Medication experience

Hi @BPTrivicalBPD. Looks like you may be pretty new to the forum, so welcome.

I too am currently thinking about meds at the moment because I see my psychiatrist tomorrow and know there needs to be a change of dose or actual meds I am taking.

Just to let you know that the forum does not allow us to post names of meds when we talk to each other about this.

Having said that, many of us do talk about what's going on with that area of our treatment without being specific.

When you say BP, do you mean bipolar? I have bipolar 1, aged 58 many different kinds of treatment over 30 years.

In my personal experience meds have brought complications of many different kinds and yet I also recognise that I have needed them for most of the time since I was 28, that they have helped me in big ways as well as having their own baggage that can sometimes seem worse than the original illness.

A good ongoing relationship with a psychiatrist you respect and who also respects you may be key to getting the best from the part of our treatment that is meds.

Hello @BPTrivicalBPD

Its brave of you to openly discuss

Ive got a long history (> 40 years) of meds usage for heavy duty depression and anxiety - we are meant to feel guilty about this it would seem with not coping, snap out of it, get real etc - I have never been able to talk myself out of a psychiatric episode - its been medication every time thats saved my butt and brought back some sort of reality.

The last advice I got from a psychiatrist was to commit to taking these meds that keep me on track for the rest of my life. The idea was difficult to swallow and a number of times I tried to wean myself off but I always ended up a train wreck. So I havent messed with the prescribed dosage for a long time.

Obviously my experiences are unique and may not be relevant these days. New drugs appear but Ive never been game to try them - the old adage of " if it aint broke dont fix it" applies to me but may not suit others.

Are you on a mood stabiliser too? I find with me personally, if i am feeling manic at any time during meds, usually means i have to see if it continues because i might need more medications.

I was on meds for about 6 months and didn't notice any effect. I started asking pharmacists and the like if they were placebos, because that was the only explaination I could come up with for why nothing was happening.

Only thing that did happen was that I got noticably fatter during that time (people started commenting on me packing on the pounds ), but I didn't put that together with the meds until a couple years later when I learned that weight gain was a known side effect of the meds I'd been on. Of course, nobody warned me about that at the time.

The therapist who perscribed them to me was bloody useless. I kept telling him that the meds weren't having any effect and he never listened.

@chibam @BPTrivicalBPD @DonnieGoGetter @Fantail @Mazarita I am holding onto my meds by the edge of a cliff. I hate them. I only take them because I would get into so much trouble if I didnt and I have to. I have to be responsible and if I didnt take them I would relapse find myself back in hospital, my son taken away etc etc.

Who hates theair meds?

Hi @BPTrivicalBPD ,@Bunniekins @chibam @DonnieGoGetter @Fantail

I have just seen my dr and she wants me to go on antidepresents and antipsychotic medication. Like you greenpea I hate taking any meds including paracetamol. I have a few weeks to make up my mind while I wait to have an appointment with a neurosurgeon re a brain Anuerysm. I personal think the meds ( antipsychotics) cause more problems long term than the episodes of bp11, but I believe she wants me on them for the aspects of paranoia side. I have done too much research on them to allow myself to take them. I just don't know how to manage myself though and I have been told therapy isn't good for me. But I don't believe that. Just have to keep Struggling as know one has any alternatives for me 😟 So bloody hard.

Hi all.

@BPTrivicalBPD glad you started this discussion. Interesting to read other's experiences.

@Former-Member BP1 diagnosis here.

@Bunniekins I dislike meds more than I used to since I discovering that the AD I've been taking for years has been causing, triggering or at the least exacerbating a few very difficult and limiting health issues in me. I've had extensive medical testing over past two years about them! Saw my psychiatrist today, changing to a different one as of now.

Hi @Fantail welcome to the forum. I agree. Med changes are destabilising, if they can be avoided it seems better for my overall wellbeing. But I have changed meds a lot of times over 25 years since they were first prescribed for my mental health.

I have tried all types of antidepresents over the years, mood stabilisers and different antipsychotics but when a previous psychiatrist changed my diagnoises from bp1 with mixed states to BPD then changed her mind again as PTSD of which I have, plus serious panic attacks can appear like BPD when in a mixed state. It was then that I decided that I can't believe them anymore. Drs just don't really know. But I only have one body they have lots of patients to go through and try again! Decided that getting my body health again was more important. I constantly fight with wanting help but knowing they can't help as all they can do is prescribe! it's just too hard some days to keep it together. The only medication I have taken recently was Melatonin as sleep was just not happening and I was desperate but it does take a good week to start to work. It is about time researchers came up with a safe medication that doesn't effect every part of the human body in such a toxic way!

@Former-Member I hear you about toxic. I feel the shape of my life has been strongly affected by the effects of meds for both physical and mental health. I take the psych meds mainly because I can't stand the acute mental/mood pain without them, and the bad complications that can come from that. Yeah, the labels are just that. I often think about how medicine is just not advanced enough yet, though it has improved over time since the asylums 100 or more years ago. Body health would be helping you a lot. I am aiming for more of that as well, happening in very small steps.

i have tried several meds and i have decided to try and avoid them due to the side effects i had. i am such a sensitive person to medication that alot of the meds dont agree with me. which kinda sucks but the las lot ended me in hospital really sick so now extremly causous about taking meds. but thats just how my body copes with meds. so for me its alot of trial amd error