I take psychiatric medications daily and what I want to know is, why do people refuse to try psychiatric medication for serious mental illnesses? Why do people think they don’t need it? Why do people think they should ignore their highly-trained doctor’s advice? Why do people feel that taking psychiatric medication makes them less of a person? Why is it okay to take heart medication but not psychiatric medication? Why do people think that psychiatric medication doesn’t work? Why do people think that I know of some secret alternative? Why do people refuse to even try psychiatric medication?
People Refusing to Try Psychiatric Medication
I can’t tell you the number of people who contact me and say something along the lines of, “I have [insert mental illness here]. It’s ruining my life but I don’t want to take medication. What should I do?”
Well, honestly, I’m sick of this attitude. It’s like people saying, “I have a heart problem but I don’t want to take medication to stay alive. What should I do?”
You should take your freaking medication.
Here’s a tip people: I am not a magician. I do not have more overall medical knowledge than your psychiatrist. If a medical professional who has studied medicine for 10 years or more decides that you need medication – you probably need medication. I’m not about to disagree with that.
What about Alternatives to Psychiatric Medication?
I have written about alternatives to psychiatric medication on this blog. They, by and large, do not work to stabilize a person in a crisis and should be used (in my opinion) alongside medication treatment for most people and with a doctor’s approval only. Once a person has been stable for a long period of time, they then have the option of, possibly, under a doctor’s care, tapering medication if, indeed, that is truly what he or she wants. Usually, I can tell you from talking to hundreds of people, this doesn’t work and people end up back in the hospital, but, then again, sometimes it does.
Nevertheless, none of that is why people refuse to even try psychiatric medication.
If You Had Another Medical Problem, You Would Take Your Medication!
What ticks me off to no end is that this is the attitude people have towards psychiatric medication and not the attitude they have towards other types of medication. People take medication for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems and a million other things without batting an eyelash, and yet, when it comes to their brain, they’re all, no, no, we can’t do that. Heaven forbid I try something that might make me better. This is illogical.
And don’t tell me it’s the side effect profiles. Yes, the side effect profiles suck, no doubt about it, but side effects on any medication are bloody scary. Some medications actually list death as a side effect and as of yet, I’ve never seen that listed for a psychiatric medication.
And, for the millionth time, you may get a side effect or you may not but the only way to know is to try. Getting scared off because you read a bunch of stuff on the Internet is not a particularly rational reason not to even try most psychiatric medications.
Don’t Tell Me You Won’t Try Psychiatric Medication and Want My Advice
So, please, don’t write to me and tell me that you have a serious mental illness and refuse to try psychiatric medications and want my advice. My advice will always be the same: work it out with your doctor. If I knew of a shaman or reiki master or herb you could take to make your problems go away I would have written about it already, trust me, but I don’t. I only know what medicine tells me and that’s exactly what your psychiatrist knows, too, only they have a leg up on me in that they know your personal history and can give more informed advice as to what will work best for you.
So, please, if you’re refusing psychiatric medication that’s your business, but don’t write me and look for alternatives. I will side with your doctor. I’m crazy that way.
Header photo by Curtis Perry.
Inset image by Kratom IQ.
sorry but you’re exactly the reason people shouldn’t take psychoactive drugs. clearly they’ve made you into a drug addict of the worst kind: the kind who uses her access to media to recruit and preach the glory of drug addiction to justify and rationalize her own addiction and ineffective treatment for whatever original complaint. your demands that people follow your lead are the ultimate demonstration that you yourself have no insight into your own mind and addiction, not to mention that you have no right to make such recommendations to people you don’t even know and are not qualified to advise.
and to pretend and preach drug use and addiction as the cure-all for whatever so-called diagnoses made by so-called medical or psychiatric professionals is to miss the point and the larger problem: drugs do not solve or treat or cure anyone of anything. sorry but your personal experience hardly qualifies as any sort of expertise or evidence of anything beyond your own addiction. “treatment” that is only a cover for introduction to addiction should serve as a clue that your problems are truly deep-seeded but cannot be treated with chemicals; your embrace of that illusion is further evidence that some people are perhaps truly sick and will not respond to any sort of treatment at all. there’s no need to take drugs at all, but perhaps you should consider simply accepting your defects rather than trying to bring others down with you. projection is but a form of self-loathing attributed and directed at others. keep it to yourself if you really want to be a love and “help” others. as is, your drivel is the most irresponsible crap i’ve read in a long time and is clearly dangerous and should be dealt with as dangerous medical advice offered up by one who could never ever hold any sort of licensure or accreditation in any sort of medical or whatever profession. proof that everyone has an opinion and an asshole but no one wants to hear yours.
Hi C,
Most of your comment does not warrant a response. But I will say this, you don’t understand what addiction actually is. Addiction is the presence of dependence AND abuse. This means that not only does a person with an addiction not function without the drug but they would go to unhealthy lengths to get it, not use it as directed, and harm their life because of it.
I am not addicted any more than people using insulin for diabetes are.
People using insulin for diabetes are dependent on their medication — they can’t function without it — but they are not abusing the medication — they are not harming their lives because of it. The same is true of people taking medication for psychiatric disorders (assuming they are taking it as intended). We are dependent, not abusing the medication.
As for the rest of your drivel, do go sell it elsewhere, please.
– Natasha Tracy
I’m sorry but I can’t bring myself to agree with most of what was published and said in this article about psychiatric medication and the refusal to take them. Here’s the thing: Meds aren’t for everybody and while it helps tone down symptoms of people’s mental illnesses that obviously doesn’t mean that it can magically cure them. I used to take meds for about 8 years for anxiety/bipolar and it was all going well for me until I forgot to take them a few times and over the course of those 8 years I experienced some of the worst side effects imaginable: drooping of the face, insomnia, massive weight again, hell I even experienced a lot of TIA stroke-like symptoms several times by missing a few dosages and had to visit the hospital. I started taking medical marijuana in 2018 for my symptoms and tapered off of them myself and it did wonders and all of those side effects from all of those meds eventually went away. Fast forward to two days ago and I had a panic attack because I accidentally hit my THC cartridge on a vape pen way too fast because I smoke it for my anxiety because I myself decided to go that route instead of taking pills 2 years ago and had to visit the ER. When the paramedics arrived they tried to turn it on mental health issues and asked if I smoked it for anxiety and of course I told them I had anxiety issues in the past but I’m not suicidal by a long shot but I have some bouts of sadness every now and then but smoking medical marijuana is a lot better route for me than any form of pill that I’ve ever taken. When I got to the ER they referred me to go and schedule an appointment with one of the recommended quack psychiatrists and there’s no way in hell they will be able to put me back on any kind of medication that ruined my life. People should have the right to refuse meds if they have experienced vicious side effects and nobody should have to go through the same trauma that I did.
Jody, so psychiatrists are to take the medication that they prescribe to their patients?
Just pop the pills for 4 weeks to see what it feels liike, even though they don’t have the need for that medication.
…..isn’t that pretty much the definition of drug abuse? :)
Psychiatry is somewhat of a guess work, you are right. Just like any diagnostic work in medicine. The future doctors spend a few years studying (aka reading and absorbing the results of many other doctors’ and scientists’ guess work), then they get into the field hands on, first practicing the guess work under supercision of more experienced guessers, and then when they are good and ready, they go on guessing on their own.
It is, however, an educated guess, which is realistcally the best current medicine can offer :) of course, there are plenty psychiatrists who tend to rush the diagnosis – there are slackers in every type of profession – but there are also highly skilled and attentive psychiatrists out there, all the patient has to do is look for them.
I do not agree that psychiatry is studying “intangible ilnesses”. When it comes to mood disorders, brain chemistry is involved, and medications that affect neurotransmitters, for example, can rather tangibly help with seemingly intangible moods/feelings. Of course, the diagnosis process is never perfect – but that’s why good psychiatrists keep monitoring their patients’ responce to the meds prescribed, and adjust the type of meds/dosage accordingly.
Who would want your advice? Not on this topic, unless you are seeking the perspective of an ignorant person. If your Psychiatrist or Professor F*(kwit told you to take antipsychotic medication you would take it because he has read a lot about it for a long time. What I think they should do, is have to compliantly take any medication they have any intention of prescribing, for a minimum period of 4 weeks.
Psychiatry is guess work, from someone qualified to regurgitate information on a intangible illness. With rite of passage they are not required to be accountable for the consequences of the ‘trial and error’ phase with patients. Incidentally, there is an 86% higher rate of suicide with Australians on prescribed medication than those who self medicate with illicit drugs. Only someone without knowledge (which psychiatrists do not have), it’s impossible to make an informed decision. Why would be so opinionated on a topic you are clueless about?
@Vicky,
Girl, listen to yourself. If meds didn’t do you any good, don’t take them.
I’ve stopped taking my meds at 20 years old. I’ll say I’m doing better than ever. So keep being strong, worlds full of shit asses, but you’ll get there.
I have faith in you Vicky. You’ll make it and be a success in whatever path you take. Just keep moving.
I meant to say “put them on full blast” with the last comment I posted above. My iPad causes typos sometimes. But I love my device with a passion.
About the Resperdol breast enlargement case, where the fuck is the announcement for death row on these fuckers?
If I was ahead of the law, I would give them no bail, no mercy pleading, just off to death row.
Americas nothing more than pussy nation.
We need to be harsher on criminals and enforce background checks on all professionals in healthcare as well counselors and caregivers.
That will solve the healthcare professional problems. And catch fucked up doctors and put me on full blast.
Psychiatrists deserve to be publicly humiliated and shamed, fuck psychiatric apologists and their rederic, want a strong nation with the balls to call out on this fuckery, starting turning towards that.
People never will learn unless shamed publicly for ligitamite reasons.
I’m a harsh person when I come to healthcare laws enforcing strict background checks on medical professionals but I care about the real victims well being and psychiatrists public humiliation and shame they deserve to be faced with.
So holler at a brother when he is in need. Tell him “keep on moving, you’ll get to your destination eventually.”
What a patronising article. You have no idea what it’s like to be some people. I don’t want meds cos they don’t work! And the last meds I took, often made me have nighttime accidents! That is dehumanising!
I think that medication definitely makes you less of a person. Medication drives emotion chemistry into the artificial balance with no way out of it. Once you start to take medication, you might be never able to live without it. Just because lack of medication causes the emotion chemistry balance to collapse. The result is distress, severe anxiety, psychosis and mania. If you survive anxiety phase you might fell into severe depression and attempt a suicide (due to adrenal fatigue). Getting back to natural balance of emotion chemistry is extremely hard. As you have to resolve your social relationship and make significant changes to it which is stressful task. You’re already in distress due to emotional imbalance. However you can’t adjust new social behavior on artificial mood as the most of medication works blocking dynamics of emotion (steroid hormones and neurotransmitters) putting you somewhere between male and female. With medication you are deadlocked to any social development as a person.
2 words: TRUST ISSUES
Forget cycling meds to find one that works – I don’t think I could stand the pain of trying to find a decent GP, let alone a therapist/psych.
I’ve changed doctors and specialists many times in the hopes of finding one that will actually give you more than the cursory 5 minute checklist checkup, was able to answer simple questions, willing to have a human conversation. They are rarer than unicorns. I found one, but then moved… Now I’m in a different country where they have different med names, different systems and different acronyms for everything.
Been prescribed lithium once, got fed up when the doc literally laughed in my face instead of answering a question. YES – Literally. I can still picture her smiley-eye wrinkles. Who knows if the diagnosis was even right, let alone the Rx.
Well, I’ve been repeatedly assured a doctor would never, ever, smirk or look down their nose at their patient. (Pause – Take a Deep Breath, and let’s just all let out a big belly laugh together at that one; they never believe it until it happens to them.)
So I trust me. And I’m weird. I hide at family functions when I’ve had enough. I cancel plans, then immediately overcommit. I get earworms for weeks. It does help to know other people are coping with similar experiences, and to get new ideas on how to minimize the impact of my weirdness.
P.S. Dentists are great. Super Great.
This news came out today about Risperdal……….http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/jj-slapped-18m-verdict-risperdal-breast-growth-case/2015-11-10?
Anyone remember the massive neurontin lawsuit?
Hallelujah! I agree with you whole-heartedly. Thank you for this.
How many here also have PTSD? How many here have heard of the term Complex PTSD.. I have complex PTSD due to a horrific inhumane childhood which always put me in an anxious state. Fight or flight.I believe this compounding anxiety and co-morbidities led to my BP (no genetics in my family) Dr. Pete walker who is a prominent speaker and therapist in complex PTSD states….”Renowned traumatologist, John Briere, is said to have quipped that if Complex PTSD were ever given its due – that is, if the role of dysfunctional parenting in adult psychological disorders was ever fully recognized, the DSM (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used by all mental health professionals) would shrink to the size of a thin pamphlet. It currently resembles a large dictionary. In my experience, many clients with Complex PTSD have been misdiagnosed with various anxiety and depressive disorders, as well as bipolar, narcissistic, codependent and borderline disorders. Further confusion arises in the case of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), as well as obsessive/compulsive disorder, which is sometimes more accurately described as an excessive, fixated flight response to trauma. This is also true of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and some dissociative disorders which are similarly excessive, fixated freeze responses to trauma. ….
