Some of these comments are WILD... "She is probably in psychosis and unaware placebo affect", "Her eyes say she's struggling", I think people need to remember that they are leaving these comments on a real human being's profile, this isn't just some fictional character. If you genuinely have worry for Lauren, maybe think about how these comments may come across and at the very least, consider re-wording them in a way that you would be comfortable with her reading. You don't have to support her treatment plan or the trajectory her channel has taken if it doesn't align with your personal/mental health journey, but at the very least, can we uplift each other and not waste our/Lauren's time by spewing meaningless and unproductive comments that contribute nothing at all to the conversation?
These comments are ignorant and evil The people that think this are undiagnosed personality disorders Which is more a choice where as a brain illness is not
Lauren is giving us the step by step progress she’s made, supported by her team and psychiatrist, and so far so good. This keto treatment may not work for everyone, no treatment does. But it is absurd to suggest she’s “in psychosis”, it says a great deal more about those concocting these unfounded smears than it does anything about Lauren.
I am a psychiatric nurse and I work for a mobile crisis team. Today was a rough day. I went out on three calls and all were in active psychosis due to non compliance. Ive seen Psychotropic medication save lives but I also know it comes at a heavy cost. When I look at a clients med list I usually see a medication for High blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes as well. I get it! I find your channel inspiring. Your voice is needed, thank you ❤
Yes, the correlation between metabolic syndrome and mental illness is huge. This signal gets lost when close to 90% of Americans are not metabolically healthy. Thank you for the work you do.
@@reinerschafer1708 Not even metabolically healthy, I just saw a recent report that 3/4 americans are overweight at minimum, and the numbers have been sharply rising since the 90s.
My wife just also got off anti psychotic after a 9 month tapering as well. I know that there are still many people believe in no way out of med, but we believe in you Lauren.
Ketogenic therapy changed my life. 10 years of suffering; now beginning to see the light- thanks to your journey. Well-formulated keto is a health revolution. Be blessed Lauren 🙏!
@kirakeynow Have you tried C8 Mct oil or Exogenous Ketones? They are key in the beginning, before the body had a chance to switch fuel systems, as C8 MCT oil bypasses the liver for minimal digestion, raising ketone levels quite significantly with only a few teaspoons. If that is not enough, exogenous ketones are even more bio-available, energy bombs needing no digestive process at all. That, with small doses of caffeine, and sleep hygiene such as no screen time in evenings & melatonin supplementation, truly made a difference. In my case different electrolytes had differing effects, feel free to try another to see if that makes a difference. Wishing you only the best!
@@kirakeynow RUclips erased my response. Oh well! I will try again! C8 MCT oil that bypasses most of the digestive tract as well as exogenous ketones for highly available energy sources. C8 mct oil alone can raise ketone levels significantly with only a few teaspoons. Also, different electrolytes have differing effects, if one has not had positive effects, feel free to try another; be careful to check that it provides full spectrum electrolytes: sodium, potassium, magnesium & calcium. That, with sleep hygiene such as limiting screen time after dark and supplementation with melatonin, made a massive difference. Wishing you only the best!🙏
@kirakeynow Then you are probably not eating enough fat. If you don't eat carbs you have to get energy from fat. Try increasing the fat, and also count the calories to find out whether you're eating enough. Too little fat or too little food in total are the most common causes of fatigue on keto.
It’s actually due to people like Lauren who shared their journey that we were able to realise that symptoms that my mom were experiencing were withdrawal symptoms and not any mental illness or depression symptoms. It is usually the caregivers who are unwilling to change status quo and support the patient in this very hard journey . Thanks Lauren for sharing your story . After my mom’s experience with withdrawal, I wonder how many people actually have a mental health problem and how many have side effects
This is correct a million times over. Caregiver shouldn’t have to be part of the equation. People should be supported to make their own decisions and that has to be financially supported.
Thank you Lauren! After you uploaded the interview with Dr Chris Palmer, I started the ketogenic diet. I am able to be nicer to my family despite having a mental disorder. You made my life better.
Your journey certainly is quite remarkable for many reasons. You bring to it a great deal of intelligence, self-awareness (of both your mental and physical states), a broad understanding of mental illness, and a significant amount of life experience. You may very well be a successful trailblazer. I truly hope so. But this will be a long journey and it's good to see that you're aware of that. Thank you for your posts. They are helpful and significant contributions to mental illness and self-care.
Thank you for this. I have a good friend who I love and I’m intensely interested in learning about this and helping her because she absolutely won’t take any medication and she’s homeless. She helped me so much in my life and I want to find some way to help her-really help, not just dump money. I am telling you this because I was struck by how beautiful and brave and obviously compassionate you are in spite of all you have been through. ❤ so your story is amazing beyond just a personal interest and I see much much more in your journey and your gifts than probably most people would. I just wanted to say thank you 🙏🏻 ❤ Thank you for sharing the love. That’s what it’s all about IMHO😊❤
Thank you Lauren. Your story gives me hope for my son who has schizoeffective disorder. I pray God watches over you and protects you through your journey. We love you!
I live with paranoid Schizophrenia and I request you make a vlog about simple keto food for three different meals without pork, to take without tapering medicine. Thank You Louren, your videos are inspiring👏
I wish the hostile comments would stop. She has put like a hundred disclaimers about how you must not try this without a psychiatrist's supervision and how it is okay if you can't get off psych meds. She's talking about the difficulties she's faced during the de-prescribing process, and her worries too. Imagine being that transparent online about such a sensitive topic, and recieving bullying. I think the negativity comes from a place of envy, which is natural given how inaccessible it is to try this kind of alternative therapies. To me, especially as a nursing student, all this gives hope and is extremely interesting from a scientific standpoint.
@@alijane6675 but criticism is different from bullying, isn't it? Criticism aims to provide feedback that helps someone improve or grow. Whereas bullying is demeaning, or passive-aggressive, targeting personal qualities, appearance, or vulnerabilities. Understanding the difference is crucial to ensure that feedback is helpful rather than harmful.
@@benjones1452 is it up to you to help someone “grow” or “improve”? Criticism coming from the parent to the child is that unequal transaction. Information adult to adult would mean in this case scientific evidence of some sort and not guesses as to what the person is actually going through.
Keto helps me so much when I adhere to the diet. I have been on it again and I definitely am planning on staying consistent with it as a metabolic therapy. Glad you’re continuing to feel great and sharing your process with us.
It’s hard isn’t it? But I found that my blood sugar is so stable that I don’t crave things in the way that I once did and that helps. I also find that it’s very useful to have a bag of nuts if you can tolerate them or a little container for some cheese, as a snack in case you find yourself in a situation where it becomes a problem. if you like salad, it’s great and I love salad.
I have tremendous respect for Lauren. Her willingness to put herself out there, telling her story, sharing different ways to approach mental illness, and shining a balanced yet positive light is commendable. Good on ya!❤
Ten years after diagnosis: 50% of people with schizophrenia recover or improve to the point they can work and live on their own. Healthy diet, lifestyle, strong will and support are imperative for recovery. Lauren has made it!
@@gothafloxacin My doc told me 40 years ago, I personally knew 2 friends of mine 30 years ago who succeeded in living without meds, unfortunately it didn't work out for me.
Great video, Lauren. I looked forward to listening to it all day! I am about a month behind you in tapering off my meds (with the help of my psychiatrist). I appreciate you sharing your advice here because I ended up doing the last step down from 20 mg in two steps too (taking a “detour” to 10mg instead of just dropping down from 20 mg to 0). I was happy with the results. I am at 3 weeks on zero antipsychotics and my withdrawal symptoms are at a minimum. The first two weeks on zero meds were more turbulent with headache, nausea, dizziness, hot flashes, and food cravings. Thank you for sharing these videos. They truly changed my life :)
Yes, medical keto has been a tremendous help. It took about 3 or 4 weeks for me to transition to medical keto full time. Then I started tapering down on my meds to see how effective the diet was. I tapered down my meds in 5 steps. There were some ups and downs (I experience intrusive thoughts, so the f-bomb would interrupt my thoughts a dozen or so times through out the day while my brain was withdrawing from the meds) I never experienced hallucinations, delusions, or paranoia again once I was on the diet. I just had to be patient and eventually the intrusive thoughts went away. I did switch to Lion Diet (a special form of the ketogenic diet) for about 4 weeks to see if it would help clear up the intrusive thoughts and it did. I was eventually able to reintroduce plant-based keto foods into my diet without the intrusive thoughts returning. I eat a carnivore diet now with avocados and macadamia nuts mixed in on occasion.
