Hi, i was a person with servere deppression.( please excuse my spellingi have some learning DIFFICULLTIES) At first i started eating lot less processed food and drank alot of water, BIG improvement! Than i start excersing , after that everything started falling into place and was much smoother.

If i may get off topic for a second, i really wish people would stop thinking they have to "deal with it and move on"...that sounds like something your stuck with for the rest of your life. WELL YOUR NOT! I think people need to talk more, get resourses, and follow your dreams thats all. As soon as i started eating better and excercising every thing else feel into place, i became more confident and motivated to do things. I seen a vibrant side come out that i did not want to go away. I can tell you the biggest thing i delt with was motivation, well it does'nt take much to cook, u have to anyway, midess well eat healthy. Different salads or rice each side order. Water , waater , water, but no too much it can over work your badder and go into failur .

Now i am starting acupuctiure , which holly crap helps with my cronic anixety by 80% and i have only went once so far , which is starting to take away my depression , which is making me more vibrant...see how every thing falls into place.

Monday i start yoga classes and also hypnotherapy. I have heard ALOT of goods things from these also. I keep falling into depression but the days are getting shorter of me being in it. I have been struggling a bit right now, but because of some issues i will explain a little more when i have my notes together.

ANYONE TAKING MEDICATION FOR WHAT EVER PLEASE CHECK INTO THE MEDICATION FIRST, AND NOT JUST A FEW WEBSITES 100'S , WHATS YOUR LIFE WORTH A FEW OR 100'S. GO TO THE LIBRARY, TAKE NOTES.

All i'm saying is you are never stuck with mental health as long as you belive it u will have it. And just because a doctor gives you medication does'nt mean that should be your first route. One thing all doctors say no matter if there family doctor or homeopathic doctors, they will all say eating healthy and excersising is the best out of everything.

Will write more more about all the difficultes and statergies i have latter.

Would love to hear replies of those who took mysteps or are inthe process of it.

I'm rushing at the moment for an apt. and will check back to more completely read what you have posted.
Your topic is greatly on my mind at the moment. I think there is a big interest right now re: alternative methods to treating all illness and perhaps particularly mental illness.
I do think that certain illnesses are so debilitating that it is probably faulty to think that we can walk away from prescription medications, AND I think we need to be grateful that they are available to us. However, I think the U.S. in particular, tends to overrely on their use and does not explore alternatives in combination with prescription medications (or in some cases instead of).
I have become excited aboiut the topic because I have had bouts of mild depression and fatigue over the years, and this has greatly improved for me by taking various supplements...particularly the B vitamins in combination with exercise. IN addition, my need for high blood pressure medication was reduced 4x when I changed my diet, lost weight and exercised. That is significant less money for medication and also less change of side effects. I will have to take this tiny dosage of blood pressure medication for the rest of my life, but I am fine with this small dosage and feel I am much better off now, etc.
I do not think folks with illnesses such as bipolar illness, etc. are likely to elminate their need for medication, however I do think it is possible that they might be able to reduce their dosages (with the approval and guidance of their doctors, etc.) by taking supplements and exploring natural alternatives.
It is scarey for doctors 'cause they have to rely on their patients to stick to the healthy routine, be honest about it and be willing to get back to the doctor if something goes wrong. It requires lots of patience, observation, etc.
It's not easy...but really worth it in the end. In addition, there is always a small chance that someone will have the grandiose idea that they don't need their medication and cause heartache for themselves and family. The idea is more to see if the medication can be reduced to keep the side effects of traditional medications down.
Thank you for bringing up this topic...I do think it is an important one. Also...very glad to hear that you are getting good results with alternative medicine.

I think that this is a difficult situation to clarify. I suffer from chronic pain in addition to FMS and fluctuating depression. When I first became ill my doctor gave me antibiotics, which I freely took because I trusted that they would put me back into balance. For a while they did, but then my symptoms returned, and two more rounds of ABs did nothing to help.

The pain steadily got worse. The two doctors I was seeing told me that I really needed to take something to control the pain, because the pain by itself could cause me complications. But I refused to take anything stronger than what you could get without a prescription, because I've always been afraid of drugs. Then, after about eight months, I developed the fibro, and my docs said that I got it because of my constant subjugation to pain. So I agreed to try the pain meds to see if they would help.

The narcotics did help to alleviate the pain to a degree, but I hated the way they made me feel, and dreaded the thought of addiction. So after taking them for about six months I insisted on going off of them again. Two months later I developed two other conditions, and again the docs blamed it on me feeling too much pain, so again I started taking them. A year goes buy with about the same results, except that my pain keeps spreading to a larger part of my body. But I was so sick of not being able to think clearly that again I demanded to go off the meds. This time I stayed off them for six months, but on Thanksgiving day I had a sudden flare of the worst pain in my life. It went from my lower left back all the way down to my ankle, and I couldn't sit or lie down or do anything which caused any pressure at all on this part of my body. Even if I barely pressed against it with a finger it made me gasp. And as far as sleep went, I had to come up with several various ways to prop up my left side. During the day all I could do was walk slowly around. And all of this lasted until Christmas Eve.

I have to admit that this pain was so bad that I would have done practically anything to get it to go away. I went back on narcotics, and increased the dose to the highest level yet, but they only marginally helped. That was a year and a half ago, and now I'm feeling desperate to get off the pills again. The only thing which is stopping me is the fact that I have not had a single major flare of pain like that in all this time. My doc says it's because it is much easier to prevent pain than to treat it. I just don't really know. So even though my heart and soul are totally in agreement with what you are saying, for someone like me it's an incredible difficult issue to deal with. So if anyone can control their symptoms by alternative means, I am completely behind them. I use them whenever I can. But I still don't know if I can live a worthy life without chemical help. Good luck and best wishes to all of you.