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Originally Posted by Sandy
I do and got RA (rhem. arth.) from taking lithium for 1 yr. and prozac for one month. Now I can't take any bipolar meds because they all cause my RA to flare. So it is really hard to be bipolar without any meds.
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Dear Sandy,
Have you checked some common allergens like milk? wheat?
Here is an MD who uses science to talk about food irritating the system:
http://drklaper.com/answers07.html
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Arthritis and Autoimmune Diseases, Nutrition, And (Un?)Common Sense
Numerous articles published in prominent medical journals confirm what I have witnessed for years in my medical practice: many people with rheumatoid arthritis and other forms of inflammatory joint disease really are reacting to substances in their food.
The studies also demonstrate that identification and elimination of the offending foods - a therapy completely free of cost and risk - often provides dramatic improvement, or complete remission of joint pain and disability.
Why are physicians so reluctant to consider the possible connections between painful joints and what the owner of the joints has been eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
A major reason is that in medical school, most physicians-to-be learn that fragments of food proteins are simply too large to be absorbed from the intestine into the bloodstream, and thus cannot be involved in inflammatory reactions in distant organs, like the joints.
Consequently, the patient's diet as a causative factor is usually discounted and instead, powerful (and expensive) anti-inflammatory medications are prescribed as the foundation of therapy.
Both physician and patient then settle for mere suppression of inflammatory symptoms instead of effective treatment. This "relief" often inflicts severe side effects, like intestinal bleeding, inflammation of the liver, and/or depression of bone marrow function, where new blood is made.
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Does treating the RA make the BP worse and treating the BP makes the RA worse? Yuck.
I am on Verapamil (calcium channel blocker) for a mood stabilizer. I mention this because it is likely on that your pdoc has not tried it. It works wonderful for me. Premedicated, I mostly had mixed episodes.
I guess that the best things are the thing that we are all supposed to be doing:
-alkaline diets for many (not all of us perhaps)
http://www.trans4mind.com/nutrition/pH.html
-sleep
-exercise
-sunshine
-fun
I had an dx of Chronic Fatigue around 1992.
I think that I have grown past it now. (can't tell 100% thanks to the side effects of the bp meds.)
How did the accupunture work?
Did you have a dr of chinese med?
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I take Omega 3, borax/flax oil, Bvitamins, 4gr. vit. C, 5HTP, Calcium for the bipolar and that, for me, works pretty well for 3-5 days
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Just a thought in case you have not tried it: Instead of the whole shebang, maybe your system could handle ONE of these. Like try a gram or two of Omega 3.
Then stop it. Next try the B vitamins.
See if one works a little for you.
I have read that people with BP tend to be short zinc.
So mabye zinc.
Do I make sense?
I hope you find a better solution than the one you have now.
Mari