I know that side effects suck. Some just become unbearable, but some seem terrible at first, but then eventually fade away. I've had medications that fit the latter category that I was really happy I stuck with. I know patience when miserable is tough, but if it helps over the long-term it's worth it.

There are indeed medications that I have vowed to never take again. I can say that even though Risperdal was great at keeping me stable, it was clear that no matter how many times I'd ever try it, it would give me hyperprolactinemia. It's "cousin" medication Invega did the same thing. Then I developed a pituitary tumor, which Risperdal is known to cause on rare occasions, so I decided to ban it rather than let the tumor grow and have it removed through my nose.

Some antipsychotics were just hell bent on giving me akathisia. I put up with akathisia for long periods on a couple that caused it, but I never got full relief from the akathisia. Akathisia is something that doesn't just go away with time. Luckily, some antipsychotics have never caused me to have akathisia. I'll stick with them.

When a medication causes me to have a dystonia, I write it off.

If it becomes clear that a medication has never done anything for me after three trials, I send it to the figurative grave yard. Lithium is there. Plus, Lithium gave me the most side effects of any single medication I have ever taken in my life. The only bad Lithium side effect I never experienced was weight gain. For some reason it was weight friendly for me. I never went toxic on it, either. But if it didn't work, good bye!

I have found that some medications that seemed wrong at one time were usual at another. For example, Lamictal has always been activating for me. Once at 300 mg I ended up in the hospital manic. Another two times it started to make me manic. The third time my doctor decided to just keep the dose very low and add more sedating antipsychotic. That worked out great.