--- In BAD_MD@..., "Azlk Oh" <azlan088@y...> wrote something
that needed to be revised and corrected, in the interests of accuracy, as
follows:


This is an update on my mental health; a sharing that I hope will benefit some,
if
not all, of you.

I had stopped taking my meds (carbamazapine, clonazepam) in May 2004. I started
reading "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" by David D. Burns, MD (who,
together with Aaron T. Beck, MD created Cognitive Therapy). For details, read:
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/06/cognitive-therapy.html

At the same time (about May 2004), I went to see a spiritual (faith) healer Tuan
Haji
Lokman (who works as the Maintenance Manager at the:

Securities Commission
3 Persiaran Bukit Kiara
Bukit Kiara
50490 Kuala Lumpur
MALAYSIA
Tel: 603-6204 8510
Fax : 03 6201 5078
Web: http://www.sc.com.my

by day) who gave me verses from the Quran to recite three times at dawn and
three
times at night. These Quranic verses include, inter alia, but not limited to
those
found at:

http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/05/prayer-really-really-good-
supplication.html
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/06/surah-4233-44_29.html
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/06/surah-20120-135.html
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/06/counsel.html
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/06/al-rad-surah-13-thunder.html
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/08/cleanse-yourself-of-sin.html
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/06/quran-sites.html

I have been told these verses are also found in the Old Testatment of the Bible,
but
don't ask me the details as I don't have a Bible (King James V version or
whatever.

Tuan Haji Lokman had a simple (perhaps simplistic, even) explanation ~ the mind
is
in a state of balance, or at least, the body tries to keep it in a state of
balance as
best it can, given circumstances.

Sometimes, there is a cause which causes an imbalance and meds are needed to
help the body maintain some semblance of balance. Prayer will remove the cause
of
the imbalance and therefore if I were to still take the meds, I will tip the
other way.
So he asked me to titrate my meds, which is to slowly reduce the meds as and
when I feel I could do so.

Titration is a fine art ~ a qualitative process based on my feelings and urine
colour.
the lighter the colour, the less toxins eliminated, the darker the colour, the
higher
concentration of the metabolites of my meds.

By July 2004, I was completely meds-free and when I had an appointment with my
psychiatrist, Associate Prof Dr Stephen Jambunathan of UMMC, he told me I looked
a lot better. I hadn't told him I had gone off the meds and my feeling better
and
looking better was a direct results of my going off the meds and finding solace
in
prayer.

I had also, in May 2004, started on a mostly vegetarian diet. I stopped drinking
coffee, tea, Coca-Cola, Mountain Dew (caffeine is a poison!) and started having
my
Power Juices (I have written about juices elsewhere in my Blog).

I had, for a number of years up to that time, suffering from what I thought was
gout, which is a build up of uric acid crystals in between the muscle layers of
the
body. When the muscle layer slide over each other, they rub against the uric
acid
crystals, causing pain. I had painful ankles which i had attributed to gout.

In fact, I found out from a visit to a podiatrist, that I had (and still have)
flat feet
also known as fallen arches. This was easily sorted by wearing arch insoles made
from silicone rubber in my shoes. The pain inmmediately disappeared, without the
need for taking any meds.

From about July to September 2004, I started on a course of 4 aqueous
detoxificaton footbath sessions. See:
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/08/aqueous-detoxification.html

Aqueous Detoxificaton therapy consists of puting one's feet in a solution of
salt
water and having a gadget with electrode arrays perform an electrolysis process.
The electrolysis causes an ex-osmosis effect to take place, removing trans fats,
heavy metals and medications from my body. I removed all that lithium I had been
taking all those years previously as well as medications that had accumulated in
my
body. See also the other articles about this at my Blog:
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/08/dietary-tips.html
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/08/superfoods-rx.html
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/08/little-bit-of-fish.html
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/08/nutrition-added-beauty-from.html
http://azlanadnan.blogspot.com/2004/08/healing-power-of-home-remedies.html

In September 2004, I attended an Anthony Robbins program in Singapore called
Unleash the Power Within (UPW) which I found very useful as I learnt so many
things
about living a healthier lifestyle. This included being vegetarian, aerobic
exercise,
diaphragmic breathing and living waters (eating of raw vegetables and fruits).
The
next UPW in London will be in May 2005 (next month) and in Sydney, Australia in
September 2005. There will also be one in Kuala Lumpur from June 9 to 12, 2005.

At UPW, I learnt to conquer FEAR (cortisol response) by walking on fire! The
glowing
coals felt just like "cool moss!"

Unleash the Power Within (UPW) Live Events
London: May 6-9, 2005
Los Angeles: June 10 - 14, 2005
New York: September 16 - 19, 2005

Unleash the Power Within (UPW) Recorded Live Events
See the following websites:
http://www.srpl.net/upwhid.htm
http://www.tonyrobbins.com/empowernet/event_dates.html

To book any of these events, call Jennifer Liew on 1 800 880 501 (from Malaysia)
or
+603-7880 0500 from overseas.

From April 1 to 6 2005, I attended a more advanced Anthony Robbins program in
Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia called Date with Destiny
(DWD).
This was the most empowering week I had spent in my life. DWD is only conducted
twice a year, in the Gold Coast and in Palm Springs. It is a solid one week of
total
immersion and and I came out of it totally transformed. I cannot recommended it
more highly to not just bipolar patients but also our psychiatrists because we
will
learn to make interventions and permanent transformations without meds. It
requires the application of understanding how the mind works using a technique
called Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). I help facilitate an NLP Mastermind
Class twice a month. Details available at:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/nlp_mastermind_class

A good book to read on the subject of NLP is "Awaken the Giant Within" by
Anthony
Robbins.

On the subject of health, I recommend "Perfect Health" and "Live Longer, Grow
Younger" by Deepak Chopra and also "Consciousness" by Susan Blackmore. Deepak
Chopra is not just a medical doctor trained in Western allopathic medicine (she
specialised in endocrinology), but also in the 6,000-year-old Indian tradition
of
Ayurveda (Ayurvedic Medicine). Ayurvedic come from the words Ayus (Life) and
Veda (Knowledge). So Ayurveda is all about the Knowledge of Life. Deepak Chopra
is also a philosopher, pacifist and leading living spriritual light of our
times.

I am very happy with the changes~indeed, Permanent Transformations~that have
taken place in me over the past year. I am sure many of you would like to be
meds-
free as well as symptom-free. You may pick and choose any of the alternative
therapies I have tried over the past year but whatever you decided to do, please
report back to this yahoogroup so that we can share in your experience.