Just something to think about in your journey…. http://pete-walker.com/fAQsComplexPTSD.html
Exactly. Even the person writing this blog has admitted that she has experienced childhood trauma, but it’s easier for her and the people treating her to believe that her issues are due to a chemical imbalance. She freely admits that she hates exercising, but she likes taking drugs. At the same time, she admits that all the drugs she’s taking to fix this “brain disorder” don’t work. Transcendence is not easy; that’s why there are so many people addicted to drugs, prescription and recreational.
Tas,
I will not speak badly of Natasha. She has been a blessing to me and others. I can only speak of my experiences and I have done so much soul searching and reflection and have gone back to parts of my life which I have totally disassociated from. The torture of a small child. The molestation of a 14 year old. Am individual trying over my childhood to kill me and almost did the 4th time until someone intervened and I have spoken to some of the best minds when it comes complex PTSD. The ages of 2 and 14 are when a child’s brain is developing the most. That’s why we call it the terrible twos and at age 14 ther is a reason why we sleep so much. Science has come a long way. I will provide links for those who wish to look into the fact that abuse be it emotional or physical can lead to some very serious mental and physical issues and once our culture understands that maybe ther will be less people who are suffering as a result..
A history of childhood traumatic experience has been associated with increased vulnerability to multiple mental disorders, including mood disorders and personality disorders.3-5 Etain and colleagues6 found that a history of 2 or more types of trauma is associated with a 3-fold increase in the risk of bipolar disorder. Prognosis and course of bipolar disorder are worse when there is a history of trauma. Trauma history is associated with earlier onset of bipolar disorder; faster cycling; increased rates of suicide; and more comorbidity, including anxiety disorders, personality disorders, and substance use disorders.
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/bipolar-disorder/violence-bipolar-disorder
Impact on the physiology of the brain
http://www.asca.org.au/About/Resources/Impact-on-the-physiology-of-the-brain.aspx
Understanding the Effects of Maltreatment on Brain Development
https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/brain_development.pdf
New research results indicate that a documented history of maltreatment as a child is a risk factor for the development of psychological problems as an adult.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/07/19/childhood-abuse-a-risk-factor-for-mental-illness/15726.html
The negative impact of child abuse on adult mental health has been documented for over 150 years,*, and, over the last thirty years, in particular, numerous research studies have documented the link between child abuse and mental illness in later life…………
http://www.asca.org.au/About/Resources/Abuse-related-conditions.aspx
Childhood Trauma and Chronic Illness in Adulthood: Mental Health and Socioeconomic Status as Explanatory Factors and Buffers
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3153850/
Compelling evidence from a variety of studies suggests that early life stress constitutes a major risk factor for the development and persistence of mental disorders.
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Charles_Nemeroff/publication/11909727_The_role_of_childhood_trauma_in_the_neurobiology_of_mood_and_anxiety_disorders_preclinical_and_clinical_studies/links/02bfe50f180210c406000000.pdf
I am not here to debate causes, etc but just to offer people who have experienced trauma some citations that their bipolar injury may be one of the reasons they have this malady called bipolar disorder. I for one believe it to my core that for me it was knowing full well that it started at a such a young age but the doctors didn’t have a name for it and I was so young that I thought all children and teenagers experienced it. I wish all of us peace.
Oke so this is very painful for me.
I was so anti-medication that I refused medications wanting to solve everything with food and supplements for a long time even when things were extremely bad . Anyway things got so out of hand that completely snapped this was the most traumatic experience of life, soooo much fear that I felt and it already had such a difficult life. I am so angry at my self for not taking medication earlier if they could have prevented me from the amount of fear that I experienced I wouldn’t be so traumatized now from the fear. I am so traumatized from the whole experience that I want to kill myself; I am really angry at myself.
I am not saying medication is the solution or necessary healthy but I seriously think it is better to take medication than to experience crippling traumatizing anxiety.
Don’t beat yourself up. Meds are scary unknowns. If you think something else will work that seems less risky or scary it makes sense to try that. But your illness, by its very nature, impairs your judgment, and prevents you from realizing it impairs your judgment. That’s what’s so insidious about the whole thing. So it may have taken you longer than you’d like to get to the right place for you, but be happy and proud that you got there.
I’m with ya, Natasha. But I “hear you,” those who have written here about having experiences with medications. I’ve had some bad experiences, too, but having tried gradually cutting back on the meds, with psychiatric supervision, each time I tried that I plunged into severe depression. I can’t count how many times I have read about or, been pressured by well meaning (?) or self serving (?) people that “you don’t need medication,” or that “medication can kill you” or “it’s a government plot to keep us dulled out,” or “psychiatrists make personal monetary profit if you but the drugs,” or the dangerous and abusive cult of Scientology’s argument that any psychiatric or counseling therapy is a form of abuse and the whole field should be abolished — hey, to them I say, “My life was hell before I started medications AND counseling — the two things that , used together, are most highly recommended by professionals in the field. My life was not worth living before. Now, I have a life that is worth living. No matter what dire predictions might happen later on, taking medication has been absolutely worth it, because I could not go on living the way I was.” I also say to anyone who claims I’d be better off not taking medication: Introduce me to two or three people who are balanced and doing well who have been 100% off their medications for 5 years, and I’ll consider getting off, too.” For over 50 years, I thought about suicide and wanted to die — ALL THE TIME, even during the times when I was happy. I had no idea why I felt this way, but blamed it on the way the earth is and man’s inhumanity to man, animals and the earth. I now know from reading tons of well written social history, that these problems have always existed. Almost identical to what we’re seeing now in The Great American News Programs. So has mental illness always been around — in every country, under any political circumstances, some people just have it.. It’s my health, not the state of the world, that causes me to feel depressed, or have hypomanically poor judgment. Since I started getting real, effective help at the age of 54 (and I’m now 73 and thriving) my life has been worth living for the first time in my life. I never have suicidal thinking anymore. I do not want to die. Yes, I had a 3 month stint of depression a year ago. I had to change my medication then. This has happened before. I never want to go through this again, but at least I don’t feel that way very often. In my past life, I had serious depression more than half the days in every month — and not all sequential days, so I never knew when it would hit.
http://thepeopleschemist.com/medical-ghostwriting-professor-shows-how-big-pharma-manipulates/
https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/
My witch doctor received over 140,000 dollars in big Pharma kickbacks in the form of consulting, speaking trips . Interesting how i was given the drugs of the companies he was paid by. I fired the bastard and found another Pdoc .
just cos you can “hold a pen” so to speak, doesn’t mean you’re right all the time. your anger drips from your writing also, maybe the medication isn’t helping so much?
I’m guessing the pen holding also applies to yourself. Just because someone has opinions doesn’t mean they think they are right all the time. In fact the more opinions one has the more in absolute terms ones opinions will be wrong. Is Natasha or anyone else here not entitled to feel anger in one way or another. Your anger is upfront and in everyones face. No beating around the bush, which I find very refreshing. Except that you make yourself appear not angry. That you are angry is of course very obvious.
The comment about the medication not working of course is the low blow I’ve spoken of before. Not relevant at all to the debate. Just a cheap insult. Same as anyone who has no real defense of there argument . It’s not even a clever work around. WN
Will, You know why I am scared? I was the epitome of health. Now i have heart, kidney liver issues and 2 benign tumors that need to be removed . And I even tried another drug a while back after reading that it can cause diabetes. Doctor reassured me it was very rare. Looks like I became one of those rare people. I can just see the doctors telling me wife — “We finally got his severe bipolar disease under control but he died of a heart attack”. Sorry for your loss. Next patient. I have lost 2 people i knew from a support group to kidney failure due to taking lithium for 15 + years. So many anti psychotics can lead to dementia or Alzheimer in later years. Prescription drugs are the 3rd leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. I am not for or against drugs and ther are times when if some doctor Told me I had to cut off both legs for me to be cured of this torture I would but, lets be quite Frank here. NO cure, no blood test, so many times wrong diagnosis and we pay the price.. I am on 2 drugs right now that are so nasty titration off of them can take 3 or 4 years in a slow liquid titration in hell. And to top it off no one knows how I will be after I go through this hell.About a year ago I read on another popular blog that the blogger says says 900 milligrams of a certain drug has made her a new person and she LOVES that drug. The therapeutic dose is only 300 mgm…I questioned her on it . 1 year later she is up the creek again and in massive depression etc. I dont want to be a pharmaceutical company’s monkey anymore. I already lost my dignity, my friends and my extended family. I am 61. I no longer have any hope nor a future other than this massive pain and hell on earth. I have had my share of so many drugs that you younger people are now trying and are in love with. For me my disease has gotten worse as time has gone on. For others it has stabilized or are on drugs that will kick them in the butt physically later on in life. Better read the side effects and interactions, etc… They are real.
Braindead, it takes time for people to find the right medications to regulate all their emotions and thoughts. Anger is a tricky emotion and is usually accompanied by even trickier thoughts. Currently, we have antidepressants, anti-anxiety pills, but I believe scientists are still working on the anti-angry pill. For now, anger is usually combatted with anti-psychotics, works quite well on some patients, but a pill that specifically targets anger would be more desirable. These things take time, braindead.
Better yet maybe we can work on the environment and not external chemistry to help things. Do we really wish to micro-manage emotions etc. as to make us all “acceptable”. Anger is very legitimate and so isn’t violence when it is justified. WN
Totally, bro, I hear ya bro…wish I could write more but the Kardashians are about to say something really important on my tv. Peace. Bro….feel ya, bro. Feel bro, just allow yourself to feel….. like the real housewives, ya know…all of them are clearly mentally ill, but they embrace that shit, they feel it bro! They feel it! Oh, there’s Kim! Gotta go! Peace bro!
Your comment here has quite a bit in common with the type that bashes others unrelentingly then saying your going to pray for them. Of course in that case what really means is that they are going to pray for that person to cease so you can benefit. There is zero concern for the “soul” (fantasy) and so on of the other. The concern is for the one claiming to doing the praying. Empty transparent cursing is what it essentially is. From hypocritical bs Christians mostly and others who live in worlds of fantasy.
I’ve already said how I feel about the “off your med’s” insult A quick easy way to marginalize another. Commonly used in the legal system, family’s and elsewhere. A prime weapon used in current gas lighting arguments that otherwise have no real basis in fact. WN
Nuances, Narratives, and the “Chemical Imbalance” Debate
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/couch-crisis/nuances-narratives-chemical-imbalance-debate
Quite. The “chemical imbalance” story is an old one. Never accurate in explaining what was “known” scientifically and even less today. It was I believe a knee jerk response to the Fruedian(sp) and other psycho analytical beliefs that preceded it. As in we all know now what causes everything. Nothing can be further from the truth. No one knows what the hell is going on with MI. Especially it’s most likely valuable roll in the evolution of humans and it’s probable benefit in various environments not normally seen today en-mass but probably will be in the future to a lesser or larger extent. Remember genetic variation is as much for the survival of the whole species as it is for the individual. Most likely much more so. This goes also for the genetic expression in say a single or just a few generation before it may return to more of base line. Interesting study just came out on the offspring of ww2 concentration camp survivors. I’ve been waiting on research in this field for years. Not a genetics expert but have always thought more at work here. Just one study of course.
Lets end the simple “chemical imbalance” mantra now and for good. It makes all of us sound like fools with one question. What imbalance, and of what. WN
Because some people’s psychological problems are not the result of a chemical imbalance, but are the mind’s natural reaction to trauma, ie; child abuse. I took medication for bipolar and it made my life a living. I finally rid myself of the label and medications ( not easy) and faced my demons. That being said, some people’s problems are due to a chemical imbalance in the brain and they should definitely take medications.
I take issue with the whole statement “vitamins and micronutrients don’t work for mental illness” crap. I had a severe psychotic episode and recovered in 2-3 we
I am recently back home after a 7 week stint in the hospital. My admission to hospital was in a large part owing to a medication reduction.
My doctor and I decided to cut back on my medications for several reasons. Firstly I wasn’t myself. The medications made me dull, unresponsive, and slow. Secondly, medications affected my ability to be creative. I not only lack the motivation to create but the medication also affects my ability. And finally, being on my medications led to weight gain. The gain was significant and unable to be managed by diet and exercise.
Over a three month period I cut back my meds.
BAD IDEA.
It ended up with me in hospital – and being placed back on the meds. I realize it was the meds as I improved from the moment they were re-introduced.