@@caitlinhoey841that’s great intrusive thoughts are not withdrawal symptoms but symptoms of psychosis, I’m not saying you said they were, I’m nitpicking, but you say they passed and now you are not symptomatic at all. Congratulations ❤
I've just come to your page wondering how you are doing after not watching your vids for a year, had to go gone back through the past months to understand this vid lol. I'm gobsmacked, so happy for you and you family, you look amazing ❤
I want to mention here, that Lauren has worked so hard! So hard every day to accomplish what she has accomplished. If you have ever tried to go on a diet and exercise plan, you know how much focus and determination it takes to stay on it. Lauren has embodied her healing journey literally! Many people in the comments think hat she just decided "oh I'm gonna go off my meds, and try this little exercise thing" . If you watch the videos from the start of her Metabolic therapy journey, you can see that this girl is up with her light visor on in the morning, she is exercising constantly, she is figuring out a meal plan that works, she is aware of when her life is causing increased stress and goes to therapy, then employs coping strategies given. If everyone can just acknowledge the frekin boss that she is..! Some people who are observing are triggered by the idea of doing something different, that is understandable. But Lauren is literally showing us the way back to our health and well-being! People who are lighting the way for others don't need haters. It's hard enough. If people were not brave enough to follow through with science backed, physician and therapist supported plans we would still be lobotomizing people with anxiety disorders. ...just saying.
It's hard for some people to start and stay on a ketogenic diet, but it gets easier as times goes by. After a while, it just becomes the norm. It would be good for Lauren to do a video on how "difficult" it is to stay on the diet and if that has changed over time.
I started two years ago, and congrats. I am completely off meds as well, did it with docs help, was on 40-50 pills a day at the start. High fives us! The withdrawals are comically bad compared to what I was told to expect. I was so sick, for almost a year. I took the same drugs as you plus some additional sedatives at night and stims like Adderall in the morning. Missing one dose of Haldol used to send me into a spin I remember and then boom, I had to call my doc "doc, I am freaking out I feel over medicated." Anyway, I will try to follow your stuff and send this to my mother as well. Great job us, medical keto does work just like Chris Palmer claimed, and hopefully this can be a more mainstream option going forward. For me it has felt like walking up after a long twenty-year sleep. Now, what to do with our lives. 😊
@@xRest684 8-12 week range of time although the feeling of it was like a light switch. Early it was very important to keep my ketones very high, typically over 2.0 but ideally 3.0-4.0. Now i can go down to about .5 without symptoms.
@@NoxShad2222 thanks for getting back to me. just want to ask am I doing keto correctly. I’m shooting for 70%fat 20%protein 10%carbs on macros. is there anything else to look out for?
I have Schizoaffective disorder since 2011, never was able to find a medication that worked for me so I do struggle at times, especially living by myself in my apartment. Since around 2016 I’ve always thought that keto worked in some form or fashion, just wasn’t ready to give up alcohol. At this point I’m close to trying again. Really great to see your channel and proof that this diet actually works, back in 2016 the only thing I found on RUclips was a British guy recommended the keto diet for mental illness originally I think for Alzheimer’s. Good luck, you’re my inspiration, and yes at some point we hold some responsibility for ourselves and our recovery. God bless.
i think its really inspiring and heartwarming seeing how far you've come in your journey you should be proud and it motivates me more to review my diet / meds
i managed my mental state really well ~two years ago with endurance cycling, awareness meditation, chigung and low carb diet for quite some time, reducing to well below the recommended dosage of my meds over a period of half a year. sadly, life threw me a curve ball and i am currently back on medium heavy dosage, luckily without major psychosis, for now. even though it is hard. You are inspirational, and i do agree that "simple" measures are underrated. maybe because they involve a lot of involvement and or supervision. The book Brain Energy by Christopher Palmer is very good too. I wish you all the best, keep up the good work and good health.
Congratulations to you for these two months, sincerely! I will continue to check in with your updates, and wish you well in the upcoming months and years.
Thank you for this great video and your smile through it all :) I got so much from this video and i wrote a message to the lady you mentioned, which is your coach on the medical ketogenic diet and metabolic therapy..
You are such a brave and great person! I really admire your efforts and your work getting off these psych drugs! ❤❤ Thank you for sharing your journey!! 🙏💕
You have found what is working for you -excellent and you are so sharp you would recognize and act on any changes. Strong young successful women raising beautiful family thank you for keeping us with you ! You give hope to so many
Lauren, thanks for posting these videos. The side effects of antipsychotics are terrible. My sister developed diabetes, obesity and tardive dyskinesia from Geodon and the like. Yes, the meds alleviated the psychosis, but what a terrible cost.
Some antipsychotics are a nightmare, but there are some that don't have those horrific effects (at least for some). Seroquel was absolute hell for me. Low-dose Abilify has saved my life and my mind. I'm so sorry your sister's psychiatrists thought serious weight gain and TD were acceptable side effects. There are too many horror stories out there. Some psychiatrists seem to think it's okay to swap a patient's misery from psychosis with the misery of poor health and barely surviving.
Love this explanation from this wider perspective. Thanks for sharing your journey on metabolic therapy. So happy this has been therapeutic for you! Best wishes!
I had to taper my psych meds on my own, because the psychiatry here in Sweden wouldn't help me with that. They wanted me to stay on my medication because it was conveniant to them, and I also think they don't have the experience to help patients get off their meds. I have had several backlashes doing it on my own, but it was the only way. Psychiatry in Sweden doesn't care about their patients, they just want to put them on meds and make them shut up.
Relapse is real and dangerous. I hope with a combination of keto and exercise and getting back to some more quality of life things turn around, that you can have some relief but be careful you only have one life, and it's precious for all that it might not feel like that sometimes.
@benjones1452 Yeah, I know. But now I'm at a point where I only need a very small dosage of my med so I can sleep. I will continue taking it until I can sleep without it. But I got rid of hoŕrible side effects by reducing the original dose to 5% of it and I feel much better. Carnivore helped me with that. I've been doing it for 2 years. I feel safe now.
@nargiza181 I am much better than I have been for many years, although not perfect. My main issue now is chronic fatigue, so I still can't do the things I would want to do. But life is ok. Most of my depression and anxiety are gone, thanks to the diet and I don't feel the need to self medicate with alcohol anymore, which I have done for 20 years before I started this diet. I will definitely continue eating lika this for the rest of my life if I will have the possibility. I am sure it's because of this diet I have a much better life today. Thanks for asking.
This can negatively influence people to go off meds who need to be on meds. Also I think it's to early to rebrand as living well after schizophrenia. Please take measures to catch a potential relapse as soon as possible. No hate here, just saying you should be careful
Hey Lauren, after being diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2022, I found the medications to be quite harmful, in my perspective, due to the signs and symptoms associated. I believe this is all because of the medication, unfortunately, and I appreciate your ability to see both sides. I understand this video may be really difficult to share but I just want to say, the fact that you are able to safely taper and see the positives through your metabolic approach, is nothing less then inspirational. Thankyou for helping fight back against the institutions that are directly responsible for making my life so difficult to live.
wow this was so inspiring!! i want to try this too. thank you so much for shraring your journey with us. im sooo tired of taking meds!! i hope i can do this too!!
Hello dear Lauren, my name is Emma, nice to virtually meet you 😊 I’ve been a happy subscriber for about two years now, and it’s been truly amazing to see your transformation happen in real time. When you announced that you were no longer experiencing symptoms of your disorder after such a short period of time fully immersed in this new lifestyle, I was truly stunned. With that, a question formed in my mind that I believe would make a very interesting video: what was it like, emotionally, going from having daily symptoms to having no symptoms at all in just two and a half months (if I am remembering correctly)? Obviously, I don’t want to be indiscrete through my question, so please feel free to ignore this comment if you do not want to answer. However, if you do feel like responding, it would be amazing to hear your thoughts on this matter ❤️ sending lots of love and a fast recovery for your anke 😉
Watching your journey for a long time and Kudos to you! So so so proud and happy for you. You give hope to a lot of people. Be blessed, you are awesome! ❤️
I have the same diagnosis. I appreciate that you stress the importance of working with your psychiatric team. These illnesses are not to be messed with. I'm happy that you are on this healing journey and yours would be a wonderful case study.
Great, Lauren! Thanks for the indepth withdrawal process! You would go down by higher percentages than I am able. I've been doing like 2-10% reductions every week or several weeks of olanzapine and my main withdrawal symptoms are anxiety, insomnia, and suicidal ideation, that tends to peak with pms - however, it's tricky because I was suicidal before I started keto and while I was on olanzapine treatment alone for schizoaffective (I felt suicidal often for several years I was on it). The suicidal ideation on this keto journey has been scary at times while tapering olanzapine and it makes me want to get off even more, but meanwhile, insomnia bothers me a ton too. I'm also experiencing migraine-like headaches while going lower, and seemingly temp dysregulation. I didn't know you could injure the brain though going too quickly. All videos are helpful; thank you!! ♥
Well done. Don't forget measuring your ketones. They should be between 1.5 and 4 according to Dr. Chris Palmer. Good luck. I think you wiĺl have great results.
