Has anyone used Truehope EMPowerplus (a vitamin product) for depression or bipolar disorder?

Its up to you what method of treatment you choose to take as its your body.

Its not up to anybody else to decide what is or isnt appropriate for you.

Only you have authority to decide what is appropriate for you as it is you who has the illnesses and its your body that YOU will be deciding what medications,vitamins etc go into.

That said,they are serious disorders, and that needs to be taken into consideration when YOU choose a treatment method.

Also what is also equally serious,are the severe side effects that you can get from medications such as neuroleptics,anticonvulsants and antideppresants which are prescribed for conditions like bipolar and depression.

These sideeffects can include erectile dysfunction,problems with liver,problems with thyroid,tardive dyskinesia(which can be permanent),extreme lethargy and fatigue to the pint of permanently feeling like being hit by a truck and to the point of not being able to do any physical activity whatsoever plus a whole host of other very life impacting sideffects.

Thats not to scare you but just so you can become aware in making your decision.You personally may not get these but as the consumer you need to be aware.

Also what needs to be considered in YOUR decision,is that there arnt currently a great deal of natural remedies on the market that are as effective in bipolar disorder as there are pharmaceuticals.

The same goes with really severe depression,although there are natural remedies that have been proven to be just as effective & actually more effective then pharmaceuticals for mild to moderate depression.

So you need to weigh up the decision between effectiveness & sideeffect profile.Some people with bipolar choose to take pharmaceutical but at the lowest effective dose possible & the one that causes the least side effects.

Theres no point in just taking a natural remedy if it doesnt take away your symptoms because that is what you need & it ends up being wasted money too.

However theres also no point in also taking a pharmaceutical which is causing you a huge range of lifeimpacting side effects if there is something natural with less sideeffects that IS effective in stopping your symptoms just because a doctor tells you to-whether from his narrow mind(which in a way isnt his fault he has fears) or his arrogance at wanting to be/feel right/an effective doctor/domineering/controlling etc(that is his own fault) or whether from something more sinister like from greed from receiving gifts/rewards from pharmaceutical companies to endorse(prescribe) their products.

The other thing to consider in YOUR decision is that pharmaceutical medicine for things like depression & bipolar have undergone more scientific studies then natural medicines for then.

At the same time though,you also need to consider that it is often the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the drug that themselves have provided funding for the studies or it is someone else that has a financial interest in the company that has provided the funding for the study -eg:someone that has shares in Pfizer company might have contributed to funding on a study for a antidepressant manufactured by Pfizer.

So these studies can be flawed and biased.Orchestrated in a way to produce a favourable outcome to that medicine on trial.

So you need to consider:on one hand,there arn't enough scientific studies for natural products

On the otherhand-there are often flawed & biased ones for pharmaceutical products.

I've also heard about the Truehope product and personally i wouldnt trust the reviews if the reviews are on their website or in any other way connected to the company because then they could be biased in the same way as often tests for pharmaceuticals are biased as theyre looking after their own financial interests.

Here are some objective(nonbiased) studies that do seem to suggest that a vitamin and mineral program similar to truehope can be beneficial to symptoms

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11780873?dopt=A...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17723028?dopt=A...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12427294?dopt=A...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15142398?dopt=A...

At the same time though there have been about 10 reports that people have gotten worsening of symptoms including even suicidal symptoms when they stated taking truehope & they stopped taking the bipolar pharmaceuticals they were taking all together.

There doesnt seem to be a lot of information about it available apart from info that could possibly be biased but it might be something worth trying cautiously with your regular doctor informed so that you can then decide together whether it will be taken in conjunction with your pharmaceutical/s(assuming you use them) or whether its something taken as substitute and also to monitor for any sideeffects and/or worsening of symptoms.

Maybe try not to have too much hope-in case it is overrated and doesnt help.That way if it does work

I have problematic sensitivities to traditional psych meds and have been using EmpowerPlus for Bipolar II (prone to mixed episodes and ultra-rapid cycling) and PTSD for the better part of the past 2 1/2 years. I'm lucky enough to have found a p-doc in my area who treats with alternative meds and is highly knowledgable about EmpowerPlus in particular as an effective treatment for mood disorders. It's a shame that there haven't been proper studies done on this supplement yet; it's been a godsend for me. Not sure if my doc has blogged about Emp+ specifically, but you can find her on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/docteurg

She's a great resource on this topic.

BiPolar is a disease just like diabetes or heart disease and requires medication. It is a problem with the brains production of the chemical Serotonin and the neurotransmitters. If you had diabetes you would certainly take your insulin to keep yourself alive and well and the same with heart disease. The antidepressants work on these chemicals to help the production. Please don't let anybody convince you that there are natural cures as there aren'.t There are a lot of people out there making money on what they call cures and a lot of people who don't understand BIPolar. Please take care of yourself and trust your medications.

Depression and bipolar disorder are two serious mental illnesses that need professional medical attention.

Vitamins are not part of the standard treatments for these diseases. If you have either one of these, please see a doctor urgently and get appropriate treatment.

Let me repeat: google and unsubstantiated information on the internet are NOT APPROPRIATE for these serious diseases, only a trained doctor is.

thank you! informative and this gives me better knowledge on this subject