I do. Have spent the last six months months trying to figure out something that will work for me. I have a cooperative personality, so I'm nearly a 100% compliant when it comes to taking them. But we've had to go through quite a few already. In the last eight weeks it seems like I'm in a really good, stable place. I'm crossing my fingers that maybe this med combo might be the right one for me.
I feel good and productive. I don't have racing thoughts. I'm not suicidal. I'm not overly anxious. The question about whether I like who I am in general is a tough one...something probably better suited for me to work through with a therapist than related to my medication. I have very complicated feelings about liking myself!
See above for my comment about liking myself. But as for how I feel...if I am neither in a manic, mix, or depressed state, I feel fine without meds. But if I am in one of those states, I know I feel better with the benefit of meds.
Definitely. Some days it hits me harder than others. I find myself crying over it. I have had several conversations with my p-doc about it. In my head I know the diagnosis is accurate. But there is a part of me that doesn't want the label. I don't want it to be true. There are so many behaviors, attitudes, and ways of thinking of other people who have been diagnosed that I don't identify with that I don't want to accept the diagnosis. That's when my p-doc reminds me that there is a really wide spectrum. Sigh. So anyway. Yeah. Still working on accepting it.
Not at all. I'm a responsible wife and mother and I have to be the healthiest person I can be for them. Obviously the times when I want to end my life are not me being the healthiest person I can be for them. I have to take my meds. Not always thrilled with the side effects. But I'm 100% compliant. (Except when I was prescribed a few benzos...I didn't fully comply with them. But I called my p-doc and saw her right away so she would know what was going on and could make an adjustment.)