Amazing! I am so happy for you. Dr. Fasano and his celiac disease lab (Harvard) have been looking at diet (gluten free) for schizophrenia for over a decade. Now, the Keto diet is being researched and the results are amazing! I have celiac disease. Who would have thought a diet could make someone feel so good? Lifestyle changes are critical too (sunshine, sleep, exercise, stress reduction) too. Thank you for your posts. My brother has BiPolar and I am trying to get him to change his diet!
So many people do not have a decent psychiatrist, therapist, ketogenic therapist, let alone a care team. How do people find a decent psychiatric care team. Please List your ketogenic therapist or guidance in this regard. Thank you for all you do. You are quite amazing. I am very glad for you.
Yes this is the thing. I am very pleased for Lauren and very pleased myself tbh to see her doing so well - most people though don't have such great support unfortunately and often schizophrenic people become isolated from family and friends don't they - depending on where in the world they are they might not have good access to meds and doctors appointments either. Not much psychiatric or therapeutic help. I just wish that people struggling with such a difficult illness all had these things in place tbh because they absolutely deserve it.
Lauren was working with her regular psychiatrist as well as a ketogenic coach from The Metabolic Mind (she has named the coach in previous videos, I don't remember her name). You can go to their website, the Families and Peers tab, there's a directory. Many of the practitioners take insurance and do online visits, so you don't even need to live nearby.
What she means by care team is her GP, psychiatrist, therapist and the keto coach she hired. Not a team of scientists or round-the-clock care. The GP & therapist have been limitedly involved in this, and her psychiatrist wasn't very interested or supportive either... It was the (licensed) keto coach that basically did all the work - she did an interview with her recently, if you wanna watch.
THANK YOU LAUREN! I wish the rest of the world could experience what you have struggled with along with both my children and my husband then they wouldn't make ignorant comments! Now we have a basis to turn the mental health system around where people are getting help instead of the just "managed"!
Appreciate this over-arching perspective on your experience. All the medicine we rely on now was at some point invented, whether it was from testing before the scientific method was even around, all the way to just combining molecules in labs. It had to start somewhere. Maybe, if this helps a lot of people, it won't be considered alternative anymore. It's your personal experience but if there are signs that it could help more people feel better without dependency on pharmaceuticals it could suggest more research is needed into the processes involved. It could have a preventative effect for vulnerable people if results can be replicated. Thank you for your openness, we'll see what the future holds
@@benjones1452 I follow a strict diet, I take supplements and I feel great after 1 year of the taper, not all the people have to suffer with that poisons all their lives.
@@benjones1452and many will be in remission only by tapering their meds, read more about the illness and the experiences of people, not only to the stupid psychiatric doctors, the mayority of that doctos only know about meds and nothing more.
In the Netherlands you can take your meds to a farmacy who will lower dosage gradually and responsibly and hand you strips of reduced pills. Stopping may otherwise worsen symptoms to unbearable level.
Life long t1 diabetic(60 years). I've experienced ketosis from day 1. I will say that during extremely stressful events, including my teenage drug years, ketosis has an AMAZING calming effect. I only use it for such periods , but if I had a mental illness , I would be utilizing it!
As a Type 1 you are probably well aware of Dr. Bernstein's work with Low Carb for Diabetics. His book Diabetes Solution has helped many diabetics, both Type 1 and 2.
Dr. Had no knowledge of how to come off sertraline - had to resort to my own knowledge quest on this, applied wisdom and went slow listening to my body. Started Carnivore Diet ... Have been on this diet for 7 months and did my weaning down from 150 mg and now at 75 mg. I know they would have had me drop toooo quick...grateful to RUclips docs .... Yes, I took full responsibility for my health and an grateful to God...but I realize you have to advise viewers to consult a Dr. Reality is, when they dont know...study, listen to experts ideas, pray, read use common sense go slow.
We are very lucky to live in these times where all the information is available to us. Everything a doctor learns, and more, is available to anyone who wants to make the effort to find it.
One of the most common prescribing guides for providers gives instructions for tapering off of meds like sertraline. If this I true, I’d find another doctor… I’m not trying to be a smarta$$ or condensing either. I am a 2nd year psychiatric NP student and I could wean you off that med safely. So if I can do it any physician who prescribes those meds should be able to easily do it
One of my medications was dropped lower and other added. I think there was a change for better. Good to know that dropping medication too quickly can be hurtful to brains. I would like to hear doctors tell me more on side effects because I don't know so much. Learning and being aware of my situation myself has improved by watching videos of your and others experiences on schizophrenia. I eat little bit healthier foods and long term I want to start a healthy diet.
I have schizoaffective disorder, depressive type. I just stopped taking meds 8 months now. Tried talk therapy and other simple methods. My biggest issue is the insomnia. There are moments where i get deeply sad and have the body aches. But i push through. I never wanted to rely on meds.
@jacquelineleitch7050 I can't really reduce the stress as I'm currently in a VERY stressful situation. However, I still try. So, talk therapy with close friends. I am a part of support groups. I do love to watch anime, TV shows, true crime etc. But those often are hard as I still have anhedonia. I won't say it's easy, but I try to do something I like everyday, music helps me a lot. It's a fight EVERY day.
@@sointrovertedanhedonia is horrible, exercise is good for it and a small study has shown that cold water therapy helps, that’s a plunge or a cold shower.
I think there is a place for medication like she mentioned and maybe not even acute settings but long term use if needed but on smaller doses if the ketogenic therapy is working. I can’t do 20 grams of carbs daily but I am still experiencing the benefits of this and I am still on a PRN psychiatric medication on a small dose and will need adhd medication for awhile. So there is a place for it and everyone’s journey is different.
I am so happy for your journey and this video giving transparency around your experience with a seriousness that is necessary. I really wish you would have slowed down, waited, and started with this disclaimer and withdrawal warnings first in the series of videos you started after your rebranding. Once again your channel, not mine. I am rooting for you and proud of your for challenging the status quo. I've deprescribed off very large/strong doses of medication like Seroquel. It's a journey indeed and I understand the great healing in alternative medicine as I'm a practioner/teacher. You've done something for yourself in this process for your own mind and even if you end up back on medication it's no failure on your part. We all have autonomy. Outside of your "obviously" comment this is a very mature approach I hope you continue with your channel, which drew me towards you in the first place. I look forward to seeing your journey as much as you take us. Keep growing Lauren🌻 & I wish you a healing recovery to your ankle💗
More than a little frustrating when you make a comment about the facts of antipsychotics and it gets deleted. It is very easy to influence vulnerable people when you delete comments that quote factual comments on the realities of antipsychotics and the fact that when the diet ends, symptoms will return and a higher dose of antipsychotics will be needed. I also mentioned I think Lauren is very brave to take these risks but she also rakes in a lot of money doing it
It is not necessarily that she does it. Comments often are autodeleted. It happens to my comments regularly, no matter the subject. It's even hard to guess what kind of words trigger the algorithms.
Lauren, It seems too good to be true. Do you experience any symptoms you remember from let’s say your initial days of getting diagnosed? Now that you are not on any meds, and you’re adhering to this new lifestyle, what do you notice the most positivity-wise?
That’s amazing. So far it’s taken me over a year to get off my benzo’s. A year for tapering and then just as I stopped taking them altogether and started feeling better my body must have had a reaction to not having benzos and I started feeling even worse! I know I started coming off them for a reason but so far that’s lost in the noise!
Lauren you have it well documented sorry if someone was stupid enough to go of their med it is definitely not your fault so do feel responsible for them end of ❤
I asked my prescriber about metabolic therapy and he had never heard of it. After following a ketogenic diet for six months I asked my doctor if he would consider adjusting my medication and he said no. He told me I was on my own if I wanted to do that, and that I know how to cut pills and I could do it myself. He refused to change the dosage.
My symptoms of schizophrenia are rather unique. When you mentioned the word, potentiation, it sounds familiar because I use two medications for treatment. One medication is a sedative, the other has a side effect of insomnia. Let me tell you, trying to not sleep in order to combat the sedation is a bit easier now. Since we introduced the second medication, my symptoms have slowed down quite a bit. I feel better with this medication combo. Because of the mild success, I am hesitant of making a reduction of any kind. Even though I know I don't need mood stabilizers. Or aggression suppression. I would entertain the idea of reducing the medication because of the sedation side effect.
Also, I'm SO amazed you didn't have insomnia during withdrawal. I'm curious if Latuda helped you with sleep or not. And/or if keto helped you sleep. I have had trouble sleeping early on with keto, but I'm so adapted by now not sure what's going on unless it's just always olanzapine-related.
