My older teen wants to be off her mental health meds and seek alternative treatments. Medications have never really helped to a great degree and she has tried everything. Now she is wanting to go another direction. Has anyone found a great naturalpath or other alternative doctor that understands mental health issues and how to treat them? Any leads and details of your experience with them would be greatly appreciated.
Hi,
It may have to be a combination of East and West. Yoga, meditation, food can be part of the plan if the teenager is open. I have personally benefitted from Accupuncture and Ayurveda for chronic conditions when I wanted to avoid harsh medications. I don't have a lead for you but try calling local practitioners and naturopathy doctors. They may be in your insurance plan as well. Hope you are able to find the right healer.
I have found psychiatrists to be surprisingly willing to recommend natural supplements in addition to medications. Every case is different, but I have had two psychiatrists recommend methylfolate (a B vitamin that some people with mental health issues need high amounts of because of a genetic inability to process in normal amounts), as well as CBD, and Sam-E. One of those doctors was Dr. Bradley Engwall (https://www.eastbayintegrativepsychiatry.com/). He is out of network but will work with your insurance to try to get some reimbursement. I would highly recommend working with your regular psychiatrist as a starting place, especially because weening off of prescribed meds should be done under supervision.
Greetings and great that your teen is open to alternative mental health solutions. My teen was and remains a functional depressive as an adult. However at the beginning, when discovering this, I was seeing an acupuncturist for back pain. Dr. Sherry Yang was a psychiatrist in China before migrating to the US where she trained as and taught acupuncture. I took my daughter for acupuncture and she found Dr. Sherry's treatment very helpful and saw her regularly. http://www.sherryyang, 1533 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, 510-734-6033
Spirit Rock in Marin is also an excellent resource as a meditation center. They offer wonderful programs for various applications. I've attended many events there as well as volunteered to attend excellent events there. www.spiritrock.org
Best of luck to all of you.
I worked with her a couple of times. She knows a lot about the topic - can be a little hard to nail down specifics with her but definitely worth a phone call. Myrto Ashe MD https://www.unconventionalmedicine.net/
Or you can look up people here https://www.ifm.org/. Functional medicine is the title alternative MDs use - this site has a list of those physicians.
If money is not an issue and you can get an appointment Sara Gottfried is the best. https://www.saragottfriedmd.com/. She has written many books that I would recommend looking at about women's health. She would come at it from all aspects - food, exercise, sleep, supplements. She is really into testing to see what is actually going on in the body (blood sugar etc). Just reading her books specifically Women, Food and Hormones to make sure you are getting the diet aspect would be helpful.
There is so much out there now about psychedelics and some reputable places are starting to research it - I would look for clinical trials somewhere well known. I think it's too new before I would want my kid to try it but if we were desperate enough and had tried everything else, I would https://clinicaltrials.gov/
Responding again - few more things to add:
Definitely check out the work being done by Drew Ramsey MD https://drewramseymd.com/. He specializes in nutritional psychiatry and has several good books.
Just from my experience for myself and my son, if your daughter is in an acute episode, the alternative does not work. That is where mainstream medicine is needed. I went through a lot of agony trying to make it on things like kava kava when I needed to be on benzodiazepines. Ideally though that is short term to get through the hell of the really bad spots which often pass. The long term picture is in the alternative approach primarily as a way to stay well.
Good luck ... I know it's a long, arduous road but things can get so much better.
Honestly last reply - but I thought of one more thing. In the long run I think finding some type of hard physical regular exercise is essential. I know it can be impossible to do when really depressed but if there is at all an interest then I would explore every option out there until she finds something that fits. We tried everything- drove him all over, paid for gym memberships, a mountain bike, private trainer, sports camps, surf lessons, ultimate frisbee groups etc. If social isolation is contributing to the depression then looks for things that involve connecting with others. Fortunately for my son, he took to surfing and weight lifting and they seem integral to his well being.