Mental Health Nothing works?

eye2797

Greenlighter
Joined
Dec 8, 2010
Messages
8
I have been on meds for several years. What do you do when it seems like no meds are working?
Take this , try this, lets see what happens. I just can't keep going.
I am Bipolar, anxiety.
 
I probably have a vary good idea of the varying emotional state this causes you to be in; I tried a total of nine anti-depressant drugs, prescribed both alone and in combination, and over five years, before I finally came upon a combination that really worked wonders on my co-morbid depressive and anxious disorders.

Really, you have to just keep at it, and work with your doctor. Talk about your emotions and life, and how you feel the medications are or are not working in you. That's unfortunately the way we're able to tailor treatment plans if the first lines of defense are not well responded to by the patient.
 
-^- I also didn't start to feel better until I received the appropriate diagnoses and was put on the appropriate combination of medications over the course of four years.

Are you also in psychotherapy? Medications alone didn't do it for me. I had to be able to talk to a professional. I know there are strong opinions out there regarding the effectiveness of 12 step programs, but being able to speak to my sponsor and people in AA, people who have become like family to me, is therapy that costs me $1/meeting.
 
Twelve step programs seriously do work. For some people. When they groove well with the dynamic between your personality and your wants and needs, it is magic; I've seen it happen before, and wouldn't expect to see it ever stop happening.

The community aspect is one of the most crucial mechanisms at work here, as is the tangent of that, spreading your success and inspiring and helping others where you once were. We usually associate this approach with cognitive behaviours like dependence, be it chemical like with substance dependency, or more psychological (even though if you get to the core mechanics at play, they're really all chemical dependencies) such as co-dependency and gambling addiction; what (and this is changing) society in general considers to be treatable by this model. But really, if you set aside the whole higher power thing (which I understand is hard to do, especially after step four pretty much), it's the approach we Homo Sapiens Sapiens have been taking towards resolving all our problems, even since we've been refusing to leave the tree-tops after dark (y'kno, cuz saber-toothed hamsters mucking about 'n' stuff).

We basically either noticed a dude/dudette being all sad by himself and we just fucking tried to help him through it as a group, or we were said dude/dudette and were like "Hey guys, I know we're supposed to be making rocks into shapes right now, but I need some help understanding something..."

It's how we should be approaching all of our problems. We tend to forget the whole two heads being better than one thing after 5th grade or something for whatever reason.

That being said, it isn't for everyone, as was mentioned by aihfl up there; some people are really put off by the whole spiritual aspect of it all, and the degree of which it can be so to a non-believer in Abrahamic religions depends on the wording in the literature used by the specific meeting, but if you are at all spiritually inclined, if you have developed any seed of any concept of it at all, then you can make it work for you. It's all about how you conceptualize it. You just have to find the meeting that is right for you, as the feel and demographic varies widely between them.


Now, if this isn't appealing to you, I suggest going to some community non-profits in your area, hospitals, hell even likely your doctor's office either at least has some cheesy pink/blue/green/yellow (idk why they're always these colours) printouts of group counseling listings and meeting times, or likely even a social worker/special care counsellor that will be able to hook you up with these things. It's their job, they gots the connex.

I tried it at first, just gobbing down these pills thinking I had to put something in my body to make it work right. Because I didn't have to take anything out through surgery, right, so I must be missing something that's supposed to be there. This is the way Western medicine has become. It didn't work. At least, it couldn't do the whole job, just sort of make it seem like it was getting done, for the most part. Sort of.

Medications, in most situations, should be used analogously to how a bandage is used; To treat initial trauma and to protect the wound from increasing in severity, and to reduce intensity of subjective symptoms. The problem is that your body isn't going to just go through some physical process that results in neurotypicality. Whether the medication is deemed necessary on a life-long basis or not is irrelevant because what needs to be done either way is to develop understanding of one's cognitive landscape and how to navigate around the obstacles encountered, through universally adaptable techniques.

All this to say that chemical adjustment of your psyche is not the be-all, end-all. It's actually a very small part of what should be in place as a treatment regimen; it should definitely be used to achieve stability for you to move on to start actual healing and growth.

I can't seem to see your postcount from the advanced formatting page dohickey, so idk if you're still a Greenlighter or not, but shoot me a PM if you want to chat, or if you want to hear more specifics of my experience. I've been through the system via a few different channels, so I've got an understanding of what's what. also I know how it can be, and if you feel like just giving me your area and what kind of stuff you'd be interested in I'd be glad to dive deep and see what resources I can come up with for you. If you can't PM me for now, email me; [email protected] This is an open invitation to anyone reading this.

Either way, we're here for you, and we know you can do it. a lot of us have even though we were sure we were the weakest individuals out there.
 
Venrak I have been in counseling for several years. Lucky to be on only my second counseler. I have tried many medications. It comes to a point for me that-why is it that when things are good. Maybe a little hyper it doesn't last. The depression side is so hard and long lasting. Old meds don't work anymore. Try new ones. They don't work. Try again. Meanwhile I want to die. I see a regular md for meds as he is able too. My insurance isn't quite on top of mental health yet. He does consult with a pdoc when we need to. Then why does my body wig out on a new med. Sorry I am rambling.
 
It took me a long time to find medications that actually worked at treating the Bipolar disorder i have. I can't even remember how many meds i tried but it's not only a matter of finding the right medication but rather the right dose as well. It really is trial and error as no 2 people react exactly alike to the same medication. Another unfortunate fact is that overtime certain medications (especially anti-depressants it seems) loose their effectiveness and you have to find other meds that work.

The medication merry go round sucks but it doesn't suck nearly as bad as being unmedicated with Bipolar disorder.
 
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