What do you guys think?

Do meds keep us sick? I mean it numbs us, well mine do plus having this emotional disorder doesn't help either. I feel like I have been stuck in the same 5 days for almost a year now...never getting better never getting worse than what I am at my worst. Before that everything was just there, nothing great nothing bad just there I am wondering if going off meds and letting myself really feel everything to it's warranted extreme if maybe I could get over some of the issues in life. I am once again in my whiny mood, I can hear it in my voice when I talk to ppl, that blahness, I can feel it in my body and it sucks waaaaaaah!! Yet tomorrow could be like this morning when I was hyper and excited again...fml lol.

Good topic.. I'd say yes and no..

No - they don't make you worse off if you can find the right ones with low side effects, that keep you regulated, and keep you feeling human.

Yes - to other medications ie. lithium which can make you feel like a zombie (at least it did me) or other medications which treat the illness, but causes potential other problems ie. increased liver enzymes, weight gain etc...

I agree with cbox. I have had meds that have made me way worse, and meds that have really helped, it's all in finding the right one

I guess it is hard to know what meds would work, if I trust to even start taking new meds...what does normal feel like? I guess I feel more alive when I feel pain but normal shouldn't be pain. I can't even explain what normal would be, what is normal? I have felt these weird highs and low for as long as I can remember, so there is no going back to normal for me, for many of us I assume. How do you know a med is working? Like what do you guys feel when you can say yea this med is working?

This is a tough one... I think when we take meds for a long time, we can forget how we functioned or how we felt when we were off of them. You may want to consider discussing with your doctor about going off of your meds so you can get some insight as to how you feel without them. Once you establish that feeling treat from there if needed. The easiest, and only example that is coming to my mind at the moment would be this. Let's say you go off of all your meds, and then you begin to have panic attacks, but otherwise feel fine... Add some anti anxiety meds to treat the panic attacks, and go from there....

...how cool is that!...that you are even asking yourself these questions and the biggy there "maybe I could get over the issues in life?".......and this observation comin' from a person doing that exact same balancing act on the threshold of madness that you are referring to chaotic.

My medicated history is too messy to get into here but briefly, I reached a point where I felt I had exceeded, gone way beyond what all my pills were intended to do.....where I felt more damaged..

I call this phenomenon...MENTAL PILLNESS

it wasn't about not feeling 'normal' so much....but just that I simply didn't feel 'right'......and for me to feel 'right' would be what I would consider to not be abnormal...

and abnormal, more than just my emotional problems, was what I was feeling and I was miserable...

...in the beginning I was desperate for doctor drugs...anything mate gimmee gimmee! ...change my damn mood now man!

one pill would do 'this' and 'that'....I would then need another pill to deal with 'that' while 'this' was ok maybe....then 'that' would start happening all sideways, affecting 'this' and whatever 'that' was before 'this' turned into 'that' would mean a different pill again and on and on until ....oh crap I don't like all of 'that' makin' me feel like 'this'!

takes a risk...alot of courage to decide to see whats left when ya' remove all the medication...and with bpd, because there aint no magic pill for it!....not like a cure for disease or a maintenance treatment like diabetes.. that you simply cannot survive without...

...it is very possible to check out whats on the other side.....it took me a long time to clear out my system completely...I made it a mission, I was curious like you are....I wanted to find out if this idea of a 'normal' feeling better, feeling 'right' me did actually exist and was waiting for me to arrive.

...haha...turns out I was waiting there when I arrived...and a real nutjob at that but one with some serious spirit!
...raw and naked and fully exposed and I lasted about 3 months..
much like cbox says there (panic attacks as an example)...turns out I had some severe bi-polar ups and downs...oops!!

nevermind....at least it was a lucid discovery and I went to the psych and asked...thats right, I asked for an antipsychotic.

so now I just have mental illness....and not mental pillness

nuts...mad....crazy....but it's a pure experience. took time though chaotic, I don't recommend just stopping everything like I did the hard way!
run it by the docs....get some support and supervision...it's a noble and personal quest you seek...

#(what I describe here is my experience and I'm not sayin' do or dont do....yep)#

I know my meds have side effects that are difficult to deal with. That being said, I also know that without them, I would be dead. No doubt.

I am grateful for meds. I do wonder if I am on the best ones for me, but I have tried so many of them and the ones I have do work, at least somewhat. Nothing is perfect. As long as I am still breathing, I still have a chance to beat this and have a life worth living.

recently I went off medication and got back on after being off for six months. It was worth it to know that I need them. I'm working with my doctor to find the right ones.

I have chosen never to go back on meds, come hell, suicide, or whatever. I want to feel myself, however unpleasant that often is.