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Originally Posted by Barcs  Wow, they really make you dependent on their drugs, eh? That's disgusting if you ask me. |
May I offer you a tinfoil hat? Though I don't think the medicine industry is all that honest, they are not out to destroy mankind. A lot of drugs are good and have saved/improved milions if not bilions of lives. I'll tell you what is disgusting: going crazy and killing yourself while the evil medicine could have saved you. Being bi-polar is not like having the common cold...
You are not dependent on the drug (though most bi-polars go pretty much bonkers without it), but once you take it, it needs to build up in your body and stay at a certain 'level'. That's also why it does not work *magical poof* immediately. If you stop the medicine cold turkey, the level will drop too fast, which can cause serious damage to your body and even cause death, depending on the medicine you take. So you can quit if you need to for some reason, just not cold turkey.
I'm not bi-polar but I take other medicine that works like this. If I one day get to the point where I can go without (like when a new, better medicine is invented), I'll need to slowly lower my dosage or else things won't look pretty.
93civicracer: I have an aunt who is bi-polar and I have seen her with and without her meds. Please, for your own sake as well as the sake of those around you: do not quit the meds. If you take them, you will feel better, more stable, balanced... You'll feel (almost) normal and there lies the trap: because you feel normal and stable, you might think you can go without the meds. Then you see dangerous people on the internet suggesting that you can ignore your doctor, earlier experiences and plain ol' common sense and quit the meds. That is the last push you need to dump your pills in the garbage bin and you do not immediately lose your sanity. Great! Until it starts again: the manic periods, the depressed periods, maybe even paranoia, hallucinations, rapid cycling, all that good stuff. And before you know it, you are too far gone to realize that maybe meds weren't made out of pure evil after all. And even if you are lucky enough to realize you need to start taking it again, it will take time for your levels to rise and for things to return back to normal. If you have not already lost your job, house or life-as-you-know-it by then...
I have seen this happen. I have seen what bi-polar disorder can do to people when untreated. Please trust your doctor rather than strangers on the internet.
Please.