I don’t like #bipolar medications that have side effects. I like meds that work and don’t make me MORE ill physically or mentally. Unfortunately, this is not reality for most of us with bipolar.
🦄🦄🦄 Yes, some people can take meds without side effects. I have met these unicorns!
🌈🌈🌈 If only I were one of them!
The majority of us have side effects and this is the main reason we stop meds. I teach a system based on two premises:
-
We can control the majority of our symptoms using the ideas in my books, especially The Health Cards and then use meds only for the symptoms we can’t control on our own. This reduces the need for entire categories of medications and lets us use smaller doses.
-
We still get side effects from meds and must learn to accept certain side effects if we want stability.
I appreciate my medications at at the same time can never reconcile the way the meds help me and yet make me fat and hungry. I hate this so much. But I like stability more. So it is up to me to figure out how to take less meds and how to deal with my weight in the future.
This is not a fair trade off, but it’s the only one I have. The other alternative is being much thinner, but so sick I can’t function at all.
Life is not fair. Life is life. People with insulin pumps aren’t exactly pleased with having something attached to their body.
People in wheel chairs would rather walk. I would rather be well and not need meds. Wishful thinking!
I have learned to take the minimum meds possible. It works for me. I have one med I can take every day and one that has such intense side effects that I can only use it as needed. This works for me.
I have bipolar and a psychotic disorder. I live with it or I die by it. I choose life. I choose appropriate meds that have side effects I don’t like.
Not fair! But smart.