Bipolar 4 All

Hello everyone,

I have been taking fish oils for a while now and I think they have made a difference, not in depression in particular, and I don't know about antipsychotic properties, they just make my head a bit clearer and I feel better about handling things, like a boost towards the direction I need it. Maybe it's all in my head, but as they do no harm I'll keep on taking them!

CuddlyMoon, about the fishy breath, I've been told there are some that don't do that but I haven't found them yet! I guess fishy taste (hopefully not extending to breath) is sth we'll probably have to put up with...

Hmmm, maybe you had found the miraculous capsules that don't have that side-effect?! I think you'd have realised if you had fishy aftertaste/breath, so don't worry!
I put the capsules next to my cereal box so that I remember to take them after breakfast

The doc that gave me the info I posted said that it COULD be a side effect. Sadly he did say that it's those who you are closest to that suffer more from the fishyness than the patient does (i.e. the smell is more frequent than the taste)

something to remember... the alleged effective properties are found in pure omega 3 oils. Cod liver oil doesnt come into that bracket and a lot of cheaper products contain some 'nasties'. The price of the 2 i mentioned that the doc said about is a bit steep but they are recognised as prescription meds so pester the docs if that's the road you want to try.

And if you don't like the 'fishy breath' phrase here's a better one; seal burps, lol

Hello CuddlyMoon,

I just thought I should say what I'm taking in case you find it useful. It's the Lamberts Fish Oil, 1100mg...It costs around £15 for 120 capsules so not a bad price. You can take 1-3 capsules a day as it's inscribed on the box. I find them in health food shops but I don't think they have them in Holland and Baretts or whatever the spelling for that is!

I hope this helps!

First of all, size doesnt matter

Sorry. No it's just the size of the capsule and the amount you take won't help as much if the EPA levels aren't met. Because of the intention of omega 3 use not being for mood there is little chance that over the counter capsules will tell you the amount to take but its a certainty that 'one a day' products will not do the trick.

Rule of thumb is you will need well over a gram alone of EPA as that's the active ingredient. The more capsules you take to get that level the more geletin and other things you dont need are taken so you have to be careful.

Cuddlymoon, why don't you ask your GP to prescribe Omacor? That'll keep cost down and it's one omega 3 product that pdocs who are read up on such things tend to use. You could say it's to help with other things like aches and pains digestion etc but if you trust your GP you could say you're also interested to see if it supports quetiapine use. Many pdocs are now adding high dose omega 3 to anti-ps when treating schizophrenia to try and increase positive medication effect but not increase AP side effects. That way you'd stay on quetiapine as per pdoc treatment but you'd also notice if omega3 does in fact work then that would be a good time to see if you could start lowering seroquel dose once you have the build up of EPA in your system (takes many weeks for omega 3 to start showing signs of A/P or mood stabilising properties)

Just a thought.