General advice on life/poker tilt?

[retleftolc]

Poker tilt hasnt been a problem before now. Life tilt, Im probably better than most at that. Im on the verge of another manic/depressive cycle and cant avoid it.

It is now affecting the poker too. Poker has always focused me. Ive been through many of the meds and gotten other help, but really want to avoid this road again.

Anyone with similar experience got any ideas?

Here are my thoughts:

Find the energy to start working out again.
Eat better.
Would say leave poker alone for a while, but I already have a room in tunica next weekend.

Anybody?

Just looking for dif ideas and a little help.

Ret

FYI- I have 2 kids and all the responsibilty that goes along with that. So cant just vacation for a month.

[MusashiStyle]

dude, dn't take meds. try working out. meditation. readings, there are many good books pm me for details,i hear u i am taking a break from poker because i can't handle having a job and poker at the same time plus with all the legal stuff it's just fcukfsdj STRESSFul right now.s. made $750 this weekend so nice way to leave.

[PLOlover]

Maybe go on super strict diet. I mean MSG is in all processed food, etc.

studies have shown that fish oil is as effective for depression as anti depressants.

Btw, you can buy lithium in the health food/vitamin store, and while a therapeutic dose may be like 2 tabs every 4-6 hours, it's just a salt, just like sodium chloride, look it up on periodic table of elements, so my point is that maybe your body needs some maybe just take a tablet every day or two or once a week.

So to recap:
1) you're probably ingesting some poison in your food (MSG, food coloring, antibiotcis,etc.,other additives)
2) you're probably vitamin/mineral deficient especially trace minerals and magnesium as well as essential fatty acids

[natzucowww]

don't practice aversion and let it burn.

[swingdoc]

Goddammit do NOT listen to this board about medication advice. Holy [censored], every time I see this bs I'm ready to pull my hair out and light my bald head on fire.

1. Do NOT start lithium without being under a doctor's supervision. You need kidney function studies first. You need to be counseled on the increased need for water and salt consumption. Lithium has a relatively small therapeutic index so it's easy to "overdose" on it. God, putting yourself on something like this is bat [censored] stupid.

@Musashi - If you truly believe that medicine is never beneficial, that's fine. Encouraging others that meditation, diet and exercise are all you need is ... unfortunate. Neurotransmitter imbalances are REAL and nothing short of medication helps some people. Medicine + behavioral changes in combination is always best, but you simply can't throw out the meds for a good chunk of folks.

[swingdoc]

OP

I'm assuming you have bipolar disorder here (btw, isn't BAD the crappiest acronym for a disease ever?) Hit up your psychiatrist to discuss your meds. Getting into spring can increase the chance of becoming manic in certain folks. Sort of like a reverse seasonal affective disorder. May need to tweak some meds. Be open and honest with your family/spouse/good friend/therapist about what's going on. Please consider cancelling your room in tunica. Nothing is worse than seeing someone you care about hit the casino during a manic phase. If that phase is definitely coming (i assume you know this from previous patterns), then minimizing the damage is your best shot. Some psychiatrists allow their patients to keep "rescue" antipsychiotics for manic periods, you might check into that.

[hornpout]

go down that road again. sounds like youve had professional help in the past and seems that it has helped you. like swingdoc said, entering spring is perfect timing for your manic state. your outlook as far as helping yourself is great as long as the follow through is there, but with the responsibilities you have now, taking things very seriously is critical. listen to others ideas, but trust yourself and your clinicians.

and cancel the room. hope things start looking up.

[PLOlover]

also vit d so get lots of sun or take vit

[PLOlover]

[ QUOTE ]
Goddammit do NOT listen to this board about medication advice. Holy [censored], every time I see this bs I'm ready to pull my hair out and light my bald head on fire.

1. Do NOT start lithium without being under a doctor's supervision. You need kidney function studies first. You need to be counseled on the increased need for water and salt consumption. Lithium has a relatively small therapeutic index so it's easy to "overdose" on it. God, putting yourself on something like this is bat [censored] stupid.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I probably should say that that was my own idea and not supported by any studies or anything, unlike the rest of my post.

I think his best bet would be to make an appointment with a naturepath. These are not M.D.'s but they are licensed in states such as Oregon.

But just to be clear about the lithium. The commonly prescribed lithium salt is dangerous as you note. But the kind you can buy in the vitamin store is an amino acid chelate which is not as absorbable, which means you have to take a lot more of it to get an elevated blood level. But it is also safer. On the bottle it says take one per day. probably for theraputic dose it would be 12 per day. Personally I bought it about a year ago and theres about 80 left out of 100. I just figured that maybe it was a micro nutrient that was deficient in the US diet. But you are correct about therapeutic doses of lithium.

As for the rest, magnesium, fish oil, vitamin D, etc., these are all supported by mainstream scientific studies to be beneficial to depression.

[demon102]

I used to take a lot of drugs, both prescribed and illegal and drugs can suck my balls. To me hitting up the self help route is the #1 choice that helped me out. Its the only thing that helped me with drugs, smoking, depression, social anxiety, sh!t it even cured my heart burn. The subconcious mind is the most powerful thing in the human body and that is the one thing u need to take control of. Dont know much else I can tell u there bud but good luck on ur road to recovery I know how it is. peace