The keto diet as a metabolic therapy for mood disorders?

Can a keto diet be used to treat mood disorders, like depression or bipolar disorder? A newly published paper presents some of the research on how a ketogenic diet might work in treating various mood disorders, such as bipolar disease. Quite an interesting topic for further research.
NCBI: Ketogenic diet as a metabolic therapy for mood disorders: Evidence and developments
Earlier
Ketogenic diet for mental health: Come for the weight loss, stay for the mental health benefits?
The keto diet and psychiatric medications – what you need to know
Nowhere on this site is juice like V8 recommended as far as I can tell after watching so many videos and reading so much of it. Check the carbs....my new mantra!
Magnesium tablets help and drinking water. Also watch videos on the site or read success stories as it helps and don't expect much of yourself while this change happens.
Good luck.
First of all, I’d like to say that I love the keto diet and I fully intend to continue eating this way indefinitely.
I was diagnosed with bipolar type 2 last September and have been eating a ketogenic diet on and off for about 6 or 7 years.
While I realise now that I’ve been experiencing bipolar symptoms since the age of about 18 (I’m now 45) it exhibited mostly as bouts of depression and I’ve never felt bad enough to seek medical help.
However, since starting the ketogenic diet I have to report that I’ve experienced a marked increase in periods of ‘hypomania’ (a less severe form of mania typical of the bipolar type 2 diagnosis). It’s not exactly bad, in fact I feel completely amazing during these periods of high mood, but I thought I should mention it in case other sensitive individuals are similarly affected. I know many people report feeling great in ketosis, but for me it seems to go a bit too far.
I’ve noticed that when I’m strictly adhering to the diet I’m more likely to exhibit symptoms of hypomania: excess energy, reduced need for sleep, pressured speech, racing thoughts and a general since of euphoria. I also become very goal orientated. It’s okay short term but after a few months of feeling like this every single day, you can feel completely burnt out - and then comes the crash…
Following a four or five-month hypomanic episode two years ago (during which time I was following a strict keto diet) I fell into a major depression lasting almost a year. This was the longest period of depression I think I’ve ever had and while I did my best to stick to the diet I ate more carbs than I did previously during this period – maybe too many to be in ketosis.
I couldn’t say whether I was eating more carbs because I was depressed, or I was depressed because I was eating more carbs. Finding the motivation to stick to a diet is hard when you’re in that state.
In the end, I saw a psychiatrist and I’m now taking 600 mg of lithium carbonate daily. My blood levels have been a little below the ‘therapeutic range’ but the psychiatrist is happy for me to stay on the lower dose as long as I feel well.
Lithium can cause damage long term so if I can just take enough to dampen any highs that might be caused by the ketosis, I think I should be good.
I asked my psychiatrist if it was okay to continue eating a ketogenic diet while taking lithium due to the shifts in electrolyte balance (I believe lithium competes with sodium and potassium), but she’d never really heard of a ketogenic diet. She was worried about ketoacidosis and just seemed really confused as to how I could possibly have any energy if I wasn’t eating carbs (?). I take an electrolyte supplement, just in case.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. For the first time since I started taking lithium, I managed to get back onto a strict keto diet about 2 months ago and I’ve been feeling really great – but not too great ;-) My weight’s coming down nicely (lithium can cause weight gain), I don’t have any food cravings (other than for meat and veggies) and I would like to continue eating this way indefinitely.
So, no, my personal experience is that the keto diet is not a ‘cure’ for bipolar. Maybe in combination with the lithium it will keep me on the high side of normal. Only time will tell…