Maybe make a video about the biochemistry behind ketosis and why it has effect on schizophrenia. There are alot of people with strong opinions about this therapy and they have very little knowledge of the phisiology and biochemistry behind ketosis. Would maybe make things clearer for people.
That is best left to the doctors and researchers that she recommends reading, wouldn't you say? There are so many people sniping, it's probably better that she is just candidly reports her experience longitudinally/
This is a great story and experience. Thank you for sharing as always I think it would be helpful if you could get your doctors on your show so we could hear their take on all this for people that might be considering the same path you took. Blessings
Lauren's psychiatrist is not trained in metabolic psychiatry and does not use it as part of his treatment protocol from my understanding, so he's not going to go a show about it (she could not find one in her Province). She has had several doctors who do use metabolic therapy successfully on the show though.
I'm on keto now and just started but whenever I do this type of thing, I start to feel better in about 6 days and notice changes in my body. I just have to stick with it. Seems to be beneficial for many different reasons.
How did you convince you psychiatrist to tapper you off the drugs? I find psychiatrist tend to want to just add more drugs. They seem to be very against going off the drugs at all.
She's working with a psychiatrist who is implementing ketogenic therapy. So you'll have to find a psychatrist that goes by such guidelines. You should probably look at internet, it can be hard to find in most cities.
Laura was suffering from potentiation after starting her metabolic therapy, meaning the drugs (dose) she was on at the time was too high. He had no choice but to reduce the dose and then continue reducing as her need decreased.
Good for you! I actually want to try this diet for my schizoaffective but I don't think I could afford it. The staff and coaches you have are great but probably come at a cost in the States. Our health care is expensive. I pay a copay to see a therapist or staff after the deductible is met while paying 400 dollars a month for medical and dental. (Its with reduced costs because of my income) It seems more important to get off these meds but much cheaper to avoid hospitals. My antipsych is 5 dollars a month. Those pros and coaches cost 80 per visit.😮
The reduction in her medication as the efficacy of her keto has had its metabolic effect is impressive. The keto is not intrinsically that expensive, in terms of the food itself. It all about having the spoons to set it up alongside the medication, plan the meals, getting family and doctor on side and seeing what happens. It is about being circumspect, about taking it easy, it's not about changing everything radically. Come from a place of caution and experimentation, and read stay up to date with the medical literature on places like Anna's archive, if you don't have access to other sources.
@@luneparadox That is true, as a Brit who enjoys this dream, it is easy to forget. However, I'm not convinced that to assume someone has no family is really that helpful.
@@luneparadoxall you need to do keto is internet. You don't need family or expensive coaches. It's all there, there are books you can download in pirate libraries, there are videos, there's everything you need. Keto isn't expensive, you can eat cheap chicken and eggs all day and some cheap veggies, and some spoons of coconut oil a day. And electrolytes, aka salt, magnesium and potassium.
❤ thankyou for so much courage and determination ❤️ I do not like the use of pharma, nor do I trust big pharma.. So, to find a way to manage without these drugs is an amazing breakthrough. Thankyou for showing us that there is indeed a way to do this
I am very happy for you. So what about hallucinations etc that goes with this illness? They are gone? Are you open to going back on if needed ? I have had friends that had this same illness that always had to go back on meds eventually after inevitable episodes.
I wish people like yourself can help others do the same and get the proper help doing so, without the SILENT TREATMENT and making others suffer in silence. I don't believe THE SUFFERING OF MENTAL HEALTH IN SILENCE, just DOES not work. If you have a family member who has been given a medication for any condition, and the other family member HAS BEEN MADE to be QUIET about it (talking about myself here), then I have tot say that IT DOES NOT WorK> NO one in a family situation CAN BE MADE TO SHUT UP another another FAMILY"S issues. I CALL THIS PSYCHOLOGICAL AND EMOTIONAL ABUSE. Is anyone going through similar issues like what I am going through at present. Matt
I was wrongfully diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. I am looking to get a third opinion. Ohe shrink said bipolar 2 another one gave me an antipsychotic after meeting me the first time for 45 minutes. This give me hope
My late uncle (may his soul rest in peace) suffered from schizophrenia. While he didn't manage to find another way out of it than ending his life, I can very much understand why someone would seek an alternative to medication, given the severe impact it can have on ones life. I basically knew two different versions of my uncle: the funny uncle that always came up with these bar kind of jokes, and the zombie when he was on meds. At some point he had enough of losing basically most of his character and life and he stopped taking medication. Sadly, he became very psychotic soon after, using all kinds of different (often religious) names when he called our house phone (I was a school kid at the time). Nonetheless he had those anecdotes about how crazy his housemates (in some "protected living" form) were with their weird delusions. Eventually, he ended up being repeatedly taken into a psychiatric hospital* until his final days during the end of the '90s *) here he was sometimes put in "isolation" when they caught him with a little bit of beer or weed, this still breaks my heart when I think what kind of terrifying experience that could have been given his mental state. I sincerely hope these kind of "punishments" are not used anymore these days 😔
She has videos w/doctors’ interviews on this, books, folks you could reach out to, but you might have to listen or read her content. Her channel is a font of knowledge.
I consider her development to be more of a natural fluctuation in the course of that illness and the effect of stabilization in a very supportive relationship. Had she to live alone and support herself through her own work, she probably wouldn't be, where she is today.
@@a.mie.533 of course one can speculate, but if you have been following her progress, you will see that she has attempted to reduce her medication more than once. it seems clear that she is doing something that is working differently now.
On what basis do you consider it to be more of a natural fluctuation? She has been in a supportive relationship for all these years with no significant remission until she started medical keto. So there's an undeniable temporal link there. She began to see drastic improvements within just a couple of months of starting the diet. And if you've looked into the research, there is a valid biological rationale for the improvement she has experienced, which is also shared by others with different mental health disorders. This is not a fluctuation. It's amazing that anyone who has followed her journey would even draw such a conclusion.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
*JOIN OUR ONLINE PEER SUPPORT COMMUNITIES*
Metabolic Therapies for Mental Disorders: www.metabolictherapysupport.com/
Schizophrenia Peer Support Community: www.schizophreniapeersupport.com
Looks like many are attacking you in the comments,,, Are you against interviewing me, of my journey healing of schizophrenia.
Some of these comments are WILD... "She is probably in psychosis and unaware placebo affect", "Her eyes say she's struggling", I think people need to remember that they are leaving these comments on a real human being's profile, this isn't just some fictional character. If you genuinely have worry for Lauren, maybe think about how these comments may come across and at the very least, consider re-wording them in a way that you would be comfortable with her reading. You don't have to support her treatment plan or the trajectory her channel has taken if it doesn't align with your personal/mental health journey, but at the very least, can we uplift each other and not waste our/Lauren's time by spewing meaningless and unproductive comments that contribute nothing at all to the conversation?
You are quite right. ❤
These comments are ignorant and evil
The people that think this are undiagnosed personality disorders
Which is more a choice where as a brain illness is not
Sorry!! You forget how draining it is for the family!!! Everyone gets affected.
Yes!!!
@@Cansquared her family seems to support her decision. her husband has been supporting her thru this process
Lauren is giving us the step by step progress she’s made, supported by her team and psychiatrist, and so far so good. This keto treatment may not work for everyone, no treatment does. But it is absurd to suggest she’s “in psychosis”, it says a great deal more about those concocting these unfounded smears than it does anything about Lauren.
I am a psychiatric nurse and I work for a mobile crisis team. Today was a rough day. I went out on three calls and all were in active psychosis due to non compliance. Ive seen Psychotropic medication save lives but I also know it comes at a heavy cost. When I look at a clients med list I usually see a medication for High blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes as well. I get it! I find your channel inspiring. Your voice is needed, thank you ❤
Honestly, your experience with these issues lends a great deal of authority to your contribution here.
Yes, the correlation between metabolic syndrome and mental illness is huge. This signal gets lost when close to 90% of Americans are not metabolically healthy. Thank you for the work you do.
@@reinerschafer1708 Not even metabolically healthy, I just saw a recent report that 3/4 americans are overweight at minimum, and the numbers have been sharply rising since the 90s.
My wife just also got off anti psychotic after a 9 month tapering as well. I know that there are still many people believe in no way out of med, but we believe in you Lauren.
which antipsychotic? What kind of taper did she do?
@@lexa_martinez_de_la_cuevawould like to know too
@@lexa_martinez_de_la_cuevahi how are you doing?
Ketogenic therapy changed my life. 10 years of suffering; now beginning to see the light- thanks to your journey. Well-formulated keto is a health revolution. Be blessed Lauren 🙏!
how do you deal with low energy in the first weeks? I always quit because I get extremely fatigued, no matter how much fat and electrolytes I eat :/
@kirakeynow Have you tried C8 Mct oil or Exogenous Ketones? They are key in the beginning, before the body had a chance to switch fuel systems, as C8 MCT oil bypasses the liver for minimal digestion, raising ketone levels quite significantly with only a few teaspoons. If that is not enough, exogenous ketones are even more bio-available, energy bombs needing no digestive process at all. That, with small doses of caffeine, and sleep hygiene such as no screen time in evenings & melatonin supplementation, truly made a difference. In my case different electrolytes had differing effects, feel free to try another to see if that makes a difference. Wishing you only the best!
