Tags

, , , ,

brain1

As one who has experienced long periods of depression and mental chaos, I write this  as a way of sharing some of the ideas that have helped me gain a measure of stability and creativity in my life. It is also a record of what has worked, for the times I need reminding. As such is a work-in-progress,  as is my life. The piece didn’t start out that way or I might have written it in a different format, perhaps blog style. That will teach me to think there is such a thing as a final solution!

I write it also for you, beloved reader, as a challenge to you to embark on your own journey to health and happiness, if you haven’t done so already. And if you have begun the journey to say “You are not alone, Charaiveti, charaiveti. Keep going.”

I remember someone wise saying that the best way to live to a healthy old age is to get a serious disease and use it as a teacher.  Let you bodymind speak to you, listen to it’s needs. Tune in. Look after yourself!

The truth is that the healthcare system in Australia is groaning under the weight of our demands for the quick fix, the final solution, the magic bullet that will absolve us of responsibility for our own wellbeing.

An increasing number of scientifically trained medical doctors have experienced severe health problems themselves; and seeing the limitation of the “Here take this pill” approach to health have embraced a more holistic way of healing disease, of returning the bodymind to optimum health. This means that there are some well qualified people to turn to and much of it is free, via the internet, youtube and so on.  Be intelligent and discerning who you listen to, as you would or should when consulting your GP.

It can take time for new ideas to become part of medical orthodox treatment and no wonder when you look at the workload Doctors are expected to undertake and the burden of responsibilty most people drop at their feet.

However it does help to have someone to discuss what you are doing to tackle your dis-ease and many GPs are really open to being supportive of your plans to improve your life.

Some years ago both my sister and I were diagnosed with the same physical disease. We have tackled it in different ways over the years, she by going down the medical route with a specialist to advise her and me muddling along experimenting with diet and supplements and meditation. To our delight, the advice she is receiving from her specialist is now converging with the regime I have put in place after years of exploration.

This approach of course, is not for everyone, to many people the ideas are foreign to their way of seeing the world and the body. I hope you aren’t one of them. Vibrant health and mental clarity allow such joy to arise…

This approach  relies on a willingness to make significant lifestyle and dietary changes if necessary and to take responsibility at a very fundamental level for our own health. Taking responsibility is, in a way, both the cure and the goal of the cure. Order is the environment in which our creative flow can manifest.

The recognition that we have a mental illness can seem disempowering. “There’s something wrong with my brain.” or “I am crazy”,  so while we go about the task of “fixing” the brain, we need to cultivate the freedom and strength that comes with the recognition of who we really are underneath the chaos. From that platform we can lovingly parent ourselves into a more fulfilling and meaningful life.

I  remember hearing Osho say something to the effect that solving problems is the never-ending obsession of the mind and that if we can only get a bit of distance from it – recognise that we are simply the still silent watcher of its games – then the solutions to many of our problems become obvious – they may simply evaporate.

Wittgenstein,  beloved philosopher, said the same thing slightly differently:

“The solution of the problem of life is seen in the vanishing of the problem. (Is not this the reason why those who have found after a long period of doubt that the meaning of life became clear to them have been unable to say what constituted that meaning?)” Tractatus Logico Philosophicus (1921)

Fighting with the mind and emotions, trying to control will always be a losing battle. Getting a distance from them allows us to see the choices we need to make to allow healing.

But meditation, the process whereby we attune ourselves to our inner stillness and silence can be a real challenge for anyone with mental dis-ease.

Osho designed his Dynamic Meditation to cater for those of us for whom sitting silently is not (yet) an option.

Dynamic Meditation to clear the bodymind

I have often observed in myself that when I am at my most mentally chaotic my mind is behaving like an unruly and insecure two-year-old. The thing about meditation is that it helps strengthen that centre of awareness that is unaffected by turbulent thoughts and emotions, where you can retreat, get a break from it all, and where you can watch what is going on in your bodymind system.

This means that you become more able to monitor the effects of the various physical supplements and dietary changes you are making. Over time it will empower you to take full responsibility for your own journey to health and freedom.

There are also some very important lifestyle considerations to take into account that can give you some practical ways of leveraging yourself to a position of greater mental integrity.

Getting out of the swamp. How lifestyle can keep you stuck.

Professor Jordan Petersen, Professor of Psychology at Toronto University –  and clinical psychologist – outlines in this video the kind of lifestyle that will almost inevitably contribute to mental illness and offers some ideas on how to get out of that swamp.


 
 

Supplementationdownload

We have become used to treating the delicate self-healing mechanism of our bodymind as if it were a mechanical thing and leaving it in the hands of the medical profession just as we leave our car in at the mechanics for servicing.  The fact that medical solutions are free – paid for with our taxes –  while supplements can be expensive means that leaving it to the Doctor can look like the obvious solution.  I have no answer to this except to say that the fact that something is free doesn’t add anything to its real value. “Here take this poison – It’s free!” Although if you are severely depressed to the extent of contemplating suicide a pill may be just the trick while you get your life in order.

Lithium deficiency?

Lithium Orotate Supplementation.

There is some negative stuff about lithium orotate on the net. The Wikipedia entry on Hans Neiper, who did the original research on the this form of mineral salt  claims: “His therapy has been discredited as ineffective and unsafe”. The references used to substantiate this claim are anecdotal and out of date and do not actually address his research findings  scientifically.

In this video Dr John Grey discusses his longterm use of this supplement both for his family and in hsi medical practice. What he says tallies with my own experience, although as my general diet has improved I seem to need to take it less and less.

 

Lithium Orotate. Orotic acid is a substance found in large quantities in breast milk and facilitates the uptake of minerals by the suckling infant.

Neiper found that orotic acid when combined with a mineral such as calcium , magnesium or lithium enhances uptake – bioavailability – by a factor of 20. The value of this is enormous when it is remembered that “the therapeutic dose of lithium when administered as lithium carbonate is close to the toxic level (i.e., there is a narrow therapeutic window), and for this reason blood levels and organ function need to be monitored continually.” 1

There’s more info about how to get hold of Lithium Orotate at the bottom of this post.

Other supplements your brain may need

These following are links to a series of videos where John Gray gives detailed advice on other supplements for restoring healthy brain function. There’s nothing outrageously expensive on his list.

Lifestyle and dietary changes for a healthy brain

Doctor Mark Hyman is another scientifically trained doctor whose first-hand experience of the limitations of the “Take this Pill” approach  to healing led him to look at a more holistic approach.

TO ORDER LITHIUM OROTATE

Lithium

The Advanced Research Brand is the one I have always taken. They claim to be using the method Hans Neiper advocated to manufacture the product, I don’t know what that means or if it is important but it is a product that has always worked for me. I am still trying to find the New Zealand supplier I got them from a couple of years ago, as the postage from the US is a bit steep. There is a Sydney supplier but their price is ridiculous. So here are a couple of US options. There are other cheaper brands on the net but some of them are only 5 mg per pill rather than 120mg.

From Lucky Vitamins on EBay $US8.98 per 100 pack, postage $US25.04

OR

From BetterLife.com $US13.49 – I think this is where I got them from last time can’t remember the postage, and it’s not on the site, but I think it may have been a  bit less than the Lucky Vitamins charge.

DOSAGE. One tablet a day is the usual dosage but you can take two a day for the first week to get the blood levels up, if you have stong symptoms of deficiency. Eventually you can simply take one whenever you begin to notice that you are feeling ‘off’ for no reason.