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better living through chemistry, bipolar disorder, blog for mental health 2015, depakote, don't try this unsupervised, full disclosure, gabapentin, lithium, meds, melatonin, mental health, mental illness, psych meds, sleep, stress, too many pills
Let me preface this by saying that I am of the opinion that you should NEVER adjust your psych meds without first consulting your doc. So I don’t. I won’t even take something over the counter if I haven’t asked shrinky-poo about it if there even a remote chance that it will fuck with my mental stability. Vitamins, yes – herbal supplements, no. I’ve worked long and hard to get to where I am with my mental health, I am not about to go fucking that up.
But I’m rather unhappy about how many pills I take in a given day.
- 5 lithium capsules
- 2 depakote tablets
- 4 gabapentin capsules
- 1 melatonin tablet
- 1 benadryl tablet
- 1 muscle relaxer tablet (Soma)
- 3 vitamin soft gels (krill oil, vit E, vit D)
- 2 multivitamin chews (chocolate!)
Unless I’m counting wrong that’s a total of 19 pills. Granted, that’s broke up over 3x/day and the multivitamins are chewy and kind of like a little candy, but still.
So when I visited with shrinky-poo yesterday for my regularly scheduled 2 month check-in I asked her about what I take and if there was any wiggle room. I reassured her that I’m quite content with my mental stability and I want to keep that, and if that meant continuing all 19 pills then so be it. The lithium and depakote and non-negotiable – both mood stabilizers that I have to have and the doses can’t really be adjusted. The melatonin and benadryl help with sleep so they’re pretty important, and that’s just 2 pills. The vitamins help with other health concerns so they stay. So that just leaves the gabapentin.
I take it for anxiety; 1 in the morning and the other 3 at bedtime. I’m allowed a total of 7 a day, but I’ve never taken that many. And I don’t know that I necessarily need all of it and neither does she. It’s a fast-acting med with a short half-life so it’s really a PRN for me. There’s my wiggle room.
Last night I only took 2 and this morning I didn’t take any. I have a backup stash with me, I always do, just in case. But if I don’t need them, I don’t want to take them. The only way to find out is to try it and see what happens.
Mental in the Midwest 
i cross my paws that your experiment goes well. maybe a big hug from me helps a little too?
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Hugs always help, thank you! ❤
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You know, I have this theory about mental health meds. In fitness and dieting, I’ve read a ton about how just taking the same supplements over again loses its benefit over time because our bodies adapt to them quickly. So the idea is to create body confusion to help the body from adjusting, it’s why you should perform different exercises and make sure to always eat a variety of healthy food.
Has anyone ever done a study with a variety of low dosage mental health pills where they work in rotation, like say change it up every 2 weeks? I’ve never heard of anything like this, but you in you being the chemist here, might have.
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You would have to change it up something like every few years for that to be beneficial, then you’d have to go through “waiting time” too often. Changing meds can cause episodes all by itself, by weaning yourself off one med, and changing to another, and then you’d have to wait until that med works. Mental health meds mostly take up to 3 months to work. In mental health meds what you want is body adjusting to them, that’s when they begin to work. However, meds will need to be changed every few years because they will lose their effectiveness over time, like drinking alcohol, you’ll need more and more of it for it to work until you cannot take anymore of it without having serious side effects.
I’ve been on one med for 3 years now, and it still helps me sleep, but I’ve had to go up in doses quite often and I can only go up 2 more doses before I’m taking the maximum.
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Right, what I was thinking though is you have one drug that would be a basic stabilizer and in combination you would rotate a low dose anti depressant every 2 to 6 weeks. It wouldn’t be a hard switch, essentially during the transition period between drugs you would be taking even lower dosages of both and decrease the one and increase the other. I think it would be worth seeing a study done on it.
I feel that having some sort of confusion approach would work leagues better than our current system of trying to find the right drug. Even still though, the drug approach only gets you so far, the rest comes down to exercise and eating healthy. It always seems to come down to that. 😦
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I can only speak for my own experience here. Being on an anti-depressant was actually what first made me suicidal, and that’s pretty common for people with bipolar. I challenged a different AD while in the hospital and it was terrible. So now the doc knows that I’m not a candidate for them. I
I have been on lithium for 9 years now and the dosage has changed, but not always up. My doc has my blood checked periodically to make sure the level of lithium in my system is within a therapeutic range. It’s a mood stabilizer and it works better for me than anything else ever has. I’ve been at this level for several years now.
