Why I stayed on bipolar meds in pregnancy!!

[@megans7244]

I’m grateful for this information Lizzie thank you for sharing! I’m glad to know there are registries I’d never known that before.

[@HPTFan]

I hope your baby will be born healthy. Joy to you, Liz. Happy Leap Year.

[@LizziesAnswers]

She is healthy! Any birth defects happen in the first trimester, so since we already did the 20 week anatomy scan we know that she is healthy and my meds didn't impact her negatively. 2 months to go! I'm so excited to meet her soon.

[@mikhailboldt3417]

@@LizziesAnswersI’m the least surprised person here 😊 Lizzie you’re always so smart and make the wise decision in whatever situation. So proud of you and praying for you and your family always ❤ 🙏✝️

[@MagdalenaIsaiah431]

So good to see you again Lizzie 💙💙💙 I just prayed a Hail Mary for you and your baby and your family and will continue to remember you in prayer. I'll add pregnant women with bipolar disorder to my daily prayer categories just because of you. ❤ I'm bipolar too but I'm older and never had kids. But i know firsthand how unbearably painful living with insomnia is. It almost got me to commit suicide so horrible a monster it is😭😭😭 But I've been getting better and finding solutions as I became a Catholic and started praying the Rosary. The Rosary actually helps me relax and go to sleep when I either can't fall asleep or can't stay asleep. It also helped me with the creepy nocturnal fears I have experienced my whole life even as a Christian before Rosary Prayer as well as with that ever stalking fatigue that leaves one physically and mentally unable to function, yet there's no reprieve from the demands of the daily grind😭😭😭 It's amazing having a resources/weapon I can pick up at will and make *rest* happen instead of just hoping I'll get to sleep eventually. 🙏🙏🙏 My Love and affection for our Blessed Mother and this Miraculous Catholic devotion have no bounds❣️❣️❣️ I never thought I'd be happy or enjoy even a little bit of rest in this world that felt like nonstop suffering for me for most of my life but this Prayer has become the "rest maker" for me and I'm the happiest I have ever been since Imy earliest memories 🙏💙🙏 As I pray I have also gotten insights into other things I can do to help my body including dietary stuff that has helped me be able to titrate my dosage of Seroquel downwards to where I'm almost taking a flake because even 25mg is now too much for me and gives me a crazy headache! And I was originally on 450mg like you. I'm grateful for the years the Seroquel has helped me because it's literally the only medication that ever brought me even a little sleep and relief❣️ Everything else made me sick and nauseous and exhausted and tired and even depressed some more😱 Our Lady Queen of The Holy Rosary pray for Lizzie and her baby and Trevor❣️ May they be a beautiful family of holiness in the pattern of Your own Holy Family of Nazareth.💙💙💙✝️❤️❤️❤️✝️🙏💙🙏✝️

[@mikhailboldt3417]

Thank you so much for 🙏 for Lizzie I know she really appreciates it ❤😊 God Bless you too! ✝️

[@kerri7145]

Many blessings to you and your husband 🎉!

[@honeysimon838]

Lizzie you’re loved by God. So is your child. Don’t fear anything in this world! Enjoy the adventure God has given you. ❤

[@clairechocolate12]

Thank you for also sharing what you found doing research!

[@tomgjokaj]

Congratulations God bless you and your family

[@mikhailboldt3417]

God Bless you too ✝️ 🙏 thank you for supporting Lizzie ❤

[@michellesunshinestar]

Lizzie, my sister is also pregnant with her 3rd though. She's planning for another C-section. My brother-in-law wants 5, no they are not Catholic, actually they joined a Methodist church last year. It was a complete shock to me, because I thought they weren't going to raise my nephews as Christians. Glad you can help with the research.

[@gholg8074]

The sub-director in my first employment, had 3 kids, 2 of them had down syndrome. He said he and his wife wanted 5 children, and people asked him often if really wanted to keep trying for more kids, considering the had 2 out of 3 with that abnormality, and he always replied that yes, they were going to get 5 children, no matter what: "They will be loved, no matter that kind of baby God sends us, they will all be loved the same". I will never forget him. When my son was born, now 11, I was ready to accept him following the same attutide: love him no matter what. And thank God he's healthy and a good boy. Glad to see a video of you again, Lizzie, today is the first day in about a year, that YT suggests one of your videos.

