medication until the end of time

[foreverinternalized]

In the beginning it was about getting better, then considering getting off medication. Since then I've switched doses and medications numerous times. I've only recently stopped hoping I'll be able to get off medication- It's no longer a realistic dream. All I can do is expect another problem and have to get my prescriptions fiddled with yet again.

Anybody else dealing with the same?

[lozza]

unfortunately... YES:(
I have been on so many meds I have lost count... and once I did try to come off them and I did for a period of 2-3 months... only to find I slipped yet again into a severe depressive and suicidal state

I dont know if I will ever be free of meds... I hope so but I long for the day I can just be me...

[bleeding black]

I've been on psychiatric medications since i was 12, I'm 20 now. I've had my medications changed, tapered off and had doses adjusted numerous times.

I hope that one day I won't need them, but in the interim I'm just grateful that they can make things even a little bit easier.

Taking medication is a small inconvenience for the respite from symptoms they provide.

[Steel Maiden]

I agree with Bleeding Black.

I've been on APs since I was 15. I'm nearly 21 now. My psych said I'll be on APs at least until I finish uni (I'm starting the course this September), if not for the rest of my life. Tbh I prefer to have to take pills and be well, than not take pills and be ill.

[LaurieR]

Me too, I've been on various meds since I was 17 and the psych said I shouldn't even think about coming off them until I finish my PhD in four years' time, then depending on my life/ employment circumstances I might have to take my meds for a lot longer. Who knows. Maybe indefinitely, as they once mentioned.

But I agree with Oly- I'd rather take the meds to control (not eliminate) the symptoms than be ill. If it wasn't for the meds I wouldn't be alive today, but it was also the meds which could have killed me two years ago. What an irony!

[ThinkingofRecovery]

I've not asked to when I am going to be meds free but have only just got on another combination again this year which has helped me going from dangerously suicidal and attempting to being on a kind of even keel with those thoughts being less, my moods being more stable and me being able to act less on the impulses. In effect, they have and still are saving my life.

I don't like being medicated as it makes me feel like a freak but I realise that I need them right now (and have for the last 2 and 1/2 years).

I am finally starting psychotherapy in about 4 weeks and who knows how long that will last but I expect for a vast proportion I will still need to be on meds in order to be able to safely engage in the psychotherapy.

I hope one day I will be off them but it somewhere in the long-term not immediate future.

[PaleMoon]

I've been on and off various psych meds for about four years now, with no indication that I will soon stop them. The one med I am seriously pushing to stop is my Zyprexa, because I am afraid of what an anti-psychotic might do to me if I take it too long.

But meds are important. They reduce our symptoms so we can engage in various therapies more effectively. They allow us to have more good days and fewer bad ones. I currently work full time, have my driver's license, and am starting college in a week's time. I believe without my meds I wouldn't be able to do any of these things.

[secret squirrel]

I have been on a combination of medication since I was 20 (i'm now 35) and really, I don't mind as it keeps me more stable and if I have to take it forever, that's ok. It's not a cure as I still have my ups and downs but they are nothing like as bad as they used to be.

I also take medication for my asthma which I have been on since I was 16 and I feel the same about that. I'll take it as long as I need it.

However, I am aware that for some meds there are side-effects and some are not meant for long-term use and so I can understand how some people may have concerns. Also, are mental health problems the same as physical illnesses? It's not straightforward - I have mixed feelings about it and I don't see myself as 'ill'. But the medication seems to help and so I take it. It kept me stable enough to cope with intensive therapy and it's maintaining my mood stability so that I can move forward from that. I have managed to come off the anti-psychotic that I had been taking for 10 years so maybe in the future I can gradually come off the other two.

[Leni]

I've been on meds for nearly 15 years. I don't believe I'll ever be med-free or 'better' anymore.

[foreverinternalized]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. It makes my trip to the psychiatrist on monday seem a little less daunting.

[lozza]

I hope it goes ok hun

let us know:)