What treatments have you tried and how did others respond to your failed treatments?

[KuriGohan&Kamehameha]

I am so glad to have this forum as I can speak freely and honestly about my experiences, many communities ban you from speaking about the negatives of the mental health and medical systems. I'll start:

Therapy since I was around 10 years old, around 6 different therapists with multiple styles of therapy: CBT, mindfulness, gratitude, basic talk therapy, etc

Many psychiatrists, tried every drug in the SSRI and SNRI classes, wellbutrin, mirtazapine, two different stimulants, propranolol, buspar, hydroxyzine, lyrica, prazosin. Was neglected severely by medical professionals who only wanted to give me useless "physical exams" and not send me for actual testing, so I went years with likely drug induced vitamin deficiencies due to my high dosage polydrug cocktail . Had a vitamin B12 and D regimine for a long time and was assured it would "fix my problems". It did not.

Psychiatry ran out of things they would prescribe me, and multiple therapists said they didn't know how to handle someone with such a large amount of trauma, and weren't sure how to help. Cannot afford to blow money on a private therapist who will likely say the same things, so I stopped therapy.

I have physical illnesses as well and underwent a battery of blood tests and scans to see if there was something worsening my overall malaise. Nothing really showed up. Was told to take iduprofen for my pain, which didn't help, and took antienemics for awhile so I would be able to eat. Tried a couple different psychedelics on my own and one of them helped for around 2 days.

Nowadays I feel quite helpless because I truly have tried everything that I'm comfortable trying- I refuse ECT and I don't have access to private treatments like Ket.

I get told all the time that I'm just "giving up" and letting my PTSD (caused by abuse from a doctor) prevent me from seeking "real help" when all doctors did was brush off my pain and act like it was not real. It doesn't matter how many treatments I tried, people will always say that one must not give up and every problem has a solution, you just have to put in hard work...

 

[KuriGohan&Kamehameha]

I forgot to mention in the OP.. did inadequate care from the mental health/medical industry drive you closer to CTB, and why?
I can say despite those people thinking they have good intentions and are saving a life, they did nothing but destroy mine.

 

[Chupacabra 44]

Kudos, as you sound very disciplined in your approach.

Have you tried any drastic dietary interventions? At minimum, I suggest you go on a whole food diet. It would be wise to try an elimination diet first to identify any underlying food intolerances/sensitivities. Better yet, I would suggest you consider either a whole food raw vegan diet (along with your vitamin B12 and you can consider modeling it based on an 80/10/10 fruitarian diet), or a ketogenic diet with possibly a ketogenic based carnivore diet. These are extremes on the dietary intervention spectrums and many individuals tend to respond well on either extreme with both physical and mental illnesses being improved. Personally, I can vouch for both extremes, and there are plenty of testimonials from others on line.

If you are interested and unfamiliar, you can Google, or feel free to ask me questions. There are potential down sides to these dietary extremes, so one needs to educate themselves and best to be tracked through basic blood work to monitor things like fasting blood glucose, cholesterol, and liver enzymes.

 

[AutoTap]

I've tried meds, exposure therapy, psychotherapy, and a ton of coping mechanisms and techniques for my anxieties and depression.

 

[KuriGohan&Kamehameha]

Kudos, as you sound very disciplined in your approach.

Have you tried any drastic dietary interventions? At minimum, I suggest you go on a whole food diet. It would be wise to try an elimination diet first to identify any underlying food intolerances/sensitivities. Better yet, I would suggest you consider either a whole food raw vegan diet (along with your vitamin B12 and you can consider modeling it based on an 80/10/10 fruitarian diet), or a ketogenic diet with possibly a ketogenic based carnivore diet. These are extremes on the dietary intervention spectrums and many individuals tend to respond well on either extreme with both physical and mental illnesses being improved. Personally, I can vouch for both extremes, and there are plenty of testimonials from others on line.

If you are interested and unfamiliar, you can Google, or feel free to ask me questions. There are potential down sides to these dietary extremes, so one needs to educate themselves and best to be tracked through basic blood work to monitor things like fasting blood glucose, cholesterol, and liver enzymes.

You make a very good point, sadly my IBS and chronic fatigue syndrome prevents me from being very "adventurous" with food and dieting like i could be in the past, although I have tried many supplements that are supposed to help people like myself with IBS or CFS, such as coenzyme q 10, thiamine, etc. The FODMAP diet is one that many people have success with, but having so many conditions it is a constant battle to stay on any sort of diet when I have energy crashes and end up having to eat something "bad" just to stay awake. Imagine living 4 years like this then being told there's nothing bad in your bloodwork, so they can't help since post viral fatigue is not understood at all. May try probiotics again but it gets expensive to buy supplements especially when the NHS won't pay for it

 

[rabbithole]

CBT during intensive outpatient therapy, inpatient therapy for two months, EMDR, SSRIs, SNRIs, antipsychotics, benzos, IM ketamine 8 times, years of talk therapy.

 

[Ardesevent]

I've tried meds and some talk and exposure therapy. It had little to no effect on me. Everyone kept telling me to keep trying and eventually I'd find the right one, but after a while I didn't want to burn a bigger hole in my parent's wallet.

 

[umbrellaphone]

I really want to undergo therapies to see if they can work. Unfortunately in my third world country, people with mental illnesses are often getting scoffed at. They are mostly pictured as those who would go naked and shout in the middle of a traffic jam, or at least those who are kept in an asylum, tightly tied to their beds. To avoid shaming my family and associates, I have to bite the bullet and pretend I'm fine.

 

[astro]

I have tried a ton of different meds (4 antipsychotics, 1 mood stabilizer and 1 antidepressant) as well as the array of therapies the psychiatric hospital offers without any results. On top of that I've tried ECT which had no lasting effect and shrooms which didn't help at all. I'm interested in trying ketamine therapy but since I likely suffer from schizophrenia and depression I might not be allowed to try it. In terms of diet I've tried keto and an all meat-diet, keto simply didn't work and while the all meat-diet has worked for some (apparently) I never could stay on it for long enough to find out if it works for me. Oh, and I also tried sarcosine which is a supplement that is supposed to help with the negative symptoms of schizophrenia but that also didn't work.