[@mikhailboldt3417]

I trust Lizzie 💯 that she made the right choice here ❤Fair minded folks can disagree with her on her opinions beliefs or values but what no one could ever reasonably dispute is that she is not extremely intelligent. Lizzie researches researches some more and when she thinks she found out everything she can she does more research. Her attention to detail is second to none among really anyone I’ve seen. If she is making a choice I guarantee she’s looked at it a million ways from every possible angle and is comfortable that it is the most informed one given the available facts. Lizzie is thoughtful measured and always thinks before she acts. Trevor is a super smart guy that also would not agree to this if he truly believed it was wrong. I still disagree with Lizzie on specific ideas mainly politics but I have long passed gotten to the point where I trust her implicitly on major life choices and judgement calls that affect her or those around her because I know how much she cares and how much thought she puts into every choice. She doesn’t make decisions on a whim or just to see what happens. If Lizzie has decided something as it pertains to her own health or her families well being I know it is the most informed most thought through decision that could’ve been made and I give her the benefit of the doubt. I know she would go to the ends of earth for those she loves and would never put anyone in harms way much less her own unborn child. I’m proud of Lizzie and know without a doubt that this choice as hard as it obviously was is the best one for all involved. Give Lizzie some credit and in this case defer to what she knows and has found out instead of relying on our own preconceived notions.

[@M.R.Romero]

So many experts in the comments section 😁 I hope you and your little family are doing well 🙏🏽 Much love and support from one bipolar person to another ❤

[@karenkaiser5883]

Congratulations ❤

[@jonathanbohl]

I'm glad you are thinking this all through. I wonder if you have heard of Dr. Chris Palmer of Harvard. He wrote a book on diet and how it helps with so many mental health issues. I've even seen bipolar referenced. The book is called brain energy and the diet is the ketogenic diet.

[@lorenaegas8460]

I am wondering the same. If lizzy ever will tried this novel and 2:38 what seems to be a cut the edge succesfull approach to mental health

[@LizziesAnswers]

I think when people hear "mental health issues" they automatically think that is including genetic life-long mental illnesses. Instead, it's talking about people without a mental illness who are going through stress in their life and have situational depression or situational anxiety. Bipolar disorder is too powerful to be affected by what you eat, because it is extreme imbalances in neurotransmitters along with damage to circadian rhythms. No diet is going to change that, that's why psychiatrists put people on psychiatric medication, because hundreds of peer reviewed studies over decades have shown that psychiatric meds prevent bipolar episodes and prevent brain damage. Dr. Palmer does not have any nutrition degree, so I don't know why you would trust him for nutrition advice. The keto diet has been proven to cause many long-term health problems including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer. It should only ever be used as a short term diet. Eating a high saturated fat and high cholesterol diet is objectively unhealthy. People with bipolar already have a 12-20 year reduced lifespan, because we are more likely to get these physical chronic illnesses, so telling someone with bipolar who already has an increased chance of heart disease/stroke/diabetes/cancer to go on a diet that also causes that is horrible advice and is just reducing our lifespan.

[@lorenaegas8460]

I think these mds are trying to focus the attention on making a correlation between the mental health diagnosis such as bipolar and esquizofrenia with a metabolic underline condition, that impairs mithocondirias in the brain to function well just by glucose. Thats the reason why so many glp 1 agonist are beign studied for psychiatric illnesses. In my case CRP is high and i get depression bec pf Neuroinflammation. Where Antidepressants never worked, immunosupressants and immunotherapy do. So, many other ways are beign explores right now, including nutrition. I am still very afraid About keto bc of the still Poor research (just for seizures) that is there About this diet and it’s effects in the long term. But i am sured that people non respondant to medication dont worry trying it for the long term bc nothing el se has worked for them

[@jonathanbohl]

