lilybub wrote:
I've been diagnosed bipolar, depressed, major anxiety, ADD, and COD. I've been to 4 different hospitals all on different occasions and different lengths of time. I've been depressed since I was 8 so I've been dealing with everything for over half of my life. Im on all sorts of medications and I had one anti psychotic work really well for me but it ended up making me gain 50 pounds so I ditched it. I'm still trying to find the right medications and its so frustrating. I feel so horrible that everything we try takes at least 2 weeks to start seeing results and then end up not working. I've been on too many medications for depression and seven or eight medications for the anxiety. I just wish there was a magic pill that wouldn't make all of my problems go away but make them manageable. Im not ashamed that I have so many "disorders" I'm proud to be me. I just wish we could figure out how to make it to where they aren't controlling my entire life. Any certain medications that anyone has tried that has really helped them out?
The first thing to understand is that just because one medication worked for someone else, it may not have even remotely the same impact on you. I understand your frustration and it actually takes 3 months for a drug trial to be really effective. 2 weeks is just when you start seeing the change.
I have never been officially diagnosed with depression or anxiety...my choice. I have chronic daily migraine which means that without being on medication, I'm in unbelievable pain, and among other things, I'm afraid that if people see a diagnosis of depression or anxiety, they'll stop believing the pain is real and start acting like it's just in my head. I've had docs do that to me before. But that's beside the point. I was on Elavil for nearly 10 years and that worked wonders. I've also been on Vivactil, which made me feel "zen" for lack of a better term. I was put on Toprol for a little while but I stopped using it because it made me feel like a Zombie. That one was particularly awful. I was given a prescription for Xanax to help me fall asleep (read: my neurologist thought I was just to anxious about being in constant pain), but I don't actually find it to be overly helpful.
One thing I did start looking at this summer was alternative medications. I don't believe they can necessarily replace your medications, but it can certainly help. I tried acupuncture, which I swore for years I'd never do, but I'm amazed by how helpful it was. The only drawback was that it wasn't covered by my insurance so I had to stop going. However, it's worth looking into.
If you've had good experience with anti-psychotics, what about trying different ones? I know that the one made you gain weight, but similar medications may not have the same side effects.
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