Now I deal with depression knowing that I can never be my true self. But better to be funtional I suppose. I need to learn to be happy with my body image and I need to develop interests outside of art. I can do this
robin,
Having titrated off of medication I can tell with many a 3 month titration is too slow with many drugs. Depending on the drug and dosage and how long you were on it is very germane to the outcome. I titrated twice from one nasty drug each time over one year and had to reinstate becuase the horror during and after was beyond hell. The last time I was down to a sliver and I went into what I thought was a heart attack . Ended up in the emergency room to be stabilized…I am screwed for what its doing to my body is beyond belief. And so many doctors have no clue about titration. I will never , ever put any drug in my mouth again including an advil. I trusted the profession 15 years ago and they ruined my life. There are thousands upon thousands of horror stories on the web regarding getting off drugs ranging from antidepressants to benzos. I can tell you this if you only titrated off a benzo for 3 months after taking for any length of time you will enter hell.
Robin,
Please do not give up your art or at least your desire for art. Artists are blessed with incredible brains just as athletes are blessed with exceptional bodies; they just have different needs. Here is an article that addresses your needs as an artist. http://www.secondmessage.com/2015/07/why-depression-is-not-a-curable-illness/ Embrace your gifts and find a way to use them.
Numb, fat and slow is NOT better.
Withdrawal from drugs is NOT your illness coming back.
If you need drugs, maybe you need different ones. This way you’ll numb, fat and slow and will get breakthrough symptoms in time as you body adjusts, leading to upping of your coctail… only to make you number, fatter, slower…
Hear Hear!
I am so glad I live in Australia and have access to free or affordable healthcare and don’t have to deal with greedy, profit based insurance companies. We don’t have a perfect system and areas of mental health are still very under funded but I can see my psych without it being financially debilitating. Also most meds are partialy funded so are capped at around $35 per script. This means if need take 2 or more of the same med a day my doctor writes an authorised script for say 3 boxes to give me a months supply. I only pay $35 for 3 boxes instead $35 per box. I love Australia.
Yes, you are VERY lucky froggee. The US is a shitty country. It care close to zero about it’s people (except to keep the vast wealth in the hands of the few who already have it). I would swap citizenship with you in a second. If I had the money to go there I would never leave. Wish citizenship were as easy to get there as it used to be. WN
From the land of the free and the home of the greedy
Here in the UNited States, the land of the free and the home of the brave people with mental diseases are not free and the mental hell industrial complex reminds us of it every day. Any good psychiatrist will not accept insurance. I had to cut a visit a month down to a visit every quarter becuase 200 dollars per 20 minute visit was too damn expensive. Same with therapist. I was paying a good one 175 for 50 minutes. My insurance would only pay for 9 visits and for so many years I had to pay out of pocket. Unless one is totally poor without any assets to speak of some help is there and it is minimal. Its a pay or play system. You have money you can play. 2 meds I needed monthly together cost approx 900 dollars while over the border in Canada and other civilized countries it would be approx 100 dollars tops. It is a sad situation for so many. I haven’t worked for close to 20 years and becuase of my position before i crashed at 48 I had amassed enough money which allowed me to take care of my family for all these years. I figured the costs of insurance and psych and therapy doctors was well over 400,000 dollars, most of it being health insurance. My funds are running out and I am staring at serious poverty or even homelessness. How can I heal my brain when the anxiety mounts every day?. So many of us are in the same position but can’t or won’t come to terms with it . We are dependent on a country that basically has destroyed the treatments we need and if we are on disability or medicare or any form of govt assistance we are thought of as moochers. Where I live most hospitals are closing down their psychiatric wards because they aren’t profit centers and replacing them with cancer and heart centers which are very profitable and the hospitals that were funded by the churches, etc have been sold to for profit corporations who will charge exorbitant fees. SO, what are we left with. Meds and therapists 5 years out of school. I wish I could find a therapist who also had bipolar disease becuase then I know I would receive help. Natasha brings us a very good service with her blogs and is a god send but as she attests to, she also has to earn a living and I believe even Canada is not like it used to be with their mental hell system. So many of us are debilitated that we can’t earn a living. Relying on the gvt is so stressful in itself. Many of us are trapped. Never in a million years would I have thought this would be happening to my family. Talk about apathy and depression. I have had it for so long I can’t even remember how long. There are different stages or forms of BP and I am so damn lucky to have the worst kind possible which is where I can cycle multiple times a day.I have Ultradian bipolar. Try and explain that to a layman or even one in the profession. Very few people on this blog have heard of it..Very little research has been done on that so it’s basically hit or miss with the meds and I can’t stand it anymore. Too many side effects. The stigma is so hard to understand. No more friends and even extended family. Imagine the stigma from society.. We were all born innocent and have basically been condemned not only by life, but our govt and in so many cases our loved ones. I am rambling but the costs here if one has any assets is unbearable. I ask myself , why are there so many people with a mental illness in prison and the prison officials even say there are far too many. I feel the reason is that’s the only place they can be where the state will take care of their needs. So how many crimes are committed by people with a mental illness just to have a roof over their heads, meals and meds paid by the gvt. How many homeless are out on the streets who are our soldiers who fought for this country and came back with a mental illness and have been kicked out of the gvt mental hell system? I don’t know what its like in Australia but they sure wouldn’t take us becuase we would be a burden on society unless of course we came with a few million dollars. It surely doesn’t get better as one gets older and I can say that under the current drugs I am drug resistant and scared out of my pants. I am 61. How can I heal my brain with a boatload of anxiety when we all know we should be anxiety free.
I’m not trying to be a smartass here, but what if you went the medication route before and it actually made your symptoms worse? This is my dilemma, among many other dilemmas. How do I know if I start treatment, take meds, follow a routine, and just relax that my symptoms won’t stay the same, or even get worse? Where is my motivation? What is the purpose? Why should I, if I’m just going to continue dealing with the noise pollution? I’m pretty messed up in my head. I know that, everyone knows that. A six year old child who throws butcher knives at the wall, and fly’s off into fits and rages has a chemical imbalance, big time. Now that child has grown up with seething rage and hate, for everything, for everybody. I’m? done for now. Some people I share a living room with think I’m trying to spy on them while they fool around. Pathetic thought process by them. And ME the spy? GTet outta here with that bs. Till tomorrow.
erratum – psychotic symptoms in bipolar disorder are associated with acute manic OR DEPRESSED symptoms, my apologies
I feel the common theme in all this is grief and denial. The horror of realising you have bipolar and the inherent losses and what it means for your life, or your loved one’s life.
I used to be quite angry at the natural health industry for capitalising on people’s denial. For encouraging people to believe that bipolar is just a small maladay that can be fixed by taking care of your body (and taking expensive supplements). I used to feel these people were the dirtiest scoundrels on Earth.
Now I see things differently. Denial is an important part of the process. If we were psychologically able to accept the illness so easily then we would. But sometimes it’s just too painful, too difficult, especially in Bipolar when our ability to adapt and adjust is compromised.
So our alternative health industry is not the demon. It’s there to support us through those times and give us a focus. When we’re ready to face it there are medical treatments available.
And always, always take care of ourselves. Nice fresh food, sunshine and exercise, yoga or something, good friends or family. This will not take the bipolar away but we deserve to treat ourselves nice.
Sarah
Thank you dearly for such a thoughtful post.
I empathize with you when you talk about the challenge of accepting a bp diagnosis. But I disagree with your perspective on the alternative health industry. Basically, for this reason. Alternative health practices tend to be a combination of things which are self-evidently good (eat more vegetables, drink water, exercise, prepare your own meals, avoid too much sugar) and things which are highly suspect (don’t vaccinate your kids because it causes mental problems).
The problem with the highly suspect part is that it’s all wrapped up with conspiracy theory. Psychotic thinking isn’t just hallucinations. People with bp are much more vulnerable delusional thinking which wouldn’t be as problematic for most people. I have a friend who thinks synthetic medications are bad and gives herself homeopathic injections for her allergies. It’s expensive, but mostly harmless. She’s adamant that it’s better for her.
If she had bp, that kind of thing would be dangerous. She would end up thinking saline water injections were protecting her. Her moods would fluctuate leading to…more delusional thinking, paranoia, conspiracy theory and desperation. She would treat that by avoiding psychiatrists and popping some pointless EMPower plus pellets.
I think the point is, if you’re sick you would have to be crazy not to go to a doctor. That’s the problem.
They don’t cause BP but they ARE some of the lowest scum on earth. That is the truth. James, you forgat the excessive religiousness which leads to a very big problem in itself for sufferers to be taken advantage of. Unfortunately this sometime severe religiosity even if pushed by well meaning people creates even more shame, guilt and self-hatred along with much more in some. It also promotes majical thinking in many. WN
They don’t cause BP but they ARE some of the lowest scum on earth. That is the truth. WN
Hmm… what disconcerted me, Natasha, was your comment that ‘I only know what medicine tells me’ – I’d suggest looking at disciplines like anthropology for an understanding of the social causes of mental illness. I also think there is a huge difference between a ‘straight-forward’ case of bipolar I that responds well to medication and a GAD that doesn’t.
As a former medical student, I find your faith in random psychiatrists (you have no personal knowledge of the competency of your interlocutor’s advisors) naive. Neither is evidence-based medicine the only source of expert knowledge – though it is a necessary part.
Only came upon your blog yesterday, Natasha, through an old blog in… healthline, it might have been? and appreciated the competent knowledgeable blogs from a consumer. Until I read the BIPOLAR blog cautioning the use of antipsychotics for psychotic symptoms, and suggesting a wait and see approach was viable… this was a BIPOLAR blog, I looked at your reference, and it was for the management of psychotic symptoms in SCHIZOPHRENIA, and doing a brief search while that is a valid approach in schizophrenia and a change in therapeutic approach, I have found no sources that recommend adopting a similar rethink of the approach to psychotic symptoms in bipolar disorder; when those symptoms are almost by definition associated with acute manic episodes… yes, they can be treated by antimanics / mood stabilisers… Psychotic features have extremely different roles in schizophrenia and bipolar and you’re simply ignorant in trying to apply advice that is relevant to schizophrenia to bipolar.
If there is evidence out there, and expert opinion recommending a rethink in terms of a more cautious approach to the use of antipsychotics in treating acute psychotic symptoms in bipolar disorder… then please provide links to that appropriate source.
Heather, antipsychotics have been used and studied for bipolar psychosis for many years. The atypicals are also finding increasing use in mood disorders in general, typically to augment other medications. In this context they are usually used at much smaller doses than for schizophrenia. For some people they work well, for a lot they don’t, and for some they make things much worse. And of course, you never know which category a person will fit into ahead of time.
Heather F.
Is psychiatry evidence based medicine?
Michael, psychiatry is evidence-based medicine. That doesn’t mean that it is strictly algorithmic, i.e. for X use Y. Are there substantial gaps in the evidence? Absolutely. Can we say if something will work before we try it? No. But if I know drug A has a 60% chance of helping and drug B has a 20% chance of helping (other things being equal), I know which I’d try first.
Why Evidence-Based Medicine Cannot Be Applied to Psychiatry
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/articles/why-evidence-based-medicine-cannot-be-applied-psychiatry
Sorry, Michael something going on with e-mail. Must tweak setting or something. Liked the Dr. joke. Actually never heard that one before if you can believe it. maybe it should be. What do you call the one to graduate last in their med school class-a psychiatrist. Tell that one to yours and see if the rate will go up to 300. WN
After two decades of anti depressant mess and Seven on bipolar I gave up. I had a brief window when he cocktail of 10 plus meds I took made my life better but for the most part it was trading symptoms for side effects. When the one med that worked the best started giving me bad side effects I returned to the constant hell of tweaking meds all the time only to battle fatigue, depression, hair loss, sleepiness, weight gain, memory loss, thyroid disorder, metabolic syndrome, lack of orgasm etc. I take nothing but a thyroid med now. I feel bad most of the time. But the reality is I felt bad on meds, just a different kind of bad. I just got tired of seeing the doc every two weeks and having her constantly try something new. If I gain more weight I will be just as depressed as I am off medications. Will I eventually have a big bad manic episode? Maybe. Am I suffering unnecessarily? Maybe. But when I think about the medication guessing game, I just can’t do it again. For those of you that get the right meds and can feel well enough to tolerate the side effects consider yourself lucky. They don’t work that well for all of us and it’s not a perfect science. I do agree that if a person is really suffering and hasn’t tried meds they have nothing to lose by trying. But acting as if this is a simple disease to treat is misleading. It’s just been simple for you.
Elizabeth
I also have many physical issues now. I was the epitome of health before I crashed and one drug alone has put close to 80 pounds on me and I have liver , kidney and now diabetic issues . And as you well know, to go out in public having gained so much weight people look at you and treat you differently as in look at that person who can’t control their eating and has no self respect. Little do they know. My neighbors even shun me. Double whammy.
I take a combination of Lamotrigine, Mirtazapine and Escitalopram everyday. I find them helpful in easing the mental feeling of distress.
If people are very dysfunctional, they should give psychotropic drugs a try, I think, But, I can understand if some people get very irritated with the side effects.
However, it is important to mention that drugs will not solve your problems in living.
Feeling mental distress or being mentally ill is not “all in your head”. Sure, it is in your head in the sense that the seat of your thoughts is your brain. But your thoughts are also influenced by the problems in living you have and by what is happening to you in life.
