Posted by Simcha on October 31, 2005, at 0:44:46
In reply to Re: going off all meds-again » catmint, posted by theo on October 30, 2005, at 11:15:17
I found that after over 6 years of good recovery in 12 step groups that I had to get onto medication for Major Depressive Disorder with Recurrant Features. Going to three meetings a day did not help. Doing 3 sessions of therapy per week did not help. What helped, at that time, was 150mg of Effexor XR per day. For the first time in my life after being on it for six weeks I felt like I wanted to be awake and alive.
I've been on medication now for four years and from what my psychiatrist says, I won't be getting off of medication anytime soon. The fact that 12 step and therapy did not really "do it" and the fact that both sides of the family suffer from extreme mental illness leads this psychiatrist and others I've seen to believe that I'll need medication, until there is a cure, for the rest of my life to be "mood stable."
As a budding therapist I can tell you that with Bipolar that this is also true. If you feel a medication is not working, your best bet is to run, not walk, to your psychiatrist and get re-evaluated. Don't take yourself off of any medication without medical consultation. In my experience, I've seen too many Bipolars commit suicide shortly after taking themselves off of medications without consulting their psychiatrists.
So, unless you are being carefully monitored by a psychiatrist, and hopefully a therapist, and being told to stop all meds then I would suggest you reconsider your decision until you have consulted a medical mental health professional.
That's my two cents of experience. Take what you like and leave the rest.
Simcha
> Good luck in your quest. I must say, I never felt better than when I first became sober and stopped everything. I was very involved in my recover and speaking about AA, bipolar, depression, etc.
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> I lost interest because thought I was "cured" and stopped my active life talking about the illness and witdrew to where I'm back in the trap of negative "why me" self pity.
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> My whole point is that when I was active in my recovery, medication was totally secondary. Now that I have been less involved I back in the mission of trying meds, and that as you know can be one let down after another. You know that feeling of high hopes with a new med thinking, this is the one, knowing realistically it probably won't be.
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> I do believe after being off meds for long periods that I can survive, but there are those tuff times where I can't get the motivation to be around people and comunicate about my problems and this is where I've had some success with meds "bridging" that gap.
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poster:Simcha
thread:572188
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051024/msgs/573645.html