
DistantOcean
Well-known member
I will begin by giving a short summary of my experience with depression and psychosis. So basically I have experienced 5-6 psychotic breaks with manic features since I was 18 (26 now) and whilst I became mildly depressed for 1-2 years (ages 18-20) my mood seemed to stabilize to a decent level for a couple of years. Then after a psychotic break, when I was 23, major depression struck me. In the past 3 years I have had two psychotic breaks and during the moments running up to the psychoses plus most of the psychoses themselves I would describe my mood as reasonably well. In-between the depression remained, and particularly the last two years have been really dark.
Since 2.5 years I have been put on paliperidone while before that I took Seroquel due to it being an injection instead of pills as during my breaks I pretty much always refuse to take my medication. At the moment I have tried Lithium, Escitalopram (SSRI) and Venlafaxine (as an SSRI and an SNRI). Whilst on a high dose of Venlafaxine, so it functioned as an SNRI, I still became psychotic despite having had a 75mg Paliperidone injection. But the psychosis started in the last week of the monthly depot so it could’ve been that somehow it didn’t work long enough. Since Seroquel is actually quite coincidentally one of the three approved drug treatments for Bipolar depression I want to opt for returning to taking Seroquel instead of the proposed Abilify despite it not being injectable.
Other than this I have tried TMS, a healthy diet, working out frequently, I have had some psychotherapy, one psilocybin experience and have supplemented with Vitamin D, omega’s and vitamin/ mineral complexes. Thusfar none of these methods has even begun to lift my depression. Today I have started a ketogenic diet to see if this will help my mood. Also I am working with a coach doing a combination of mindfulness, meditation and Wim Hof breathing. And I will be supplementing with magnesium.
Other than this there are as far as I know only a few other options besides medication which include ketamine infusion (which unfortunately is extremely difficult to get while being prone to psychosis), fixing my sleeping schedule (chronically oversleeping at the moment), some questionable supplements such as 5-HTP and CBD and ECT (which I see as a last resort). Now I am wondering if I am still missing some treatment options. I am keen to hear what helped in treating your bipolar depression
Since 2.5 years I have been put on paliperidone while before that I took Seroquel due to it being an injection instead of pills as during my breaks I pretty much always refuse to take my medication. At the moment I have tried Lithium, Escitalopram (SSRI) and Venlafaxine (as an SSRI and an SNRI). Whilst on a high dose of Venlafaxine, so it functioned as an SNRI, I still became psychotic despite having had a 75mg Paliperidone injection. But the psychosis started in the last week of the monthly depot so it could’ve been that somehow it didn’t work long enough. Since Seroquel is actually quite coincidentally one of the three approved drug treatments for Bipolar depression I want to opt for returning to taking Seroquel instead of the proposed Abilify despite it not being injectable.
Other than this I have tried TMS, a healthy diet, working out frequently, I have had some psychotherapy, one psilocybin experience and have supplemented with Vitamin D, omega’s and vitamin/ mineral complexes. Thusfar none of these methods has even begun to lift my depression. Today I have started a ketogenic diet to see if this will help my mood. Also I am working with a coach doing a combination of mindfulness, meditation and Wim Hof breathing. And I will be supplementing with magnesium.
Other than this there are as far as I know only a few other options besides medication which include ketamine infusion (which unfortunately is extremely difficult to get while being prone to psychosis), fixing my sleeping schedule (chronically oversleeping at the moment), some questionable supplements such as 5-HTP and CBD and ECT (which I see as a last resort). Now I am wondering if I am still missing some treatment options. I am keen to hear what helped in treating your bipolar depression