If Godzilla started trampling your town and you were afraid you would die, you could take drugs to ease the feeling of anxiety you have. But that sure as hell would not remove the Godzilla.
There are many reasons why people go to psychiatrists, many of which should not be seen exclusively through the lens of medical problems because they are associated with the problems in living people face.
Some examples:
Domestic issues: Having a traumatic relationship, facing abuse etc
Financial problems: Drugs will not make money fall from the sky and psychiatrists will not donate money to you.
Social problems: People misunderstanding you, facing difficult problems alone etc.
These are all things in which the feeling of mental distress can be solved by drugs, and the process of listening and talking can be helpful to some extent.
But ultimately you have to solve your own problems, and psychiatrists and the mental health field will be useful only to some extent.
So yes, do give drugs a try. But only taking drugs will not solve your problems.
I watched my wife go through your same story with medication and she gave the same reasons you give. I also just watched your Mental Health Presentation video and my wife has said the same things you did and it’s very convincing. She finally found another alternative and I started doing some research on mental health issues and it’s a fascinating area of study, especially how many writers suffer from mental health issues. One study lead to another and I in the end I have come up with some very different but interesting conclusions and I wrote an article on it. It’s posted here, http://www.secondmessage.com/2015/07/why-depression-is-not-a-curable-illness/
I used the word depression, but you can substitute it with most other mental health issues. Please read it and reply with your thoughts.
Hey wait…it’s an EMPower Plus advertisement. Aren’t those the jackasses that threatened to sue the author of this very blog for describing her personal experiences with their products? It seems particularly shameless to follow that up with an incredibly thinly disguised add for the same snake oil.
As I said, there is no sound evidence that some combination of micronutrients is going to provide the same results that psychiatric medications do. If you’re a moody writer…whatever. That isn’t bipolar disorder. That isn’t even depression. The difference is a person who paints a picture of the ocean and the person who is the ocean.
People are prescribed psychiatric medications because they aren’t functioning. It’s not, “oh, sigh, melancholy” but “The only reason I can think of to get up is to do something very self-destructive, so it seems like the best idea to just lay here on the floor all day.”
I’m sorry to have offended you James, but I am not painting a picture of the ocean nor am I the ocean, but I have been swimming in the ocean since I married my wife 27 years ago. Here is another thinly disguised ad for the book my wife wrote of her experiences with bipolar: http://www.shadesofmanic.com/
EMPowerplus may not have worked for Natasha, but it worked for my wife and it has had a higher success ratio without the side effects than most any psychiatric medication. Don’t get me wrong, meds worked wonders for my wife until they didn’t any longer. The changes in meds were almost as bad as the meds themselves, which from your other comments you are well aware of. I’m self-employed so our insurance is a high-deductible type so we were paying 1,000s of dollars AND she was suffering from the side effects. With her current regiment, she is functioning without the side effects and enjoying her talents as well.
James, I do not fault you for endorsing the taking of meds, even though meds do not work for everyone. So I still do not understand why people whose meds are working would be so against someone else at least trying something else when meds are not working for them. EMPowerplus has been working for many people for over 18 years with over 5 million bottles sold and with 26 published clinical trials to back it up without any funding from the company that produces the product including Harvard Medical School that paid for their own trial.
So yes, I have my wife back and I do not have to say to her “Take the pill” because she now wants to take it because it works for her and she has done her own ABA test to know that it was not just a placebo effect. She is once again writing and she is happy. So I am sharing it with others.
More bs mixed with a small (very small) amount of fact (mostly twisted) to confuse those without much education or naive enough to trust the untrustworthy, manipulative or just highly uninformed people.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE-NO ONE SPEND A PENNY ON TRUE-HOPE OR ANY OTHER ENTITY TRYING TO SELL YOU VITAMINS (OTHER THEN A SIMPLE MULTIVITAMIN OR A VITAMIN GIVEN BY A REAL MD OR OD FOR KNOWN VITAMIN OR MINERAL DEFICIENCIES. REGARDLESS OF HOW NICE THEY SOUND-THEY ARE SCAMMING YOU. TRUE-HOPE IS A SCAM. IT IS 100 PERCENT A SCAM. THEY ARE STEALING PEOPLES MONEY BY DECEPTION AND BY ACTING FRIENDLY.
TRUE HOPE IS A SCAM. TRUE HOPE IS A SCAM. TRUE HOPE IS A SCAM.
WN
“…with 26 published clinical trials to back it up without any funding from the company that produces the product including Harvard Medical School that paid for their own trial.”
None of these studies is a randomized controlled trial that compares placebo to EMPowerplus in a double-blind fashion. It’s possible to “publish” a “clinical trial” and very easy to do so cheaply (“without any funding”) if you don’t actually conduct a proper study. There is literally not more validity to those “studies” than the testimonial you just tossed into this blog.
Also, Dr. Charles Popper is not “Harvard Medical School”. He was a Clinical Instructor there, which is kind of like being an Adjunct. It’s not a very hard job to get and not high in the academic status hierarchy. He didn’t study EMPowerplus. He didn’t actually study anything. He published a review of literature on micronutrients as a treatment for mental illnesses.
This is exactly the point. It’s quackery that is talking in a psedoscientish jive of “ciinical trial” and pimped out wearing A Harvard Medical School sweatshirt. But wearing a fancy brand doesn’t make you cool. If you’re cool, you don’t need a brand. People come to you, and they wear your sweatshirt.
James, you’ve done some homework and then made your interpretation of your data. Yes, most of the studies are case studies. That is usually how it begins when you are trying to question the existing paradigm. However, here is a link to a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial that was performed on EMPowerplus.
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/204/4/306.long
As for Dr. Popper, “like being an Adjuct” at Harvard. You are correct that he is part-time at the Medical School, but he’s full-time at Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at McLean Hospital which is associated with the Harvard Medical School. It’s hard to be full-time at both don’t you think. Also, here is his Harvard Catalyst Profile,
https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/78900
And here is a little more of his biography. He established the Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology program at McLean Hospital and directed it for 14 years. He also organized the popular Course in Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology at the annual meetings of the American Psychiatric Association for 10 years and led the Special Interest Study Group on Psychopharmacology at the annual meetings of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for 12 years.
Dr. Popper was the Founding Editor of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, the first journal dedicated to child psychopharmacology and biological child psychiatry. He served as editor-in-chief of the journal for 7 years. He has also authored books and textbook chapters on the scientific and ethical principles underlying child psychopharmacology. And that’s just part of it.
I would tend to believe Dr. Popper and what he has to say about his experiences with pharmaceuticals vs micronutrients. I think he has a little more credibility than your claiming of quackery.
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/204/4/306.long
This study was to test the effectiveness of EMPower plus compared to placebo in the treatment of ADHD, not depression or bipolar disorder. The data presented shows that, when rated by a clinician, the difference from placebo is within statistical error. Also, the effectiveness is radically less than that reported for medications like methylphenidate and atomoxetine. So, you’ve provided a reference that establishes EMPowerplus is, at best, a radically inferior choice for the treatment of a disorder that isn’t the focus of this conversation. Congrats.
“As for Dr. Popper…”
I’ve got nothing against the guy. I don’t know him. He could be a genius. He could be batshit crazy. If you know bipolar people, you’re aware it’s possible to be both. Getting a paper published in a journal isn’t hard. Founding your own journal isn’t hard. In general, you know a journal is more prestigious the simpler and more general the title is. For example, if he had published a paper in the journal Nature, a peer would go “woah, dude…in Nature? That’s awesome!” If he had been editor of The Lancet, same deal. Being the founding editor of the journal of [insert a lot of specific words] isn’t better, it’s worse. It sounds cool if you aren’t educated in such things. Which I am. Which is why I call BS.
Second, presuming Dr. Popper is awesome, which he might be, he isn’t down with EMPowerPlus. He is proponent of alternate therapies as an adjunct to medication, based on the titles in his publication history. He’s into micronutrients and phototherapy, and diet, and other things. All of those are excellent suggestions for healthy living and would help anyone, regardless of psychiatric diagnosis. So they are also good for people with psych diagnosis. But, they aren’t replacements for medication and I don’t see where he argues they are.
Finally, who is the other guy at Harvard Medical School that agrees with him? You didn’t start with “Dr. Popper of Harvard…” which would have been more honest but still not as honest as “Dr. Popper of McLean Hospital…” (I like that hospital by the way, the people were very nice to me and I went back for a couple of consults with pDocs there who were also very respectful). Your implication was that Harvard Medical School as an organization did some big study. Which it didn’t.
You’re a very reasonable sounding fucking liar, and obviously astroturfing the blog. It’s exactly the kind of despicable practice snake-oil salesman have been inflicting on the desperate for centuries. It’s bad enough people with bipolar disorder struggle to keep their lives in basic order. It’s worse that we live in perpetual fear that people stigmatize us. We so desperately want to be not like this that when depressed and delusional we’ll try anything. When you want to die, you’re willing to try anything.
And there you are.
Thanks.
Of course it’s an ad for true death. Everyone who’s a regular here is aware of that including me but glad you commented on it anyway. Did you read the other reply on another thread. The long drawn out phony story that drove someone and their brother to vitamins. Ever notice how these true death employees undercover ads come in blitzes and are all done in a similar way. There is no shame in these people. If I had a majic pill of my own to INDUCE severe BP depression of the worst kind I would wait until they had the gun to there head and dangle their useless vitamins in front of them in one hand and another hand full of actual medications that may do them some good and see which they chose. I would then if they chose the real medications force them to give back all their ill gotten money and then bring back from the dead all those who have committed suicide by taking their vitamins instead of real medications and apologize to the family’s of same. Then I would just give them the true-death and just wait. Truly these are some if not the biggest scum I have ever encountered in my life. I’m a volunteer for Bernie Sanders and if I get to meet him True death is the only thing I’m going to ask him to look into. WN
will nist, I appreciate that you have an opinion on suicide, but the reports actually go counter to what you say. Here is just one link from the NCBI website; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1403224/
Please list references of people committing suicide that have taken a more healthy alternative. The only link I know of where someone committed suicide because of taking vitamins, was when the supplement was withheld from them by Health Canada. Here is the link to the court document, http://www.parliament.nz/resource/0000182435.
Here is a link to another blogger that EMPowerplus did not work for, but she was more civil about it and her readers’ comments are actually more supportive of the product. http://bipolarhappens.com/bhblog/truehope-empower-plus-supplements/
And I do talk from the experience of my wife going through the med route of BP and the meds working until they don’t and the many side effects of the meds. I still believe that if it hadn’t been for the meds, my wife would not be where she is now. The meds helped her get enough traction to change her life, to change her diet, to change her self-talk, and to start exercising, but she still needed something more. The meds gave that something, but with the added side effects. Once she found EMPowerplus, EMPowerplus became the added something without the side effects. EMPowerplus is not the magic pill that you refer to, all the other changes and the elimination of processed foods and sugars with the added supplements in EMPowerplus changed her life. Could there be something else from the shelves at the health food store, possibly, but this is working right now and it was formulated to work for individuals like her.
You can stop reading now, but this is a shameless plug for her story that she wants to share with others who are like her trying to find help away from the side effects of medications. http://www.secondmessage.com/my-empowerplus-q96-story/
TRUE HOPE IS A SCAM. YOU ARE A BAD PERSON AND TRUE HOPE IS A SCAM. VITAMINS DONT AND NEVER WILL HELP A MENTALLY ILL PERSON OR ANYONE ELSE. TRUE-HOPE IS A SCAM. THE OWNER OF THE COMPANY IS A SCAM ARTIST. TRUE HOPE IS VITAMINS AND MINERALS THAT DO ZER0-NOTHING FOR BI-POLAR OF ANY KIND.
TRUE HOPE AND ITS OWNER ARE SCAM ARTISTS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE SICK. TRUE HOPE AND ITS OWNER SELL VITAMINS AND TELL YOU IT WILL CURE A REAL DISEASE. THEY MISLEAD AND MANIPULATE. TRUE-HOPE IS A SCAM AND MAY KILL YOU OR SOMEONE IN YOUR FAMILY.
WN
http://www.parliament.nz/resource/0000182435.
Did you actually read that? One expert testified that two clinically depressed people committed suicide. That’s shocking. It followed them not taking some vitamins. Clinically depressed people commit suicide following the events which were in their prior lives.
There are two ways to establish A causes B. One is to provide a mechanism, which needs to be based on scientific evidence. The second is to identify a statistical relationship. That article doesn’t do either. It relates second-hand that an unidentified “expert witness” testified about two events. Again, it’s no more substantive than your own blog post.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1403224/
It’s pretty clear that SSRIs do increase suicide risk. That is because they actually work. It’s common for a person to regain some energy, focus, and initiative but not be able to shake off thoughts of self-harm right away. Psychiatric medications can treat physical problems, but they can’t treat psychological ones. If anything, this is just proving the point. Antidepressants are so powerful that when people start them they should be carefully monitored by…a doctor? Hmm…pattern arises.
