"Lasting world peace can only exist on the basis of happiness. Without happiness there can be no lasting world peace. We are all made of Bliss. Only we need to EXPERIENCE our own nature, to be happy in life." Learn how here.

Good mental health through herbs, nutrients and meditation.

Back in the year 2001, I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia.

At the time I was extremely depressed, drinking heavily, and I was homeless for a short time. While living in a homeless shelter, I was under the care of a psychiatrist, and I did take psychiatric drugs for some time, including Paxil, Risperdal, and Depakote.

While on these psychiatric drugs, my weight went from 170 to 220 pounds in less than 8 months. One of my chief complaints about these psychiatric drugs is that they made me feel like a "Zombie". I was "not there". Sure I wasn't all that depressed, but I wasn't feeling anything either. I could not do any mental work, my brain felt like it was under a constant "buzzing" effect. Physically, I was always exhausted, no energy whatsoever. My son used to ask me "Daddy, how come we don't run in the park anymore like we used to?"

Eventually, I had enough, and not wanting to be a customer of the pharmaceutical companies for the rest of my life, I started researching on the internet the alternatives that were out there for someone like me.

I found out for example that Risperdal, which I was taking, can give you something called "Tardive Diskynesia". You know what that is? "Tardive Diskynesia" is a condition where your body, usually your mouth, your face, makes involuntary movements. The longer you take Risperdal, the higher the chance for "Tardive Diskynesia".

While researching these psychiatric drugs, I found out that there were a lot of people like me out there whose lives were being impacted in a negative way by psychiatric drugs, and who were looking for alternative, natural solutions. Solutions that come from Nature.

The next several years for me have been an intense search for a way to HEAL, to get well, so I could live my life and be a father to my son. I believe that Nature has a veritable pharmacy for us to use to get well, a God-given pharmacy; in fact, a lot of the drugs the pharmaceutical companies $PATENT$ and then sell have their origins in plants found in Nature.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT WEANING YOURSELF OFF YOUR PSYCHIATRIC MEDICATION

DO NOT GO OFF YOUR MEDICATION SUDDENLY. YOU COULD HAVE A SEIZURE. DO NOT START REDUCING YOUR MEDICATION DOSAGE UNTIL YOU HAVE A PLAN, UNTIL YOU KNOW WHICH HERBS AND NUTRIENTS YOU WILL USE TO HELP WHATEVER CONDITION YOU ARE TAKING THE DRUGS FOR, AND WHEN YOU DO START TO WEAN YOURSELF, DO IT GRADUALLY and under your doctor's supervision. If you feel your doctor is not open to the idea of treating your problems using natural methods, you always have the option of getting the assistance of a different doctor.

You want to be weaning your body off those psychiatric drugs very gradually. If you are taking 1 whole tablet, reduce by 1/4 amount, and take 3/4 of that tablet for as long as needed until your body has adjusted. Then reduce by another 1/4, and so on.

When I started reducing my Paxil dosage, I remember experiencing frequent "zaps" in my brain, and uncomfortable cold sweats and shivers. Your body, your brain is trying to adapt living without those drugs that have been present in the system all this time, and you need to GRADUALLY reduce the amount of drugs you are taking in order to give your body and your brain time to adjust.

As I experimented with different herbs and nutrients, I started feeling like I knew I was supposed to feel. Like I used to feel when I was a child. That clarity, that peace, started to come back to me.

Did I cure myself of Schizophrenia? I don't know. What I do know is that I am happy, I am functioning well in my life, I have abundance and freedom in my life. By "abundance", I mean more than just material things, being able to pay my bills. I mean I have my mental health back, with all the inner peace, joy and freedom that this gives me. That's real abundance to me. And I am able to be a good father to my son. That's good enough for me.

I have personally experimented with all of the herbs and nutrients listed below.

As time allows, each of the items listed below will become a link to a separate page discussing in detail that item, but for now, I would encourage you to do a Google search on each of the following herbs and nutrients, all of which have an effect on the functioning of your brain. No two people will react exactly the same way to any herb or nutrient, so you need to FIND OUT WHAT WORKS SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU. "KNOW THYSELF".

A healing diet, consisting of organic, whole foods as well as adequate supplementation is important if you are to provide your body with the nutrients needed by the brain to function the way Nature intended it to function. Sleep is also critical to the health of the nervous system. "Early to bed, early to rise" is a very wise saying. Ayurveda recommends going to bed before 9:30pm and rising with the sun.

Every aspect of your body's health will have an impact on your brain's health. Research fasting. Breathing exercises will have an effect on the brain like they do on the rest of the body.

I want to end this page with a note of a more general nature.

One day you WILL die. I will die. I am not telling you anything you don't already know. Prepare for that day. "Let your death be your adviser". "Look at your life through heaven's eyes". As His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says: "Remember that every thought, every action you take, produces an influence in the universe, which will eventually find its way back to its rightful owner, like the calf that finds it way back to its own mother, among the thousands of cows in the herd".

"As you sow, so shall you reap".

Put your trust in the universe.

God Bless, good luck, Jai Guru Dev.

© 2009 Healing Daily