[JeanneDoe]

I see so many people on here looking ringer off meds, others looking to get meds.
What about the meds makes you want to stop taking them? I'm going to the dr to get some but will I just want to stop them later? What affect do they have on you? Would anyone share their med experience with me?

[love2drum]

Hi JeanneDoe, I'm not entirely new to meds, took anti depressives on and off for years.....with minimal outcome. I have been diagnosed with ADD and am now being treated for that.....it is pharmaceutical "speed". All kinds of potential side effects.....I haven't had any as yet, but I'm on the lowest dose they make.....it has helped tremendously with the depression.....I still get low, but never suicidal any longer....thank goodness....I would welcome the idea of a medication to help with the anxiety I have constantly and the self esteem problems, the phobias, etc.....but resist it at the same time.....I guess, for me, I don't want to be an "artificial" me.....I want to be "me" without all the junk.....don't know if it works quite like that....but, again, I'm brand new at this BP thing, and haven't really talked about medications for it....just the ADD thing.....I would say, if you think you need them, for sure, go and find out! you can always decide later not to take them.....or, it may not bother you at all to know about side effects, etc....only you and your doctor/med expert can determine what's right for you. No harm in finding out about them and how they might help you?

[splitimage]

I have a love hate relationship with my meds. I think that the reason why most people want to go off their meds is because of side effects that they can't tolerate. Every med has side effects to some degree, it's a question of finding the right med or combination of meds to lessen or hopefully get rid of your symptoms, with minimal side effects that you can live with.

I've been on some form of anti-depressant for over a decade now. Even while on anti-D's I'd still get clinically depressed, as I have recurrent depression, but the meds keep the episodes shorter and not as severe. My psychiatrist's philosophy is to keep people on the lowest possible dose of medication for the shortest possible period of time. His position is basically if I'm able to be completely symptom free from depression for a 2 year period, then we'll consider weaning me off meds. Last summer I went into a prolonged and deep depression and became suicidal. There are limited meds options for me at this point, but one that I knew would work was upping my anti-psychotic dose, which we did. It worked to get me out of the depressive episode but after about 4 months I began to experience really negative extra-pyramidal symptoms that I couldn't tolerate so I had to go back down to my standard dose. That and going IP got me "cured" and my mood has remained relatively stable and good since then.

The anti-psychotic I take, risperidone, is also the one that has the most negative side effects for me. It screws up my period, causes me to lactate, increases body hair, and increases photosensativity, gives me hand tremors, and the most annoying in my perspective really flattens my affect. But it's the side effect profile I like the most out of all the A-typicals. I recently wanted to see if I could reduce my dose to see if I could also reduce the side effects with worsenning my mood since I was feeling relatively stable. So I dropped from 3 mg down to 2.5 mg. Huge mistake my mood just got worse every day, to the point at day 10 on the lower dose I had to call my psychiatrist and say i couldn't handle it, I'm going back up to 3. Within about 3 days of being back at the 3 mg, my mood had improved. This proved to me that I still really need that med at that dose.

My psychiatrist has said we can try lowering the dose again in 6 months to a year when my life is a little more stable.

Those are just my thoughts.

--splitimage

[online user]

One of the reasons some have looked to get off meds is also the cost. Not everyone can afford the medicine; not everyone has good insurance which covers them.

Some are prejudiced against medication. They think taking any drug is bad.

And some, as those have described above, seek to lessen the side effects so try to reduce the dose.

I have many medical conditions and take many, many medications. I rely on drugs to keep me sane and keep me alive. Modern medicine has improved my quality of life significantly. And extended my life, I am sure. I take drugs for Major Depressive Disorder, Recurrent; Diabetes; Hypertension; Hyperlipidemia; Urinary Incontinence; Chronic Diahhrea; Nausea and Vomiting (believed related to diabetic neropathy); Diabetic Neropathy; Vitamin D deficiency; and Osteoarthritis.

Originally Posted by JeanneDoe

What about the meds makes you want to stop taking them?

Well I've just stopped my meds cold turkey a few weeks ago against my doctor's advice so I should be able to answer this question... (I was on an antidepressant and antipsychotic for psychotic depression)

- My pdoc has yet to find meds that actually help me
- I don't like the side effects - my last ones made me put on a stone and a half in weight
- I don't like the idea of being dependent on meds - I feel like I should be able to 'pull myself together' without them
- My condition tells me that I shouldn't take meds - I believe that my illness is a punishment for being such a bad person and therefore don't deserve anything that might make me better (I've been told this is a delusion but it's hard to ignore)

So basically it's complicated. I think lots of people have a love-hate relationship with their psych meds.

*Willow*