Posted by JohnX2 on November 17, 2001, at 3:01:23
In reply to just gotta get it out, posted by Sleepy on November 16, 2001, at 14:29:18
Anyone telling you that you should be off meds
and "pull up your bootstraps" is full of shit!Mental illness is nothing to look down upon.
It is a serious condition requiring *a lot* of
fortitude to fight. Would you tell someone with
high blood pressure to just "pull up your
bootstraps" and stop taking that bp medicine?
Know, its insane. But you might recommend a
change in diet along with the bp med. I equate
this to therapy + medication for mental illness.hope you feel better. You may want to try a
different mood stabilizer. I prefer Lamictal.
Other options are tegetrol,trileptal,lithium,etc.good luck. We know what you mean and feel your pain.
-john
> I've been spiraling downward for some time now. The doc had me on Effexor, which some of you may recall gave me some scary memory loss and I finally took myself off of it. I'm also on depakote as I'm bipolar. Or so the docs say. My therapist says I don't believe I'm bipolar and you know, she's right. I don't understand why I feel this huge resistance to what the doctors keep saying (I've been diagnosed and reevaluated by 4 different pdocs now--they all say the same thing). I find myself not believing any of this could be true, though I can go way back to my childhood and just know that I've never been "normal," but have always been this way. Huge, expansive highs when I feel I could jump off a freakin' CLIFF and escape without a scratch. Or depressions so deep I couldn't get out of bed, couldn't function for long periods of time. I remember going through a year where I was so, so sad, but unable to cry. Even with all this, I sometimes feel if I could just get off the meds I'd be okay. I've tried several times to stop taking the depakote and have been hit with manic episodes and panic attacks. Is this the norm as far as depakote withdrawal goes? Friends and family seem to think if I can just pull myself up by the bootstraps I'll be fine. It's funny to me that people who don't go through this garbage seem to think that's all it would take--for me to be strong, get a grip, wake up and smell the coffee. My best friend, however, thinks I need to check myself into a hospital. I have a job and kids and this whole life that isn't going to stop just because I'm not feeling up to any of this. I'm so tired and so unhappy and people ask me WHY and I can't tell them. People want to know what my therapist and I talk about and I can't tell them. Because I don't remember so much of it. I guess I should take notes, because my memory is shot. Sorry to rag on and on. I just need to get this out. Thanks for listening. This message board's been very helpful to me.
> ~Sleepy
poster:JohnX2
thread:84431
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011113/msgs/84487.html