Meds to Supplements?!?!

I've been nonexistent on this blog for a while.  I've decided that once Halloween draws near, a mother's schedule seems to speed up into a bit of a blur.  Thanksgiving is hiding right behind the pumpkins and Christmas carols, lights and lists of giving take over from there.  This is all certainly true for me but this year has been a little different as my anxiety has crept back in as well. I'm not really surprised  because I've been on the same medication/same dose for about a year and a half.

I find it interesting that psychotropic medications help once you get a great balance, but there is always the knowledge that at some point it will probably stop working for some reason or another and it will be time to tweak it a bit or try something new.

So, my husband and I began to pray.  That is always where we turn!  Our Father in Heaven has always lead us in the past and we knew he would again.

I was sort of expecting for guidance at the psychiatrist office; maybe I would receive inspiration on how to describe what I'm now experiencing so my meds could be corrected. But, I kept having the feeling we needed to visit with a friend about some supplements she started having her son take a while back.  The son was diagnosed with Bipolar and after a year of taking these new supplements is a whole new person.  He no longer has that diagnosis. It's been a miracle for them and I've stood on the sideline and watched.  I've seen him transform!

This families experience just kept coming to our mind.  It was no coincidence when my husband happened into their home for something else and found the mother and father there.  He set up a dinner date for the following week and we went.

We picked there brains about this Canadian company called True Hope.  It's been around since 1996 and is also known as Q Sciences.  They sell micronutrient Empower Plus.  These are nutritional supplements packed with a balance of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that our bodies need.  They've been shown to be a mood stabilizer for many people that have psychotropic issues but also just plain out stressed.  What Mother or Father isn't stressed?!?! We knew I needed to try it.  Our only hang up was cost.  It's pretty handy to have insurance pay for Psychiatrist visits and only have copays for medications each month.

In our research and trying to solve our money issue, we came across the fact that True Hope Empower Plus is the exact same as Empower Plus-Q96 supplements.  We figured out a way to get the supplements and support for less money! (still learning more about this...details/links to come)

Can I just tell you right now that after just 7 days of taking these and still on my same medications I began to see a difference.  Remember I said my anxiety and panic attacks were creeping in on me again.  My moods were starting to control my days again.  I was probably feeling the chest tightening, hard to breathe thing a few times a day...having to turn to my Lorazepam (take as needed medication) at least a couple times a week.  In these 7 days,  I could see my panic, tight chest feeling hadn't been there.  I'm floored it began to work so quickly and after questioning the support staff have been told it's not uncommon for people to see results like that in the first 7 days.

The support phone calls that are available when you buy the supplements are helping me go off my medication now.  It's been 2 1/2 weeks and I'm now taking half of the medication that I was when I started.  It's only been 2 1/2 weeks!!!  I haven't really skipped a beat.  I'm feeling much better than I was.  Honestly I kept debating over and over whether I should wait to do this switch until after the holidays and then finally decided that really "it's never a good time" so I jumped in.  I did not expect to keep on with my daily routines as normal for a while.

So, here I am again just sharing a secret that I've literally been lead to.  Let me make clear that taking medications and receiving therapy have been a huge blessing in my life!  They have paid a huge role in leading me down a path of healing and help.  I just want to share the progress and experience I have with learning about a more natural way of receiving help now that I'm at a place that I can actually see through the clouds.  I share all this because it is therapeutic to me to hope that maybe someone else out there may benefit.  As I learn, I'll share many more details here.  Feel free to follow...

Swim in the Rain

A few Saturdays ago, I promised my kiddos that I'd take them swimming after all our jobs were done.  There was the regular "drag your feet attitudes" and "multiple reminders to stay on task" and so it wasn't a surprise when it took us all morning. What did surprise us was to walk out the front door and find rain!  The good old afternoon summer thunderstorm around here shouldn't surprise me anymore but I was not prepared on this specific day.  

Well, I dropped the swimming pool bag and decided we can "swim" in the rain!  I kept saying over and over..."come on, it'll be fun!"  The only one that was game was Allison--she has that personality!  That dear folks, is why I married her Dad!  She's her father's child!!!  Spontaneity is not foreign to those two people in my life for sure!

As I walked around in the rain with mascara dripping down my cheeks and yes, I was in my swimming suit in the front yard too, I thought about how I was a little sad that Spencer and Sarah got my more serious, rigid rule following self in them.  

I guess, what I'm trying to say is that I've learned over the years and still need to be reminded from time to time, that it's okay to "drop the planned swimming pool bag" so to speak and run around in the rain.  It's fun! It creates present living!

I find myself so wrapped up in my day to day schedules and planned out routines or even worse saying over and over again in my mind "some day in my next house, etc" that I forget that I can make things happen right now.  

Let me give you an example.  Ever since I was a little girl, I've dreamed of the mother I'd be and the house I would raise my family in.  One of the things I've always wanted in my house was a swing.  I've always wanted a unique, fun environment that my kids loved.  Can't even tell you how many times in the last 7 years (since we purchased our first home) that I've told myself "in our next home I'll hang a swing in our big extra family room we're going to have."  

I woke myself up about a year ago and realized, I can have a swing now.  It may not be in a big extra family room that I'd like to come in my future, but I have a perfectly good hallway where a swing fits just great.  We hung the swing!  Guess where all the kids and their friends hang out...that swing!  It's a little unique.  It's pretty fun.  It's that little dream I've had that I made happen.  I dropped my "planned out swim bag" and used "the rain" I have right now!

Thomas S. Monson said:

"Sometimes we let our thoughts of tomorrow take up too much of today. Daydreaming of the past and longing for the future may provide comfort but will not take the place of living in the present."

Dreaming and planning do bring me comfort, but as I've brought my dreaming to my life now and let go of my rigid planning a little, I've found even more comfort in my present home and in present moments as a mother and wife.

It makes me think of a quote from The Music Man:

"You pile up enough tomorrows and you'll find you've collected a lot of empty yesterdays."