[InfiniteSadness]

Do they alter it in a bad way as well as good? Im scared, all the different meds i've tried over the years caused more imbalances or perm. damage...

[Maven]

I don't know the answer to that, but I worry about the same. Not just worried about negative things it might do to my brain, but physical things down the road.

[onionknight]

You may want to check out this article: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/relati...ature-to-heal/

I'm inclined to say yes, in the long-term. If you need a med for a period of time to help (for whatever reason that causes it to help), go for it and try to stabilize with therapy and life changes and see if you still suffer down the line.

[Odee]

Having an untreated mental disorder just might be worse for your brain than medication. For example, sufferers of chronic depression tend to have decreased mass in certain areas of the brain.

There seems to be this burgeoning idea in pharmopsychiatry that antidepressants encourage neurogenesis of the brain (new neuronal growth.) Whereas depression exhibits signs of decreased growth, antidepressant treatment seems to reverse the degeneration process. This idea, however, is even more of an untested hypothesis than the 'chemical imbalance' suggestion.

I stand by that untreated conditions are worse than medicated ones. Yet wrong medications just might be worse.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by InfiniteSadness

Do they alter it in a bad way as well as good? Im scared, all the different meds i've tried over the years caused more imbalances or perm. damage...

I used to worry about this but then all my treatment providers explained to me that if the prescribed meds did any damage to my brain it would show up in my blood work. basically when ever there is in your words an "imbalance" the blood tests would show that. example a blood test shows how much medication I have in my body. a blood test shows how much of the brain chemicals like dopamine is in my body. A blood test shows how many red blood cells and white blood cells there are in my body, a blood test shows how much oxygen, food, sugar, water and lots of other things too.

then if the blood tests shows the counts are off they look at which counts are off. then they do more tests based on that.. for example when I was on lithium for my bipolar I had to get many blood tests to monitor the lithium levels in my body, when the counts were too high my dosage was lowered and when the counts were too low my dosages were increased.

it is amazing how much a simple blood test will tell a treatment provider..

my suggestion if I remember right in another post you stated you had blood work done and it turned out normal. if this idea of possible brain damage continues to bother you talk with your treatment providers they will explain to you about your blood work and how it tells them whether your brain has been damaged or not on the medications. they can also order more blood work and an xray called an MRI and show you what your brain looks like and show you whether there is any brain damage.