@@LizziesAnswers Thanks for responding Lizzy. I appreciate that you are interested in truth. I know this because you went from being a Protestant to being a Catholic. You'd once heard things from the Protestant side and assumed Catholicism was wrong because of it. You researched and listened to the other side and changed your mind. Based on what you said I would say you have not listened very closely to the other side on this issue. I don't exactly expected change your mind, because that rarely happens through a KZbin comment. But I do ask you to question have I really listened to the other side? Many many many examples exist of people who do these diets that are supposedly bad for them and then their numbers improve and they get healthier. Yet mechanistic reasoning, epidemiology, or animal studies say that they should be doing terribly. You said bipolar is too powerful. Well, there's examples of people who went on keto and or carnivore diets and found healing. As I recall you are a vegan or something close to it. Perhaps I'm wrong, Is it possible you were convinced that vegan is the best and so since it didn't heal you nothing can? Also if your thinking is wrong about keto people should try it (When done correctly. Like anything else it can be done wrong. I could eat nothing but Oreos and call myself vegan.) Perhaps we have would have more evidence of what it can do. By the way, I tried primarily raw vegan for a year so I have experienced that. You said that it has been "proven" that keto causes an area of things. This shows your ignorance on science. There may be correlations in some studies but that doesn't mean much. It certainly doesn't prove anything. I'd love to see the evidence keto causes diabetes. By what mechanism does reducing carbs, which are what is necessary for diabetes, cause diabetes? I've seen people eliminate cancer, diabetes, and heart disease by going on keto and carnivore. You said Dr Palmer doesn't have a nutrition degree. For one thing a nutrition degree is garbage in garbage out. Schools are highly influenced by who pays their bills It's an interesting thing to look into. Politics and big food special interests play a big role. It's also ad hominem to say because he doesn't have a certain degree I don't have to listen to him more or less. He wasn't looking for this, a client of his found healing and he started trying it with other people and they found healing. You also said that high fat high cholesterol diets are objectively unhealthy. Again objectively? When people use terms like proven or objectively I find that they don't really understand how nutritional science would work. Because the mainstream narrative says so there's not a lot of actual evidence behind this claim. You say that this diet reduces lifespan. And people with bipolar have reduced lifespan. Could it be that something about what they're eating is correlated with reduced lifespan? So going on this diet that isn't really as unhealthy as you think, could maybe help in the other direction. This is longer than I wanted to be maybe you'll get to read it. If you're interested in finding out more from the other side I suggest listening to Professor Bart Kay, Dr Anthony Chaffee, Dr. Shawn Baker. and Dr. Ken Berry. They each have videos that expand on what I have said giving evidence studies. I recommend cross a referencing their names with bipolar, nutritionists, diabetes and keto. They know far more than me on this topic. I pray you keep pursing truth in all areas of your life and find it.

[@jonathanbohl]

@@lorenaegas8460I already sent this bit to Lizzy but I thought I'd highlight it and give it to you if you want to look into this more. If you're interested in finding out more from the other side I suggest listening to Professor Bart Kay, Dr Anthony Chaffee, Dr. Shawn Baker. and Dr. Ken Berry. They each have videos that expand on what I have said giving evidence studies. I recommend cross a referencing their names with bipolar, nutritionists, diabetes and keto. They know far more than me on this topic.

[@EmmaXO-lb9sf]

I have ocd and major depressive disorder, as well as adhd. I take Prozac for the ocd and depression and have tried coming off before (tapered off,) and all my symptoms returned. Prozac keeps me balanced and from being suicidal. I will be staying on Prozac when I get pregnant. My doctor said untreated ocd and depression can cause more harm than the risks of many meds (including Prozac). And that my ocd may get triggered when I’m pregnant and after the baby is born even. I do plan to come off my adhd med though- Vyvanse. It’ll be hard, but the risks to my mental health aren’t as bad being off my adhd meds. I’ll be overwhelmed at times and hyper, but my adhd doesn’t cause as many emotional problems for me as my ocd and depression. It’s all such a personal choice and about weighing risks. Stimulants aren’t as studied in pregnancy, and like I said, i can go without them even if it’s not ideal. I just want to take what I need to not be miserable basically, so yes to Prozac for sure.

[@buhaykristiyano5465]

Congratulations!!!

[@khedheryosra9689]

Thank you lizzie for the precious informations i am bipolar type one my mania makes me sleep deprived for months wow i think being pregnant with bipolar is quite challenging i am on risperidone my antipsychotic taver antiseizure and antidepressant zenexor if i plan a pregnancy in the future i need to see what meds i must be on and change my dosage maybe lower my dosage

[@lizsim]

Your cute little baby bump!!

