What's so wrong with medication?

[lightningandsnow]

So, I announced to my mother that when I go to uni in the fall, I'm going to get a real psychiatrist. I've never had one other than for assesment purposes, once. I've had anxiety (GAD, plus it just occured to me that I've actually been having minor panic attacks a couple times a week) for literally my whole life, and yes, I have tried many a thing other than psychiatry. But, naturally, my mom was resistant to the idea and just told me to get counselling at student services. Fuck that...I mean, counselling is good, but it's really not enough on its own for me because I still feel anxious and crappy the majority of the time. Also, I'm sick of people being all "meditation and positive self-talk!" - yeah, because I totally haven't tried that. :sarcasm:

I know meds aren't the be all and end all, I want to get (real) CBT too, but is there any reason I should apparently avoid psychiatrists? Sigh.

I don't have my heart set on getting pills, honestly. I just would like to be less of a nervous wreck, plzkthx.

[qb]

1. Medication prescribed by a competent physician can help a lot.

A combination of meds & cognitive therapy has done wonders for my anxiety & depression.
:hi:

[mopinko]

2. what the heck is wrong with your mother?

never mind, i know how you feel when you admit that your kid needs help. it is hard.
i would just recommend that you try and get the meds started before school starts if at all possible. you may end up on a bit of a roller coaster ride. not too many people hit the right med on the first try. not the best thing to go through in a new surrounding.
good luck. stay strong.

[Odin2005]

3. Your mother sounds like certain "modern medicine is evil" DUers

I wanna punch those kind of idiots. My Bipolar II and GAD isn't something I can wish away.

[hedgehog]

4. Make an appointment with a doc in the town where your school is

NOW so you don't end up waiting until after November! You're going to be under a lot of stress, new people, new living quarters, no family support etc. You need to be able to devote yourself to school, not to working up the energy to get out of bed each morning! I really wish depression was visible. Maybe if it turned people blue or something, others would understand this is a real disease.

[mopinko]

5. maybe some day modern science will invent

something like those little fish tank thermometers, where the numbers turn colors. or maybe we could just improve the mood ring.

[no name no slogan]

6. My mom had the same attitude as yours when I was first diagnosed

She thought I could get by with just some counseling. However, as my depression got more and more severe (and my episodes started occurring more and more often), she began to change her mind.

When my diagnosis was changed to bipolar disorder, she was convinced that I needed medication to live a normal life-- that it wasn't just a phase, or just an episode, but a lifelong condition I would have to treat and live with. In fact, after a fruitless go-round with one counselor, she asked the therapist why we were even bothering with the counseling if my medications weren't adjusted and working properly.

Medication plus counseling is the most effective way to treat a psychological illness.

[prolesunited]

7. And if you had diabetes, would she be against meds?

A chemical imbalance in your body is no different than one in your brain.

Don't beat yourself up over needing more relief than self-help measures can provide. Maybe it will be short-term and feeling better will free you up to master anxiety better or maybe you will need drugs long-term. Only you can decide what's right for you and what you need.

You're an adult now. Make the decisions that are right for you.

[david13]

8. Many years ago the dr got me started on valium. It nearly very

nearly killed me. Fortunately I was able to get in and complain that it just made me worse, and suicidal.
Then for years I did the self medication thing with pot. It worked for a while, but then when I substituted alcohol for it, I ended up very far gone.
Fortunately, I have been medication, legal or not and alcohol and tobacco free for 24 years now. Otherwise, I wouldn't still be here.
For me, my parents were part of the problem, not part of the solution, and my father continues in that role today, at age 92.
Keep on trying, you can make it somehow.
dc

[mopinko]

11. things have changed a lot in all these years.

vallium is not an antidepressant. i don't think it is even prescribed much for anxiety anymore. there are many better drugs out there.
you have said that you are having trouble. i don't know if you should be taking meds or not. but i do know that there are many good choices out there now.

[hunter]

9. Off my meds I'm utterly impossible to live with.

Not really dangerous to myself or others, but our society really can't handle a goth paranoid OCD black hole of depression Mr. Rogers. Off my meds my personal neighborhood of make believe is a living nightmare. Do not get sucked into it, do not stare at the teletubby's belly, or my bleeding feet, it's the Enola Gay flying across your sky. If I'm off my meds hunt me down and shoot a tranquilizer dart in my butt. I've got friends, family, and professionals who know how to fix me.

[Forkboy]

10. I'm impossibe to live with either way.

:evilgrin: