success ☼ Happy2Heal: Hope I'm doing this right

[Happy2Heal]

23 hours ago, RealMe said:

Definitely going to check this out.  In the past few years I have cut way back on meat, especially red meat.  I don't eat flour, sugar, potatoes, diet soda, nitrates.  I eat more fish (brain food?).  I can't do all vegetables, and I don't really like to cook.  I used to like cooking for holidays, but on a regular basis, I like easy food prep.

 

your diet sounds pretty decent. We all figure out what is best for ourselves. I like super easy food prep myself, so I eat very plain foods. I'll steam or boil veggies and have them for a meal (sometimes a single veggie, my favorite being Brussels sprouts, sometimes a couple of different ones) Plain fruit, oatmeal with some ground flax seeds and maybe if I'm feeling fancy, raisins and/or walnuts...

I make a big pot of veggie soup on the weekend and eat that all week. I vary the veggies a bit from week to week, or I'll add some cooked pasta or rice or something along the way.

 

about the most cooking I do is when I make these oatmeal breakfast bars- they're pretty simple but they involve turning on the oven, and that's more cooking than I normally like to do, hahaha

 

I am never hungry and I don't have any food cravings any more. No, I take that back, occasionally I'll crave something salty. I don't know why, but it happens when my blood pressure is low. 
Normally I have to eat low sodium, or my BP will go up.

 

it's very individual, diet is. That's what I think, at least. 

I just try to aim for foods that I LIKE that are high in nutrients. 

 

 

[Happy2Heal]

22 hours ago, powerback said:

I follow he's youtube channel ,very knowledgeable .keeping up the practice is never ending though .he can get very extreme but its a great resource. 

I think so too.

I think sometimes he gets hung up on certain foods (he's all nuts about green tea, well I cant' drink green tea, not even the one with reduced caffeine, I can't tolerate caffeine any more. But Dr Gregor thinks it's so wonderful, I almost feel bad that I have to leave it out of my diet)

but I calmed myself down about that, and realized I eat better than the vast majority of Americans (and others) and, more importantly, I eat better than I ever have in the past, so all in all, I'm doing pretty darn good.

 

There's a daily dozen or something, the foods that you should eat on a daily basis, and I tell ya, if I ate ALL of those foods every day, I'd be so stuffed I wouldn't be able to move.
Dr Furhman has a list of foods you should try to eat every day too, and I can't manage to eat all those foods daily either. I don't know who can, it seems like a massive amnt of food.

Maybe if it was just say, a tablespoon of this and a half cup of that....

but they give quantities (like 3 fruits per day) and my stomach is just not big enough for all that food, lol

It used to be, but that was 2 years and 50-60 lbs ago. I'm a lot smaller now.

 

 

 

[Happy2Heal]

riding a few nasty waves, probably stress related. Had to say goodbye to one of my boys (pet rats) which leaves his brother all alone. I am so sad for him.

I'm rat sitting for a friend for the weekend, so that helps (him *and* me) 

and then later in the week, I"ll be getting two younger foster boys. So my lone boy won't be alone too long.

there's nothing sadder than a single rat, they need the company of other rats, to do "rat stuff" with. Snuggle with, mutually groom each other, play... 
Sure, they'll play a bit with humans but it's not the same.

 

I am a little surprised at how bad I feel losing him, I only had him for about a month.  

and I've had- and lost- over 30 rats in the past 9 years, you'd think I'd be used to this by now.

But it doesn't get any easier I guess.

 

Two of the rats I'm taking care of are sick and on meds, so there's the stress that one of them gets sicker and passes away... not much you can do about it, except give them their meds and pray.

 

crappy day out, too- snow to freezing rain/sleet and crap. ick! 

 

tomorrow will be better, I'm sure. 

 

[Hibari]

I'm sorry about the loss of your pet rat.  We form such bonds with our pets and losing them is hard.

 

I'm also sorry you are riding some nasty waves, never fun.

 

Just wanted to say I get it and you will move through this because you have already turned the healing corner. 

 

H

[Happy2Heal]

thanks Hibari, I appreciate you stopping by!

I'm already feeling better. Much better! 

 

I'm never 100% sure if it's a wave or just a bad day, but if it feels anything like past waves, I tend to think that's what it is/was. That awful feeling of disconnection and dread that I used to have (in much MUCH greater intensity) seems more of a WD/recovery thing than just a normal bad day.

 

BUT I'm feeling more connected today, less dread, working on staying in the present moment.  

 

 

I decided to go and adopt the remaining 3 brothers of the rat I've got now. The shelter had 5 boys in all, all brothers that have been there a long time 

I took home 2 of the healthiest looking ones about a month ago, my Buddy (RIP) and Nolan.

I know Nolan will be happy to be reunited with his brothers and I'm sure they'll be thrilled to see him again.

it could get tight financially, esp if any of them get sick or injured, but I'll find a way to make it work out. Rats truly need other rats, they are very social animals. 

 

so, that's my plan for today!

bring a little sunshine into these boys' lives and my own as well

 

 

I'll still have the fosters coming on the weekend, those 2 are much younger though and may be too intense and active for these much older boys.

 

 

[Happy2Heal]

yeh the anxiety sucks but it does get better.  I have a hard time with the acknowledge, accept and float, but it helps when I'm able to master it.

I'd take a long hold, too, if I were you! I'd have saved myself a lot of trouble if I'd only gone slower, esp at the lower doses.

 

I gotta learn everything the hard way I guess.

 

I love Dr Gregor. I'm going to see if the library has his How not to Die cookbook.

I picked up Dr Furhman's Eat to Live Quick and Easy cookbook. I"m glad I didn't buy it, there's only about a half dozen or so recipes that I think I'll like, and maybe a few more that I'll try but don't expect to be overjoyed with them, hahaha

I have very simple tastes, so if anything calls for spices or ingredients I'm not used to, it's probably not going to work out.

 

aww sorry you're afraid of rats. I'm definitely afraid of wild rats. Domestic rats are so different, and so cuddly and yes, even cute. I've had them as pets since 2009 and every time I say, that's it, no more, I go about a month and can't stand being without them. 

They are so full of life and pack so much joy into every day. 

 

 

attaching a photo of one of the boys I just adopted. He's called a dumbo rex- his ears are set down lower than a standard rat, looking a bit like Dumbo the Elephant's ears, hence the name. He's got curly whiskers and thick fur, that's what makes him a rex.

 

In my next post I'll add a photo of a standard rat. These white ones are called PEWs, which stands for Pink eyed whites, or what most ppl think of as a lab rat.

 

Pet rats come in lots of colors, too, but the PEWs are my favorite, and the beige ones too. I've found they have the most interesting personalities. Oh yes, they are all very different and unique. <3

 

 

 

[Happy2Heal]

hmm I'm not able to attach another file for some reason

 

if you're interested, this is one of my favorite videos of rats that were taught tricks (not my rats, I've never trained mine, I'm too lazy for that lol)

 

[Happy2Heal]

this video is even better, I just found it

 

it's rats doing what rats like to do

these are girl rats, boys tend not to be as active

https://youtu.be/Zx4XjwWUsr4

 

[Happy2Heal]

the week just kept getting better,  a bit more each day. Back to feeling pretty good.

 

The wave was very mild but unlike most other ones, faded gradually rather than stopping abruptly.

I guess the only constant in this process is change, eh?

 

 

[Rosetta]

That's wonderful, Happy.  Enjoy your window! - Rosetta

[powerback]

2 minutes ago, Happy2Heal said:

the week just kept getting better,  a bit more each day. Back to feeling pretty good.

 

The wave was very mild but unlike most other ones, faded gradually rather than stopping abruptly.

I guess the only constant in this process is change, eh?

 

 

Brilliant H ,in a mini window this evening myself .

we keep going no matter what .

peace .

[Littlegrandma]

1 hour ago, powerback said:

Brilliant H ,in a mini window this evening myself .

we keep going no matter what .

peace .

That’s fantastic H2H and PB. 

So happy for both of you! May your windows long continue!!  xx lg

[powerback]

3 minutes ago, Littlegrandma said:

That’s fantastic H2H and PB. 

So happy for both of you! May your windows long continue!!  xx lg

Cheers LG .I was dancing in the kitchen making my dinner and only a little neuro embarrassment 

[Littlegrandma]

1 minute ago, powerback said:

Cheers LG .I was dancing in the kitchen making my dinner and only a little neuro embarrassment 

Haha

i will be dancing in the streets when this is over and done-

without embarrassment.  Even if I do have 2 left feet. 

[Happy2Heal]

ooh I love  the Oh She Glows recipes, a friend sends me them from time to time.

I think she's got a blog or something...?

 

yeh, domestic rats can be cute;  wild ones, not so much

heh

 

[Happy2Heal]

On 3/3/2018 at 2:52 PM, Rosetta said:

That's wonderful, Happy.  Enjoy your window! - Rosetta

thanks Rosetta

I am thoroughly enjoying it

 

[Happy2Heal]

On 3/3/2018 at 4:10 PM, powerback said:

Cheers LG .I was dancing in the kitchen making my dinner and only a little neuro embarrassment 

yeh, really! 

I was singing in the store the other day, I got a lot of dirty looks (I sing off key apparently) but that's ok

I was happy and no one was gonna ruin that

 

 

[powerback]

4 hours ago, Happy2Heal said:

yeh, really! 

I was singing in the store the other day, I got a lot of dirty looks (I sing off key apparently) but that's ok

I was happy and no one was gonna ruin that

 

 

great .

[doxxigirl]

Hello @Happy2Heal.. I thought I would stop by your thread and say hi!  You are my inspiration, that I can do this!  I hope you are having a wonderful day!

[Happy2Heal]

19 hours ago, doxxigirl said:

Hello @Happy2Heal.. I thought I would stop by your thread and say hi!  You are my inspiration, that I can do this!  I hope you are having a wonderful day!

thanks doxxigril

 

 

you can do it, we all can! it's not easy but it's absolutely do- able and you'll be in such a better place when it's all over

 

just take your time! 

[Happy2Heal]

posted this on another member's thread but putting it here to save and hoping it helps others too

 

 

I have a fortune from one of those Chinese fortune cookies that I keep on my fridge

it says

 

You are what you think.

 

 

this turns out to be SO true.

 

also, for depression, here are some things that work incredibly well (and there's science to back them up)

 

go out in the sun for 15 mins a day, preferably morning sun. if it's cloudy try to stay out longer, up to an hour

 

look UP. Literally, cast your gaze slightly above eye level as often as you safely can (sometimes when walking this isn't possible)

 

when I was going thru the very worst parts of recovery, and dark feelings and thoughts would seem to envelope me in a cloud of doom and gloom, I would force myself to look upward.

and also to smile. Yes, just using the muscles of smiling, they found, will cause changes in your brain that make you feel better.
Not saying that putting a fake smile on your face is going to make you feel happy, it probably won't. BUT  it will most definitely make you feel better than you are.

 

if you're already feeling pretty good, than chances are it could tip you over into happy, lol

 

 

these things may seem silly but they work incredibly well.

I had a brief period of feeling the darkness of early WD/recovery yesterday and had so well trained myself to look up when I felt that way, and to put a smile on my face, that in a very short period of time, the dark clouds in my mind had passed.

there is some science behind the looking upwards, too, but I don't recall where I read it nor why it works.

 

also if you eat something sweet, you can counteract the negative effects that sugar has on your anxiety level and depression level, by eating a green vegetable around the same time as the sweet, or just after.

 

another thing that's been proven to work! also avoiding sugar/processed foods as much as possible.

 

see, I went to the store on Sat and ended up being there past lunch time. I got hungry and foolishly bought a box of reduced fat Cheez its. A highly processed, salt and fat laden snack, one of the worst things to eat (at any time!) 

and that is what brought on the dark mood, I think.

 

but I ate a lot of broccoli when I got home and also did the smile on the face and head up and the darkness passed.

 

I was in acute WD/recovery for at least a year, and I tried these techniques and others many times, enough times to know that the results were not flukes, they truly work

 

give them a try!
I'll see if I can remember any others.

 

[Scorpio]

Hi happy2heal

thank you for these tips, hopefully they will work for anxiety. I try the smile on my face already, sometimes it definitely helps. 

[Happy2Heal]

On 3/6/2018 at 12:16 PM, Scorpio said:

Hi happy2heal

thank you for these tips, hopefully they will work for anxiety. I try the smile on my face already, sometimes it definitely helps. 

 

that's good to hear!

this may seem out of place but I'm just going to copy it here, it's from a conversation but I want to save it for myself in case I forget:

I was told once that I'm "highly suggestible". Well, we all are, that's how advertising works.

But we can use that to our own advantage. I learned early on to hypnotize myself. Anyone can do it, in fact, all hypnosis is self hypnosis.

 

When I read that ADs and placebos are almost equally matched for "effectiveness", it became even clearer to me how powerful our beliefs truly are.

and what we believe is entirely our choice. this is a good thing!! 

 

I choose to believe in wellness, health and healing. In my own strength and personal power. 

[doxxigirl]

3 hours ago, Happy2Heal said:

 

that's good to hear!

this may seem out of place but I'm just going to copy it here, it's from a conversation but I want to save it for myself in case I forget:

I was told once that I'm "highly suggestible". Well, we all are, that's how advertising works.

But we can use that to our own advantage. I learned early on to hypnotize myself. Anyone can do it, in fact, all hypnosis is self hypnosis.

 

When I read that ADs and placebos are almost equally matched for "effectiveness", it became even clearer to me how powerful our beliefs truly are.

and what we believe is entirely our choice. this is a good thing!! 

 

I choose to believe in wellness, health and healing. In my own strength and personal power. 

Hi there H2H! I like the way you think!

[Scorpio]

On 08/03/2018 at 12:39 AM, Happy2Heal said:

 

that's good to hear!

this may seem out of place but I'm just going to copy it here, it's from a conversation but I want to save it for myself in case I forget:

I was told once that I'm "highly suggestible". Well, we all are, that's how advertising works.

But we can use that to our own advantage. I learned early on to hypnotize myself. Anyone can do it, in fact, all hypnosis is self hypnosis.

 

When I read that ADs and placebos are almost equally matched for "effectiveness", it became even clearer to me how powerful our beliefs truly are.

and what we believe is entirely our choice. this is a good thing!! 

 

I choose to believe in wellness, health and healing. In my own strength and personal power. 

I will follow your example and try to see the positives of these miserable symptoms. One step closer. ....  

 

[Happy2Heal]

4 hours ago, Scorpio said:

I will follow your example and try to see the positives of these miserable symptoms. One step closer. ....  

 

oh the symptoms are miserable, nothing good about those. but generally we can find at least one small thing in our day to be grateful for, one good thing.

 

 

 

 

 

[Rosetta]

Hi H2H,

 

Im responding here to something you wrote on someone else's thread about whether it would be useful to the rest of us to see your (almost) complete med history.  I understand it's hard to remember them all.

 

There are so many statements people make on this forum about whether others should have any hope.  They are usually saying something meant to encourage the person such as "You are young.  You will heal."  But anyone can see that statement and start to fret.   I see so much fretting about what factors should give us hope or cause us despair -- how long on meds, how many meds, how many meds at one time, which meds, Cold turkey vs. fast taper vs. slow taper, age at time meds were commenced, age at time taper began, age at time CT began, whether WD was delayed or not, number of med switches, number of cold turkeys, and on and on.  It's endless.  It's very difficult to see any concrete information about whether these factors mean people will or will not heal.  I get the impression that the Mods are very weary of the WD symptom "fear one will never heal," and I would be too if I were answering that question over and over in the affirmative.  It would certainly help if there were more examples of people who healed after long histories of being medicated.

 

I can't see any correlation of the factors with lack of healing myself.  I see people in all categories who healed and who haven't yet healed.  It's all so over the board that I've stopped looking at the idea that it matters.  Some people were over 50 when put on meds, CT'd and they still healed.  Maybe it took a long time, but it happened.  Some people were on drugs a very short time and have a terrible time with WD, but they heal.  Others were on a long, long time, and they healed.  The only factor that seems to matter to the amount of time it took to heal is whether the person avoided re-injury, a while that's not always under one's control, it does seem to be a key.  Even then, the recovery times vary a lot.  

 

I think if people could see that you took lots of different drugs for a long time and that you stuck with your taper, did not try too many substances likely to irritate your CNS, and are over the hump it would help quite a bit.  Maybe it would help to dispel the fiction that a lot of time on many different drugs means one will have a long, horrible journey and may never get better.  It's looks like you are doing so well now.  This being a very short time since you crashed in Sept of 2016 -- almost a year and a half since you reinstated -- maybe it would be of use for people to see a more complete signature.

 

By the way, thanks for being here despite how well you are doing.  That is such a gift to those of us still struggling along.

 

All my best, Rosetta

[Happy2Heal]

16 minutes ago, Rosetta said:

The only factor that seems to matter to the amount of time it took to heal is whether the person avoided re-injury, a while that's not always under one's control, it does seem to be a key.  Even then, the recovery times vary a lot.  

what do you mean by "re injury"?

I'm writing up my drug history now, and am going to post it, but in the meantime I'm curious what re-injury means.

 

I've read dozens and dozens of threads here and it is very hard to determine what makes the difference in how someone does in recovery. 
To me, personally, it seems that the same factors are at play that affect how a drug impacts a person in the first place- that being their own personal "brain chemistry" and genetic make up. And possibly attitude, although I certainly don't think having a positive attitude is all that it takes. You can't walk on a broken leg, no matter how positive an attitude you have about being able to do so LOL and so you can't make your brain hurry up and heal from it's chemical assault with these meds simply by willing it to be so. 
Sure wish it was that easy, though!! 

 

It shocks me to see people who were on a given medication at a low or for a very short period of time, having a great deal of trouble getting off it, But I suppose it should not really surprise me.

 

My own reactions to some of the drugs I was put on were quite dramatic. I recall that a single dose of prozac made me feel almost instantly suicidal!! 

a single dose of lyrica did the same thing.
Another drug more or less instantly caused a kind of rage reaction in me.

Scary stuff! so it's not surprising that ppl have such different stories about getting off these drugs.

So ppl may or may not get any hope from my long drug history; it could just be that I"m incredibly lucky.

 

but...........when it comes right down to it, hope is choice we make. We can either decide to have hope that things will get better, regardless of how bad they are now, or we can decide that it's hopeless.

This is the same choice we all have to make about anything difficult in our lives. 

 

right?

[Happy2Heal]

here's the reply I posted in Survivor1's thread

copied and pasted here:

 

OK I updated my signature

I am sure I've forgotten some of the drugs I was given, but those would be the ones I was only on for a short while. I just realized that I was also given trazadone at some point but I think I only took a single dose. 

I was on the lexapro for the longest, and it was the hardest to get off of

OH! I should mention it's also the only drug I tapered off of, and even then I did it VERY poorly. 

I CT'ed off ALL the other drugs!

in some cases, I was immediately switched to another similar drug, though

Like, I started off on zoloft in the late 1990s, not sure of the  year. I was switched to celexa and then when lexapro came out in 2002, I went on that.
My dose was rapidly increased from 20mgs all the way to 40mgs and then I needed massive drugs to help me sleep. I was on absurd amounts of seroquel, for example.
I CT'ed off that, I also CTed off zyprexa, lithium and depakote and lamictal!

I was on all of those for several years each at least.

 

I had a love/hate relationship with lexapro. There was a certain side effect that I liked. But I hated feeling numb and disconnected.

So I tried to get off it several times, but I had no idea that it needed to be tapered, I was told repeatedly that there was no such thing as WD or what they started calling discontinuation syndrome. I just thought I "needed" it because I got so horribly messed up each time I tried to get off it!

I got down to zero at least 3 times. I went up and down in the dose so many times, it's a miracle, I think, that I'm doing so well.

This up and down stuff is what we are warned about; it's the thing that is supposed to be the most de stabilizing

 

**is this what you meant by "re injury"???

 

so I have to wonder, IF I had done a decent taper, without any ups or downs, I have to wonder : would it have been easy for me?

considering I only had that one year of hell, and now I'm basically ok?
 

this is why I try to warn ppl to do the proper taper!! I wish I had, and I consider myself one of the luckier ones in that I'm doing fine now and I've only been to zero since last October

 

Imagine how well I could have done, if I'd gone about this the right way!!!
 

so, what do you think??

pretty incredible, eh?

and I am NOT the only one with this kind of drug history,  there's at least a half dozen with ones like mine and WORSE.

people who were put on drugs as kids! I was at least 18 

 

and now I am 62 and I have a good long life ahead of me, drug free!

I am a young 62 and am very healthy, I could easily live to 100 or more (I go to a Sr Center where we have several ppl over 100 and many in their 90s, some who look better than I do LOL)

 

it's never too late to get off these drugs and no case is hopeless.

that's how I feel, anyway!

 

[Rosetta]

17 minutes ago, Happy2Heal said:

what do you mean by "re injury"?
 

My own reactions to some of the drugs I was put on were quite dramatic. I recall that a single dose of prozac made me feel almost instantly suicidal!! 

a single dose of lyrica did the same thing.
Another drug more or less instantly caused a kind of rage reaction in me.

Scary stuff! so it's not surprising that ppl have such different stories about getting off these drugs.

So ppl may or may not get any hope from my long drug history; it could just be that I"m incredibly lucky.

 

but...........when it comes right down to it, hope is choice we make.

right?

 

By injury or re-injury I mean the destabilization or further destabilization of the CNS.

 

Yes, hope is a choice when in a window and sometimes in a wave.  Depending on how deep a wave might be I don't always feel that I have a choice to hope.  I often feel that I lose the ability to hope utterly and completely, and I'm just staying alive for my little girl.  I suppose you could say that I must be hopeful that I'll get better, but it's often more accurate to say that I'm trying to not destroy her life just yet -- just in case there is hope that I can't feel. Granted, these time periods of feeling hopeless get shorter and shorter as I heal, but there must be a neurotransmitter issue occurring because I honestly feel absolutely no hope at all sometimes.  That happened today, in fact.  It's a feeling that is incredibly immature and shortsighted, and I liken it to the way a toddler or young child feels when she loses a toy -- the feeling that nothing will ever be all right again.  It's as if everything I have ever learned in my life about the transient nature of feeling and the ability to recover from grief goes right out the door.  I suspect that I am very much like a child at these times.  Perhaps the brains of little children are in a similar degree of turmoil as they grow and change.  My daughter certainly sometimes acts as if she feels the same degree of anguish that I feel when I can't do something I want to do.  She recovers more quickly from it, and she has happy emotions.  The lack of happy emotions is probably a major reason WD is so unrelenting bleak compared to the way a child experiences the growth of her brain.

[Happy2Heal]

oh yes the neuro emotions of WD are intense. shockingly intense.

I had to keep repeatedly reminding myself that feelings are not facts, that feeling hopeless was not the same things being hopeless, etc

 

I understand, I was there, I went to the ER because I felt like I could not survive it.(Jan 2017)

It's hard, I know, but it won't last forever, it does get better and you WILL feel the happiness again.

I promise you, you will.

 

you are so courageous to hold on for your daughter's sake. she may never know just how much you went thru nor how strong you've been, but I am sure she will appreciate it (even if she never shows it, as our children seldom do lol)

 

sorry you've had a rough day, I hope tomorrow is much better.

 

 

[Rosetta]

Thank you!

 

EDITED: Wowzer!  That is some list of drugs!!!  You are an inspiration for sure.  Kinda makes me glad I went so long with no health insurance, quite frankly.  I'm sure any of us could end up with prescriptions for that many drugs over the years if we had doctors who had no respect for what dangers might lurk.

[Happy2Heal]

1 hour ago, Rosetta said:

Thank you!

 

EDITED: Wowzer!  That is some list of drugs!!!  You are an inspiration for sure.  Kinda makes me glad I went so long with no health insurance, quite frankly.  I'm sure any of us could end up with prescriptions for that many drugs over the years if we had doctors who had no respect for what dangers might lurk.

 

 

you're welcome.

 

 

the tragic thing is that all these drugs left me disabled and medicaid paid for all those drugs.

They did balk at the 40 mgs of lexapro, but not until the state went a with managed care company to manage things. Before that, they paid for every single stupid Rx without question. I got heavier and heavier, my blood pressure went up,  I got GERD and went on drugs for that, I had sleep apnea and needed a CPAP machine, they paid for that, I had IBS (I believe is related to the drugs but I"m not 100% sure, it's gone now but I've changed my diet drastically)

I was on all kinds of drugs and they just kept adding more.

 

Since going off the lexapro, I"m no longer obese(I have a normal BMI( my blood pressure is normal (as long as I don't consume too much sodium) I don't need to take pain meds or prevacid or antihistamines (no idea why going off the lexapro also got rid of my severe allergies, but I'm happy about it) I don't need tranquilizers or meds for sleep, or heart meds etc.  In fact, I no longer see any drs, I hate them all. If I got injured and truly needed medical care, some sort of first aid, sure I'd go for that, but that's all. Most of my problems in the past were clearly diet related and now that I follow basically the "nutritarian" diet style I know that I"m going to be, and stay, healthy.

 

Many people on this forum have long lists of drugs like mine, just maybe not for so long a period of time. A few do, though, like Shep and others I can't remember their names right now.
 Throughout most of the past 4 decades, I believed what I was told, that I had a "serious mental illness". What that illness was, exactly, changed over the years as more drugs were added.

Criminally, I was given first generation anti psychotics when I was 18 and had a simple "adjustment reaction to adolescence" diagnosis. It was basically just a chemical restraint that the hospital gave all the teenaged and young adult patients. Keep us wild kids under control. :/

 

Later I was put on haldol, based mostly on the fact that I'd been on the previous anti psychotic, so "obviously" I must have had psychotic symptoms (I did not)

I was told that I was schizophrenic. Then, because I had strong emotions, they changed that to "schizophrenic, atypical type" and then "affective type" and eventually to "schizo- affective disorder"

and then they decided that no, I was bipolar!!  they added ocd, panic attacks, ptsd, agoraphobia, anorexia, and a host of other stuff. Oh yeh one doc said I had a paranoid personality disorder or some such thing.

 

and the explanation for the ever-changing diagnosis? they were perfecting their diagnostic skills as time went on. uh huh, sure.

 

Not that it was really all just bull sh*t to begin with. :/

it was, and is, so much BS it's not even funny.

it's criminal that they get away with this stuff.

 

 

 

[Rosetta]

Amazing.  You have every right to be upset.  I'm so glad you were able to reverse all those conditions.  I have CPAP for apnea, too.  Diagnosed about 2 years after I started Celexa.  Do you still need it? Is your diet listed on your thread?

[Happy2Heal]

23 minutes ago, Rosetta said:

Amazing.  You have every right to be upset.  I'm so glad you were able to reverse all those conditions.  I have CPAP for apnea, too.  Diagnosed about 2 years after I started Celexa.  Do you still need it? Is your diet listed on your thread?

 

no I don't need a CPAP machine. I lost about 60lbs, now part of that was the WD and not a deliberate diet change. I couldn't eat much at all for awhile and had some severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhea off and on during the worst of WD. 

 

Then there was a period of time when I could eat a massive amount of high calorie foods and I just burnt them all off and kept losing weight. I could not keep wt on, and I got horribly thin (technically within the wt range for my height, but I looked like a scarecrow, no fat on my face, my cheeks sunken in, I looked scary. that was last summer)

in the fall, I stopped losing weight and then, 

Sometime in Dec or Jan, I was finally able to start putting weight on and I've leveled off at a weight I am happy with.
That was a huge turning point for me, that's when I knew that I was really going to be ok. 

 

I read the book Eat to Live and followed that up with Eat for Health, by Dr Joel Furhman. I first saw him on a PBS special and was fascinated by what he was saying about disease, food and health.
He calls his "diet style" the Nutritarian diet style. You don't count calories or even keep track of foods, you simply choose to eat foods with the highest nutrient density and avoid foods that promote disease (meat, eggs, dairy,  fats and oils, sugar, and I limit sodium to keep my blood pressure down) 

You eat the foods that fight cancer and other diseases, high fiber low calorie foods with lots of vitamins, minerals and phyto nutrients. Mainly plant foods, the healthiest foods on the planet.

They've known this for a very long time, the trouble is, most ppl don't want to hear it, they want to keep eating the crap they're eating and not what can help them not only be healthy, but the foods that can help prevent, treat and even reverse disease! 
I have been studying nutrition now (informally) for about 6 years I guess? I follow Dr Micheal Gregor, and all of the plant based, whole food docs.  I have tailored a diet that works for me, but mainly, everything that Dr Furhman said about eating high nutrient value foods and losing your "toxic hunger" has been 100% true.

I have no cravings any more, and in fact for awhile, I missed having them. Silly, I know.

I have had blood work that shows that my cholesterol is super low (I forget the exact numbers but it's like 135 or something?)  my c -reactive protein is now low (that's a measure of inflammation in the body, the higher the number the greater your risk of heart disease and certain cancers) oh, I also totally reversed my non alcoholic fatty liver disease, something my dr said could not be done. More BS. Google it, all you need to do is lose 10% of your body wt and you can reverse NAFLD. (you can't reverse NASH though but that's not what I had) 

anyone who is overwt has fatty liver disease, whether your doctors' told you or not, you've got excess fat stored in your liver, and everywhere else too. 

I have virtually no risk of ever having a heart attack, only a very small risk of a stroke due to my afib, and almost no risk of getting cancer. All due to my diet and lifestyle choices.

Drs are pretty much useless if you ask me. I have no faith in them whatsoever.

 

[apace41]

Great thread and great discussion, H2H and Rosetta.  Thank you both.

 

H2H -- you are one of the truly inspirational success stories we have on the forum.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Best,

 

Andy