Depends..... Are you trying to go natural? Living good, eating good?

There's many foods, herbs and vitamins that can help.

Yes, eating a good balanced diet, yoga and walking every day. I'm working on using mindfulness to cope with my anxiety. I was on dopaquel and fluoxitine for my bi-polar, but it wasn't agreeing with me. Been trying to find meds that work for me for over a year. Nothing yet. So I want to know what the risks are for going off my meds.

If you are Diagnosed BiPolar by a Psychiatrist and have active Depression or Manic/Hypomanic episodes, then 99.9% of the time, No you cannot manage this disease without medication.

This cannot be treated with proper diet, proper sleep, exercise, mindfulness, and/or therapy alone. BiPolar Disorder treatment and management requires medication.

You mention having anxiety, have you been diagnosed with that in addition to BiPolar? It will be hard to just manage the anxiety on it's own.

Risks of untreated BiPolar Disorder:

Manic phases may/may not include:
Extreme happiness, hopefulness, and excitement
Irritability, anger, and hostile behavior
Restlessness/poor concentration
Rapid speech
Poor judgment
Reckless Spending/poor money mgmt.
Increased energy
Less need for sleep
Unusually high sex drive
Setting unrealistic goals

The depressive phase may/may not include:
Sadness and crying
Feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, and guilt
Loss of energy
Loss of interest in everyday activities
Trouble concentrating and making decisions
Irritability
Need for more sleep or sleeplessness
Change in appetite
Inability to work or go to school
Weight loss/gain
Suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide

Those are the risks of not taking medication to treat BiPolar Disorder. Generally management of this Disease to reach long term Stability requires the right Medication Cocktail in addition to Therapy.

Kat has given you the text book answer which is correct - I'll give you tthe same answer from a different perspective.

I've been here for 11 years.

I've "met" probably about a 1000 people with bipolar. We have discussed this many times. In that time I've only known 2 people who felt they could manage without meds and even so there were downsides to that strategy.

There were however, hundreds that said they went off meds and it was a disaster.

It's not something you can really control with "natural" (whatever that means) methods althogh good diet, good sleep routines can help.

I've known a few people who have bipolar and then go onto "natural" therapies and it ends in complete disaster.

I agree with Kat and acuriousfish that you cannot be truly stable off of psychotropic meds. For bipolar disorder, you'll have to be on meds for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, most of the meds have side effects you just have to deal with also. My med cocktail I'm on now makes me stable, but also has made me gain a lot of weight. It sucks (the weight gain), but it's better than the alternative! Good Luck to you and I'm sending positive thoughts and prayers your way!

Welcome to the board Raevan…….. This is a good place to come!!

I have not seen many people to continue with stability ongoing off of meds either and I've known many people with bipolar disorder

People can go for a time off of meds sometimes however it almost always comes back to bite them and over time it gets worse and harder to treat.....xo

I'm 28 years BiPolar and I've "thought" I could handle myself and my disease off my meds a couple times, we all do. The one thing I can remember about the biggest disaster was....getting cut out of your car by the "Jaws of Life" is not a particularly fun experience and then we skip forward 3 weeks.....

Hi All, thank you for your replies. I was diagnosed over a year ago with bipolar 2, ADHD and PTSD (The PTSD was diagnosed 6 years ago). The funny thing is, my mom and sister both have bipolar as well. And I have experienced living with them when they were off their meds, and you're right. It was years of trauma and chaos. I have been trying different meds since May 2017, nothing seems to be working. I was admitted for in patient treatment twice since then. I stopped taking my meds in April, I found out I was pregnant and before I could see my psychiatrist my son was stillborn 6 days later. I feel, and my drs all agree, that I have a high level of self awareness. But I am going through a very tough time. Aside from losing my son, in the last month I was retrenched from my job and we've moved my mother in law in with us to help take care of her. I am struggling with the grief of losing my son. And I'm afraid this is clouding my judgement. My husband has been encouraging me to go back to my psychiatrist and get on meds again. Thank you for your responses. I will go see him.

For most people with Bipolar the answer is No. You need meds to fix the chemical imbalance in your brain.

It seems like you have alot of stress and grief right now. Even if you could control the bipolar disorder without meds, now might not be the best time.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your son.

Stress and grief, those things are incredibly strong triggers that can make the BiPolar symptoms worse and more uncontrollable. Losing a child is one of the hardest things to deal with in life...I am very sorry that you have to make it through that loss.

Having someone to talk to about all the things you're dealing with right now, someone who's not intimately connected to them with you, can help you deal with all of those feelings in a healthy and healing way.

Take care.
Kat

So sorry for the loss of your son. I had a miscarriage at 4 months (my doctor had to pull the bloody fetus from me because he/she wouldn't pass on his/her own. This was many years ago. But, every July 5, I grieve the loss. I can't imagine giving birth to a stillborn. Love and hugs sent your way.

Catherine