[@mikhailboldt3417]

She does look really good for sure ❤Lizzie always finds a way to look great whatever the situation 😊

[@LizziesAnswers]

Yupp! I LOVE it!

[@joshstucki4349]

Makes your conversion from CoC to Catholic very understandable. It's swinging from one extreme to the other as well. I mean this with all respect; it simply makes sense.

[@Redbeardedalaskaman]

Big fan of yours I love your videos you have really helped me in my faith journey!! Congratulations on the baby being a parent is very rewarding also it's a fun challenge to try to out reproduce the pagan s lol. Ive heard of a lot of people with bipolar who has been completely cured by switching to the carnivore diet. I would look up McKayla Peterson carnivore diet. Laura Horn has also done the carnivore diet. Not trying to put shade on your decision it sounds well-reasoned just thought you might think it's interesting

[@michellesunshinestar]

I mean that makes sense right, Lizzie. My first nephew had to have a C-section because he was under stress, which I didn't understand. It's like how they know if a baby is stressed. Lizzie, are you allowed to take Melatonin? It helps with sleep. Your body naturally makes melatonin from sunlight. During the winter I've been taking it, and it helps. The brand I like is Olly, and you can order it online. If you are worried about packaging, get the plastic bag of it rather than a container. I don't get visual only auditory hallucinations.

[@callacrum6559]

Just curious, what was your dosage of seroquel during pregnancy?

[@Noone-rt6pw]

How are you doing, we haven’t heard from you!

[@michellesunshinestar]

Lizzie, I wonder about Fibromyalgia. or whatever. It causes tiredness. I would have to have a C-section, but my mom says you can't choose to have that.

[@SmilingBeaver-ou7nc]

Has anyone heard anything about how Lizzie is doing? I hope her and baby are doing well.❤

[@karinaengelhardt3224]

I was on anti depressants while pregnant my child was fine however I did not breast feed because of the milk containing a drug. So just don't breast feed.

[@mikhailboldt3417]

I trust Lizzie will make the right decision for herself and her baby ❤ she and Trevor too are both super smart wise people and whatever the safest choice is they will make that one. I trust them both to take in the important relevant information from reliable good sources and decide from that ❤

[@CherryDreamer96]

My psychiatrist told me that Seroquel can cause dependency in an infant.

[@michellesunshinestar]

Lizzie, I didn't know you can stay on your meds? I'm on Depakote, and that causes birth defects. Which doesn't matter I'm not s****** active. I guessed one of the medications. They would take me off it if I became pregnant. I'm actually waiting for menopause to start. I'm 44 though, so it could be another 5 more years.

[@mikhailboldt3417]

All those warnings about side affects Michelle are not stone cold incontrovertible iron clad truth they’re advisory warnings of what COULD happen. When you go into a doctors office for surgery that says the possible complications of this procedure include bleeding infection even death etc. That doesn’t mean everyone should be afraid of surgery it’s just a legal disclaimer they have to include if one person somewhere at some point had that happen. It’s the same thing when you go on an amusement park ride or go to the zoo they make you sign a consent form or agree to certain terms in order to participate in some of the activities. That doesn’t mean anything bad will happen it’s just something they have to tell you to cover themselves in case a freak accident occurs. Is there a risk to taking BP meds during pregnancy? Sure there is of course there is but there’s risks in doing a lot of things. A pregnancy is a very delicate operation and any number of small seemingly inconsequential things can bring about issues. When deciding where to stay on or go off there’s a challenging choice for sure. If you stay on there’s obviously risk of side affects occurring but if you go off the BP could get really bad overwhelm the pregnant woman and cause her to make some risky choice that could endanger her and her baby. As I said in my personal comment Lizzie is a very intelligent young woman she’s super smart. If she’s made this kind of choice that involves clear risk she’s read every piece of literature researched everything she can and gotten the advice of every medical professional she has access to. She’s not someone who just wakes up and makes potentially life altering decisions without considering every piece of relevant data. Lizzie would never put her child at risk she’s not that kind of person never has been never will be. I trust her completely on this and have full faith that she prayed and thought about and pondered this for a long time before officially deciding.

