I'm sorry to bring this up but I will, becasue it is a fact. We are all talking like we are experts about how the brain works and how the medacine works, eating up the commercials and advertisments when all you need to do is go to abilify.com to realise that ummm the scientists themselves actually do not know for sure how the brain works and how these medicines work.

Copied from their website, link below:

" How ABILIFY is thought to work

The exact way ABILIFY (or any other medication for Bipolar Disorder) works is unknown. However, it is thought that ABILIFY may work by affecting the activity of some key brain chemicals adjusting dopamine, instead of completely blocking it, and adjusting serotonin. "

I copied this from their website at the following link.

http://www.abilify.com/bipolar/aripiprazole/abilify-and-bipolar-disorder.aspx


Does any one notice the word THOUGHT to work, like all bi polar medicines?

I AM NOT AGAINST MEDS and beleive they are necessary in some-most cases, however self control goes along LONG way. Just as taking cholesterol medicine alone is not enough and should be accompanied by excercise and a healthy diet, which requires self control. Just as someone with Bipolar should learn their triggers, avoid them and learn to deal and cope with them when they arise. In addition, sleep, food and understanding yourself is a must. Learning to walk away when that feeling starts. Learning to say, why am I being so negative and missing out on life that is right in front of me.

I can't help but get this pity party feeling of boo hoo I have bipolar, which I don't like saying since I have met some great people and received some great support, which as a manic nut, I do need. However the amount of resistance I get for saying I'm learning to deal with my bipolar and actually enjoy it, is amazimg.

It's a scary and dangerous disorder, like any one of us who has had bad bouts, psychosis, hospilitizations, destroyed relations etc, knows only too well. These experiences place a fear in us and a fear in our decision making skills, and rightly so becasue untreated/controlled, bipolar is a VERY dangeruous thing.

Under control however, it can create very talented, charming, exceptional people. All I am saying is, can we just try and think of one or two aspects of bipolar that are positive? Please.

I use a vitamin therapy that works really well for me. as well i just went through DBT.

I'm Bipolar and not on any medication.

Theres' not really anything you can do to control your BP if you choose not to take your meds. BP is a chemical imbalance in your brain, and it takes meds to balance those chemicals out. Therapy is also a very good idea, as it can be very very difficutl to live life with bipolar.

Sometimes people are torn apart because want they want from themselves isn't a reality. Study yourself hard AND GET THE FACTS so you can deal with YOUR REALITY.

Fact is you have dozens of people here who are giving you facts. So pot works for Jeanymay. LOL...ok well maybe that is her reality. I wouldn't suggest trying hers but others (Such as SarahZee, ShawnC32, Katlyn40, etc etc.) are giving you a pretty healthy dose of reality. The choice is always yours. What works for them may not work for u......but do the math when weighing your options. Take a look at the success rate of all the meds some of us are on.
Take care.

very good point stable09... and thanks npeterson77! what you said is soo true! self control and learning your triggers can go a long way already!! its been workin for me!

I tried all kinds of natural supplements to try to gt rid of my bipolar. I ended up having a complete meltdown and nearly committed suicide.

I finally made peace with taking the meds and have never (literally) felt better.

I must say, right now, back on my meds (took 5 months off of them), I feel much better. MUCH BETTER. No kidding.

If you are going to try this without medication, at least get yourself a good therapist. Someone that can help you track your emotions and moods and alert you as to when you are in trouble. For me there is a point, without meds, where things just get bizzare. Risky behavour creeps in.

Be VERY careful with yourself. You are precious, remember that.

I got "tardive dykenesia" from Abilify---it is permanent neurological damage and sucks rancid pond water. At that point, I left my Very Expensive UCLA "expert" and was off meds.

Then, my mother died. My family told me to "get back on my meds" because they didn't like my drama---they've never particularly liked me, anyway, so they would say whatever would draw the most blood whether I was on my meds or not---how would they know? (Once, I was on meds and told them otherwise, just to see their reaction.)

So, then I found the therapist from UCLA who saw me when I was 13 and 23 years old---she knew my mother---and she re-diagnosed me as PTSD (with a family like mine...) and wouldn't prescribe meds and now it's 8 years of doing Tai Chi and Qi Gong and a little marijuana to sleep and---don't talk to the meshugana family! Works for me!

Hope you find your balance and bliss. DS was a big help---and it taught me a lot about social networking websites.

I would be considered normal---but normal is boring and it doesn't explain the cluttered mess my house is in. And that compulsive thrift shopping thing.......