Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabyunbound
I've been on one medication or another for some 16 years.
I think for a lot of people, maybe most, medications aren't a magic bullet. There are still breakthrough depression, hypo/mania, anxiety -even when on meds. For me, mood-wise, I'm a lot better. But I feel like I was a lot better before AP's. Unless I'm just seeing the past with rose-colored glasses, I was more myself when I was just on Lamictal and Klonopin. I feel like as soon as I had a manic episode, I got on the AP-train and there's been no getting off. The main one I take -Seroquel- IS a magic pill when it comes to coming down from hypo/mania, but I have no way of knowing if it's truly preventing more episodes or if I wouldn't be having episodes anyway; it's that not-knowing that makes me want to stop it completely sometimes. But pdocs seem to shake in their boots when it comes to preventing hypo/mania and so will want patients to have to deal with any number of side effects in order to do that -or to APPARENTLY do that...
It would really suck for me not having benzo's --I'm sorry your pdoc won't prescribe them. Though I hear that once you're on them, you're kind of stuck because they're so hard to come off of.
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Thanks for this. Coming on Psych Central made me feel I was better off without benzo's...although I cannot remember any bad side effects coming off. My prescription ran out and after that I had a real hard time getting it filled. I don't consider that I was physically addicted.
I should add that I quit smoking cigarettes (and ingesting all nicotine) two years ago after being a lifelong smoker.
So I had the double whammy of no more smoking and no more benzodiazepine...after decades of using both.
I am sorry to report life feels much harder now. Yet I am physically better being a non-smoker. I read that smoking causes anxiety...but it seems with me it was the opposite.
Perhaps I could "normalize" my situation by saying yes, right now I am dealing with ongoing anxiety, which I hate. It is very difficult to manage...but I have not yet found a replacement for what I was using.
I am in a lot of pain...mentally, emotionally, and I even think aches from tense muscles.
Oh well.