@@kirakeynow RUclips erased my response. Oh well! I will try again!
C8 MCT oil that bypasses most of the digestive tract as well as exogenous ketones for highly available energy sources. C8 mct oil alone can raise ketone levels significantly with only a few teaspoons. Also, different electrolytes have differing effects, if one has not had positive effects, feel free to try another; be careful to check that it provides full spectrum electrolytes: sodium, potassium, magnesium & calcium. That, with sleep hygiene such as limiting screen time after dark and supplementation with melatonin, made a massive difference.
Wishing you only the best!🙏
@kirakeynow Then you are probably not eating enough fat. If you don't eat carbs you have to get energy from fat. Try increasing the fat, and also count the calories to find out whether you're eating enough. Too little fat or too little food in total are the most common causes of fatigue on keto.
@@kirakeynow Did you make sure you were getting enough electrolytes? That seems to be a game changer for many going through the transition.
It’s actually due to people like Lauren who shared their journey that we were able to realise that symptoms that my mom were experiencing were withdrawal symptoms and not any mental illness or depression symptoms. It is usually the caregivers who are unwilling to change status quo and support the patient in this very hard journey . Thanks Lauren for sharing your story . After my mom’s experience with withdrawal, I wonder how many people actually have a mental health problem and how many have side effects
This is correct a million times over. Caregiver shouldn’t have to be part of the equation. People should be supported to make their own decisions and that has to be financially supported.
Been watching this channel sporadically for years. This was really happy to see, all the recent videos documenting your recovery!
Thank you Lauren! After you uploaded the interview with Dr Chris Palmer, I started the ketogenic diet. I am able to be nicer to my family despite having a mental disorder. You made my life better.
Your journey certainly is quite remarkable for many reasons. You bring to it a great deal of intelligence, self-awareness (of both your mental and physical states), a broad understanding of mental illness, and a significant amount of life experience. You may very well be a successful trailblazer. I truly hope so. But this will be a long journey and it's good to see that you're aware of that. Thank you for your posts. They are helpful and significant contributions to mental illness and self-care.
Keto has helped me so much. I would of never tried Keto had it not been for this channel. Thanks Lauren!
Ditto
Same
Cool
Same
Hello.how are you doing? Does diet still help you?
Thank you for this. I have a good friend who I love and I’m intensely interested in learning about this and helping her because she absolutely won’t take any medication and she’s homeless. She helped me so much in my life and I want to find some way to help her-really help, not just dump money.
I am telling you this because I was struck by how beautiful and brave and obviously compassionate you are in spite of all you have been through. ❤ so your story is amazing beyond just a personal interest and I see much much more in your journey and your gifts than probably most people would. I just wanted to say thank you 🙏🏻 ❤ Thank you for sharing the love. That’s what it’s all about IMHO😊❤
You are very strong, your husband always holds your hand❤ , role model for many struggling with this. Thank-you for sharing your experience.
Always so impressed and inspired by Lauren’s strength, courage and vulnerability. Lauren is one of my top favourite human beings! ❤
I’m so grateful for your journey Lauren, and for our keto coach, Nicole 💜 best wishes, from Italy
Thank you Lauren. Your story gives me hope for my son who has schizoeffective disorder. I pray God watches over you and protects you through your journey. We love you!
I live with paranoid Schizophrenia and I request you make a vlog about simple keto food for three different meals without pork, to take without tapering medicine. Thank You Louren, your videos are inspiring👏
There are plenty of keto channels on RUclips with lots of yummie recipes. Check out Ketogenic woman.
I wish the hostile comments would stop. She has put like a hundred disclaimers about how you must not try this without a psychiatrist's supervision and how it is okay if you can't get off psych meds. She's talking about the difficulties she's faced during the de-prescribing process, and her worries too. Imagine being that transparent online about such a sensitive topic, and recieving bullying. I think the negativity comes from a place of envy, which is natural given how inaccessible it is to try this kind of alternative therapies. To me, especially as a nursing student, all this gives hope and is extremely interesting from a scientific standpoint.
I totally agree?
Well said
Criticism isn’t bullying, unless you’re 6.
@@alijane6675 but criticism is different from bullying, isn't it? Criticism aims to provide feedback that helps someone improve or grow. Whereas bullying is demeaning, or passive-aggressive, targeting personal qualities, appearance, or vulnerabilities. Understanding the difference is crucial to ensure that feedback is helpful rather than harmful.
@@benjones1452 is it up to you to help someone “grow” or “improve”? Criticism coming from the parent to the child is that unequal transaction. Information adult to adult would mean in this case scientific evidence of some sort and not guesses as to what the person is actually going through.
Keto helps me so much when I adhere to the diet. I have been on it again and I definitely am planning on staying consistent with it as a metabolic therapy.
Glad you’re continuing to feel great and sharing your process with us.
Well done. Keep it up, you can do it!
It’s hard isn’t it? But I found that my blood sugar is so stable that I don’t crave things in the way that I once did and that helps. I also find that it’s very useful to have a bag of nuts if you can tolerate them or a little container for some cheese, as a snack in case you find yourself in a situation where it becomes a problem. if you like salad, it’s great and I love salad.
I have tremendous respect for Lauren. Her willingness to put herself out there, telling her story, sharing different ways to approach mental illness, and shining a balanced yet positive light is commendable. Good on ya!❤
Ten years after diagnosis: 50% of people with schizophrenia recover or improve to the point they can work and live on their own. Healthy diet, lifestyle, strong will and support are imperative for recovery. Lauren has made it!
That is a fascinating statistic. Where did you read it?
@@benjones1452It’s actually from 2007. I don’t have the link anymore but it’s a legit stat.
@@benjones1452I also would like to know where it comes from.
Where did you find this source?
@@gothafloxacin My doc told me 40 years ago, I personally knew 2 friends of mine 30 years ago who succeeded in living without meds, unfortunately it didn't work out for me.
Great video, Lauren. I looked forward to listening to it all day!
I am about a month behind you in tapering off my meds (with the help of my psychiatrist). I appreciate you sharing your advice here because I ended up doing the last step down from 20 mg in two steps too (taking a “detour” to 10mg instead of just dropping down from 20 mg to 0). I was happy with the results. I am at 3 weeks on zero antipsychotics and my withdrawal symptoms are at a minimum. The first two weeks on zero meds were more turbulent with headache, nausea, dizziness, hot flashes, and food cravings.
Thank you for sharing these videos. They truly changed my life :)
Congratulations on your journey, too. I'm sure it was challenging. I wish you continued good health!
so the ketogenic diet fixed your schizophrenia? when did you start seeing results when you switched over?
Thank you for the kind words! Have a great day!
Yes, medical keto has been a tremendous help. It took about 3 or 4 weeks for me to transition to medical keto full time. Then I started tapering down on my meds to see how effective the diet was. I tapered down my meds in 5 steps. There were some ups and downs (I experience intrusive thoughts, so the f-bomb would interrupt my thoughts a dozen or so times through out the day while my brain was withdrawing from the meds) I never experienced hallucinations, delusions, or paranoia again once I was on the diet. I just had to be patient and eventually the intrusive thoughts went away. I did switch to Lion Diet (a special form of the ketogenic diet) for about 4 weeks to see if it would help clear up the intrusive thoughts and it did. I was eventually able to reintroduce plant-based keto foods into my diet without the intrusive thoughts returning. I eat a carnivore diet now with avocados and macadamia nuts mixed in on occasion.
@@caitlinhoey841that’s great intrusive thoughts are not withdrawal symptoms but symptoms of psychosis, I’m not saying you said they were, I’m nitpicking, but you say they passed and now you are not symptomatic at all. Congratulations ❤
I've just come to your page wondering how you are doing after not watching your vids for a year, had to go gone back through the past months to understand this vid lol. I'm gobsmacked, so happy for you and you family, you look amazing ❤
I want to mention here, that Lauren has worked so hard! So hard every day to accomplish what she has accomplished. If you have ever tried to go on a diet and exercise plan, you know how much focus and determination it takes to stay on it. Lauren has embodied her healing journey literally! Many people in the comments think hat she just decided "oh I'm gonna go off my meds, and try this little exercise thing" . If you watch the videos from the start of her Metabolic therapy journey, you can see that this girl is up with her light visor on in the morning, she is exercising constantly, she is figuring out a meal plan that works, she is aware of when her life is causing increased stress and goes to therapy, then employs coping strategies given. If everyone can just acknowledge the frekin boss that she is..! Some people who are observing are triggered by the idea of doing something different, that is understandable. But Lauren is literally showing us the way back to our health and well-being!
