Lived Experience Forum

[D1ng0]

Good morning everyone, I hope you're doing alright. I'm taking a medication which is really helping with one of my conditions, but is making life more difficult in other ways. I won't disclose the name of this medication, and I don't want to know what medications you're taking, due to forum rules. What I would love to know is this: If you are balancing multiple conditions and have found medications to be helpful, how long did it take for you to get the balance right? Did you feel frustrated on that journey and, if so, what approaches helped you? Or did you not struggle with medications at all?

Several medications have literally saved my life. I view medicine as a crucial tool in my journey. However, now that I'm dealing with multiple disorders, medications feel harder to navigate. I have a good GP, but there's still a lot of trial and error to see how my body/brain responds over time. It's pretty tiring, on top of everything else. Can you relate to that? I'm interested in hearing about your experiences.

(Further details: I am also seeing a psychologist, a dietician, and a physiotherapist for my physical and mental conditions. I don't expect miracles from medications, and I'm not relying on them solely. I am a believer in allopathic evidence-based medicine.)

Thank you in advance. Again, I hope you're all okay this morning.

[tyme]

Hey @D1ng0 ,

Thanks for sharing. I’ve had a tricky time with meds. I have to say it took at least 2 months for things to get ‘sorted’ but it took years to find the ‘perfect’ combination of meds for me.

Now that I’m in such a good place, there are some meds I can slowly come off, however I’ve chosen to reduce them over years. So far, I’ve had 3 reductions over a course of 6 years. This allows my body to make sure it’s still stable.

The  med itself means I can come off in a few weeks, but I’ve chosen to go really slow.

Hope this somewhat helps.

[Snowie]

Good morning @D1ng0 

I'll agree that several medications have saved my life too. I will also agree that they are crucial in my MH journey along with seeing a psychologist. I don't just rely on my medications.

I'm not sure if I will ever get the balance right. Yes I have times where everything is stable and the meds I am taking at that stage are helping. But then there are times where I will be really unstable, need a hospital admission and they change my dose in meds or change to a different med completely. This has just happened recently.

I totally feel frustrated and annoyed at times. Mostly at myself and sometimes at my pdoc (who manages my meds) I get annoyed thinking that it is my fault that my head isn't responding the right way to the med. I think I just try and tell myself that it is a marathon and not a 100m race. It will take lots of patience and trial and error. I find that especially since I take multiple meds that the balance is harder to achieve than if you are only taking one or two different meds. It really can be a tricky balance. 

I have been pretty lucky that the side effects have not been too much to handle. Yes I have gotten them, but they haven't been overly bad. But you are right, it is tiring.

Even now, my pdoc is talking about putting me on another med. At this stage I just think why not, I am on lots of meds now, one more isn't going to hurt.

Not sure if my post has helped, but please know you are not alone in thinking this way.

Am happy to continue to talk to you as you go through the 'med' journey.

[D1ng0]

@tyme Thank you for the insights!! I like what you're saying about slow reduction plans. I'll keep that in mind for the future. Really cool to hear that you're in a good place, too. It sounds like you've invested a lot of time and work in the process.

[D1ng0]

@Snowie Thanks so much for the empathy, and for letting me know what your journey has been like. Sorry to hear about the recent hospital admission. (I hope you're feeling okay today?) I'm glad you got care and are being supported, though. It's a relief to know others are going through something similar, and are persisting even if it's hard, though obviously I wish none of us had to put in the work... I often wish I could just flip a switch in my brain and tell it to chill out 😅 I'm learning that our brains are really complex. It sounds obvious in retrospect, but I hadn't properly absorbed that until my most recent diagnosis.

[Snowie]

I'm ok thanks @D1ng0 

Flipping a switch would be such a good thing to be able to do!

It must be hard if you have recently had a diagnosis too. That would have an affect on your meds also. I was going to say that it sounds like you have a good team around you. I hope that they can work together to be able to help you. It really can make a difference.

[D1ng0]

Thanks @Snowie 😊 And good to hear.

Yeah, I finally feel like I'm making some progress, which is good. I did briefly see a psychiatrist as a box-ticking exercise for my eating disorder treatment, and that psychiatrist recommended some new medications and dosages. They were pretty insistent about it, but I had doubts, especially since I'd only had one session with this psychiatrist yet they were making such big recommendations... and didn't seem to think side effects were all that relevant?? Good news is that I spoke to my GP about it, and my GP completely agreed with me. So, I feel like I'm in safe hands. I feel really lucky to be seeing a doctor who listens to me.

[Snowie]

Thats good that you have your gp @D1ng0 It takes a lot to trust people so if you have supports that you trust then that can help you so much.

[D1ng0]

@Bow I have only recently been diagnosed with bulimia, so I would really appreciate eating disorder topics (weight changes, distress around weight) being put under a trigger warning, specifically on my posts. It's information I really appreciate, and thank you for sharing your experience, I just like to have a moment to prepare to read about weight-related distress, or think about the prospect of someone's health/life being derailed by weight changes. I like to approach topics with a certain state of mind, and warnings help in that department. Thank you heaps.