[Melmo]

Do you tend to go off your meds or adjust them on your own?

[Moose72]

I would be going off evil zyprexa right now if I weren't already going off it.

[HALLIEBETH87]

I have before when I was "healed" aka manic and bad things tend to happen.

This recent ip was for depression with psychosis and I though I was taking my meds-I wasn't taking them properly. Now that I am back on track...and with some extra haldol...I'm doing well again.

[Melmo]

I went off one med and reduced another that I am now about to restart taking as prescribed but heard its a common bipolar thing. My psychiatrist doesn't think I have bipolar (but my family dr does) and already thinks I'm non compliant with my meds because I told him I keep forgetting.

[Moose72]

Are you forgetting or do you just think you don't need or want them?

[raspberrytorte]

I have a tendency of going off meds and adjusting dosages on my own. I've gotten better though.

[Melmo]

Originally Posted by Moose72

Are you forgetting or do you just think you don't need or want them?

Well I have been on venlafaxine since the end of march 2016, and I have been forgetting off and on. I am getting better at it but because I told my psychiatrist that I keep forgetting, he apparently left a note in my file that my family dr read to me that says I am "non compliant."
My psychiatrist prescribed risperidone to me last apt to take in the am and pm, aswell as Ativan when needed and upping my venlafaxine from 150mg to 225mg. After a few weeks I just decided to stop taking the risperidone because of the side effects I had heard about it, and because I felt I didn't need it and it wasn't doing anything anyway and I stopped taking the extra 75mg of venlafaxine so I went back to 150mg.

[Moose72]

Originally Posted by Melmo

Well I have been on venlafaxine since the end of march 2016, and I have been forgetting off and on. I am getting better at it but because I told my psychiatrist that I keep forgetting, he apparently left a note in my file that my family dr read to me that says I am "non compliant."
My psychiatrist prescribed risperidone to me last apt to take in the am and pm, aswell as Ativan when needed and upping my venlafaxine from 150mg to 225mg. After a few weeks I just decided to stop taking the risperidone because of the side effects I had heard about it, and because I felt I didn't need it and it wasn't doing anything anyway and I stopped taking the extra 75mg of venlafaxine so I went back to 150mg.

Yeah that sounds non-compliant to me.

[Melmo]

Well yea I agree with you, but he called me non complient at the time just because I was sometimes forgetting to take them and sometimes not being able to remember if I took them or not. I have an apt on Wednesday so he doesn't know yet that I stopped taking them. I don't know if I am gonna tell him or not.

[Nammu]

I do tend to quit

[Cdnstargazer]

I forgot to take my seroquel last week. Then, because I slept 7 hours (even though it was broken), I figured I could sleep without it. Even though I ended up taking my abilify and prozac, I ended up becoming hypomanic.

I didn't chart my moods till today when I sighed, said "oh crap I was a bit high" and admitted it to myself. Last night it was an argument by my spouse who told me to take an extra seroquel. No more hypomania today. Lame.

My issues are, I still don't have a psychiatrist (they have all turned me down because I have bpd), so I see my GP on medical and psychiatric reasons. So I adjust accordingly with my meds. My dr said I could do that. One issue though is I crave my hypomania like an addict. I do miss them when they leave.

#the struggle

[Miss Laura]

I use to be really bad at going off them all for whatever reason(s). However I got better and for about a year and a half I was good. Then I started missing the odd med nothing major. Went back to religiously taking them. For about 6 months. I'm now starting to miss them all. I don't know if I'm just being stubborn or if I am ill?

[zijax]

I used to do this but with always disastrous results, now I'm straight forward with pdoc and he works with me to come off the ones that are detrimental.

[Melmo]

Originally Posted by Cdnstargazer

I forgot to take my seroquel last week. Then, because I slept 7 hours (even though it was broken), I figured I could sleep without it. Even though I ended up taking my abilify and prozac, I ended up becoming hypomanic.

I didn't chart my moods till today when I sighed, said "oh crap I was a bit high" and admitted it to myself. Last night it was an argument by my spouse who told me to take an extra seroquel. No more hypomania today. Lame.

My issues are, I still don't have a psychiatrist (they have all turned me down because I have bpd), so I see my GP on medical and psychiatric reasons. So I adjust accordingly with my meds. My dr said I could do that. One issue though is I crave my hypomania like an addict. I do miss them when they leave.

#the struggle

How would you describe your hypo mania? What's it like?

