Your crazy is accepted! I'm not feeling well, so really - should share that, instead of focusing on small stuff... I like when I can let go of stress, feel relief - then of course realize it was not mine to worry about in the first place!

How are you doing? Are you getting better or worse?

I'm slowly feeling better - you Arfie? Accepting I'm sick and this is not my first rodeo - is my strongest tool right now, holding on to the memory and hope - I will smile again, I will laugh again.....

feels it. thanks for addressing

Well said Arfie. I had been thinking along a similar path myself. I would like to think that it is possible, and no, your crazy is not showing. if it is, then mine is showing right along side of yours.

crazy to you must be normal to common sense, good idea lady... well said ... i knew i was groupee of yours along time ago... always here for you my dear friend... keeping it real...

Awesome post Arfie!!!

Thank you for bring up this subject! That is what this group is about.

And I don't mean suppose to be about, I mean; that is what this group is about.

People regardless of medication or not sharing sharing their pain, and confusions as well as their strengths and ideas.

So no your not delusional, nor am I for starting this group.

So mote it be

The Wolf

I would like to be able to say lets be meds free and not insult someone. I would like to say and not have someone say, "it didn't work for me." I really have to say that that makes me sad....med free treatment of mental stuff is in its infancy so people that don't believe in it (i don't mean are not med free but don't see it as an ideal)....can't they just let those who do hear the positive and leave out the rest? Is that being mean? I can't talk this way to anyone else around me anywhere. For the love of g-d. Is that too much to ask? I love everyone on here, just, I shouldn't feel bad for a request such as this.
People from all over the world come together her because we are rare (people with the ideal of being med free).

And that goes for posts from people who come on here first time to get support and are searching for med free ways. let them hear only the good.

Sigmund2,

This is a place where you can say med free and not worry that you will be judged or attacked. It is fine to say that your med free here but it is not fine or okay to tell others that not being med free is not okay.

When I started this group I was absolutely med free but because of another medical issue that I needed treatment for I had to start taking psych meds to help me stay stable throughout the treatment. I intend to work my way back to a med free life once the treatment for the other condition is over.

The thing I will not have on my group is infighting between people who are on meds and people who are not, I will not take sides I will warn then ban anyone who starts these kinds of arguments.

Beyond medication is now and will remain a safe place for people from both sides of the medication question to share ideas, hopes, fears, and confusions. We are here to help one another not to cause one another more pain.

The Wolf

groovy baby !!!!!

yes Siggy ....

do try to relax and enjoy us here ... and try not to be so defensive... in my eyes we can grow as a group... but wanting to change peoples way of thinking never works... i know ... ive been there... but we can share and exchange our experiences and allow others to do what they want with our information...

we dont need to point out where we see someone needs to see it our way... learning how to just be ourselves is hard enough in this environment ...

I am not defensive and am not med free :)
I aspire to be med free. I use short acting lithium from time to time. It is a given ppl have varied opinions but being med free is such a delicate thing. I liken it to infancy. We need to protect it. For a newcomer asking about it, we should try to accentuate what does work or my feeling is ppl will say that it isnt possible.

I would like to be a little on the cautious side here when I say that we need to be careful what we tell people about what works and what doesn't work. It's like anything that goes into your body, it reacts differently in one body than in another and we are not qualified practitioners to prescribe anything. At the very least, when you suggest something to another person, please preface it with a "in my experience", or "you might want to ask a doctor". When we tell others to take things, we are placing them and our selves in a precarious position be it a pharmacological substance or an herbal substance. They are both drugs to me.

I think Cammicat, said it best here. We are not qualified to tell anyone what will and will not work with their illness. We can offer suggestions for other methods of treatment but let others know that it is in our experience, and that may not work for them.

Perhaps it was my mistake in not putting in the disclaimer that we are not physicians, that what we offer our suggestion that I years from our own experience and that it is not meant to replace the treatment that is given by your doctor. Often these suggestions and therapy methods are used by doctors in our own treatment can we offer them because I have worked for us. These ideas and suggestions are meant as supplements to your current treatment not to replace them.

The Wolf

find one who isn't that can really back it up with evidence

My state right now is a non creative craze. My period of being non medicated worked for a couple of years...after my first and only child was born. Since then, my depression has come back...so has lethargy and a look that sometimes remind me of Doonesbury's Bill the Cat. I am hurting now. I wished we could have had a site where lpeople could offer insight into periods of conventionally med free treatment but no one apparently thinks that is PC.
Anyway, I am thinking of using conventional meds again. these past few weeks have been rife with me jumping to conclusions and missing the point and doing the wrong thing. I have been yelling at ...not much of something to yell at. It is not good for my status as a teacher at all.

I am down with letting people come here to learn to cope. GinaWonders said the regular bipolar page is gonna be her stomping grounds now because we are not dealing with enough of the issues and debating meds vs non meds plus dietary stance.
Thing for me is, my issues dwindle when I do what I am supposed to....do a gluten free diet, run, meditate, take vitamins....sigh. Cant seem to get myself to do that though, therefore, things have been hard lately.

ok...so...we can still talk issues.
I am not fighting anyone....I want the same things as you guys.
why has everyone gone? we can breathe life into the group again.

Gina had the right idea...we should ask eachother questions from time to time. What are our triggers. What are plans to avoid triggers during the holidays.....