Autumn Stringam is Tony Stephan’s daughter. She’s been busy promoting the latest version of her autobiographical book, Promise of Hope.
It was published in September 2007 by Harper Collins, a major Canadian publisher.
The publisher also rolled-out a video on YouTube.com, and one of Autumn’s brothers claims to have placed a dozen or so copyright videos on YouTube as well. It would appear that this is in violation of copyright laws.
So far, she’s been on radio stations in major markets, and articles have appeared in most large regional newspapers. Of course, most references to those who have questioned her story about Empowerplus over the years have been left out. Harper Collins seems to have trained her well in the art of public presentations.
In response to James about his response to James Garrett. Absolutely James about getting published in peer reviewed journals. There is even a program you can download for free to publish total bs research with many big words in “respected” journals. It was written by I believe a PHD or PHD student in response to the publish or perish wasting the time of scientists to publish so much they have no time to teach or do any real time consuming long term research. Probably shouldnt have mentioned it as the empower plus tru-death crooks may be using it soon to create more lies and make more money. If I believed in an afterlife I know exactly where those scum would be going. WN
Synergy Group – True Hope or True Hype?
EVALUATING TONY STEPHAN, TRUEHOPE, AND THE SYNERGY GROUP OF CANADA
Part 1
Tony Stephan and the folks from Synergy & Truehope want everyone to believe their mission is to provide support, advocacy and research on behalf of the mentally ill. He claims benevolent motivation, and a desire to help people who are vulnerable and suffering from potentially life-threatening psychiatric disorders. He also claims that participants are under medical supervision.
“Late in 2000, Tony Stephan’s son Dan, in the course of selling their unapproved investigational drug E M Power+ to an undercover Health Canada inspector, mentioned that the Synergy Group of Canada *only* made 12 cents profit per capsule of E M Power+…
Well folks, that works out to roughly $53 per bottle: each bottle contains 448 capsules, which means Synergy is pigging out with a whopping profit and markup. $15 worth of god-knows-what kind of dietary supplement/drug/miracle cure and $53 profit for Tony Stephan & his family & associates.
But of course they aren’t in it for the money…. People considering E.M. Power+ deserve honest and thoughtful answers to their questions, and we’re sure Synergy and Truehope would agree.”
I wish I could find a Psych doctor who also suffered from BP disorder and admitted to it. I would listen to him with a much different attitude.
My last Dr. who retired after having a heart attack at I believe 82 years. A wonderful older man he said when he was doing his psychiatric residency in Pittsburgh I believe, told me 8 of 12 residents had been hospitalized for MH issues either before or after their residences! He never mentioned if was one of then and never asked. I would have if I had thought of it at the time. I think this man would have told me. Only psychiatrist I ever trusted and didn’t have his head up his ass and his nose in the air. As I think you may agree there are most likey more psychiatrist with MI then those in the general population by percentage. Maybe it’s because it’s one of, if not the easiest residencies to get into for those not graduating too high in their medical school classes. The other is of course people are naturally attracted to things that are in their own life. Police are more violent then the GP. Fireman more likely to be arsonists and similar thing in most likely the vast majority of occupations. Another thing. Seems more foreign born psychiatrists then any other type of physician (don’t have any real numbers though. I wonder if this is because of the difficulties foreign medical school graduates have in getting a residency spots? This also applies to US born (and Canadian-I think) who attend medical outside of the US and Canada and try to get a residency. Tow many tries for some of them? I took the MCAT myself many years ago though didn’t really want to be one, my friend who was an endocrinologist wanted me to be one. He too was BP and committed suicide at 41. I was 23 or 24 at the time. I can tell you as my best friend he had zero respect for psychiatrist and made fun of them on a regular basis. WN
Will,
Greetings from your friend down south. I will be very short. First, is a joke or is it? What do you call the last person (grades) in his medical school graduating class? Doctor.
Which leads me to this. I no longer trust or have any respect for doctors. None whatsoever. Plain and simple. Now I only see my psych Dr. once every 3 months for a script. He asks me how everything is. Even though I am coming apart at the seams I say fine. I bring my wife along just in case he mentions giving me some more meds and I just may lose it. I then pay him 200 dollars and he can’t even stamp my parking ticket…Thank you doctors for screwing up my kidneys liver and heart and giving me diabetes, Yup , Just found out I have diabetes. And the doctor assured me it was a very rare occurrence… Such a deal. Should I ask for a refund for all the years if appointments I paid lots of money for?
I ask that anyone who reads do not take issue with this.. This is my life whats left of it and I just want to be able to have some dignity left. I have gone through horrible times and it isn’t getting any better. Call me negative, I really dont care. . Never knew a 60 year old man can cry so much over the course of years..I cycle 3 to 4 times a day… Try that on. To all the psych doctors who helped destroy my body and brain I quote Elvis Costello “Oh, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused”.
‘Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, this life’
Regards from Hell Will
Michael
“It’s ruining my life but I don’t want to take medication. ”
That is the key sentence in the blog post. If the symptoms of your condition aren’t ruining your life, it’s not an illness from a psychiatric standpoint. You don’t need medication.
But, if you have a diagnosis, it’s because a psychiatrist was consulted. That doesn’t happen unless you ruin your life, or the lives of people around you…at least a little. There are probably a lot of people in the world like me that are just slightly less bad off. Maybe. But, I have Bipolar Disorder Type I. It actually doesn’t matter what the label is. Whatever it is, the condition ruins my life if it is untreated.
It was suggested that I take medication as one part of the plan to keep the condition from ruining my life. I took the suggestion. Like most people, it wasn’t simple. The first medications made me feel worse. The second medications kept me from getting manic but made my life so blank and put me in such a stupor it wasn’t worth it. Next was the combination that left me in a constant agitation, but stable enough that I could control things. And on and on. I gained weight. My hope wore kind of thin. I settled for a long time with a combination that left me wandering between OK and moderately depressed, without much energy.
During that period, my marriage continued. I kept my full time job. I’ve had and raised two children in a trite little suburban house with a not-overwhelming mortgage.
Am I particularly happy? That’s asking if daily life is as good as crystal meth. Daily life is not manic. It doesn’t have that frenetic ecstacy. It doesn’t fall into that inevitable ruin.
“It’s ruining my life but I don’t want to take medication. ”
There isn’t a magic combination of St. Johns Wort and Spinach that is going to give the same result those medications do. If it were easy, people would do that. Paranoid conspiracy theory is a symptom. No one is hiding the secret pilates in order to sell you Lithium.
“It’s ruining my life…”
Maybe you can lock mania or depression away in a tower of iron will for a year without medication. That isn’t stability. It’s admirable, sure. But unless you can keep it up forever, it’s not good advice to give other people. What happens when one too many bad things happen, and you lose that focus?
“It’s ruining my life…”
Being Bipolar is like being Alcoholic. The first step, especially for people who are Type I, but pretty much for everyone, is accepting that it’s a condition which is going to ruin your life. Then you have to accept that you can’t treat it yourself. You need help. Being Bipolar is not simple. You can’t avoid triggers like you can choose not to drink, because the triggers are life. You don’t have the option to avoid the chemicals. They are already in you. They are you.
Your option is to add more on top of them, or not. Your conscious mind has the option to send neurotransmitters, in the form of pills, to the rest of your brain. We are all really sorry that the ones we have aren’t as precise as you would like. Evolution had billions of years to work out neurochemistry and we’ve been at it for less than 50. But Red Dye #5 isn’t your problem, because there is evidence of people having bipolar disorder since any records of medical history. You’re the problem.
You have the fortune to live in a time when some conscious neurotransmitters are available and the misfortune of living in a time when they aren’t elegant. Life is like that with everything.
“It’s ruining my life…”
If it’s not ruining your life, you’re not sick. Why are you reading this?
Take the pill.
THIS is awesome.
I surely can understand why people are reluctant. Having been on them for years what I can say with confidence is they are slowly killing me. The doctors think they know what you should be getting but they don’t know. There is no blood test . Diagnostic questionnaires from the seventies are still used and the doc is basically using his own judgement which ion many cases is o flawed… Why am I given antipsychotics when I was never psychotic. Why was I given a drug for schizophrenia when I was never schizophrenic. Why is my liver in deep trouble. Why is one of my kidneys in trouble. Why did all my body hair fall out.. Why is it that I cant smile anymore and have emotions that are numb when I am not crying or the opposite. Why is is that so many of us are on these “cocktails”.Throw enough drugs against the wall and maybe one will stick. Why are there researchers and scientists and doctors out there now saying that the whole concept of a CHEMICAL IMBALANCE has not been proven. WHy is it that I don’t trust my Doctor anymore becuase I went to a website listing the monies or in kind gifts he received from the companies whose drugs he gave me amounted to 145,000 dollars.
https://www.propublica.org/series/dollars-for-docs
I am so afraid of meds right now becuase the ones that I am are slowly killing me that I wont even take an advil.. Some medications have withdrawal effects that are often worse than the original problem.When the docs gave me 2 meds many years ago what they didn’t tell me was that titrating off of them would be almost impossible. I have lived in hell for years doing a titration and get down to my last little sliver and end up in the hospital thinking I am going to die and had to start taking them again becuase of the withdrawal syndrome and rebound effects.. Why is is that when My doc that I go to for 5 years told me that I should never ever do ECT now tells me to try it becuase nothing else is working. I am sick and tired of why don’t we try this one or why don’t we try that one. I am forced by my insurance company to now take generics that aren’t the real deal and are not regulated and if you know about them there is a 20 percent variance in potency because of the fillers they use.
We are customers of the mental hell industrial complex. Insurance companies make 300 billion with their psych drugs. Any good psych doctor wont take insurance. Therapists are a dime a dozen with most of them not knowing a damn thing about BP. Lets try CBT, That didn’t work. Lets try DBT. That didnt work. Oh, there is now mindfulness DBT…..
SO many of us are hoping and praying that the meds will work and have been let down so many times. I am one of them. No more changes in meds for me.. Why? Because the pharma companies are very slow to change from their line of meds now. The meds we take are poorly understood and whose long-term effects on the body are unknown. In the past few years, one pharmaceutical giant after another has shrunk or shuttered its neuroscience research facilities. Clinical trials have been halted, lines of research abandoned, and the new drug pipeline has been allowed to run dry. But, horse tranquilizers like Ketamine are looked at as possible meds. Huh? The industry doesn’t know where to turn because they know so much of what they sell does not work so they are leaving the neuroscience business,, That is real comforting to me… .. I didn’t use the question mark for a reason. Maybe becuase these arent questions but facts that require a question mark.
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-psychiatric-drug-crisis
Despite what the slick advertisements say, psychotropic drugs have no known measurable biological imbalances to correct — unlike other drugs that can measurably alter levels of blood sugar, cholesterol and so on.How can you medicate something that is not physically there?
The answer is, of course, you can’t — and doing so is a dangerous game.
I still go to bed crying and wake up crying. Thats if I can sleep. I can go days without much needed sleep. so the doctors will give me ativan and I wont even have that near me… No more guinea pig for me. I will stick to the meds I am on becuase I literally cannot get off them without losing whats left of my mind but no more. No more No more. My life and the lives of my wife and son watching me and being effected by this so badly is tearing me apart. Do they have a drug for that.
Got to go.. My doctor has arranged for me to get injections of 10 w40 lubricant.. He hears good stuff about it.
I can undIerstand your frustration……but at the same time I think it is important to respect individual choices about taking medication or not taking medication. We get judged either way by society at large. I think it is important to have compassion for each other. I have a hard time judging someone’s decision not to take medication when they have tardive dyskenesia from a forced hospitalization and treatment.. For me it is a cost-benefit analysis. Do the benefits of the medication outweigh the side effects? And are the side effects worth the life I am living. Medications keep me on this planet but I need good reasons to stay here (ie. rewarding work, a decent income,, family and friends who understand and support me, acceptance for all of who I am, etc.) . Many of us with a diagnosis of bipolar face barriers in obtaining the elements of a good life due to stigma and discrimination. Thank you for starting this important conversation.
I can undIerstand your frustration……but at the same time I think it is important to respect individual choices about taking medication or not taking medication. We get judged either way by society at large. I think it is important to have compassion for each other. I have a hard time judging someone’s decision not to take medication when they have tardive dyskenesia from a forced hospitalization and treatment.. For me it is a cost-benefit analysis. Do the benefits of the medication outweigh the side effects? And are the side effects worth the life I am living. Medications keep me on this planet but I need good reasons to stay here (ie. rewarding work, a decent income,, family and friends who understand and support me, acceptance for all of who I am, etc.) . Many of us who live with a diagnosis of bipolar experience barriers in obtaining these things due to stigma and discrimination. Thanks for starting this important dialogue.
They refuse because the true answer is TRUE HOPE or/and what other names they currently use. It has greatly changed my life. I feel like 10 people in 1. I can write all day and night and be as creative as I wish even though no one may know it. I’m the man and all due to TRUE-HOPE. IT has saved my life. It only cost me my whole lifes savings. A bargain!!! Thanks TRUE-HOPE. You were the answer all along!