[Faltering]

I tend to quit meds and treatment, thinking this time I'll be fine without them. Predictably, several months later I have a particularly severe episode and go seek treatment again. It's a bad cycle. The most recent time I quit treatment in January 2016 and went for a psych assessment in October. I was involuntarily sent to a psych ward and now have it written in my records that I'm noncompliant with treatment. I'm seeing a pdoc now but again want to quit due to side effects. I also have an eating disorder and fear that a lack of weight loss could be related to the meds. I do want to get help. It's just I'm stubborn and think I can handle things on my own until they get really bad. I also have urges to quit treatment that I can't explain. I think it might be related to denial. If my symptoms aren't severe all the time, then in my mind I must not be bipolar. It's strange logic.

We have Others that hate meds and don't think that they are bipolar.....and start changing things. It's not a "I'm healed" thing but straight up denial and disbelief with a twinge of fury. But what has helped us is having a 2 week pill box for both night and day where we don't have to think about it and just grab and go.

[wildflowerchild25]

The first two years I was dx'ed I went on and off meds on my own. Chasing mania, thinking I was well, etc. then I had a bad manic/psychotic episode. That proved to me that I do indeed have bipolar, and I've been compliant with meds ever since. That was three years ago.

[VanGore28]

I have had to add in some extra medication off my own back and I buy it online no prescription/ because my doc doesn't believe in too much medication. What! Your a blinking psychiatrist!

[Moose72]

Originally Posted by VanGore28

I have had to add in some extra medication off my own back and I buy it online no prescription/ because my doc doesn't believe in too much medication. What! Your a blinking psychiatrist!

How do you know how much of what to get?

I decided after ~20 years of sequential disasters that there wasn't any point in hopping on or off my psychotropics on a whim or according to my own unsupervised survival or recovery strategies because the efficacy of my drugs depend on consistency and my doctor is ultimately responsible for my prescribed combination of powerful and possibly toxic medications, knows a lot about pharmacology and medication interactions that I don't, and should be kept apprised of my situation. Taking ill-advised, unauthorized and unannounced medi-vacations and then showing up in my pdoc's office a couple weeks later saying "I don't feel so good" isn't exactly fair.

I used to stop taking my meds all the time. I've gotten better about it, but still lower the doses at times. Lately I haven't been taking my morning dose of clozapine, but am still taking the night dose and every other med I'm on. I want to stop taking the prazosin too just to see if I'd still have nightmares as well.

[VanGore28]

How do you know how much of what to get?

I have been able to judge what I may need because they tried me on a plethora of drugs back in 2014 - risperidone, abilify, chlozopine and id been on Zyprexa in the past. i was on 50mg of Zyprexa at one point so i have a good tolerance.
i know many people who ive befriended from the psyche ward and from them i get their stories . I knew sum1 on lithium and i looked up the therapeutic dose and tried it. then i read that abillify helps mood and i remember being on it and my mood was ok but my concentration and thoughts not right. i know the internet isn't a reliable place to find medical information. I start with a low dose and add to it gradually.
Ordinary mood drugs like mirtazapine and venlafaxine just aren't cutting it, i still take them but i have schizoaffective and anti psychotics that are potent are the only ones that work on me. abilify is often an add on even with another anti psychotic. i also realise that mixing is an issue, when experimenting.lithium was only drug i tried on my own that i hadn't been issued in hospital and it worked but it f**ks the liver so ive opted for abilify.

Seroquel is my main medication for sleep, concentration, racing thoughts. Abilify does not have the same sedating qualities but helps mood.

But i have blood tests, an ecg and others in over a weeks time, i think they will be miffed to find other drugs in my system. I will just plead ignorance as i cant afford to stop taking any . Got important assignments to do.

I know I'm playing with fire, and i realise the risk with taking new drugs, but i can't live with my natural state end of story. Its a calculated risk at the end of the day, i do my research draw on past experience.

[BipolaRNurse]

I forget a dose every now and then, but otherwise I'm totally compliant with my medication regimen. I'm too scared not to be. As a nurse I have a deep respect for these powerful drugs, and as a patient I know I'm on a very short leash. I feel the effects if I miss even one dose. Sometimes I dream about coming off them one day, but the reality is I'll be taking them (or some other combination of meds) for the rest of my life.

[pirilin]

I take my meds all the time. On time and agreed with the shrink.
As long as she agrees to what I say.

[bizi]

I tried taking amino acids to see if they could replace my klonipin for sleep. they did not work. so I stopped taking them.
.5mg of klonipin works to help me sleep thank god! my pdoc tried to switch to trazadone last year and that was a disaster. I went manic....trazadone is in the anti depressant family and I can't take anti depressants.
bizi