I suppose if one had found the right meds, they might not be paying much attention to this subforum. Nonetheless, I was wondering how long people here have endured a bad stretch to find something that works. For me it's been an 8 month long bad stretch, and I anticipate longer. I sometimes wonder if it will ever end. I'm spinning my wheels all the time about meds and my bad mental states. In my case, I have a sort of depression/anhedonia and some cognitive and sleeping issues that have been bothering me while I've been on these meds. I don't have any psychosis or mania, so the meds have been working in that regard. I take risperidone 3 milligrams and lithium 600. The next foreseeable change may be trying to change out risperidone for olanzapine. I don't know if I need an antidepressant or not, they might just make my symptoms worse, but I functioned very well for 2 years on Ability and Effexor with no mood stabilizer.

I've been on psych meds for about 25 years. Over that time I've found meds that worked several times. I'd be on the meds for a few years, then they'd stop working and I'd have to try new ones. So it's an ongoing process, really.