1) Been there, done many, nearly died on a few due to adverse reactions… got the bulky sweater and it’s hanging in the far back side of a closet
2) Meds are for symptoms not for the illness… you still have the illness and the triggers and the triggers manifest the illness… I mean damn serious you may be on 2 APs, 3 ADs, 2 Benzos and 2 Stabilizers and still symptomatic… I mean seriously, what the F gives? Except you twitch, gurgle, tongue swishes, arm jerks, etc and well… doc gives you pills for that too
3) Weight gain out the absolute arse in a finger snap of time.. which brings on “medical” issues; like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, joint deterioration, clogged arteries, high blood sugar, kidney dysfunction, thyroid dysfunction, etc. etc. etc. oh and for women… irregular menstrual cycles, etc etc etc
4) Many are DAMN EXPENSIVE and can wipe out 1 if not nearly both of your paychecks each month for us poor folk even WITH insurance… when you add them ALL up (and then you add in your other meds for good measure)
5) You go to the doctor for a “medical” issue, he or she sees the long list of psych meds and well, you are looked at as psychosomatic hypochrondriac unless something is clearly running, oozing, dripping, swelling, bulging or can be seen on a scan, urine dip or blood test
See #1… I’ve been on them, have done them, etc.
I will take a blood thinner med quicker than a psych med cause blood thinner med keeps clots from forming that keeps clots from traveling… and a diagnostic test can tell if the clot is there or not
I will take my high blood pressure med much more so than a psych med because my blood pressure machine TELLS ME my pressure has lowered within 2 days and maintains a normal pressure
I will take my blood sugar med over a psych med because I have a machine and strips that will tell me if the med is helping me regulate my blood sugar, another med test will tell me if my A1-C is lowering and will I finally be non-diabetic at some point, etc.
I will take my Seizure medication that doubles as my Migraine Medication… because it keeps the seizures and migraines at bay
See THOSE meds DO something and can be tracked, traced and measured…. they act somewhat quickly and actually effect and affect the body’s system in measurable ways….
However, because I am also mentally ill….
I take my Lithium.. as I need it… when the suicidal impulse hits me so hard I feel I am going under and I’ll take it until the suicidal impulse goes away… when that happens, I’ll put that bottle away until the next time the suicidal impulse hits me….
I’ll not take Lithium 24/7/365 because it only helps me pull out of suicidal impulse and keeps me in the game… it does literally nothing more for me but pile on the weight, makes me thirst to no end, makes my hands shake and tremble and interferes with my other meds…
it keeps me from acting and keeps me from going IP…. and I need the Lithium to kill the suicidal impulse when I need the Lithium to do that… and yes, I have a psychiatrist’s permission… granted he is likely placating me but permission, I have
and I will take my diazepam… as I need it… when the anxiety is so raw that I cannot leave my home to go to work or I’m at work and I can’t sit still or my agitation is so high that I feel an explosion….
any other psych med? nope
see #1 above….
Tabby,
Thank you. You write better than I do and you have gotten the point across extremely well. All I can say to you is that I wish you peace and better health..
Sometimes the best answers are just simple.
They don’t think they are sick,so they are non compliant.
I was interested in your post Dee as part of my life is somewhat similar I am vegan,
( but for the odd treat)
Non smoker,I am due to my spine & feet permitted by Dr to do gentle excercise.
Love to walk,so I do,weather permitting …
But I must say not to start an argument as I think your a nice girl,but just because your way works for you…
DONT TOTALLY SLAM MEDS.
Because I,think that is wrong.
You could’ve simply just stated they didn’t work for you but you sounded very adamant they were the devil.
Perhaps for you..
I’m happy you’ve found a way that helps,but please try & respect others that need our meds.
As I said,was told PROBABLY COULD HARDLY WALK without my pills..for my spine.
They were a GODSEND,I was SUICIDAL,too FROM the PAIN,LOST BLADDER CONTROL …excuse me..if you go
to EMERG they’ll tell you it’s a sign of acute severe pain….
Anyway,I believe in mixing holistic ( I do for my allergies & colds & sometimes bowel troubles) but to say I was surprised that it was you that wrote that post, was an understatement.
Sandra in bipolar cyberspace.
Well,when I was first handed my first dose of (?) was so many yrs ago ( remember I was diagnosed before
as Shizo effective for 20 years)
I was both scared ( like,what if this ruins my intelligence?) & relieved ( maybe this will help me lead more normal life.
But one thing I want to stress is I don’t think meds,though NATURALLY ARE AS NEEDED AS HIGH BLOOD
PRESSURE PILLS FOR BP OR ANY MI ,THEY DONT SOLVE COMPLETELY EVERYTHING….
BUT MAKE THE MOODSWINGS LESS INTENSE & FOR ME GENERALLY OVERALL MORE ON POINT/ FOCUSED
I have as I’ve spoken of many,my triggers,learning through experience how to deal with them…by myself..
Yes I’ve a Dr.
Yes,I’ve quite a med cocktail ( as said previous plagued with severe pain which then intensifies mood)
So there’s not only psych meds in my little plastic med cup
I’ve gone off meds 2 x to see what would happen…..
AWell, in 24 h I was apparently psychotic…I know when I’m like THAT….I like to keep that private.
As Natasha boldly said TAKE YOUR FREAKING MEDS!
Was also thinking about maybe college uni aged BP peeps…..
Could they be drinking & using substances illegal such as pot thinking that’s better…as pot is an herb
Natural,won’t harm you & the bad Drs pills could be accidentally seen by a friend & thenbe questioned
Hey,for some peeps not me.
There’s plenty of shame in there family & they carry it being bipolar wretched curse.
But whenever I get bummed about weight & constipation & dry cotton mouth ( oh,thats all)
Weight is worst,as woman..my normal very slim fast metabolism,burn calls fast fast…
I can quit the meds,lose a lot of weight,& very likely very quickly go into full suicidal state
Or I can say ok no one in our present living family had bipolar but I’m seeing some traits that a psych
Would likely notice as perfectionism,severeOCD,severe anxiety,insomnia….etc.
Doesn’t matter,I’m only responsible for MYSELF LOVE MYSELF …I don’t need anyone to feel the gaping void inside
Once you find your passion,you even forget for awhile you are sick….
That’s why I take my meds & how they’ve changed my life+ the work I done on my own as well.
Once I saw a Dr in a 10 mm consult she said no meds needed….that day I was manic not slept4 nites
She got my mouth….FUCK OFF YOU BITCH SEE YOU NEVER UNLESS IN HELL!
Wing nut hope to god she’s not still working….
Sum up,I look at bipolar as a jigsaw puzzle,but extremely difficult one
One day may be smooth one piece found….next day you can’t even raise your head up off your bed
Meds have improved,though,so I guess I should be more humble
Well, very tired friends ( courtesy of pain meds & im due for something else
TRY & KEEP A SCHEDULE THAT SUITS YOU FRIENDS FOR YOUR MEDS ( REALLY HELPED ME)
that helps
Ever question doses,DONT ASK FAMILY OR FRIEND ONLY PHARMACIST
.good luck to all,Sandrain Bipolar Cyberspace……”..
I gave up on the trying to be on others schedule. I’m beginning to think genetically maybe I’m the night watchdog at night. Also I can’t think well at night. Or maybe I’m full of crap? WN
I don’t disagree with the message underlying your very obvious frustration on this topic.
But I’ll add two things. First, there are many people who are reluctant to take meds for other things too, doctor prescribed or not. Second, many people see psych meds as qualitatively different because they work on your brain, which is more closely tied to their identity than other organs. I have GI problems and didn’t hesitate to push for meds for those, but I delayed on psych meds for a long time. I didn’t equate changing my gut as fundamentally changing “me”, but I sure worried about that when it came to my brain.
Hello Mark,
I never had GI problems until about 1 year after taking psyche meds. And it only got worse, and worse, (do I need to go into detail) psyche meds slow everything down, including your GI track. Also, an important and you can read this many places I would suggest madinamerica.com / most of your immune system is in you gut. Psyche meds slowly destroy your immune system. Use with caution.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/important-link-between-the-brain-and-immune-system-found/
Ellsworth. I started taking Lamictal and it had a large effect on my GI tract. With me it took my longstanding problem with diarrhea almost completely away. Personally I think some drug company would be wise to do research and test on it and maybe market it for that. Had a colonoscopy(sp), took all the standard drugs and nothing helped. In my case anyway I suspect maybe (it’s only anecdotal of course and has zero scientific value in itself) it slowed my gut down as well as most of the hypo-mania and a fair bit of the depression. Far from perfect but it has helped me, though as always with drugs we’ll see how it goes. Seems with Michael it may be killing him. I’ll be keeping an eye on it. Have had a slight increase in liver enzymes at last test. My PCP is the fantastically thorough and the only MD i’ve ever trusted in my life. In fact I’m going to make him my only life and death emergency contact to do as he wishes in case I can’t take care of myself. I trust him that much. For a control freak at heart like me that’s saying a lot. I may have even taken it if didn’t have BP or if it stops working for me for that. WN
Will,
Greetings from purgatory. With regard to Lamictal please be very careful with regard to that crap especially if you are taking it for GI issues.. Getting off of Lamictal can be a horror show.
http://beyondmeds.com/2007/12/20/lamictal-withdrawal-from-hell/
I’m not taking it for GI issues and most likely really wouldn’t it’s just a pleasant side effect.
Very interested though about the problems you personally had getting off it? Please tell? I got caught in the 8 mg Ativan for 9.5 years withdrawl horror show without warning so am very interested. I known already the Effexor one but please do tell about the Lamictal! thanks, will
Will,
http://beyondmeds.com/2007/12/20/lamictal-withdrawal-from-hell/
I am taking lamictal and haven’t had any bad side effects but in the last few days I ran out of meds and missed 2 days doses. Won’t be doing that again. By the middle of the second day, my face was numb and I had trouble forming words. Then my hands and feet went numb. Made for interesting driving! Although it isn’t something I would choose to experience again, I have had this reaction to coming off, and going onto, many meds. I find it lasts less than a week. Except effexor. That sucked for weeks.
Ellsworth Davis.
There definitely is a brain gut connection. I am eating fermented foods and and take a very comprehensive probiotic on top of it. I do feel the difference albeit small but at least I know it works for me.
What do they have to do with psychiatry? It turns out way more than we might have suspected. The gut and brain have a steady ability to communicate via the nervous system, hormones, and the immune system. Some of the microbiome can release neurotransmitters, just like our own neurons do, speaking to the brain in its own language via the vagus nerve. …
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201404/the-gut-brain-connection-mental-illness-and-disease
I must be the select few, who found a wonderful Shrink.
Extremely rare but they are out there. Plus, it’s built into the whole medical system in that we are really still considered not ill and all we get is 10 minutes or so and thats it. Were just a code. Insurance covers us (if the Dr. takes it) and that’s a big if. Only ever had one good one and he retired a couple years ago due to heart problems. Looked around and found only two who, may have taken ins. as partial payment. Both, this must be the new way, wanted credit card up front ( As credit card income requirements are set just above standard disability levels, discrimination to get around calling it discrimination, status quo of course at least in the US. I of course don’t have one), a bank acct. number (with written permission for them to go after your acct. if you don’t pay and $185.00 up front just to get the first apt. Forget what amount of cash the other Dr. wanted up front but it was a similar if not identical amount. Being that I live off Ramen, hot dogs, peanut butter and other crap food due to virtually no income they may as well as asked me to pay off the national debt. Try eating healthy on about $100.00 a month. I know very, very well how to eat healthy but that amount of money and being a big man of 6’4″ it’s not going to happen. Tried a psychologist once. After one apt. she fired me due to receiving the ins. check a couple days late. With her I should have known. She had just received her MA and called herself Dr. and even had it on her door. Seems even CRNP want to be called Drs. now. Not to mention, PA’s and some others. Instructors are now professors etc. I’ve been out of the formal education game for a while but still think that craps a bit weird. Glad you found a good one. Hold onto him/her/other. Like an honest mechanic an honest one is hard to find (I was one). WN
So true! Why do people not take their psychiatric medication? I know I didn’t take the correct dose for a long time, I had myself convinced that I needed only a minuscule dose, unfortunately that wasn’t true. Now I am stabilized on Lithium and Seroquel, and adequate doses of these! I’m sure partly it is the stigma of having mental illness, if you don’t take your medication, you are not mentally ill. It is also the side effects that there meds have, some of these are horrendous, the side effects I mean. But at this stage in the treatment history of mental illnesses, this is all we have and we have to cope with the side effects as best as we can so that we can be mentally healthy. One other thing I have often wondered, is it the mentally ill brain that thinks it doesn’t need any medication because it is not sick? I mean is it the mentally ill person thinking in their ill state that they are fine and don’t need meds? Just my thoughts. Thanks for a great article! xxxooo
I take the drugs I self-prescribed for my self diagnosis. My PCP physician writes the Rx. Been doing a bit ok-most of the time.
