosis, or may be harmed by the medicines.

Bipolar Disorder emails
Q. I'm a 32 year old rapid cycling bipolar. The nutrients that have made an enormous impact in my daily life are magnesium, taurine, vitamin B6, inositol, omega-3's, and lecithin. Most have been thouroughly studied at Mclean Hospital by Dr. Andrew Stoll & his collegues. These agents make my daily life a pleasure. But without Lamicital & my happy light I would be hospitalized or worse. The combination of these agents have made me a very productive "stable?" individual.

Q. Does flax seed oil help with bipolar illness?
   A. We have not seen research with flax seed oil and bipolar disease.

Q. Are there any findings regarding bipolar disorder and pregnenolone? I read a testimonial which related a side effect of rapid mood swings. I do not currently take pregnenolone. If one has a predelection for mood swings would it be a good idea or a bad idea to use it?
   A. Pregnenolone is a powerful hormone and should only be used when all other options have failed. There are other options for bipolar disorder that should be tried first.

Supplements and Herbal Index home page additional links gluco htm pages