This is a dangerous article. A dangerous, slightly manic article.
Someone close to me is affected with bipolar, which drags me into that universe. People who self-medicate - such as the author - are very common with this disease. There are a million people who claim they've "overcome" it, some through alcohol or street drugs, some through nutrition and lifestyle changes. The danger is that when you're manic, you are your own blind spot - you're in no position to self-assess, you think things are great when they clearly aren't.
It's been three years since the end of his "challenge", and from the sound of it, three lovely years. Meeting a new love, getting married, positive things. How will the unmedicated author react when, say, a parent dies? Or the marriage ends?
There's nothing wrong with trying to understand the disease, its effects on your body, and the effects of alternative therapies - I commend the author for that. However, the claim that he's "overcome" bipolar this way is reckless and frankly dangerous. There are countless bipolar patients out there who struggle every day with their medications; the costs, the terrible side effects, and who fight a battle of willpower to stay on them despite feeling "cured". One article like this, one claim to the opposite, is all it takes to break them.
I'd love for this article to be true. I'd love it if my friend didn't have to spend thousands on medications that are slowly killing her, but somehow I doubt this is the answer.
Edit: What great feedback! It's interesting hearing people's different experiences with various forms of treatment. I think the lifestyle changes the author recommends are sane and sensible, helpful changes. They just aren't a "cure". You manage these diseases and you must be very careful when tweaking that management.
I highly recommend that anyone who's involved with - or interested in - a mood disorder read An Unquiet Mind, by Kay Redfield Jamison. It gives you an excellent understanding of the subtleties and trickery this cunning disease exhibits.
I can relate to this article, having being diagnosed with bipolar I, and having had an extended manic phase (with psychosis) in which I was actually trying to save myself:
- eating well
- todo lists
- self discipline
- sports
- stopping drugs / coffee / alcohol
I'm kind of "scared" of these things now, but also realize that they are, while not the complete solution, necessary ingredients to living a "normal" life. It took me 28 years to realize that you could have a regular sleep schedule and daily routine for example. It's these kind of "symptoms" that I find very hard to share with "normal" people, who just can't see how that is that big of a problem.
The funny thing is that all of this further fueled my mania, but on the other hand, it also made me check in with a psychiatrist. I'm now on lamotrigine, which makes living seem so easy now.
Yet I can skip a day of pills, and drink maybe a bit too much coffee and sleep badly, and it's all there again. Only now I have a baseline I can come back to. I don't think the article sounds too manic. I'm a bit wary of the new agey "that's what all people should do with our method" thing, while it really is a "common sense" that is shared by pretty much all cultures on the planet (eat healthy, sleep, exercise, don't worry too much), but it's cool.
while I didn't have much one-on-one therapy, I went to a "psychoeducation" group about bipolar with about 10 other afflicted individuals, and basically, the most important thing really is to have these checklists: eat healthy, sleep healthy, don't drink alcohol, don't drink coffee, try to sleep more than 4 hours a night, try to sleep less than 12 hours a night, and write yourself reminders so you won't forget them.
Some people can manage it without constant meds - some only need meds some of the time - BUT with managing the things that throws that person in a tail spin. (i.e. not sleeping, chaotic relationships, travel in some cases). When it's mostly mania the person experiences - life is probably pretty good, but for those who mainly experience the depressive side (like a friend of mine) - it cripples his life and he can barely function. Each case is different. I really think the key is having someone close to the person who can make sure they're doing all the things they need to - like sleeping, eating regularly etc.
It's the caffeine and its side effects. It can cause sleep disorders, anxiety, and so on. Of course, not everyone encounters these problems with their coffee-drinking. See the Wikipedia entry for caffeine if you want more details though.
yes, mostly sleep disorder, the intense crash and burn of coffee compared to a more mellow effect of for example green tea, and the tummy problems.
especially the crash/burn + sleep problems though, which lead to anxiety, which leads to either depression, or in my case a kind of jittery angst-fueled hyperactivity.
On the contrary, as someone with my own firsthand experience, I think positive, empowering, live-affirming articles are needed alongside the concerned frowns and furrowed brows of often-helpless friends, family, and psychiatrists.
A brilliant, introspective mind given hope that they have some power within themselves to help their condition will discover that diet, regulation of sleep and social contact, healthy life structure and goals, sources of self-esteem, etc. are a big part of dealing with a mood disorder long-term. It is certainly possible to achieve change that lasts, with or without medication, though medication is a powerful and useful tool.
My intent was never to discount the importance of hope and positivity, nor the value of lifestyle changes such as the author's. I am intimately close with the affected person in my life; the disease (and its treatment) has a way of consuming her life, it's supporting to hear a positive tale.
It's semantics to me - the term "overcame", the tone of the article. I get the feeling that the author believes he's permanently rid himself of the disease, and that he's suggesting others can do the same (through whatever method). The disease is with you for life, you manage it. The author never makes that clear, and I hope (for his sake) he realizes that.
I really agree with your original comment. We're in serious trouble when Forbes starts letting the patients run the asylum and promote herbal remedies to serious psychological problems on their website (with links -- hopefully not paid affiliate links, but links nonetheless). Self treating patients are bad news all around; if the guy's crazy and treating himself with herbs then giving him a microphone is basically "spreading craziness". If he's not crazy, then this is just bunk, self-aggrandizing BS that wouldn't get past the editors at the huff.
I disagree. Each of those things he compounded by adding one to the other. He's successful and that support structure he's built around himself along with his nutritional discipline allows him to essentially "overcome" the disorder.
The guy is giving speeches on networking to the first group of Thiel Fellows and he blogs on Forbes. Nothing he's saying seems irrational or ridiculous. Being a so-called "beast" in your field doesn't mean you are mentally ill.
Cures exist for mental illness; mostly by nutrition, therapy, hard work and strong social ties.
This is one of medicine's major problems: such a study is considered to be required, yet no one with enough funds (read: big pharma) will execute a study of the enormous size required to control for all these variables (because there is nothing to be gained for them). For all we know, every mental illness is cured in 80% of the cases by changing to -- and adhering to -- a healthy lifestyle. As the situation is, there will never be a study that proves it.
Someone close to me is affected with bipolar, which drags me into that universe. People who self-medicate - such as the author - are very common with this disease. There are a million people who claim they've "overcome" it, some through alcohol or street drugs, some through nutrition and lifestyle changes. The danger is that when you're manic, you are your own blind spot - you're in no position to self-assess, you think things are great when they clearly aren't.
It's been three years since the end of his "challenge", and from the sound of it, three lovely years. Meeting a new love, getting married, positive things. How will the unmedicated author react when, say, a parent dies? Or the marriage ends?
There's nothing wrong with trying to understand the disease, its effects on your body, and the effects of alternative therapies - I commend the author for that. However, the claim that he's "overcome" bipolar this way is reckless and frankly dangerous. There are countless bipolar patients out there who struggle every day with their medications; the costs, the terrible side effects, and who fight a battle of willpower to stay on them despite feeling "cured". One article like this, one claim to the opposite, is all it takes to break them.
I'd love for this article to be true. I'd love it if my friend didn't have to spend thousands on medications that are slowly killing her, but somehow I doubt this is the answer.
Edit: What great feedback! It's interesting hearing people's different experiences with various forms of treatment. I think the lifestyle changes the author recommends are sane and sensible, helpful changes. They just aren't a "cure". You manage these diseases and you must be very careful when tweaking that management.
I highly recommend that anyone who's involved with - or interested in - a mood disorder read An Unquiet Mind, by Kay Redfield Jamison. It gives you an excellent understanding of the subtleties and trickery this cunning disease exhibits.