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I admire people who can maintain their mental health without drugs. For me despite medication and using cbt, dbt, therapy, I can still at times battle with my mental health. No I don't like the side effects but the alternative is much worse. I want to stay sane for my daughter & avoid yet more hospitalisations ans constant instability. There's so much misunderstanding about MI in the community thinking it is cured by taking drugs and no consideration to side effects. What has been your experience? There's a lot of judgement about "non-compliance" but can you understand why people would stop their meds? Have you tried it? Or are you like me with break through symptoms even on meds and couldn't imagine taking away that help?
Be well @Decadian ... there are plenty more decades ahead... hugs...
In response to: Re: Medication vs no medication
DecadianSenior Contributor
Re: Medication vs no medication
Thanks @Silenus
Alas - there are not many more decades ahead - time passes quicky when we get older -
But I shall be sure to make the most of the time I have
Dec
In response to: Medication vs no medication
PeppiPattySenior Contributor
Re: Medication vs no medication
Dear @Decadian
I'm thinking about you honey.
Anne
In response to: Medication vs no medication
pipSenior Contributor
Re: Medication vs no medication
@2angels. I'm no expert when it comes to AD's, don't think anybody really is. Even psych's get it wrong till the patient has been monitored over weeks. With bipolar, though, I assume the meds would have to be specifically for the treatment of bipolar, plus stabilizers. My ex BIL has bipolar (unsure whether 1, or 2), he is monitored and his meds altered regularly with his mood changes. When he 'crashes' for lack of another description, he really goes 'down'. This happens frequently, I suppose with bipolar, this is a regular part of the illness as bipolar or BPD or OCD is an actual specific illness as opposed to general depression which in itself is specific but has to be treated differently. I realize OCD, BPD, and bipolar can also cause depression, but the depression possibly is more severe in a different way. I know my ex BIL has never shown suicidal tendencies, his depression shows as shaking, inability to work, the need to remain in bed etc. He was undiagnosed and untreated for years due to lack of caring parents and his wife was ill-prepared to know how to treat him. Originally his wife and my ex in-laws put his moods down him being moody. Once he was diagnosed, it became easier to talk to him, his moods still remained due to the fact he wasn't given stabilizers. It was just easier because we realized he had a specific illness and wasn't just 'moody' and 'bad- tempered'. My ex in-laws still gave him a hard time, only because of lack of understanding of MI. They gave me a hard time too, because, to them, depression was a sign of weakness. My depression was mainly because of loneliness and their and their son (my ex hubby's) ill-treatment of me.
In response to: Re: Medication vs no medication
Unknown userMember
Re: Medication vs no medication
I stopped taking meds. I was on anti-depressants, anxiety and an anti-psychotic... all supposed to help with secondary symptoms but they were causing more fundamental problems. I took myself off them about 3-4 months ago, and things are much better. There's a greater sense of fragility but that just reminds me of things I need to be careful with, self-care really. I'm not recommending it for anyone else but it's been good for me.
In response to: Medication vs no medication
SilenusSenior Contributor
Re: Medication vs no medication
Hi all... 🙂
I am gifted-cursed with bipolar...
I get bad depressions. They have had a huge impact on my life...
Lost jobs... long term unemployment... failed marriage... lost friends...
Years of my life spent in a darkened room...
Demons of prodigious power, revisiting the abuse of my childhood on me in ever-changing ways that defy my coping mechanisms and wellness strategies...
And then there's the flip side to my bipolar... the hypomania... the endless energy... racing thoughts... frustration... anger issues...
ObSeSsIvE cOmPuLsIvE dIsOrDeR... lots of weird repetitive stuff and a bit of a cleaning thing... I have a compulsion to avoid stepping on cracks... mostly harmless...
At times, I think in forced rhyme, rhyming all the time, to English it's a crime...
Anxiety comes and goes... mostly manageable, but I prefer to stay away from humans...
I have never been on psych meds... I hope never to... my personal choice...
I self medicate, and manage my mental health issues with Mindfulness, meditation, and a fierce uncompromising dedication to self evolution...
I am the watcher within, who himself is watched from within...
I am happy now and Zen...
Through much hard work, I have cultivated my resilience and my ability to subtly sidestep the worst of my mental health issues... the severe depressions, the suicidal ideation, the dark thoughts and compulsions, the too-high hypomania, the rapid cycling, and even the mixed episodes...
The dude abides...
In response to: Medication vs no medication
Unknown userMember
Re: Medication vs no medication
Hello All, I'd forgotten this thread, as you do..rolling on in life. Things drop away unnoticed. Timing.. I was only just thinking the other night how 'I was' on meds, and to who 'I am' now..without them. I felt AD's blotted life for a while. In my case I became more closed off, far away at times. I didn't like the person. I pretended to. I didn't like the way i looked for more, fueling the cocktail further. I prefer to know I'm more finely tuned than a magic pill. So self management? (Who knows!) Maybe an acceptance of one's variables? (Quirks) Living storms through? (Depression) I think spirit propels me forward. (Higher self of reality) I accept my mood fluctuations.(Changeable).
I don't like to presume what's good one, must be good for another. It's not!! Vulnerability's are different....
To those in darker places presently, I wish you light soon. 💛💡
In response to: Re: Medication vs no medication
PeppiPattySenior Contributor
Re: Medication vs no medication
DEar @Silenus
So brilliant working....
wow. Ille answer what you write about bi polar later when I'm feeling not so be befumbled.....
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