I’ve been taking medication for Bipolar I most of the time since I was diagnosed, but am always interested in looking into alternatives to a medication-only regime in hopes of lessening my side effects and maybe even lessening the damage to my internal organs. Recently, I read “The Natural Medicine Guide to Bipolar Disorder” by Stephanie Marohan.

“The Natural Medicine Guide to Bipolar Disorder” goes far beyond basic advice for alternatives and instead divides natural treatments into different categories including Bio-Chemical Treatments and Amino Acids. The book also clearly explains the symptoms for Bipolar Disorder and dissects the differences between Bipolar I and 2, and rapid cycling.

It does not really go into Psychotropic medicine too much, so if you have just been diagnosed recently, I would not recommend this book as a stand alone guide to Bipolar Disorder. Instead, it offers very specific information about treatments that you may not have even heard of before. Most of the treatments require supervision from a doctor, naturopath, psychiatrist, or some kind of alternative practitioner.

However, I did take some notes about small changes that any person with Bipolar Disorder can make that just might make a difference.

Drink more water.

Vitamins- To help fight the effects of Bipolar Disorder, research has shown that taking Vitamin B3, B6, B12, and Niacin are all effective, especially when helping depression.

Omega Fatty 3’s- These can be found in nuts, salmon, and flax seed. 

Cilantro Drops- Two drops of Cilantro per day can help. The idea behind the use of Cilantro is that it is good for chelation, which detoxifies and reduces the effects of too much metal in your system, which can adversely affect your brain.
When researching cilantro as a home remedy, I came across this recipe for Cilantro Pesto that is recommended to help with Chelation.

Chlorella-1 Gram per day. This is also used to reduced toxins from your system and is often considered as one of the superfoods.

Garlic Tinctures for De-Tox. Freeze-dried garlic is recommended and is also used for de-toxification of your system.

2000 Mg. EPA a day. This is a component of Omega Fatty-3’s.