[@Yaa7700]

@@mikhailboldt3417 Doctors are very very vocal about not getting pregnant while on depakote specifically (lizzi does not take depakote)

[@mikhailboldt3417]

@@Yaa7700I wasn’t specifically talking about the particular drug I was simply saying that medical rules and scientific guidelines are generally considered to be advisory instead of iron clad mandates. Medicine as many other parts of the scientific field are not as simple and direct as we would like to think. There’s a lot of grey area and room for interpretation as it pertains to each individual person. Something that for one person is healing and helpful can to another have no effect or even be detrimental or deadly. It’s the reason why doctors require an office visit a thorough history and often a physical exam before giving any kind of treatment at all. There’s no set it and forget it easy answer to any medical question. A good doctor as I stated will use their overall knowledge and apply that on a case by case basis to each patient according to their needs. For BP I don’t claim to be an expert I’m not of course but I imagine it’s a similar scenario. There’s guidelines and ideas about what works and doesn’t what to take and don’t take but it can be altered and tailored to each individual patient based off of their history their symptoms the exact meds they’re on etc.

[@mikhailboldt3417]

@@Yaa7700I just wanna make sure people understand that their care should be their own not some general guidance from a doctor who’s never seen them or a random website. As we all know each persons body is unique and different from anyone else’s. If someone has a question about should I do this or that or is this safe or not it’s really impossible to answer that without knowing everything about that person. It’s easy to give an answer simply to satisfy someone’s desire for one but the truth is it’s more complex than that. Not everything that is ace for one person will be safe for another and not everything that hurts one person will hurt everyone else. I hope people as Lizzie did do their research talk to their doctor and then make a good solid choice based off everything they see and hear not just one or two things.

[@opencurtin]

Any news from lovely lizzie ?

[@yeranishunor]

You're so lovely ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@Noone-rt6pw]

Congrats to having a bun in the oven, 😊

[@belzeebubbubbachunks]

Congrats! I'm glad mothers with bpd aren't being pressured/shamed into not taking the appropriate meds. Yeah, there are potential risks, but I think your baby is going to be fine. Being in manic and depressive episodes, poor sleep, etc. will definitely hurt the pregnancy. I felt like a horrible person taking trazodone early on. When i first found out and did the introductory screening, I was pretty much told to stop all medication. It was completely useless, horrible advise and I hope my healthcare provider removed that dumb screening since then. You're doing what is best for both of you.

[@joshuaneace6597]

Are you still Roman Rite or did you become Byzantine Rite?

[@Noone-rt6pw]

Hallucinations or visions. Clairvoyance??? Tell us about the hallucinations. Write about them, this can help you.

[@anime-tm6dh]

@Lizzie, why didn’t you look into surrogacy? That way you could have saved the effect of bipolar meds on your body and the baby

[@mikhailboldt3417]

If someone’s gonna do surrogacy they might as well just adopt a baby. A big part of having a baby is the pregnancy carrying it for the 9-10 months feeling it kick getting the ultrasounds seeing it moving on the screens etc. There’s a reason many surrogates change their minds upon delivery because they’ve bonded with their child throughout the pregnancy process. As to the effects of the meds on the baby Lizzie has done mountains of research talked to doctors a lot to arrive at her conclusion to stay on meds. She’s a smart girl and so is her husband Trevor. Neither of them would be ok with that choice if they weren’t comfortable the benefits outweighed the risks.

[@Laura-ef3mm]

Surrogacy is inmoral for us Catholics.

[@rebk5391]

In Catholicism we don't believe in surrogacy

[@LizziesAnswers]

I'm opposed to surrogacy for three reasons: 1. It is traumatic for the baby, because for 9 months the baby memorizes her birth mother's smell, voice, and heart beat. Once the baby is born if the baby is taken away from the only person she knows and given to other people it causes extreme stress in the baby that has lifelong mental health implications for that child. There are some situations where the birth mom cannot raise the baby and while that is very traumatic, we can support the birth mom and adoptive parents through that process, but intentionally creating that trauma from the beginning I have an issue with. 2. Some of the embryos are destroyed or discarded in the IVF process required for surrogacy. 3. As a Catholic, I believe that sex must be unitive and procreative in marriage, part of that theology is that creating a baby must be within that context of sex in marriage.

