But then I began to think. I suddenly began to wonder if Nash might have a relatively mild, undiagnosed form of a problem called bipolar spectrum disorder. But he’d been seeing psychiatrists for years and had not been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder... We knew that those on the spectrum could suffer severe kinds of depression that could last for months. They could also experience spurts of full-blown mania as well as a chronic, milder form of mania called hypomania. But our new ‘moody’ clients fell into some mixed, middle state that could include more frequent, briefer, and milder episodes of anger, depression, and/or anxiety, and was often associated with obsessiveness or inattentiveness. Their moods could change, blend, and vary in intensity and frequency. But they all shared one thing: whether their negative moods were mild, moderate, or severe, they were episodic, i.e., they swung. We have since learned that individual mood variations on this spectrum are almost endless. […]
It turns out that, for many people on the bipolar spectrum, antidepressants can add new, agitated or angry mood states to already-troubled mood chemistry. One of our clients, a woman in her early forties and an executive in a large company, had suffered a major loss and decided to try an antidepressant. She had become chronically agitated on it, but tapering off the medication did not relieve the problem. (Fortunately, several amino acids, including one called Seriphos, that lowered her cortisol levels, were able to relieve her of all of this drug-caused agitation.)
This now-widely recognized problem, has made most psychiatrists hesitate to use antidepressants in those already diagnosed with a bipolar spectrum problems. But Nash had not been diagnosed. He seemed to be hovering in a shadowy, unrecognized range of the spectrum, like so many of the clients we’ve seen since 2007.
So, then I started thinking about lithium as a possible next step for Nash. Lithium in high doses is an essential metal that has been used as a medication in various forms, most notably for severe bipolar spectrum disorder and unipolar disorder
(i.e., major depression) for over 70 years. It can often relieve spectrum-related mood problems,
including suicidality. Lithium was originally available over the counter as a pill and as an elixir. When it was found, in 1949, to successfully treat manic-depression, it became a prescription drug. (Research has since confirmed that Alzheimer’s, herpes, menstrual pain, and cluster headaches can also be relieved by it!)
Lithium is a nutrient that is notoriously depleted in our soils and water. There have actually been research studies correlating negative mood states in various geographic areas with low lithium levels. We’ve seen the results of many laboratory analyses of hair samples brought in by our clients over the years and very few have shown any level of lithium at all. Perhaps Lithium deficiency was a factor in Nash’s case...? […]
We have had a few deeply depressed clients who’d been diagnosed on the severe end of the bipolar spectrum with ‘major’ (or unipolar) depression. They responded well to glutamine supplementation. Even at low doses, glutamine seemed to jump-start their energy production, presumably because of an interrupt in the glutamine to glutamate transformation. A single (500 mg.) capsule or two, one to three times a day was all it took. […]
Jed had actually been the first client we’d recommended a low dose trial of glutamine to and he’d reported that it had prevented the return of the deeper depressions he occasionally suffered. (The 5- HTP continued to help when he had lighter mood slumps.) We’d actually first tried this maneuver because of a single study that his wife had found and brought to us. Jed had reported that if he took too much glutamine, he could feel some mania coming on, so he
was very careful to keep the occasional glutamine dose to a minimum. His manias were psychotic, but the worst of it was that they led to horrific periods of depression every time.