The only reason I’ve ever been taken completely off meds was because they either caused serious side effects or weren’t addressing my symptoms like the doc wanted them to. I honestly don’t think there would be any advantage to using the confusion approach with psych meds like there is with physical exercise, they’re really just nothing alike. And as Rhio said, it often takes a lengthy period of time to reach a therapeutic level and therefor tell whether or not the med will work, work like it should, or will produce problematic side effects.
Eating healthy and exercise will most definitely help all of us in a range of ways, but for someone like myself, if I didn’t have the right combination of meds I wouldn’t be eating right or exercising. Or behaving in safe ways. Or going to work.
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Bless you hon, as of Boxing day, I now take 2 meds, and I’m not even used to that yet, I feel “gross”, like when you drink a bit too much alcohol, makes my body feel a little toxic/sick, has actually been working though, feeling so much better the last few days.
My dad used to take gabapentin for the same reasons as you, as one of his many meds (he took a similar amount to you), and he actually did a lot better when he dropped it. I was offered it, so I didn’t take it for that reason. He did get some rebound anxiety initially on stopping it, but after a few weeks, he seemed a lot brighter and a LOT less impulsive.
Hope it helps you hon.
Massive hugs
xxxxxx
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That’s really interesting – I haven’t noticed any more or less impulsivity since starting to take it last year. All I’ve really noticed today (none as of right now) is that I’m the tiniest bit manic, but not really enough that anyone else would notice. And I don’t think it’s mania necessarily, but it’s similar to that feeling of moving a little faster than usual. But I’m tired.
I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling better. I know with the lithium if I don’t drink enough fluids to keep the level in my blood regulated it will build up and cause a bit of toxicity and that actually manifests physically like being drunk.
Hugs to you, too!
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Ahh thanks, I often struggle with my fluid intake, I’ll make more of an effort with it to see if that helps. ❤
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In this situation, maybe less is more. I’ve been taking my muscle relaxer PRN for awhile now and I feel less groggy. *hugs*
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The Soma is the next to go. I’m not even entirely sure if it does anything anymore. *hugs* to you too!
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I hate messing with meds. I get really sick whenever I change something. Right now, with the stomach flu…again, I haven’t been able to keep my meds down. It’s not pretty. It’s very smart of you to discuss with your doc first. Good luck and lots of hugs!
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It’s been awhile since I haven’t been able to take my meds because of stomach flu, and I’m very thankful. It only takes a few days for me to get totally off kilter. I hope you start feeling better soon!
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The only one I haven’t heard of is the one you want to cut down on. Hmm. What does the lithium do for you? Not just being curious, I might need more medicational armour myself so I’m wondering.
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Lithium is a mood stabilizer and it has been a constant since day one. It helps to keep the highs from getting too high and the lows from getting too low. It’s considered by many to be the “gold standard” for treating bipolar. I think it’s great stuff, it just comes with cautions. It interacts with all kinds of over the counter stuff and you have to stay really well hydrated. But really, not a big deal.
There are many other, newer meds that will accomplish the same basic thing but I’ve ended up allergic to all of them. I actually had really good luck with lamictal, right up until I developed Stevens Johnson syndrome. Nothing like having the inside of your nose and your girl bits itch at the same time.
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That’s a lot of meds chum. I#m thinking about perhaps going and asking about some kind of anti anxiety pill, do you think they help?
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I do, to an extent. I’ve done a lot of therapy to teach me skills to help deal with stress and anxiety. I think it’s the combination of coping skills and the meds that work best for me. But by all means, I think it’s entirely appropriate to discuss with your doctor. I like the gabapentin a lot because it’s not physiologically habit forming.
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Thanks I’ll have a think and see how I feel 🙂
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Just keep in mind that there is absolutely no shame in exploring your options or in asking for help. ❤
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