If I ever hear someone say I’m not being compliant I think I will beat them to death (I’m not a criminal out on parole for child abuse) with a plastic spoon. Also, the next person who wishes to end a heated argument with me by a (especially when I’m using nothing but facts and they don’t have a single one and I’m using nothing but reason and they emotion). Also, if I hear the similar insult “are you off your med’s” by anyone who knows I take any or hear then whisper to another, “I think he’s off his med’s”. Women get to hear from me at sometime in the near future when totally unexpected, “are you on the rag again” with zero explanation on why I said it. Any one have a good one to tell men? If they don’t know I take them they get a pass.
Anyone else want to hurt someone who says that shit to you. WN
Will,
Greetings from 100 miles down south. I have been there, heard it all and then some and the one that gets me the worst is “get over it”.. The last conversation I had with my sister (who I called begging for all the monies she owed me for paying for college and her divorce etc many years ago when I was well off) lasted maybe 5 seconds. “I hope you committ suicide”. I became estranged from my parents and relatives becuase of this disorder back in 96. I didn’t know what was going on. I had changed drastically and to make a long story short my relatives didn’t even have the decency to tell me when my parents died nor offer me condolences. I found out by accident from someone who I met who said he was sorry for my loss. They are European and no one will tell me where they are buried. Talk about STIGMA. I am being punished for having this disease. How many of us have been punished and are punished? I still look in the dictionary to see if the word Empathy has been stricken from its pages. We have a massive empathy deficit in this country.. Get on Facebook and read about a dog being abused and you will have hundreds of nasty comments about it. Talk about the abuse of the mentally ill and the comments are mostly negative towards that person. Will, As you can see, I no longer talk about True Hope. Not worth the time. I wish you peace.
Along with my doctor, I have been tapering off most or all of the meds I was on. The only one that ever helped me at all is seroquel. Lithium made me worse and packed an extra 50 lbs onto my small frame in 8 months, didn’t change the outrageous manic behavior I was showing, if anything, it helped me mess up my life more. My psychiatrist agrees that meds have been far more destructive than helpful. I am using medical marijuana to taper off of klonopin safely without sleep interruptions. I lost a decade to meds, and wouldn’t go back to any of the cocktails I was on in that time. My life has never been so out of control than during the big pharma years. I tried everything it was safe for me to try, everything I wasn’t sensitive to or just didn’t work at all. A big part of me feels that I have lost all ten years as a productive artist because of meds. What are you supposed to do when nothing helps and every new med is a disaster? How about when your psychiatrist agrees? I think this was the least thoughtful article I have read here. What you need is not what I need. What might help you can be disastrous to me. I don’t know anybody with bipolar who hasn’t tried meds, lived with absurd side effects, and found that those drugs don’t help. Sure, science is progressing slowly, but I’m opting out. I have never been sicker than I have been on meds.
Psychiatrists are “highly trained” in the art of social control. Not a lick of science vis-a-vis the scientific method attends Psychiatry. Psychiatrists CAN be useful IF and WHEN they use their medical training to help a patient”s true MEDICAL PROBLEMS such as hypothyroidism or other matters, or call in CONSULTANTS to help with that. Otherwise, Psychiatrists are USELESS to HUMANE AND JUST SOCIETY. They are only useful to the bottom line of drug companies, hospitals, and their own bottom line.
You see, once you accept the premise that “mental illness” exists, then you can logically justify all the nonsense Psychiatrists are all about. Life issues exist. Hormonal imbalance exists, for women in particular and sometimes for men too. Lots of things do exist–except “mental illness.” The very concept is not just flawed–it’s an oxymoron. Should anyone wish to read Dr. Thomas Szasz–who was a Psychiatrist–then that person can choose to accept his truths or not. He said:”Since the “mind” is an abstraction, it is not possible for a person to have a “mental illness.”. So now, some who say “oh yes I accept this” then claim that “oh, well it really should be called “brain disease” then, because that’s what it is. Except brain disease, such as tumors, such as toxicity from something ingested such as arsenic or radioactive material Putin has been known to inflict on his political enemies, these things represent brain disease. Scanning with MRI’s to show NORMAL EMOTIONS and their effects on the brain PROVES NOTHING in terms of the foundational premise of “mental illness.” So if we must accept an “expert opinion” in the field, and the warnings all of coercive Psychiatry give to us by our own experiences and through his warning, ie, the warnings of Dr. Szasz from the 1950’s onward(books can be ordered through Amazon for the curious), you see, then we have someone speaking the truth from a vantage point where it was not advantageous either professionally or financially for him to do so. Such truthts are logically self-evident, but just like television, which has been studied and found to bypass the brain’s ability to filter out nonsense it otherwise does quite well, the acceptance of the premise that the concept of mental illness is valid, and then we all have to proceed upon this notion in discussing the topic, is now the thing that has been and continues to destroy human rights on the altar of Big Pharma, Big Hospitals, and the INSANE BUSINESS of the Healthcare industry in the USA which is destroying society at an extremely rapid rate financially and in all ways ancillary to this. Costs keep rising and Psychiatry is one big evil influence in this dynamic–not the only one for sure–but a major one.
Obviously you are entitled to believe what want but to quote information from the 1950’s is a bit outdated. Science has proven that mental illness is a chemical imbalance in the brain. In the 1950’s it was delivered that autism was caused by ‘cold’ mothers, also known as ‘refrigerator mothers’. Or that it was a form of childhood schizophrenia. Scientific evidence now shows that it is a neurological disorder that develops inutero.
I live in Australia where we have government provided healthcare that is either free or heavily subsidised. There is no BIG agender. It costs our government billions dollars a year, so if there was anything to gain from prescribing unnecessary meds then I’m pretty sure the government the goverment would be onto that. We have the luxury of free healthcare, so we don’t see medications through the haze of conspiracy and greed.
Sorry about the typos and bad spelling. I hate auto correct.
Froggee,
While the neuroscience discoveries are coming fast and furious, one thing we can say already is that earlier notions of mental disorders as chemical imbalances or as social constructs are beginning to look antiquated. Much of what we are learning about the neural basis of mental illness is not yet ready for the clinic, but there can be little doubt that clinical neuroscience will soon be helping people with mental disorders to recover.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2011/mental-illness-defined-as-disruption-in-neural-circuits.shtml
In the narrative of the antipsychiatry movement, a monolithic entity called “Psychiatry” has deliberately misled the public as to the causes of mental illness, by failing to debunk the chemical imbalance hypothesis. Indeed, this narrative insists that, by promoting this little white lie, psychiatry betrayed the public trust and made it seem as if psychiatrists had magic bullets for psychiatric disorders. (Lurking in the back-story, of course, is Big Pharma, said to be in cahoots with Psychiatry so as to sell more drugs).
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/823368
In this masterpiece, Dr. Jonathan Rottenberg, argues that the “chemical imbalance” theory of depression is wrong. Yes, biological factors are important to understanding depression but it is a mistake to think that these chemicals are what cause, maintain, or exacerbate suffering. Psychology has advanced quite a bit and we now know that our perceptions, expectations, choices, relationship patterns, and strategies for regulating emotions and thoughts influence our psychological health. Fail to acknowledge this, and you are essentially refusing to examine yourself.
By no means am I saying that depressed people are to blame.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/curious/201403/what-causes-depression-myths-about-chemical-imbalances
Nunber 6 regarding chemical imbalances….
http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/just-diagnosed-779-143.html
I am currently stable for about 4 months, but that was after taking every freakin medicine out there and having horrible side effects and allergies. My mood stabilizer is actually an old one and the only new one is Cymbalta. We finally found my lucky combo.
This board-certified psychiatrist doesn’t prescribe psychotropics and says the science behind our view of mental illness is completely flawed. For anyone interested this is her website and there are lots of videos of her. You can see her regularly on Integrative medicine summits available free online. http://kellybroganmd.com/
And as an example of trusted drugs for other body parts, this cardiologist wrote a book that discredited the longtime use of statins for what turned out to be a flawed concept of cholesterol http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Cholesterol-Myth-Disease/dp/1592335217. My point here is that there are legitimate reasons to refuse meds for ANY body “part” prescribed by unintelligent MDs who don’t question the pharmaceutical model of medicine.
I would see an Integrative clinician before ever purchasing meds prescribed by a regular, unthinking MD. Even Tylenol, sold to us as safe for decades, is now being discredited. Most meds are toxic and ineffectual, and studies that show their effectiveness are repeatedly outed as having been paid for, cherry-picked, and tweaked by their pharmaceutical manufacturers.
This Forbes piece is one of many where editors of NEJM and The Lancet have spoken out to criticize the science that supported one drug study or another http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2011/09/23/former-nejm-editor-criticizes-publication-and-peer-review-of-aristotle-trial/ . This is just one such article; you can find other credible pieces like this online.
Today we know that the textbooks used to train medical students have largely been written by pharmaceutical manufacturers. These textbooks support a view of the body and of health profiting drug manufacturers instead of truly promoting health or furthering a real understanding of how the body functions in sickness or in health.
If psychotropics work for a person then that’s great. But the information out there today certainly supports anyone refusing any pharmaceutical model and instead looking for the many credible alternatives now available.
My money is on Integrative and Functional clinicians, who understand our bodies as biological, bacterial systems within a larger biological, bacterial world and support whole-body healing. Conventional medicine’s view of a body made like a car, with separate pieces to be fixed by toxic chemical cocktails, isn’t working. More people are sicker than ever in history.
Just a few of the many reason why someone might refuse any medication created through a flawed understanding of the human body, and manufactured by massive global corporations to keep billion-dollar-machines making money.
I bet if you have a heart attack, stroke, cancer and so on you will be at an MD so fast you’ll be leaving streaks. You will take medications as given and you’ll know not was right or wrong to take because your not using reason. Every health food wackjob I ever met goes to REAL Drs. and real hospitals when they get sick for real. Like the silly Jehova(sp) witness who won’t give their dying child a blood transfusion (at least some of them stick to their beliefs, unlike the nuts who think crystals, hemp oil, no meat and chanting plus other supernatural hocus pocus will save them. We are biological-medical machines. We work by the laws of science like all else in the universe. Science knows only a little but accepts that and keeps looking for answers. Unlike religious fools and heath food nuts who know close to nothing others seek the truth and claim not to know it all. People of true medical and others spend their lives trying to crack the nuts of truth open. It’s hard grueling work with little reward and none from irrational religious and other similar.types. Herd the Catholic church the other day taking credit for Gallileo. I almost shi_ myself. They keep changing as science learns more and takes no responsibility for all they have done to help the world live in the darkness. If religion would just go away science and everyone will livie longer, happier, more pleasant lives and stop killing each other over bs. This also goes for all the loonys promoting what ever crap of the day and getting the gullible to follow and buy their crap. Sorry for the spelling punctuation etc. I’m a bit manic and am reading and learning some new things so fast it’s abit hard to stay on topic. I wont be waving any incense taking any vitamins or pretend jesus is coming or having a wheat germ sandwich on gluten free bread with a smootie to help it anytime soon though. WN
I agree that it is foolish to not take your doctors advice and take your meds! I had been on a roller coaster of emotions for years until I had my psychotic breakdown. I would have never recovered without therapy And meds. I was willing to do anything to feel better-think clearly. I went through a year long trial of trying one med after another to wind up taking several all together for balance. I just tapered off Invega which I’d been on twelve years to Abilify in an effort to feel good again. Without meds, I could not deal with my depression and bipolar, OCD, anxiety disorder. And, I do feel better on Abilify.
Please people, give medications a
Try…it is no different than taking something for thyroid or an upset stomach..or daily vitamins. Take your meds and get on with your life! Don’t let fear get in your way of having the life you deserve.
Am I signed up
The psychiatric medication, makes you gain weight, changes your thought pattern and you realize everything you thought was true and you believed in…. Is not true. You have to learn how the average person handled situations and life. And my number one hold up was…..I had to admit to myself I am sick I need to take medicine 3x day everyday for ever because my Brain doesn’t make certain chemicals, like everyone else.
Admittedly, I have a fear of getting on medication and being a zombie. The flip side of this is that the doctors are worried about giving me meds, as I had ulcers from a previous suicide attempt.
“Check Your Meds!! Check Your meds! Check your meds.”
What a load of horse-shit. I read you blog regularly for the past number of years and usually you appear to have some insight. This is empty anger directed at your readers.
Sorry.
Try re-reading the post like stranger. Regardless, it is your blog you can write whatever you damn want.
I have spent he last 2 years extricating myself from SEROQUEL (400 mgs daily) and KLONOPIN (6 mgs daily). Seroquel I was on six years until it drove me completely insane, to psychosis. Klonopin I have been on for 21 years, and its a benzo for short term use. It does not work anymore and I have managed to cut the dose in half. The only anxiety or nerves I get are REBOUND Effects from my body wanting Klonopin. And Seroquel, side effects, basically every single one in the book. Seroquel turned me slowly into “Dead Man Walking.”
I don’t know or care what you take, but spend six years on a combo cocktail of Seroquel and Klonopin and you wont have the energy to update your blog monthly, or weekly, and forget daily.
