I just got this lavender chamomile tea and it’s the bomb!
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“Bioavailable” means “can your body actually absorb this”. As opposed to some stuff that just passes through the digestive tract like so many corn kernels.
For instance: the most common form of iron pills are ferrous sulphate, which do nothing for me. Ferrous gluconate helps, though.
ETA: given that a lot of my food and drug allergies involve sulphur compounds, this makes sense.
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Not an actual doctor. I’m sorry but I’d trust him about as much as “Doctor” Gillian McKeith.
I don’t want to rain on your parade (although I’m gonna) but the food supplement industry is there to sell food supplements. The reason they’re promoting lithium oratate is that they need a medical licence to sell you lithium carbonate. It’s good that you’re getting blood tests. I assume that it’s an actual medical doctor who’s doing them and is aware that you’re taking lithium so knows what to look out for. Don’t forget to get your thyroid tested as well.
In general it looks like you’re doing lots of stuff to help. I don’t know how well it applies to mania, but with depression eating well helps. Losing weight helps. Losing weight also helps with diabetes.
I’m really not trying to have a go at you but as someone who took lithium for a number of years I’m aware of the level of care they take in proscribing it. Lithium oratate is very similar to lithium carbonate but isn’t regulated or had anything in the way of safety testing and because it’s a food supplement not a drug you don’t have any guarantee of purity or contamination.
It reminds me of those ‘legal’ highs. Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it can’t fuck you up in any number of ways and you don’t have the support you would if you were taking a medicine.
I see what you mean, although as a salt it gets excreted through the kidneys. Interestingly, because you can only pass a certain amount of salt a day a high salt diet will mean you need to take less, and vice versa.
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Sorry, I guess this is getting off-subject:
I hadn’t heard of that one – looks like it’s similar to the active ingredients in statins. I have normal overall and LDL cholesterol (one doctor told me I had the lowest cholesterol he’d seen “among the living”), but my HDL is too low. I don’t eat or exercise like I should but I don’t think that’s why it’s as low as it is. (Though i know that improving these things would still be helpful.)
Thought I might’ve looked into the red yeast, but if it behaves like a statin, I don’t guess it’d do me much good: I took one for a while and my already-low HDL dropped by about 1/3.
Which reminds me, time for a walk.
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Yep. You summed up my concerns about it all. I, too, find John Gray to be the world’s worst source of information. That’s why I was pretty surprised my doctor chose it over the lamictal.
My doctor is a very good doctor. He has cerebral palsy which he treats using nutrition. I actually didn’t realize he had it until one day when he was tired I noticed a slight limp. He said he is really proud that people can’t tell.
He really understands studies and discusses them knowledgeably. He also has a lot of experience with monitoring other patients that he brings into his work. He spends an hour with me at each appointment reviewing all the blood work and making suggestions for changing my diet to meet my health goals. I’ve never worked with another doctor like him. It’s like how you imagine medicine should work.
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Someone just told me about this documentary about a guy with cerebral palsy who worked with a choreographer. Originally the idea was to create a dance based on the way he moved because of the CP, but as they worked together the choreographer kept asking him posture and gait questions: “are you able to lift your ribs? What happens to your limp if you change how you set your foot down when you take a step?”
By the end of it they had a dance… but he didn’t move with the symptoms of CP anymore. Like your doctor, there are no visible symptoms unless he’s having an off day. He now teaches other people with CP what he’s learned.
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That sounds fascinating. I’d love to know the name of the movie.
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This story has been unfolding for a few days, but I’m not sure where to post it.
This us more like the opposite of therapy but expensive.
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I hope that she’s saved enough money to take care of herself indefinitely, because this could get bad for her. I mean, that would be a horrible no-good outcome, but people suck no matter how much nice people wish they would be decent. Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka is amazing, and I want all the best things for her as a human being, regardless of what that means.
Once upon a time in my early 20s, I didn’t leave my house in daylight for months, because of anxiety. She’s already given the world more than we deserve, and I hope she’s OK.
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It seems crazy that they’re required to submit to the media for interviews. I get their sponsors pressuring them to do it, but if all they want to do is play, why force them into interviews? That sucks.
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I wonder if it would be possible for her to have a media manager who could speak for her to the media instead of her repping herself. I think it’s important for athletes to protect themselves emotionally in order to perform physically.
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True for anyone, not just athletes. And I think they should have approval over the questions beforehand.
My wife once walked out of a TV interview (she’s a writer) because the jackass wouldn’t stop asking questions about some photos she did as part of a “Girls of SDSU” article in the previous century instead of focusing on her book. The jackass then had to scramble to fill the rest of the segment time. 
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I saw a report about this particular athlete and the stupid questions the press has been giving her. They are all very personal and not about her game. I think she is right to shut them down.
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I can relate. The last year etc. Tuesday we were going to have brunch at an actual restaurant, outside, with some wonderful out-of-town friends here for medical reasons. First time to a restaurant in, what, 14 months? I got so anxious I couldn’t go. My wife went, but I was in bed till 4pm.
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