This is different for every person and lots of people can cope with bipolar and other mental health issues without prescription meds… I am not one of those people. My brain chemistry is wired a certain way that some people can or cannot relate to this and without giving my body the supplement or the prescription to act “the right way” or to “function normally”, I malfunction.

To give an example of why I take prescription meds. It’s like if I were to need dialysis for my kidneys or chemo therapy for cancer; although mental health issues aren’t nearly this dire in the physical sense, the emotional and mental toll that these disorders cause are similar to that of cancer or kidney failure is on the physical side of things.

So would you deny chemo to a cancer patient or dialysis to a patient if that is what they need to live before or instead of other life saving avenues? Would you deny these treatments to those whose only options were chemo or dialysis? No! Of course not. So if there are life saving, literally life saving anti depressants, mood stabilizers, and anti psychotics, anti anxiety, etc “drugs”, why wouldn’t you take them if the end goal is to stay alive and have a relatively higher functioning level.

You may claim chemo’s side effects which of course can be brutal. But what is the alternative to not taking chemo? Dying? Or dying a little less quickly when you take chemo therapy because it solves and goes to the root of the problem (cancer).

Same goes for an anti depressant. Of course some of the side effects can include things such as feeling more suicidal, etc, etc. But once you find the right concoction for you it slowly works by affecting the wiring in your brain and helps produce the happy chemicals in your brain that you have been missing because your brain for whatever reason doesn’t produce the right chemicals to function to a certain level.

Some people cope with using therapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy, use substances such as alcohol, cannabis, or other recreational drugs, some gamble, some shop, some draw or paint, some talk to friends, some use hobbies they enjoy as coping mechanisms. As long as their coping mechanism is NOT lowering their functioning in their day to day lives, I am good with it personally.

I was told today that the amount of pills I take in a day is “concerning”. But it literally allows me to go out and function in society versus me staying in bed all day every day and I am able to be a constructive and critical piece of our working society.

I’ve been without meds before and my OG subscribers to my blog have seen those ramifications. And this is not to say that meds are perfect whether they are prescription or not because these meds sometimes have dire side effects; however I would hope you and your health care provider discuss these thoroughly and you understand the ramifications because that could persuade you to go one way or the other.

Me without meds leads to more manic upswings for me which leads to suicidal ideation. When I was manic in March, I was on meds but had to temporarily increase my mood stabilizer, lithium so that I could decrease the mania and actually get some sleep. If I had seriously contemplated or was a threat to self or others, which I wasn’t, I would have had to go inpatient at a mental health facility because clearly I wasn’t in the mindset to go to work and I couldn’t do anything but be awake. It’s something I wouldn’t wish to happen on my worst enemy and it’s why I take meds regularly.

Even though these swings of mania and depression still happen with regular medication and use of coping mechanisms, it is incredibly worse when I abruptly stop taking the pills. I get agitated and paranoid and delusional and a little bit snippy in most conversations but conversations are overrun by delusions when I am off the meds so for the sake of everyone else and for myself then let’s stick to it.

Now *disclaimer* this is what works for me and It may not work for ANYONE else which is why I don’t make lists of what I take prescription wise anymore because that is an RX cocktail made for me personally and my mental and physical health needs. It is OKAY if you personally do or don’t take meds, I just wish you all the love and happiness this world has to offer whomever you are or choose to be ❤

Much love to you and yours and peace out

Dani