Autumn Stringam tells this story. Autumn is the second of nine children. She grew up watching her mother suffer from bipolar disorder. She saw first hand her mother's severe mood swings and describes what that was like. She details the devastating loss of her mother to suicide. And then she began to suffer from bipolar disorder herself. Autumn gives a first-person account of what it is truly like to live with bipolar disorder. Newly married with a young child, you read of the frightening view of the world that Autumn had. You also see the affects of the strong drugs that doctors prescribed, and how little help they provided.
Autumn's father tried to help his wife and daughter. But he was at a loss. They did everything the doctors and psychologists recommended and yet Autumn only seemed to get worse. During a conversation with a coworker, he received a moment of inspiration. The two were discussing this difficult situation when his coworker happened to mention how aggressive hogs were treated. The answer was a nutritional supplement. The light came on, and Autumn's father began to research nutrition and created a supplement that did work for Autumn. Slowly Autumn was able to wean herself off all of the anti-psychotics. The fog cleared and she began to live a normal life.
This treatment worked not only for herself, but her brother who also suffered with bipolar disorder. The story is not only about Autumn, but also about bringing TrueHope to market with the sole goal of helping others. They have sought to have this treatment studied and validated by scientists. This is an ongoing story, but for many TrueHope has truly provided hope.
The story is well written and worth the time to read. It opened my eyes to bipolar disorder and how difficult it is. It also made me think about how nutrition plays a role in our overall mental health. More research should be done on this kind of treatment. It's clear in our society that the traditional, pharmaceutical approach does not work or work well.
Book Rating: 5 stars
The Discovery Channel did a documentary on this story many years ago. It is now available on YouTube. This is part 1. Autumn Stringham and TrueHope have posted other videos that may be of interest.
The books I select for review are books which I personally select from my local library. I do not receive any reimbursement from authors or publishers or free books. I do provide links to Amazon as a convenience to the readers of this blog. I do earn a small referral pittance which is not even enough to buy a soda.
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