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Medication Compliance

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@TimeToHeal It knocks me out at night. Normally within about 5 minutes. One minute I am awake and then I am not. I don't even realize I fall asleep.

Then there are those terrible night were I can't sleep and I fight it. So I am drugged up and I can't sleep. It feels terrible.

Saphris is like a mixed blessing. It brings back rational though. The rational me. The stable person. The me that gets great grades, the organized one, the less angry and reactive me. The person I am without so much mental illness. My thoughts are clear.

It grabs me and chains me down until sanity comes back. And then it seems to sort of slowly let me out on some sort of leash.

It's mixed becasue it's harsh. It's a blessing becasue it brings back sanity.

I still struggle with wondering if it's worth it. Saphris was my first drug that worked but antipsychotics are harsh on the body.
 
Sounds like a lot of the qualities about yourself that you've been struggling to find/get back since your last term at school ended. :eek:

Do you think you could commit to taking the saphris, at just the 5mg, at the same, predetermined time, every night for 1 week? And just observe the effects/changes it makes for you?
 
@Ayesha
I have taken several antipsychotics. Zyprexa, Risperdal, and now Geodon. They are harsh on the body that's for sure. I gained weight and can't get it off. I wish it didn't help me!!! I try to get more because I have so much trouble sleeping. I had to go back to college because I had to give up medicine due to my chemical exposure and now have an allergy to aldehydes. At the time I had gotten really sick, newly divorced, lost my job and all my work friends just abandoned me. It was a bleak dark time in my life. I was profoundly depressed. Nothing they gave me helped at all. After two years of this and going to therapy, I finally had a breakdown and told my T about my history of sexual abuse. That just about killed me. I was literally dumbstruck. Every muscle in my body trembled and shook for years. And somehow I managed to maintain a 4.0 at college. I guess what I want to say is while all this madness swirls around our minds, hearts, and souls, being in an enlightening place such as college is a wonderful tonic. I couldn't get enough of it. I could hyper focus it was so nice to have a break from my depression and the crushing reality of confronting my abuse.if it weren't so expensive, I'd still be taking courses. I believe that the process of learning and building new insights and knowledge was more affective than anything else I was using to treat my depression. I wasn't taking the antipsychotics then.
 
I spent most of the day asking myself why saphris is important. I haven't felt this physically bad in awhile. I have a headache, dizzy and I have felt hung over all day.

I guess it is my fault. I haven't been taking it and I am starting it all over again.
 
I get it. I've tried almost every anti-psychotic in the book. Ultimately I decided that for me the benefits just do not outweigh the side effects. So I will not take anti-psychotics on a regular basis. I will not even consider them except in the most extreme of circumstances. (Not entirely true...there have been times when I've been struggling and there was a new anti-psychotic on the market and I've tried it. But I've still never tried one I was willing to tolerate long term.) There have been a few times over the years when specific symptoms have gotten so bad that I knew anti-psychotics were my only hope. I would agree to take the medication on a limited, temporary basis. Smallest dose possible to get out of the crisis, be stable for a short amount of time and then back off of it again. For me life on an anti-psychotic doesn't really feel like living.
 
I have no idea if all psychiatrists would agree to this type of thing. But I've worked with the same psychiatrist for about 12 years. He knows that I'm not going to take anti-psychotics all the time. He's seen me try, seen the side effects, understands why those side effects are just deal breakers for me. So we really work together to come up with the best way to treat my symptoms with other medications and still allow me to feel like I'm able to live a life. Could my symptoms be better controlled if I took an anti-psychotic all of the time? Perhaps. But if I'm so sedated that I don't feel like I can think or function then what's really the point? He respects that ultimately I'm the one that has to live with the medication, the choice is really mine and gives me the best treatment he can based on what I'm willing and able to to take.
 
I saw my therapist and this was very helpful.

He said he noticed a few things while I was there and so did I. I noticed that I was more restless, less talkative because I was trying my best to appear more rational the I felt in my head which was racing a bit (He knew that) and I couldn't focus so much, I was more impatience and I paced his office but then couldn't seem to stand myself.

He noticed that: Seem a bit foggy and glassy and:

  1. I didn't seem depressed to him. I actually agree with that becasue for the most part I don't feel depressed. He said I seem just as 'easy to smile as I normally do' he thinks the crying I have been doing is caused mostly by the chemical imbalances from all the medication. I seem a bit manic to him. It's that time of year, it's hard to say if this would have happened if all my medication would have been taken on time and like it should have been; probably not.
  2. I am restless and he noticed. I tried my best to appear not very restless but even I noticed I was doing things out of character; just mannerisms. We have known each other for a long time and he is observative of me. I felt like my skin is crawling. I kept putting my hands under my legs and trying not to rock back and froth. I sometimes pace his office and I did today and he asked why and gave me two reasons why I possibly would have paced. I told him I didn't know even though I did. I was restless. Sometimes it's anxiety today...restless.
  3. I do have some sad feelings. Mostly about to lose of college for the summer, lose of mentor and the 70ish days until it starts again. The lose of the routine is hitting me hard and this is adding to the issues. Sleep cycle etc.
I also had this terrible and in my completely irrational thought in therapy about how not taking my medication may break up the monotony of home, where I have nothing to do. If I don't take my medication, maybe I will become manic like I seem to be getting now, maybe that will be fun and maybe...but I know that is stupid...but I thought about that in therapy and I apologized to him.

And I am still have problems with compliance. Despite seeing him I still didn't take the antipsychotic tonight; the one medication that will really stop the mania and allow me to sleep. I also am still on half doses of most of my medications, at least I confessed that too.

I even thought of taking the antipsychotic and since it's a dissolve under the tongue type, to raise my mouth out after taking it. So that way I can say I 'took' it , without having to actually take it. That might work with my psychiatrist who I haven't known as long but it wouldn't wash with my therapist who will see straight through the lie.

I see them both on Monday and I really worry about seeing my psychiatrist. We haven't dealt with something like this together before and I don't know what her reaction will be. She is more of a stern woman and perfectly nice but in all honestly I am worried she will fire me. My therapist doesn't think she will but also told me that if she does that "we will find you a new psychiatrist". I will try to see this with a bit more of a positive attitude and I will try to deal with this as it comes. It will probably be just fine.

My therapist always talks about how common it is for people with Bipolar Disorder to neglect their medication but it doesn't mean all doctor's all willing to put up with it or willing to risk that. As my therapist said earlier today it is dangerous and I know that.

Twice he asked me if I have wanted to drink or if I had been drinking (which made me think he thought I was hiding it or I was drunk then). He is worried about that too and I admit being worried too. He told me that it is common in mania, people who don't often drink will sudden start drinking a lot, alcoholics. And yes, I went for months without even thinking about drinking and now in the past few days I have...

This is all my fault. I should have taken my medication. It started during the last part of school term, less time for sleep so I started not taking all the medication and then sometimes stopping altogether.
 
What if you tried "reframing" the thought/feeling of, "This is all my fault," to, "This has been my choice, my decision."

That would take away the connotation that you were doing something "wrong," and give you back the power to make new choices and decisions. We all make choices that don't end up working the way we had hoped or wanted, but the beauty is - we can change our minds anytime and make new/different choices. :smug:

We are human - perfect in our imperfections.
:hug:
 
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