[@johnchacko1425]

what about adoption

[@carissaanne5614]

I thought you had to abort if you got pregnant while on psych medication? I am sorry glad that isn’t not the case anymore!

[@mikhailboldt3417]

Oh no it’s not that cut and dry. Almost never does someone “have to do something” in a pregnancy. Medicine is as we all know as much an art as it is an exact science. There’s a reason it’s called practicing medicine not perfecting it. Even regarding things medicine is confident in there’s room for doubt or skepticism. Of course doctors get more right than they do wrong and they’re intelligent most of the time but a lot of the advisements you hear and general guidance don’t apply universally across the board. A good doctor uses their general knowledge of the human body and applies that in the necessary specific way to each individual patient in the manner required. If a doctor simply copy pasted a treatment plan for every patient of a particular diagnosis it would be horrible and harmful because everyone’s body is unique. Lizzie clearly after doing research talking to doctors etc felt comfortable that the benefits of staying on meds outweighed the potential risks. We all know Lizzie is a highly intelligent wise young woman and if she feels comfortable with this choice for her family and her baby so should we ❤😊

[@carissaanne5614]

@@mikhailboldt3417 I have bipolar as well and I take 5 pills daily and once you been depressed and suicidal you never want to be at the place anymore and the emergency department looks at mental health patients as time wasters and you are just like to get your hands on pills ! and to try to tell a kid that they mother is in the mental health ward would break my heart

[@mikhailboldt3417]

@@carissaanne5614im so sorry for what you’re going through Carissa that sounds really hard 😢 a lot of people talk about the potential impacts of bipolar meds on a baby and that matters but stopping meds as a mother with bi polar is also very dangerous. As you said once someone has experienced the horror of what bipolar can be they never want to go back. If someone goes off of bipolar during pregnancy they can spike up or crash into depression and experience a true mental health emergency so there’s risk to both choices absolutely. In the end it’s up to each mom who’s dealing with that terrible condition to decide for herself with input from her doctor and psychiatrist what’s the best safest course of action Carissa I will pray for you so are able to have peace and safety and joy in your life. God Bless you ❤🙏 ✝️

[@LizziesAnswers]

Forced abortion is not legal in the United States. Even in the 1970s when lithium was the only medication for bipolar, they never forced women to get an abortion or to go off lithium. The lithium could cause the baby to die before being born or cause a birth defect, but the understanding is that we should still give that baby a chance at life.

[@elinoreberkley1643]

Having kids today is not a good idea in my opinion.

[@MarsianForestcat]

Yep, and not only bc of bipolar 😢

[@MidorixAsuka]

How can you say you finished your pregnancy already but you’re only 5 months in? Confusing…. Please, don’t give medical advice if you’re not a doctor especially if you’re mostly going off of just the internet and not your own doctors. Not everyone can just “switch meds.” We’re Bipolar… that child is gonna be so confused coming into this world. So disheartening….

[@mikhailboldt3417]

She’s not “giving medical advice” the way you mean she’s simply offering her story and her choices as a reference point for people. Lizzie has had a nearly decade long battle with BP tons of doctors medications good experiences and bad in multiple states so she’s not exactly shooting from the hip so to speak she knows what she’s talking about. She always is clear too that each persons diagnosis is their own and her advice is just general it doesn’t apply to everyone. To get the best quality treatment someone needs to go to doctors usually more than one to get a holistic picture of what their condition requires. Also she’s not just going off of “internet sources” that’s just not true. As I said Lizzie has been battling this illness for many years now. She has done research online in person from books websites encyclopedias and of course doctors as well. She has been to a massive amount of doctors over the years and is as well versed as any non professional could be. Of course she doesn’t know as much as a psychiatrist does and she never claims to but her views and opinions and choices are not ill informed or out of nowhere they are well thought out and informed by quality sources.

[@LizziesAnswers]

I said in the beginning of the video that I consulted with many doctors before getting pregnant, which led to further research which they guided me in. Everyone with bipolar can switch meds, because there are dozens of bipolar medications and you can always try a different one, go off a medication or change dosages. If your psychiatrist has told you that it's not possible for bipolar people to switch meds, you need to find a new psychiatrist, because he/she is giving you false medical information.

[@civrn368]

She also took the "Vax" 😢