I am definitely not a fan of BigPharma. I detest taking meds. And I've been one of the folks who has been screwed over by meds over the years. I just blithely went along with whatever the pdocs recommended, being scared out of my wits.

Finally a pdoc admitted that I was being "overmedicated." You think? I was keeping the pharmacy in business with taking two anti-psychotics, three anti-depressants, a mood stabilizer, and anti-anxiety medication, and I don't even remember now what else I took. Most everything but Lithium over the years.

Now I feel like my brain is fried. I honestly think part of the reason is the long-term effects of meds.

So, now I take as little as I can. I wish I could not take anything. As I mentioned earlier, I am down to three--one mood stabilizer, an anti-depressant, and an anti-anxiety med. And I speak up at my pdoc's office. After all, it's my brain and body. The last time I was hospitalized, I refused to go on the med they wanted me to go on. I had taken it for years. Then I started having all sorts of muscular problems--could hardly even walk, had facial tics, etc. My primary care doc was the one who guessed it was the Lamictal, and that I had had a toxic dose by taking it for so long. (Guess what? It builds up in the body.) They knew that, but they said they wanted to try me on it again. Over MY dead body, I thought. And I refused.

I am a big believer in therapy, as I mentioned before.

We do need to remember that there is a gradation of bipolar disorder--from relatively mild to very extreme. Some of us cycle in- frequently, some very frequently, some Bipolar I, some II, etc.

We have to see what works for us as individuals. Some of us might be "symptom-free," I think, at least for awhile.

Let's remember we are discussing this topic as consumers. None of us are experts. We are speaking from our own observations and experiences. So it doesn't help for us to jump on each other for our opinions.