Can you live without your meds?

Over the last few months I have been exploring the idea of getting off of my meds safely and under doctor supervision. My dx is Bipolar II with Borderline Personality Disorder. I'm also an alcoholic but I haven't had a drink in over two years. I'm not able to accept the fact that the way I am now is the way I'm going to be for the rest of my life. I've always been a very driven person and I no longer am because of the sedating effects of my meds. I can't stand living like this anymore and I feel that I need to do something about it. Is there anyone on here who is successfully living with their mental illness without meds?

I'm bipolar...and sure I can live without my meds...the question is what's the quality of life you have on vs off your meds.

Right now for me, that's on my meds.

It doesn't have to be a binary. With my old antidepressant I was medicated into total numbness. With my "new" one I stayed on a small dosage where I have access to all my normal feelings, but it still helped me with the worst depression. I had more bad days like that but also more good days. Totally unmedicated I'd be a mess.

If you have stopped drinking, your symptoms may not be as bad as they were before.

That's what I'm thinking. The only thing that really gives me pause is my penchant for rages and major depressive episodes. But if I make some major lifestyle changes over the next year I think I can do it.

My quality of life right now is not that great. I could be over medicated I don't know for sure but I don't feel alive. I feel like I'm just existing.

Welcome to the real world of mental illness. Unless you live in CA you as a bipolar and your next episode you could be forced to take medicine against your will or stay in the hospital until you agree.

I can live without them but no one else can live around me and I fear I might kill someone without my meds....so no i can't really live without them

I have Bipolar I and I am currently doing really well off meds. I worked very hard for almost a year to build every coping skill possible. When things get hard I often have to white knuckle it and hold on for dear life. Its not "easy" Maybe I will need meds in the future, But for now I am doing well .

I agree with sidestepper, I might be able to stay alive without my meds, but I'd have no quality of life.

Possible trigger:

Actually, I'm not sure I would continue to live without my meds. I'm afraid I'd kill myself without them.

I have bipolar disorder and have been doing well without meds now for over a year and a half. But I worked my tail off in therapy getting through the other issues in my life that complicated my bipolar symptoms and learning how to manage stress and symptoms very proactively before I ever considered going off of meds (with my pdoc's blessings). Right now I am very stable and so far I have been able to manage the few bouts with some very situational depression and stress.

I don't rule out that down the road I may need to go back on medication; I'm not anti-med at all. But what we found in my case was that the meds that were supposed to be working preventively really weren't working preventively at all for me. Instead, we found I do respond well to meds if I do go into a severe episode and once I am out of the episode and stable again, I appear to be able to go off meds for extended periods of time without problems. For now . . . I am open to change if and when it comes, but for now I am very pleased with where I am.

NO!

I recently bought a new home, and I received about 10 letters offering me an insurance policy that if I die the house will be paid off for my beneficiary. Well, when they found out that I'm a combat vet with PTSD, schizophrenia, high blood pressure, and I had a stroke last October, they all told me that my premium would be about 5 times the price of my mortgage! They bluntly told me they expect me to die within 3 years.

So, no, I cannot live without my medications.

The aim is for me to be off meds. But with how sick I am at the moment I cannot imagine how I would be without the meds I am on.

I hope you feel better soon.

I agree with everyone else. Meds are not everyone's favorite thing for sure, but sometimes they are necessary for our own safety.

During "calm" periods, it may be possible to go without, but you have to be a very proactive careful and aware of your mood changes.

i hope one day i can live without meds, but right now i can't because of my psychotic symptoms

I can't see myself doing without meds. The depression gets too deep. I just hope that the ones on now keep working.

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I had gotten off my meds. Then I digressed being angry, anxious, frustrated. I was highly aggitated. I lived off of them not feeling so fuzzy but the heightened awareness of things around me triggered me off. I would get upset real easy. I took everything to heart and it affected me mentally. It stressed me out so bad cause I took things personal and to heart. Yes, better to be on meds to cope than off of them and suffer a poor quality of life. Blessings....

Could I live, as in breathe, eat and sleep? Yes. Could I have a life as in enjoy things, work, have friends, go to school? Absolutely not! Because of that, I choose to be on meds because like others have said, it's about quality of life, and my quality of life without meds would be extremely low, and in my opinion, not really a life worth living.

I need mine plus I am in therapy weekly. Doing my best.

I have tried with no meds, or much lower doses. Things do not go well for me. However, I am hoping someday that I am able to get off of them and be a real person.

You may try a different dose, or different med before you try to be rid of them entirely.

Good job to you Christina.

I would love to try it without meds, in fact reading some of these posts has given me a renewed interest in trying to cut back.

I do manage my depression with talk therapy and ECT as well as my meds, so I am really trying to learn coping skills that don't only involve my meds. Right now though I should probably stay on them......for everyone around me ;-).

Take care everyone!

I've successfully come off all my meds this year...

At the start of the summer I decided to try coming my Citlaopram which I was taking for anxiety because I hadn't had any noticeable anxiety for a few months. Other than a brief bit of anxiety whilst tapering off, I've not had any problems.

Fast forward to just over a month ago & I agreed to try coming off Risperidone with my p-doc. Initially my voices got a little bit more persistent but I've been coping okay & after a month they seem to have quietened down a bit now. They might be worse than they were on the meds but it's nothing I can't deal with plus I've got the benefit of not feeling tired all the time now. Not had any noticeable paranoia or anything either.

So, so far it seems I can live without my meds! I'm hoping none of my problems will return to the extent I need meds again but only time will tell.

Well, my world is falling apart. Too many bills and not enough money. So I am going to have to try again at getting off meds. So to hell with them!!!!!

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Psych meds give me a life. An impaired life, but a life, nevertheless. Frankly, I think I would be even better off if I was on higher doses of some of my meds. I just dread the impaired stamina and weight gain.