People who are lighting the way for others don't need haters. It's hard enough. If people were not brave enough to follow through with science backed, physician and therapist supported plans we would still be lobotomizing people with anxiety disorders. ...just saying.
... thanks for just staying :).
It's hard for some people to start and stay on a ketogenic diet, but it gets easier as times goes by. After a while, it just becomes the norm.
It would be good for Lauren to do a video on how "difficult" it is to stay on the diet and if that has changed over time.
@benjones1452 :) 💗
Happy for you Lauren! Thanks for sharing.
Well done Lauren! I wish you all the best with your health and everything else.
Lauren you're awesome! Such a beacon of hope!!
I started two years ago, and congrats. I am completely off meds as well, did it with docs help, was on 40-50 pills a day at the start. High fives us! The withdrawals are comically bad compared to what I was told to expect. I was so sick, for almost a year. I took the same drugs as you plus some additional sedatives at night and stims like Adderall in the morning. Missing one dose of Haldol used to send me into a spin I remember and then boom, I had to call my doc "doc, I am freaking out I feel over medicated." Anyway, I will try to follow your stuff and send this to my mother as well. Great job us, medical keto does work just like Chris Palmer claimed, and hopefully this can be a more mainstream option going forward. For me it has felt like walking up after a long twenty-year sleep. Now, what to do with our lives. 😊
@NoxShad2222 when you made the change to ketogenic diet, how long did it take for your voices to start going away?
Wow, this is such a great story thanks so much for sharing it, sounds like you’ve one hell of a doc. ❤
@@xRest684 8-12 week range of time although the feeling of it was like a light switch. Early it was very important to keep my ketones very high, typically over 2.0 but ideally 3.0-4.0. Now i can go down to about .5 without symptoms.
@@NoxShad2222 thanks for getting back to me. just want to ask am I doing keto correctly. I’m shooting for 70%fat 20%protein 10%carbs on macros. is there anything else to look out for?
I have Schizoaffective disorder since 2011, never was able to find a medication that worked for me so I do struggle at times, especially living by myself in my apartment. Since around 2016 I’ve always thought that keto worked in some form or fashion, just wasn’t ready to give up alcohol. At this point I’m close to trying again. Really great to see your channel and proof that this diet actually works, back in 2016 the only thing I found on RUclips was a British guy recommended the keto diet for mental illness originally I think for Alzheimer’s. Good luck, you’re my inspiration, and yes at some point we hold some responsibility for ourselves and our recovery. God bless.
Nice to hear your update. I appreciate all the hard effort you put into the replacement therapy. I do hope the best for you. Thank you.
You're doing better than I. I'm proud to of you. You give me hope.
You could seriously do ASMR videos. The way you speak is absolute, calming bliss! Also, I'm really happy for you!
i think its really inspiring and heartwarming seeing how far you've come in your journey you should be proud and it motivates me more to review my diet / meds
i managed my mental state really well ~two years ago with endurance cycling, awareness meditation, chigung and low carb diet for quite some time, reducing to well below the recommended dosage of my meds over a period of half a year. sadly, life threw me a curve ball and i am currently back on medium heavy dosage, luckily without major psychosis, for now. even though it is hard.
You are inspirational, and i do agree that "simple" measures are underrated. maybe because they involve a lot of involvement and or supervision. The book Brain Energy by Christopher Palmer is very good too.
I wish you all the best, keep up the good work and good health.
It's very nice you did it.
I am also suffering from this disease for last 5 years.
Your experience helped me a lot.❤❤❤
Congratulations to you for these two months, sincerely! I will continue to check in with your updates, and wish you well in the upcoming months and years.
I am so happy for you Lauren🎉❤
Thank you for this great video and your smile through it all :) I got so much from this video and i wrote a message to the lady you mentioned, which is your coach on the medical ketogenic diet and metabolic therapy..
You are such a brave and great person! I really admire your efforts and your work getting off these psych drugs! ❤❤
Thank you for sharing your journey!! 🙏💕
You have found what is working for you -excellent and you are so sharp you would recognize and act on any changes. Strong young successful women raising beautiful family thank you for keeping us with you ! You give hope to so many
Lauren, thanks for posting these videos. The side effects of antipsychotics are terrible. My sister developed diabetes, obesity and tardive dyskinesia from Geodon and the like. Yes, the meds alleviated the psychosis, but what a terrible cost.
Some antipsychotics are a nightmare, but there are some that don't have those horrific effects (at least for some).
Seroquel was absolute hell for me. Low-dose Abilify has saved my life and my mind. I'm so sorry your sister's psychiatrists thought serious weight gain and TD were acceptable side effects. There are too many horror stories out there. Some psychiatrists seem to think it's okay to swap a patient's misery from psychosis with the misery of poor health and barely surviving.
Love this explanation from this wider perspective. Thanks for sharing your journey on metabolic therapy. So happy this has been therapeutic for you! Best wishes!
Thank you for sharing. I will study more about it. Best of luck with your adventure.
I had to taper my psych meds on my own, because the psychiatry here in Sweden wouldn't help me with that. They wanted me to stay on my medication because it was conveniant to them, and I also think they don't have the experience to help patients get off their meds. I have had several backlashes doing it on my own, but it was the only way. Psychiatry in Sweden doesn't care about their patients, they just want to put them on meds and make them shut up.
Relapse is real and dangerous. I hope with a combination of keto and exercise and getting back to some more quality of life things turn around, that you can have some relief but be careful you only have one life, and it's precious for all that it might not feel like that sometimes.
@benjones1452 Yeah, I know. But now I'm at a point where I only need a very small dosage of my med so I can sleep. I will continue taking it until I can sleep without it. But I got rid of hoŕrible side effects by reducing the original dose to 5% of it and I feel much better. Carnivore helped me with that. I've been doing it for 2 years. I feel safe now.
Very good @@emilwilczewski
@@emilwilczewskihow are you doing now? Does diet still help you?
@nargiza181 I am much better than I have been for many years, although not perfect. My main issue now is chronic fatigue, so I still can't do the things I would want to do. But life is ok. Most of my depression and anxiety are gone, thanks to the diet and I don't feel the need to self medicate with alcohol anymore, which I have done for 20 years before I started this diet.
I will definitely continue eating lika this for the rest of my life if I will have the possibility. I am sure it's because of this diet I have a much better life today.
Thanks for asking.
I’m getting ready to start my journey with keto and getting off my antipsychotics. Thank you for leading the way! You inspire me!
Be super careful, good luck, share your experience.
Which anti- phsycotic do you use?... Did you suffer from severe phsycotic breakdown...?.
This can negatively influence people to go off meds who need to be on meds. Also I think it's to early to rebrand as living well after schizophrenia. Please take measures to catch a potential relapse as soon as possible. No hate here, just saying you should be careful
Hey Lauren, after being diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2022, I found the medications to be quite harmful, in my perspective, due to the signs and symptoms associated. I believe this is all because of the medication, unfortunately, and I appreciate your ability to see both sides. I understand this video may be really difficult to share but I just want to say, the fact that you are able to safely taper and see the positives through your metabolic approach, is nothing less then inspirational. Thankyou for helping fight back against the institutions that are directly responsible for making my life so difficult to live.
wow this was so inspiring!! i want to try this too. thank you so much for shraring your journey with us. im sooo tired of taking meds!! i hope i can do this too!!
Thank you so much for sharing. I can't wait to share all this info with my care team and see if this works for me!
Hello dear Lauren, my name is Emma, nice to virtually meet you 😊 I’ve been a happy subscriber for about two years now, and it’s been truly amazing to see your transformation happen in real time. When you announced that you were no longer experiencing symptoms of your disorder after such a short period of time fully immersed in this new lifestyle, I was truly stunned. With that, a question formed in my mind that I believe would make a very interesting video: what was it like, emotionally, going from having daily symptoms to having no symptoms at all in just two and a half months (if I am remembering correctly)? Obviously, I don’t want to be indiscrete through my question, so please feel free to ignore this comment if you do not want to answer. However, if you do feel like responding, it would be amazing to hear your thoughts on this matter ❤️ sending lots of love and a fast recovery for your anke 😉
So brave so awesome !!!!
Big news for those of us living w mental illness
Thank you !!!
Watching your journey for a long time and Kudos to you! So so so proud and happy for you. You give hope to a lot of people. Be blessed, you are awesome! ❤️
I have the same diagnosis. I appreciate that you stress the importance of working with your psychiatric team. These illnesses are not to be messed with. I'm happy that you are on this healing journey and yours would be a wonderful case study.
