[InfiniteSadness]

People around me mostly say sticking to the medication. I agree for the most part, as it is the first in line treatment. But im lost almost everywhere else, as to how to break free. Diet is important I suppose too. Is it pretty much a life long thing? Thats what ive read..

I'm not awake enough yet to write a good reply to your question. I suppose I want to try to live as normal a life as possible in spite of the depression.

There's a fairly new book called "Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes"
that I am interested in reading. It focuses on making small changes to diet, activity, and sleep habits. Small changes are about all that I am capable of at the moment, and I agree strongly with a statement from the book "I treat my diet, activity, and sleep as if they are deeply interconnected."

If I could afford it, I would definitely go to a holistic or naturopathic doctor for treatment. They usually don't take insurance, though.

Social connections are another area that I have let degrade greatly as a result of my health problems.

I suppose I think that if we're lucky, our meds will make us well enough to work on all the other areas needed to make a healthy life. We may never be able to leave our meds behind, but I like to think that we can live a good life even with our illness.

I do know a couple of people who managed to get off meds and pretty much "get over" their depression. It involved huge lifestyle changes - job change from full-time to part-time in a field that they loved, healthy eating, lots of time outside in the sun, nutritional supplements, regular massage, low stress lifestyle.

I broke free from mental illness when I accepted the fact that I'm mentally ill.

It was no different than my accepting the fact that I'm an alcoholic and gay.

For mental illness, I take my meds, exercise, get adequate sleep, eat a sensible diet, don't isolate, avoid triggers, and try to keep a positive outlook on life.

[Crazy Hitch]

Yeah this is a great question because I wonder this same thing sometimes too. For me, it's meds, therapy and healthy life strategies.

Originally Posted by kindness

I broke free from mental illness when I accepted the fact that I'm mentally ill.

Excellent answer, although far harder than it sounds.

The word of the day is anosognosia:

Anosognosia is a common symptom of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with psychotic features. Also called "lack of awareness" or "lack of insight," it has an anatomical basis that has been confirmed in multiple scientific studies. The word itself comes from the Greek word for disease (nosos) and knowledge (gnosis) and literally means “to not know a disease.” It affects approximately 50 percent of individuals with schizophrenia and 40 percent of individuals with bipolar disorder and is the most common reason that individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar do not take their medications.

Eliminating Barriers to the Treatment of Mental Illness

Anosognosia is like a personal normalcy bias: most of us are not raised or prepared or expect to go through life burdened with an incurable and destructive mental illness. Acceptance of this hard reality is made even more difficult by society's stigma and lack of empathy and understanding of mental illness.

[Dog on a Tree]

Outlook on life is another thing that can help. Having a support network such as friends, family and loved ones.

[avlady]

i also broke free when i admitted my illness to myself. i am on meds fro over 30 years now, have tried to go off but it never stuck. i don't mind being on the meds because they keep me stable. good luck

[BlueEyedMama]

For me it's about managing my panic disorder and PTSD as best I can through meds, therapy, exercise, healthy eating and a strong support system. I still struggle for sure but this is the combo that I found works best to manage my symptoms. Much like how I manage by other illness that is not MI...meds, medical team, eating well and support system (mostly hubby and a few friends.)

[Killian Hook]

I feel the same way as you, Infinite. I am glad you asked this because there are some helpful responses here.

[Ripose]

MI will last as long as you stay on your "meds". But withdrawal is even worse (or can be), so what do we do?
I am going to try for a compromise and reduce each of my meds by just a bit. Life will be so much better with a few less side-effects.

It is very dpressing to think that MI is "forever", so I still need to think that I will get off my meds completely "some day".

[lizardlady]

I guess I'm sort of like Kindness that I've learned to accept the fact I have depression is part of who I am. It's not something I would wish on another person, but it's "just" part of my life. I have a medical condition that will last the rest of my life. I fought against being diagnosed with the problem for a long time. Didn't make the problem og away and made me even more miserable. Since I've also learned to accept it as part of who I am it's easier to cope with.

Folks mentioned meds. When I first went on an antidepressant I asked my pdoc if I was going to be on it the rest of my life. He said we had to see. He wasn't being a smart aleck. He meant we'd have to see how I did on and off the med. I'm stable taking my med each day. I once tried going off it for financial reasons and because I wanted to see if I could be okay without it. Turned out not to be a good thing for me. I became horribly suicidal once off the med. After that I accepted that I'll be on the med the rest of my life. Would I prefer to be med free? Heck yes! BUT I also want a quality of life that does not include multiple plans how to kill myself.

[avlady]

how so true i tried too but had to admit it to myself i'm a lifer on them

[brackenbeard]

A lot of great answers here. I took the path Kindness describes and also found my way into acceptance of my alcoholism along with mental illness. Way to go everybody who has found acceptance. It is far from easy.

I've found a place where if I get anxious it sucks, but I see it with a sense of humor. Even depression which is not full blown I can take it with a joke or two.

I am a person with a mental illness. I cannot change it. When I'm symptomatic I cannot change it. But it can be funny. "here we go again weeeeee..." , "not again, oh man, really??" "whhhhy... whhhhhyy???".

it's kind of a morbid funny. a laugh in pain, but a laugh. An approach or somethin.