Why You Should Always Take Your Medications for Mental Illness, Despite the Side Effects
Hello, and thank you for reading my blog! It’s good to be back writing! This topic is extremely personal to me because I take medications for my bipolar disorder, although I definitely have had problems with side effects from medications.
It can be extremely difficult enduring the new side effects from the psychiatric medications that you take for mental illness. When I first took psychiatric medication for my depressive episode, which I was hospitalized for (not yet diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the time), I experienced significant weight gain (roughly 10 to 15 pounds of increase in weight), drowsiness, loss of memory, and loss of motivation to accomplish simple tasks. In addition, I was always laying in my bed for many hours during the day. Still, I decided to take my ant-depressants daily for 6 months, which is what my doctor had ordered at the time.
Following my second hospitalization for a psychotic episode, I was prescribed some antipsychotics, which definitely helped me recover from my psychotic break. Unfortunately, I suffered from different side effects, such as constant trembling, nausea at certain moments, and severe loss of memory and concentration. These side effects were extremely concerning to me, and as a result, I decided to take an entire semester off from school partly because of these negative side effects from my antipsychotics.
I took a different set of medications following my third hospitalization and diagnosis with my chronic condition, bipolar disorder. My side effects that I experienced from the medications that I was prescribed to treat my bipolar disorder were similar to the side effects that I experienced from the medications that I took following my first hospitalization, which were antidepressants. In other words, I experienced additional weight gain, sleepiness, sleeping for extensive periods of time, and memory loss. This time, the weight gain was tremendous, and it ultimately took several months of extensively working out to lose a lot of the weight that I gained. The medication duo which I take for treating my bipolar disorder are: lithium and abilify. This is a common combination of medication treatment for bipolar disorder, which is normally treated with lithium (lithium carbonate). If you have any questions regarding these medications, DO NOT hesitate to reach out to me at my email: jessepliu@gmail.com
Taking your medications is paramount and imperative to treating your mental illness, despite the negative side effects. I personally take my medications on a daily basis as prescribed, and I have not been hospitalized since July 2018, which was my hospitalization for my bipolar diagnosis. If you decide to go off your medications, you will likely experience the same mental health problems that you had prior to being prescribed the medications. You will potentially relapse and even end up in a psychiatric ward again. When I spent time in the psychiatric ward to receive treatment for bipolar disorder, I met several people who were readmitted to the hospital because they stopped taking their medications for chronic mental health conditions, and experienced the same mental health issues as before. In other words, please let your psychiatric medications do their jobs! Medications are meant to treat your illnesses or health conditions, and refraining from taking them won’t let them do their job. Although you may not experience the side effects anymore, you will be worse off mentally. Personally, I would rather experience some negative side effects and be mentally strong than not take my medications and end up in a psychiatric ward again.
On the whole, please TAKE your medications! They are given to treat your mental illness and help you recover and function normally. If you are reading this, be assured that I am being completely straightforward.
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