Tag Archives: psychiatric medication

How to Know When to Change Up a Medication

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How to Know When to Change Up a Medication

There is a sure-fire easy answer to this: Talk to your doctor about it! I know many people, especially us mental illness people-types, who think decreasing or taking ourselves off of a psych med is a good idea, especially if we are manic and feeling good. In the past, every time I became hypomanic I would tell my doctor I wanted to try a med reduction and she would say, no the meds are working that is why you feel good. Then we figured out that wanting to come off a med was actually a sign of hypomania for me.

Fast forward to today…Life is becoming very different for me. I have been in some intense therapy, healing from childhood trauma and neglect, for over a year now and finally getting really good at setting boundaries with others and making major changes in my life that more fully align with my values and what I truly want to do and not want to do. Because of this, my mental health is such that I no longer need one of my sleep medications. I am actually sleeping ten times better than I used to with it, when I wasn’t as mentally healthy.

I am still on several other psych meds and am talking with my doctor about the next one to wean off of. She is letting me take the lead on which one to try because one is not necessarily more important than another.

I am weighing out my options based on how hard they are to wean off of, what their current risks and side effects are, and how much they affect my physical health. I know what I want to try because of its current risks and side effects but it happens to be the most difficult one to come off of. I tried once before, many years ago, and the irritability it caused affected my relationships. Granted, I believe now that I cut the dose down too much as I was doing it without my doctor’s supervision (which I said at the beginning of this post is a big no-no.)

With my doctor’s help this time I will tell her my concern and hopefully, we can find a way to minimize the irritability and get me off of this med in particular.

Have you tried weaning off a psych med with or without your doctor’s supervision? I’d love to hear about your experience.

P.S. In my last post, I wrote about having a goal of writing blogs of 600+ words. That blog post was about 200 words and this one is a little over 400. I am making progress!

Situational versus Clinical Depression and Tools to Cope

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Is Your Depression Situational or Clinical?

I am going through a bit of a thing that has me worried and anxious and frankly, feeling depressed. I have dealt with clinical depression in the past — the kind that appears out of nowhere and lingers for reasons I couldn’t name. Most of my experiences, though, have been situational: postpartum after childbirth, losing a career, seasonal shifts, and maybe even this current situation.

Medically, situational depression is often labeled an “adjustment disorder with depressed mood.” It commonly eases with time, talk therapy, and the slow work of adjusting to life’s changes. But the frightening truth is that unresolved situational depression can tip into major depressive disorder, which is more severe and harder to shake.

That possibility is what has me worried now: I’m anxious about whether this sadness will pass — and anxious about being anxious. If that sentence made sense to you, you and I might be good friends.

The hard work is noticing patterns, asking for help early, and treating each episode with kindness and care. Small steps—talking, sleeping better, seeing a clinician—can keep situational sadness from becoming something darker. You don’t have to face it alone. Reach out today for help.

P.S. This post is about 200 words long. My goal is to write 600+ word blog posts. Unfortunately, my psych meds (one in particular) has zapped my creative writing ability. I’ll write more about this next time. Stay tuned!

P.P.S. What kind of depression have you experienced and what tools did you use to cope with it?

Psychiatric Medication and Heat Illness

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There are many medications that affect the way your body cools itself during extremely high temperatures that could put you at risk for developing heat-related illnesses. Beta-blockers and amphetamines are examples. Many of these medications are ones taken by psychiatric patients, yet rarely do we hear warnings on the news to check on this population along with the elderly and children during extreme heat like I think we should.

I am on propranolol (beta-blocker), Adderall (amphetamine), Cymbalta (antidepressant), Risperdal (antipsychotic), Ativan (antianxiety), and Topamax (anticonvulsant), all of which increase my sensitivity to heat.

So, when we were boating last weekend in the 95F degree weather and stopped for lunch to which the group “leader” thought it would be a great idea to sit outside and eat, I said, “Are you crazy?!”

I didn’t really say that, but I did ask if everyone would rather eat indoors, to which the leader responded, “No way!” and everyone else followed suit by sheepishly smiling. So, I got up, recruited my husband to walk with me into the restaurant and we sat in the air-conditioning until our food was served. By this time, I was cooled off and probably saved myself from the beginnings of some heat exhaustion.

Even though my friends know I am on psych meds, they don’t get the seriousness of the side effects. It’s up to me to be assertive enough to take care of myself, and that’s what I did.

The next morning we went on a hike, and while the morning temperatures were cooler, the steep hills got my heart pumping and pores sweating. We took a 15-minute rest break on a bench by the lake.

After our rest break, I noticed my friends’ faces were no longer perspiring or flushed. I, on the other hand, felt like I was running a fever and was feeling light-headed and nauseous. I decided it would be best to call my husband to come pick me up rather than continue on the rest of the hike with them, so that is what I did.

It bums me out that I can’t keep up with my friends in the heat, but without my medications I wouldn’t be able to do anything with them regardless of the weather.

Here’s a brochure by the Ohio Dept. of MH which includes a list of some of the medications that can impair the heat response, as well as what to look for and do in the case of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

RxList is a comprehensive drug index that provides in-depth information on probably every drug you are on. Search the medications you are currently taking to see if they make you sensitive to the sun or heat, or ask your doctor or pharmacist.

Heat illness is very serious. Make sure you know if your medication is putting you at risk. Let’s keep summer safe!

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