I don’t want your help, I don’t write and ask for advice.
You are forcing YOUR Opinion and Your Experience on people who are vulnerable and look to your blog for some form of foothold as to what to do next, how to manage their BIPOLAR.
In my opinion, – opinion – to 99 of 100 doctors you are simply another patient, another billable hour, and as long as you are ADDICTED to psyche meds you Must Keep coming back from your monthly prescriptions.
Few doctors care about side effects, for example, I gained 40 solid pounds on Seroquel, the sugar cravings are unstoppable. I used to feel good about my appearance. The last few years I look at myself and wonder what have you done? I am hate my body image. Reason for a depressive episode, you betcha. That is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. I am not going to bore you with a laundry list.
At the end as I was tapering the Seroquel to stop taking the drug, I asked my MD. “Have you ever taken this drug for any period of time?” Of course, his answer was “No.” So I asked him, “How do you know what it actually does?”
The sad fact of the matter, he does not. He only knows what he reads and what drug reps tell him.
peace babe.
I was on seroquel for a few years but again as I have the luxury to access free or affordable healthcare I could just go to my doctor and say this medication isn’t working, I want to try something else. So I stopped taking it. I don’t have to deal with health insurance that is in it for profits or can deny a claim on a whim. I am funded by our government with the taxes we pay. I guess I am lucky to live where I am.
I really get sick and tired of the medication people VS. the natural health people. Everyone is different, everyone’s bipolar is different. I managed (meaning I was symptomatic but functional) off of medication for a year by exercising daily, eating whole foods, eating a lot of fish, and taking Vit. B12. It was extraordinarily difficult to deal with symptoms all the time and my body finally caved to the bipolar and I did become manic. I won’t go off meds again. The only med that has been a constant to me is Seroquel, so I really get angry when people trash the med….ANY meds. I loathe Abilify, but to some people it’s their miracle med. So as soon as someone trashes a med, I stop reading their reply. It’s pure ignorance to think that because a med didn’t work for you, it won’t work for anyone else. Every med has side effects and it blows. I have 2 rules for everyone in my life who is mentally ill. If you do not take meds, or if you use alcohol or other street drugs, don’t expect me to help you out of a mental health crisis or listen to you whine about how your life is all messed up. And two, if you are able to make a go of it without meds, congratulations, your bipolar disorder is apparently not as debilitating as mine so quit telling me I need to submit to your treatment plan.
This was meant as a general post, not as a reply to Davis. I don’t know how it ended up here.
A drug (chemical) is a drug. Street vs. other is a legal, political, social etc. concept that has zero to do with it effectiveness, side effects, and so on. WN
I take meds. I hate the meds but I take them. I have the side effects but I know now to keep trying until the balance of side effect versus function is right. I know what it is like to be on the right meds. I feel alive, connected, me. I know without hesitation that I would be dead without meds. I am in hospital at the moment changing meds. For the last 9 months I have existed only. Not living but existing. So I decided to again change meds. I want to be well. I want to be able to enjoy my family.
Medication is not the lazy option. Without meds all I can think about is being dead. With the meds I come work on the issues that cause the problems. I work hard but I need to be clear headed and safe. When I am very unwell, doing the work to get better is a trigger into suicidal thinking. I take alone pressure meds, allergy meds, meds for my adult acne (really? Adult acne. Thank you gene pool for the shit you have dealt me), I take medication for reflux. I even take pain killers. I am a walking chemical shit storm but I am alive.
So, I hate the meds but they are necessary for MY life and for the sake of MY family.
No one has walked in my shoes or lived in my head. I am terrified of what is in my head when I am unwell. My husband is terrified when I am unwell. He has had to call an ambulance for me twice
Kudos to you! I am also a walking pharmacy, but I am clear-headed because of it. I change meds about every 3-4 years because they build up over time and make me feel sluggish.
Because medication does not cure. It just hides symptoms.
It could be almost impossible to get later off of it. The most of medication has more withdrawal effects than side-effects.
I believe, that there are no mental illness, just inability to fit socially with surrounded people. Yes it’s possible to manage neurotransmitters and steroid hormones with some medication. But it is never suggested by doctors (not psychiatrists) to adjust it artificially. Brain has learned through 500 million years of evolution to adjust it’s chemistry, why do you think a pill will do this better?
Let your compound fracture repair itself. Tell me hoe it works out. No medication for pain and so on. No crying, begging etc. Wait for it to reset itself. A little truth is a bad thing for a person who can’t think rationally. See Kennith Ham I think is his name. He keeps mixing reason with religious fantasy. He also changes in ingrained unchanging religious beliefs with every new scientific discovery to suit his need to prove BS. It’s very, very sad seeing such a fool have a conversation with real scientist and evolutionary biologist and thinking he is making pts. He looks like an absolute fool. Sorry if I insulted you or anyone else but my patience and others who spend much time trying to find the truth that may never be known wear thin with this mixture. Some treatments and medications do cure. Most do treat symptoms. Some split the deal in one way or another. Chemistry, physics, pharmacology, neurology, biology are very complicated due to all the years of evolution you speak of. Give a break to people who spend all their lives trying to solve these puzzles. The complexity of which I suspect you haven’t the ability to understand regardless of which angle you choose to attack it from. More importantly I don’t think you have the desire to. I think you wish to proclaim all the info. is in and you understand it all. Open your mind and SEEK the truth, don’t claim you understand it. None of us do. WN
also: bipolarbrainiac.wordpress.com
Great Post. I totally believe in the meds and the new genetic testing and protein enzyme testing now covered by Medicare is going to further individualize medication for each person’s metabolism. I love this blog.Its one of the few I read. I’ve had bipolar disorder for 25 years and medication helped me have a wonderful radio career for the first decade of my dx. Not taking my meds and self medicating resulted in a progression to bipolar I, psychosis and needing to take antipsychotics. So there is really no alternative. And I agree with holistic stuff being adjunctive with medication, Western Style. Thanks burble.
I’m extremely curious about what medications you took in that 25 years that weren’t tested (and didn’t work). More importantly (though I still am greatly interested in those medications, treatments and so on), what ‘protein enzymes and genetic markers’ as well as what aspects and parameters of metabolism were looked @ and tested by your physician that were covered by Medicare. I’ll be looking into it with great interest and reporting back here. I would hope you could speed it up for us and provide the billing codes used (call your Dr. if you don’t know it from your monthly statements from Medicare and they can easily pull it up on their computer and tell you so I can tell my Dr. and have the tests done as soon as possible). Thanks and I will be waiting. Very curious. Thank you, WN
Natasha, is their a new system you have? I’m not receiving messages for all reply’s or new comments just a few. Sorry, no other way to contact you. Would be nice if you could make a link or such for that. Maybe just for use from an old user or some other metric you can use? Just a though? With all the crap you deal with I guess maybe that would be impossible. Hope all is going well with TRUE-DEATH It could be me and I’m missing something, very likely Thanks, WN
Whenever people are dealing with yet ANOTHER loss related to their illness they suspend reality for a while.
Madison Holleran was an athlete, she led a healthy lifestyle and she still killed herself. If it was as easy as eating salad and exercising then I would be cured. I used to be fit and I was still incredibly depressed.
I just stopped taking medication a week ago. You shouldnt just depend on medicine to make issues disappear, the best way to beat your illnesses is change some small life choices and help yourself. If someone wants to overcome something you have to try hard and work at it.
1. because i do not wish to be the government’s guinea pig.
2. doctors can get you on the perfect drug, then poof, it can be gone, because the insurance company won’t cover it and the side effects from getting off the drugs kept me on a long time.
3. they don’t call it addiction, they call it body dependency. not much difference to my way of thinking; side affects keep people addicted.
4. i read the china study. it changed my whole thinking; my head is clearer because of life style changes.
5. if i am to be addicted to something, i want it to be healthy choices.
6. i like some control in my life; taking a pill for me to feel better is like smoking a cigarette to clam down. the answer for me is healthy eating and lots of exercise.
want more reasons?
my questions:
how many people get out and walk hard every day for an hour? how many eat salads, or quinoa, millet , kale chard and fruit. . .? look around, the only exercise most people get, is lifting a handful of pills to their mouths.
i have no issues with others taking pills, i just think it would be a healthier choice to ride a bike for an hour a day a day, up and down hills, then do some meditation and yoga, truly take care of the body and mind.
don’t knock it unless you tried it. i HAVE tried the pills, have you tried eating only from scratch? only whole foods, going gluten free, sugar free, diary free, and doing two hours of hard exercise a day? i have, and i am much healthier for it.
i also think about all the meds people eat and then flush down the toilets; that stuff is not filtered completely, it goes into our drinking water. yum! we can get our antidepressants from the water now! oh fun!
people talk about wanting to feel better but don’t want to do the hard work it takes.
Natasha, I, too, can feel very frustrated with some people who tell me they have mental illness. I have broken off contact with no less than THREE people who have a diagnosis of either schizophrenia, paranoia, or both. At first they seemed like nice friends. Then each of them could come up with various scenarios that were bugging them. One talked about “bullies” and basically nothing else. I suggested she go to my therapist, and get “bully proofed.” I told her I used to be terrified of bullies, but now I’m not. I have no more problems with bullies. I don’t know what my therapist did, or what he advised, but now I am bully-proof. She would not go to counseling, so I eased out of her live. One did go to my therapist,. He bent over backwards for h er, putting in tons of off-hours work for her. (She was trying to get a kidney transplant, which was dumb anyway because she was over 65 and bodies in their elder years often reject transplants.) Then she started complaining. She was on-again, off-again about EVERYBODY, except me. She’d complain about the way her psychiatrist (of 25 years) talked to her, so I’d say if that’s the case, you COULD change to another doc, that we need to have trust in our docs, etc. Next thing, she’d be talking about how her pdoc was doing the right things, etc etc. She’d call me and email me a lot, and it increased to where it became a burden on me. I suggested MANY times that we who have mental illness need A LARGE support group, and not just our professionals. (she told me she was bipolar; but she didn’t tell me she had paranoia, which I believe she did) She went to a kidney group, and didn’t like it. She said she wished she knew some other people with bipolar. I invited her twice to have lunch with myself and other bipolar friends of mine. Twice she didn’t show up etc etc. Finally, I emailed her and said I thought we needed to essentially take turns contacting each other. That I’d respond when she wrote but then we each needed to wait to be contacted before writing or calling again. She wrote back a nice email, saying she completely agreed, and understood.; that was fine, she wrote me. Then, I met her for a brown bag lunch one day at the Senior Center. She said she’d bring lunch for herself, but she didn’t. So I started eating my sandwich and she just LIT INTO ME. Said, “I WILL NEVER EMAIL YOU OR CALL YOU AGAIN!!!” I said, “Bye, A…..” got up and walked to another table. Couldn’t find a seat at first in the dining room, so while I looked around she followed me and screamed, “You were honest with me, so you need to listen to me be honest with you!!!” Just screaming ugly things at me. I was figuring to leave, but finally found a table and she gave up when I ignored her. I said exactly what I quoted above and not one, single, other word. A couple days later, I received a pretty envelope from her., with some sort of letter inside. I figured she was either apologizing (which I would not accept), or more ugly stuff (which I would not accept), Justifying her self (which I would not accept), or carrying on as though we were still friends (which I would not accept.) I shredded the letter without reading it. Sorry this is so long, but I guess to summarize regarding your question of “Why?”, Natasha, the answer is what my ex-husband said, “You’ll never understand craziness. ” In other words, that’s what crazy is…something one cannot understand; something that is “not dealing with reality.”
There is craziness and theres being an a-hole. Sometimes in the same person. No excuse being an a-hole. WN
I was wary of medication for a while because I feared the negative side effects would throw off the very precarious balance my life has if I got the wrong one, but I realized that I can’t go on like this forever and that I might actually attempt suicide again (it’s been a little over a year over my attempt and I’m thanking you profusely for replying to me). I fought that fear and the first medication I got prescribed was absolutely terrible, I ended up lying listless in bed for a couple of days, I missed work and I felt worse than I do when I’m not medicated.
This isn’t meant to be an anti-medication tale, I’m willing to keep trying until I find what works for me. I’m just trying to explain my fears.
I saw the Wiley symbol. Is that a sponsor of yours? Have bought many a text book, mathematics book, physics book and more from them. Do know they play an international game on prices and resale etc., understand bottom lines and such but a bit against the spread of science and learning to all. Have no idea if their on your bottom line or not but just saying.
As to your comment on why not go to an experienced MD and so on. This is one of the major reasons. Have you ever taken LSD? Ask your Dr. what it is like. Then ask a trusted friend about the experience. Tell me which one is more accurate. I think we both know about the lack of medical studies on multiple medications given to patients even as individuals. As groups these studies at least for clinical use are almost useless or unknown of. This is why. Putting trust in someone who hasn’t been in the fire isn’t all that valuable. One who has been in it AND is educated in the classical ways is an almost invaluable resource. Sorry but thats reality. WN