Great, Lauren! Thanks for the indepth withdrawal process! You would go down by higher percentages than I am able. I've been doing like 2-10% reductions every week or several weeks of olanzapine and my main withdrawal symptoms are anxiety, insomnia, and suicidal ideation, that tends to peak with pms - however, it's tricky because I was suicidal before I started keto and while I was on olanzapine treatment alone for schizoaffective (I felt suicidal often for several years I was on it). The suicidal ideation on this keto journey has been scary at times while tapering olanzapine and it makes me want to get off even more, but meanwhile, insomnia bothers me a ton too. I'm also experiencing migraine-like headaches while going lower, and seemingly temp dysregulation. I didn't know you could injure the brain though going too quickly. All videos are helpful; thank you!! ♥
Dear Laureen, I’m on keto sixth day and I have great hopes. Thank you for introducing this therapy to me.
Well done. Don't forget measuring your ketones. They should be between 1.5 and 4 according to Dr. Chris Palmer. Good luck. I think you wiĺl have great results.
Make sure you get enough electrolytes to help you with the "keto flu" for the first week or two.
Amazing! I am so happy for you. Dr. Fasano and his celiac disease lab (Harvard) have been looking at diet (gluten free) for schizophrenia for over a decade. Now, the Keto diet is being researched and the results are amazing! I have celiac disease. Who would have thought a diet could make someone feel so good? Lifestyle changes are critical too (sunshine, sleep, exercise, stress reduction) too. Thank you for your posts. My brother has BiPolar and I am trying to get him to change his diet!
I'm glad you are doing so well. Have you thought about sharing the recipes you use to follow a medical ketogenic diet. I'd appreciate it.
So many people do not have a decent psychiatrist, therapist, ketogenic therapist, let alone a care team. How do people find a decent psychiatric care team. Please List your ketogenic therapist or guidance in this regard. Thank you for all you do. You are quite amazing. I am very glad for you.
Yes this is the thing. I am very pleased for Lauren and very pleased myself tbh to see her doing so well - most people though don't have such great support unfortunately and often schizophrenic people become isolated from family and friends don't they - depending on where in the world they are they might not have good access to meds and doctors appointments either. Not much psychiatric or therapeutic help. I just wish that people struggling with such a difficult illness all had these things in place tbh because they absolutely deserve it.
Lauren was working with her regular psychiatrist as well as a ketogenic coach from The Metabolic Mind (she has named the coach in previous videos, I don't remember her name). You can go to their website, the Families and Peers tab, there's a directory. Many of the practitioners take insurance and do online visits, so you don't even need to live nearby.
Amen @@dominicaaaaa5547
There's a website called Metabolic Mind that you can show yr GP to serve as a guide as how to support you .
What she means by care team is her GP, psychiatrist, therapist and the keto coach she hired. Not a team of scientists or round-the-clock care. The GP & therapist have been limitedly involved in this, and her psychiatrist wasn't very interested or supportive either... It was the (licensed) keto coach that basically did all the work - she did an interview with her recently, if you wanna watch.
THANK YOU LAUREN! I wish the rest of the world could experience what you have struggled with along with both my children and my husband then they wouldn't make ignorant comments! Now we have a basis to turn the mental health system around where people are getting help instead of the just "managed"!
Appreciate this over-arching perspective on your experience. All the medicine we rely on now was at some point invented, whether it was from testing before the scientific method was even around, all the way to just combining molecules in labs. It had to start somewhere. Maybe, if this helps a lot of people, it won't be considered alternative anymore. It's your personal experience but if there are signs that it could help more people feel better without dependency on pharmaceuticals it could suggest more research is needed into the processes involved. It could have a preventative effect for vulnerable people if results can be replicated. Thank you for your openness, we'll see what the future holds
Nicely put.
well done Lauren,you are amazing and have such courage.
Good for You! I'm happy that you are happy and healthy now. I tapered my antipsychotic medications too and the first month was very hard for me.
@@benjones1452 I follow a strict diet, I take supplements and I feel great after 1 year of the taper, not all the people have to suffer with that poisons all their lives.
@@benjones1452and many will be in remission only by tapering their meds, read more about the illness and the experiences of people, not only to the stupid psychiatric doctors, the mayority of that doctos only know about meds and nothing more.
Thanks for the clarification.
In the Netherlands you can take your meds to a farmacy who will lower dosage gradually and responsibly and hand you strips of reduced pills. Stopping may otherwise worsen symptoms to unbearable level.
thanks for sharing in detail how it went
Life long t1 diabetic(60 years). I've experienced ketosis from day 1. I will say that during extremely stressful events, including my teenage drug years, ketosis has an AMAZING calming effect. I only use it for such periods , but if I had a mental illness , I would be utilizing it!
As a Type 1 you are probably well aware of Dr. Bernstein's work with Low Carb for Diabetics. His book Diabetes Solution has helped many diabetics, both Type 1 and 2.
Keep up the good work proud of you God bless
Thanks for listing the withdrawal symptoms.
Dr. Had no knowledge of how to come off sertraline - had to resort to my own knowledge quest on this, applied wisdom and went slow listening to my body. Started Carnivore Diet ... Have been on this diet for 7 months and did my weaning down from 150 mg and now at 75 mg. I know they would have had me drop toooo quick...grateful to RUclips docs .... Yes, I took full responsibility for my health and an grateful to God...but I realize you have to advise viewers to consult a Dr. Reality is, when they dont know...study, listen to experts ideas, pray, read use common sense go slow.
We are very lucky to live in these times where all the information is available to us. Everything a doctor learns, and more, is available to anyone who wants to make the effort to find it.
One of the most common prescribing guides for providers gives instructions for tapering off of meds like sertraline. If this I true, I’d find another doctor… I’m not trying to be a smarta$$ or condensing either.
I am a 2nd year psychiatric NP student and I could wean you off that med safely. So if I can do it any physician who prescribes those meds should be able to easily do it
lol. The first thing that you wrote “Dr. Hadnoknowledge”. This is sadly the problem most of the time.
One of my medications was dropped lower and other added. I think there was a change for better. Good to know that dropping medication too quickly can be hurtful to brains. I would like to hear doctors tell me more on side effects because I don't know so much. Learning and being aware of my situation myself has improved by watching videos of your and others experiences on schizophrenia. I eat little bit healthier foods and long term I want to start a healthy diet.
I have schizoaffective disorder, depressive type. I just stopped taking meds 8 months now. Tried talk therapy and other simple methods.
My biggest issue is the insomnia.
There are moments where i get deeply sad and have the body aches.
But i push through.
I never wanted to rely on meds.
What are you doing to help reduce stress? Do you limit stress inducing foods?
@jacquelineleitch7050 I can't really reduce the stress as I'm currently in a VERY stressful situation.
However, I still try.
So, talk therapy with close friends. I am a part of support groups.
I do love to watch anime, TV shows, true crime etc.
But those often are hard as I still have anhedonia. I won't say it's easy, but I try to do something I like everyday, music helps me a lot.
It's a fight EVERY day.
@@sointrovertedanhedonia is horrible, exercise is good for it and a small study has shown that cold water therapy helps, that’s a plunge or a cold shower.
I think there is a place for medication like she mentioned and maybe not even acute settings but long term use if needed but on smaller doses if the ketogenic therapy is working. I can’t do 20 grams of carbs daily but I am still experiencing the benefits of this and I am still on a PRN psychiatric medication on a small dose and will need adhd medication for awhile. So there is a place for it and everyone’s journey is different.
I am so happy for your journey and this video giving transparency around your experience with a seriousness that is necessary. I really wish you would have slowed down, waited, and started with this disclaimer and withdrawal warnings first in the series of videos you started after your rebranding. Once again your channel, not mine. I am rooting for you and proud of your for challenging the status quo. I've deprescribed off very large/strong doses of medication like Seroquel. It's a journey indeed and I understand the great healing in alternative medicine as I'm a practioner/teacher. You've done something for yourself in this process for your own mind and even if you end up back on medication it's no failure on your part. We all have autonomy. Outside of your "obviously" comment this is a very mature approach I hope you continue with your channel, which drew me towards you in the first place. I look forward to seeing your journey as much as you take us. Keep growing Lauren🌻 & I wish you a healing recovery to your ankle💗
I am so happy for you.
More than a little frustrating when you make a comment about the facts of antipsychotics and it gets deleted. It is very easy to influence vulnerable people when you delete comments that quote factual comments on the realities of antipsychotics and the fact that when the diet ends, symptoms will return and a higher dose of antipsychotics will be needed. I also mentioned I think Lauren is very brave to take these risks but she also rakes in a lot of money doing it
It is not necessarily that she does it. Comments often are autodeleted. It happens to my comments regularly, no matter the subject. It's even hard to guess what kind of words trigger the algorithms.
