Advice, anything, troubles.

[thcmike]

I've been under a lot of stress lately, broke up with my girlfriend of 6 months, falling out with some of my best friends I've had, ect.

Today i was pacing around my bathroom slightly freaking out about me getting depressed and having to go to a mental institution. I have been using a lot of drugs (for me, norcos, ativan, percocets, xanax) in the past month since the break up, although i didn't do drugs to cover up the pain of the breakup, cause i was the one who broke up with her. My first serious relationship too.

My brother has bi-polar disorder and has to take medication for it. It scares me cause i never want anything like that. He's the only one in our family to have it though. I'm the opposite of him, he's a rude asshole (i hate to be mean but he is) and I'm one of the nicest people you could ever meet.

The one thing i have more passion for than anything else in this world is music, and I've been playing with people, so i think that might help too.

I know I'm just rambling but I'm really concerned about shit, i don't want to have to take anti-depressants or anything ever. I'm thinking i should lay off the drugs for a while or something, or be more social.

Sorry for the mouthful, i know it all seems utterly ridiculous but i need to put this somewhere.

 

[Asclepius]

^ Laying off DOC's sounds like a very Intelligent decision especially while all this shit is going on in your life. Most SSRI's have limited side affects tho and could help in the long run, there not going to necessarily be a long term thing. Focus on staying off drugs, your music and getting your head in balance.

 

[das_feuer]

If your sibling has bipolar disorder, you have a pretty good chance of developing the disorder yourself. Bipolar disorder really isn't such a bad thing; I have it. So long as you do what you need to do in order to take control of it (Stay off of drugs, keep a regular sleep cycle, take your medications, go to therapy regularly) chances are that you can live a full life and do whatever you want. Bipolar disorder hasn't stopped me from finishing college, working, having meaningful relationships, and so on.

If you are worried about being depressed and your drug use, maybe going to the hospital is the best thing for you right now; you can get help there. Short-term mental hospitals typically only have you stay there for one to two weeks. If you have a mental health issue you need to have it treated or it will just continue to get exponentially worse. Also, most mental health issues, if untreated for long periods of time, become treatment resistant. You really, really don't want to become treatment resistant because your life will become an inescapable hell forever. Believe me: I have seen what happens to people who don't take care of themselves; they get to a point where they become lost in their own minds and never come back.

Also, bipolar disorder is not hyphenated. Medications aren't bad for you; they help. I will never stop taking my medications because my life is just so much better when I'm on them. I don't know why people are so opposed to them here. I think it has something to do with the stigma surrounding mental illness. The only medications that had dangerous side effects were the first generation psychiatric medications that came out in the 1960s. Those medications are rarely used these days. The newer medications are pretty safe. You'll suffer some nasty side effects for a few weeks to a month or so, but they almost always go away after that. If you suffer side effects that you just can't stand, all you need to do is tell your psychiatrist and then your dosage will be altered or you can be safely tapered off of one medication and started on another one.

The worst thing that you can do is continue to refuse treatment. I've been there, done that, and I have seen dozens of people refuse treatment and end up far worse than they started.

 

[thcmike]

@das_feuer

Well my sister who's also older than me(23?) smokes and drinks a lot (although she's the most educated in my family except my dad, has graduated college and makes more than my mom does) and she's never gotten anything like my brother. She tokes every day and is fine. So i don't really know, I never have any symptoms of bi-polar disorder. I think it's just stress recently that's been going on.

It's just i hate the idea of needing to take medication every day of my life to keep myself sane. I'm only 17, so maybe it's just BS teenage hormone shit, but if it progresses I'll definitely tell my parents and consult a doctor.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Medications aren't bad for you; they help.

This requires some serious qualifications. Not everybody can tolerate every drug. Not every drug works well for every person. Some people do well on the first drug they ever try. Its not rare for some people to have spent 10 years or more trying different drugs without relief and lots of complications.

The only medications that had dangerous side effects were the first generation psychiatric medications that came out in the 1960s. Those medications are rarely used these days.

Again not true. Dangerous side effects are perhaps less common and they are different then with 1st generation anti-psychotics. Metabolic syndrome, diabetes, elongated q_t sudden death, neurolyptic malignant syndrome still happens w/ new anti-psychotics, and tardive dyskinesia is less common but still does occur. I can produce a much longer list and I can produce a list for lithium & mood stabilizers as well.

I'm not advising against psychiatric help w/ bipolar or other problems. I'm just against telling people its simple, easy, and effective. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't. YMMV.

Edit: additionally your brothers being bipolar and your having some problems now are diagnostic clues but they are not in anyway conclusive. Some clinicians feel there can be no clear diagnostic picture until someone has drugs out of the picture. Most all of them count drug use and alcohol as a confounding factors. By all means if you are feeling in danger of acting out or doing anything unsafe a hospital is a much better place to be.