What's the difference really between meds and food? They are all chemicals. Remember the history stories about sailors getting scurvy because they didn't have vitamin C on long voyages till someone figured it out? Or why they call them "8 ESSENTIAL amino acids" (of protein)? Essential means they cannot be manufactured by the body itself and must be ingested for the body to survive. You're not one of those air plants. You take in stuff and it becomes part of you and you stay alive. I have uncles who died of heart attacks younger than me because they didn't have the meds I have now, so should I be here or not? (You asked for "thoughts", right? )

As for seeing your own progress - I think something has to happen that makes you notice your own changes - gives you something to compare to? For example, I received a phone call from a friend I hadn't talked to in a couple of years, and I could really see the difference the last 6 months had made in me, in my interaction with her.