This topic hit home for me and because of that I want to pass along a very important warning

Hello everyone,

Last night I attended a memorial service for a neighbor. A month ago she committed suicide, in a very violent fashion. Most of us were dumbfounded, as this neighbor, to all of us, was a healer, kind, loving, always smiling. What most of us did not know, until last night, as her daughter spoke, was that our friend struggled with bipolar disorder. She had been on many different medications, and apparently had a rotation going of different medications. The issue seemed to be that she would develop a tolerance to one regime, so she would rotate through different cocktails as one set lost its effect.

Apparently, on her own, she decided to wean herself off the medications. No supervision from her doctor.

I wonder if this is how she got herself into trouble.

I do my best in this blog to stay neutral, and let you, the readers, decide if medication is for you, or if you'd rather choose an alternative option. I still feel that way.

However, what I do want to insist on, after this personal experience, is that if you are on medications, that you do not manage the use of these medications, or even alternative options, on your own. Whether it's in a bottle or from a plant or a food, when you use chemicals to alter your brain chemistry, you alter your brain chemistry. Once the compound is in your body, regardless of its origin, you really don't have any control over where, when, and how this compound is going to work.

Please do not operate on the assumption that because you are "getting off meds", that what you are doing is safe. It can be, but only if done correctly. Please do not assume that because what you are taking is organic and/or was not sold to you by a pharmaceutical company, that you're in good hands. You may...or you may not be.

It can be very hard to reach out for help when the problem you have is a mental health issue. I lived just yards from this neighbor, she knew what I did for a living, and never once did she ask me for any information. But the important thing to remember about a mental health issue is that it affects how you think, reason, feel, and act. Even if you feel that you're in control, it's always important to have at least one human sounding board to depend on when making decisions affecting how your brain functions.

I don't want any of you to ever think I said anything to encourage you to endanger yourself. If I present new information that you think might be helpful, please download it and share it with your provider. Don't act on it alone. I want all of you to be around as long as I can come up with new and helpful information to post on this blog.