Lauren, It seems too good to be true. Do you experience any symptoms you remember from let’s say your initial days of getting diagnosed? Now that you are not on any meds, and you’re adhering to this new lifestyle, what do you notice the most positivity-wise?
Well done Lauren. Inspirational! :^)
Congrats!! 🎉
18:13 Thank you for sharing your experience. Best wishes to you!
That’s amazing. So far it’s taken me over a year to get off my benzo’s. A year for tapering and then just as I stopped taking them altogether and started feeling better my body must have had a reaction to not having benzos and I started feeling even worse! I know I started coming off them for a reason but so far that’s lost in the noise!
I’m so happy for you!
Lauren you have it well documented sorry if someone was stupid enough to go of their med it is definitely not your fault so do feel responsible for them end of ❤
I asked my prescriber about metabolic therapy and he had never heard of it. After following a ketogenic diet for six months I asked my doctor if he would consider adjusting my medication and he said no. He told me I was on my own if I wanted to do that, and that I know how to cut pills and I could do it myself. He refused to change the dosage.
wow i never knew this was possible, thanks!
You are in no uncertain terms a safe and TRUSTWORTHY highly valuable trusted contributer in the care team !
My symptoms of schizophrenia are rather unique. When you mentioned the word, potentiation, it sounds familiar because I use two medications for treatment. One medication is a sedative, the other has a side effect of insomnia. Let me tell you, trying to not sleep in order to combat the sedation is a bit easier now. Since we introduced the second medication, my symptoms have slowed down quite a bit. I feel better with this medication combo. Because of the mild success, I am hesitant of making a reduction of any kind. Even though I know I don't need mood stabilizers. Or aggression suppression. I would entertain the idea of reducing the medication because of the sedation side effect.
Also, I'm SO amazed you didn't have insomnia during withdrawal. I'm curious if Latuda helped you with sleep or not. And/or if keto helped you sleep. I have had trouble sleeping early on with keto, but I'm so adapted by now not sure what's going on unless it's just always olanzapine-related.
Maybe make a video about the biochemistry behind ketosis and why it has effect on schizophrenia. There are alot of people with strong opinions about this therapy and they have very little knowledge of the phisiology and biochemistry behind ketosis. Would maybe make things clearer for people.
You think Lauryn knows anything at all about the actual biochemistry of ketosis?
That is best left to the doctors and researchers that she recommends reading, wouldn't you say? There are so many people sniping, it's probably better that she is just candidly reports her experience longitudinally/
Please Dont Judge Just Talk to your Doctors Always Peace Lauren Warmly Chris
This is a great story and experience.
Thank you for sharing as always
I think it would be helpful if you could get your doctors on your show so we could hear their take on all this for people that might be considering the same path you took.
Blessings
Lauren's psychiatrist is not trained in metabolic psychiatry and does not use it as part of his treatment protocol from my understanding, so he's not going to go a show about it (she could not find one in her Province). She has had several doctors who do use metabolic therapy successfully on the show though.
They would never ever do that. They don’t agree with her treatment.
@ I was referring to her actual doctors etc
I'm on keto now and just started but whenever I do this type of thing, I start to feel better in about 6 days and notice changes in my body. I just have to stick with it. Seems to be beneficial for many different reasons.
I am happy for you that now journey to normal life but be careful with mental health and don't take it lightly. Have a good normal journey.
How did you convince you psychiatrist to tapper you off the drugs? I find psychiatrist tend to want to just add more drugs. They seem to be very against going off the drugs at all.
She's working with a psychiatrist who is implementing ketogenic therapy. So you'll have to find a psychatrist that goes by such guidelines. You should probably look at internet, it can be hard to find in most cities.
Laura was suffering from potentiation after starting her metabolic therapy, meaning the drugs (dose) she was on at the time was too high. He had no choice but to reduce the dose and then continue reducing as her need decreased.
Good for you! I actually want to try this diet for my schizoaffective but I don't think I could afford it. The staff and coaches you have are great but probably come at a cost in the States. Our health care is expensive. I pay a copay to see a therapist or staff after the deductible is met while paying 400 dollars a month for medical and dental. (Its with reduced costs because of my income) It seems more important to get off these meds but much cheaper to avoid hospitals. My antipsych is 5 dollars a month. Those pros and coaches cost 80 per visit.😮
I hear you. Universal Healthcare is a DREAM I hope you and I and millions of others have one day. Sending you 💕
The reduction in her medication as the efficacy of her keto has had its metabolic effect is impressive. The keto is not intrinsically that expensive, in terms of the food itself. It all about having the spoons to set it up alongside the medication, plan the meals, getting family and doctor on side and seeing what happens. It is about being circumspect, about taking it easy, it's not about changing everything radically. Come from a place of caution and experimentation, and read stay up to date with the medical literature on places like Anna's archive, if you don't have access to other sources.
@@benjones1452 this a very privileged take...not everyone has family.. or doctors they can afford to see regularly
@@luneparadox That is true, as a Brit who enjoys this dream, it is easy to forget. However, I'm not convinced that to assume someone has no family is really that helpful.
@@luneparadoxall you need to do keto is internet. You don't need family or expensive coaches. It's all there, there are books you can download in pirate libraries, there are videos, there's everything you need. Keto isn't expensive, you can eat cheap chicken and eggs all day and some cheap veggies, and some spoons of coconut oil a day. And electrolytes, aka salt, magnesium and potassium.
❤ thankyou for so much courage and determination ❤️ I do not like the use of pharma, nor do I trust big pharma..
So, to find a way to manage without these drugs is an amazing breakthrough.
Thankyou for showing us that there is indeed a way to do this
I am very happy for you. So what about hallucinations etc that goes with this illness? They are gone? Are you open to going back on if needed ? I have had friends that had this same illness that always had to go back on meds eventually after inevitable episodes.
I wish people like yourself can help others do the same and get the proper help doing so, without the SILENT TREATMENT and making others suffer in silence. I don't believe THE SUFFERING OF MENTAL HEALTH IN SILENCE, just DOES not work. If you have a family member who has been given a medication for any condition, and the other family member HAS BEEN MADE to be QUIET about it (talking about myself here), then I have tot say that IT DOES NOT WorK> NO one in a family situation CAN BE MADE TO SHUT UP another another FAMILY"S issues.
I CALL THIS PSYCHOLOGICAL AND EMOTIONAL ABUSE.
Is anyone going through similar issues like what I am going through at present.
Matt
I was wrongfully diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. I am looking to get a third opinion. Ohe shrink said bipolar 2 another one gave me an antipsychotic after meeting me the first time for 45 minutes. This give me hope
My late uncle (may his soul rest in peace) suffered from schizophrenia. While he didn't manage to find another way out of it than ending his life, I can very much understand why someone would seek an alternative to medication, given the severe impact it can have on ones life.
I basically knew two different versions of my uncle: the funny uncle that always came up with these bar kind of jokes, and the zombie when he was on meds. At some point he had enough of losing basically most of his character and life and he stopped taking medication. Sadly, he became very psychotic soon after, using all kinds of different (often religious) names when he called our house phone (I was a school kid at the time). Nonetheless he had those anecdotes about how crazy his housemates (in some "protected living" form) were with their weird delusions. Eventually, he ended up being repeatedly taken into a psychiatric hospital* until his final days during the end of the '90s
*) here he was sometimes put in "isolation" when they caught him with a little bit of beer or weed, this still breaks my heart when I think what kind of terrifying experience that could have been given his mental state. I sincerely hope these kind of "punishments" are not used anymore these days 😔
Yes, really sad that so much creativity and life is lost to this, basically metabolic syndrome!
my son's psychiatrist is open to the idea but knows nothing about it. Where does he find the protocol for this diet?
She has videos w/doctors’ interviews on this, books, folks you could reach out to, but you might have to listen or read her content. Her channel is a font of knowledge.
I consider her development to be more of a natural fluctuation in the course of that illness and the effect of stabilization in a very supportive relationship. Had she to live alone and support herself through her own work, she probably wouldn't be, where she is today.
@@a.mie.533 of course one can speculate, but if you have been following her progress, you will see that she has attempted to reduce her medication more than once. it seems clear that she is doing something that is working differently now.
On what basis do you consider it to be more of a natural fluctuation? She has been in a supportive relationship for all these years with no significant remission until she started medical keto. So there's an undeniable temporal link there. She began to see drastic improvements within just a couple of months of starting the diet. And if you've looked into the research, there is a valid biological rationale for the improvement she has experienced, which is also shared by others with different mental health disorders.
This is not a fluctuation. It's amazing that anyone who has followed her journey would even draw such a conclusion.
That’s not correct. Managing lifelong schizophrenia successfully doesn’t mean that it has disappeared any more than say diabetes disappears.
@@jacquelineleitch7050not sure what this is a response to, no one mentioned “cure” ketogenic therapy is simply about managing your symptoms.