Medication

Medication plays a very important role in the treatment of mental illness. It is one part of treatment in the battle versus mental illness and a very important part as well. Medication is not something that is uncommon. One in six people in the United States are on some form of a psychiatric medication.

However, medication in and of itself carries a big stigma. People still refer to them as "happy pills" and don't see them as being necessary for productive living. People are repeatedly shamed for having to take medication for their mental illness. Many times they are told to do things like change their diet to this plan or that plan or make sure their getting enough sleep or just exercise more and while these things are good things they do not solve the issue that depression and anxiety create inside the body. Mental illnesses are caused by real physical deficiencies in the brain and that is why medication is so important to recovery. Mental illnesses are medical illnesses in nature and this is something that needs to be recognized. Pill shaming should be a thing of the past and peer acceptance should be a thing of today. Only then will we move forward, away from the stigma.

My experience with medication began when I was a teenager. At the age of 15, I was put on an antidepressant and an anti-anxiety medication. I didn't have steady mental health professionals throughout the end of my teen years so I took those medications for a couple years and eventually went off of them on my own. At the age of 19, I realized that I needed help again and sought out to see a psychiatrist. This started out the new medication trials which eventually led to an overdose on those medications which once the psychiatrist found out about the overdose, led to a psychiatric hospitalization. From that point until now, I was put on so many different medications and medication combinations it is impossible to count them. I have been on almost every SSRI and SNRI that exist (SSRI and SNRI are classes of antidepressants). I have been on mood stabilizers, anti-psychotics, multiple different types of sleep medications and many different kinds of anti-anxiety medications. I am the person the black box warnings were created for. I have had medicines make me more depressed and more suicidal. We also just recently learned that medicines can make me more suicidal for a period of a couple days as my body adjusts to them and then everything will calm down and I'll be okay. My body is just super sensitive to medication and medication changes and it is super important that I keep my medications the same in my system. In the year 2017, I spent 6 months in a hospital setting. The first 4 1/2 of those months were basically used to figure out which medication combination would work best for me. It literally took 4 1/2 months of changing medications on sometimes a daily basis to figure out what I needed and what would actually work for me. But finally I am on a regimen that works and I am grateful for that. Because of all I have gone through with medication, I feel like I have the ability to share my knowledge with others because I know what medications do what and what they can help with and I have a basic knowledge of most medications that are out there. I hope to use my experience to help others.

Here are some guidelines and suggestions I have come up with when it comes to medication:
1) Know what you are taking. And by know I mean really know. Know the name of it, know the dosage, know what time you take it, etc. Also do a little research on it. This is helpful if you start to experience side effects especially since no medication doesn't come without a side effect. It's important to know what the side effects are so you can discuss them with your doctor. Additionally, you should know how to take the medication. This includes knowing when you should take the medication as some should be taken in the morning and some at night. This also includes whether it should be taken with food or not. Some medications also have interactions with other medications that you should be aware about. Many psychiatric medications interact with grapefruit so it is important to know if you medication has that interaction. All of this is basic information that can be found on the internet. Know your medication so you know what to expect.
2) Keep a schedule. Try to take medications around the same time each day. One helpful reminder is setting a timer on your phone or using a phone app that can help remind you. The phone app I use to remind me is called RoundHealth. Another thing I use to help me is weekly pill containers. This is really helpful if you take multiple medications.
3) Be an active participant. What I mean by this is start researching. If a medication doesn't work for you, start researching and see what an alternative option would be. Being an active participant can mean coming to your appointments and telling your doctor "Well I read this and wanted to know your opinion". Doctors want you to be an active participant in your care. They can always disagree with you and you can discuss going a different route but having knowledge of what is out there is very powerful in your appointments with your psychiatrist. One example I will use is that there is a medication they are just starting to use for nightmares that works better than the current one and I brought research to my doctor and he researched and we agreed to put me on it and it has worked so much better. I would have never been put on that medication if I had not researched it in the first place. It is important to be involved in your care. Active participants tend to get better quicker because they are advocating for themselves and what they feel they need.
4) Do NOT go off medication without doctor's orders. I repeat do NOT go off medication without a doctor leading you through it, even if you are starting to feel better. You are probably starting to feel better because of the medication. Additionally, going off of medications suddenly can have dangerous symptoms including things known as "brain zaps". Going off of medications without a doctor's order is very dangerous and can put you in a worse state than you were in before. I know this because I've done this, twice with dangerous results both times. Both times I ended up in a hospital shortly after because of going off the medication. Stay on your medication as prescribed until your doctor tells you otherwise.

Medication is something that can be very useful in our battle with mental illness. It is something that is often necessary for people to function and there should be no shame in that. We should move forward to live in a world of acceptance, not shame so that everybody can achieve a healthy functional state of being whether that includes the use of medication or not.

(If you have any questions, feel free to ask. NOTE: I am NOT a doctor, just someone who has been through the ringer with this.)