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| photo by Salvatore Vuono |
I happen to agree with them, mostly. I don't consider myself well enough to even begin to think of getting off my meds these days. I wish I was better off. I want to say to people that I'm in a full remission.
But that is not the case. These days I'm either depressed or sleeping. I experience times with mild depression and other days I find myself entrenched in the dark mood. Most of the time I live with moderate depression.
Nevertheless, I persist with the hope that someday I will be able to be completely free of psych meds while holding the bipolar in remission. By remission I mean the disease is still there but it's not expressing itself in any significant way.
What are my chances of being symptom free without psychiatric medication? I don't know. But I do know that there are bipolar sufferers out there that have made it to a non-medicated state. So there is some chance. The possibility exists!
I'm not even sure of the steps I would take to get off meds. Would I start decreasing all my meds (abilify, cymbalta, lamictal, wellbutrin) at the same time or one by one? How fast should I get off each drug? The psychiatrist knows this information.
This is a delicate area. Nobody should attempt to go natural (off psych meds completely) without the supervision of a qualified mental health practitioner, usually a psychiatrist. Hopefully friends and family understand but that is not guaranteed.
Please note I am not a mental health professional and I am not giving medical advice here. I am just putting down my thoughts on the matter of being medicated for life.
Jeff I don't know whether I will ever be able to live without meds or not. I've been on them since 1999. They started me with just an anti-depressant. In 2004, they begin putting me on the more complicated medications. Now I take 5 medications for bipolar. One of them causes dependency... so I know that wouldn't be a pretty site. My hope is that I can come off of them too, but to be honest I don't think I will ever be able to unless there is an incredible breakthrough in medicine.
ReplyDeleteWayne - I too take 5 medications for bipolar disorder or should I say bipolar depression. If I didn't have such tough depression I could probably go down to just Lamictal for maintenance and relapse prevention.
ReplyDeleteHi Jeff. Just came across your blog, and have enjoyed what I have read so far.
ReplyDeleteI have the same desire as you to be completely of medication one day. In fact, I started my blog to document my withdrawal from Quetiapine. I am lucky enough to only use one medication, and this year is the first in over a decade that I have had no major episodes
My psychiatrist told me I would have to take medication indefinitely. But I like a challenge, and I hate being told what to do. However, I am willing to accept it might not be possible but I'm giving it a go anyway. I reckon it's worth a shot. I do it with my psychiatrists blessing, but I have made up my own rules and I follow them to the letter. It has taken me 9 months to reduce 125mg. It's a drawn out process.
I hope that one day you will reach the point where you are stable, in remission and ready to try it out too. I know it's possible to be stable. I know of people who are medication free. Please just remember one thing: drug withdrawal at a fast rate means relapse is inevitable. The brain has learnt to function with the drug(s), and it needs time and great care to learn to function properly with lower dosages. This is such vital information, but psychiatrists and GPs often don't know this (or don't care). Probably because they don't usually take people off all meds altogether, they usually put them on.
In the mean time, hang in there and I am hoping for you that remission is coming your way soon.
Sara
Hi Sara -
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder on withdrawal. I need to expect the withdrawal to take some time, like months. My brain has had many years being on meds and will need to wean it off of them slowly when I do. I'm glad you are able to try and get off Seroquel. I hope it works out.
Take care,
Jeff
Sara - Thanks for the comment! And thanks for the words of encouragement. In regards to your comment about withdrawal rate, I wonder if my recent reduction in Abilify from 30mg to 15mg was too big of a drop? I haven't noticed anything negative about the dose reduction but its only been a couple of weeks. Take care, Jeff
ReplyDeleteHi Sara -
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder on withdrawal. I need to expect the withdrawal to take some time, like months. My brain has had many years being on meds and will need to be weaned it off of them slowly when I do. I'm glad you are stable enough to try and get off Seroquel. I hope it works out.
Take care,
Jeff