a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by goobster
goobster  ·  1113 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: March 10, 2021

I've not had the need for meds (yet) in my life, yet know many people who do, including my wife.

The NEXT hardest part after getting a diagnosis, is getting the balance of meds right.

The NEXT hardest part is remembering that it's the meds that make you OK, and the underlying condition has not been cured, so you shouldn't stop taking them. After my wife's sisters saw the success my wife had with meds, her mom and one of her sisters got diagnosed and started taking meds as well. But... her sister keeps going off her meds "because she feels fine now".

Well. Duh. THE MEDS ARE WORKING. So she stops, becomes unstable again, gets irritated when people ask her if she's still on her meds or not, and eventually spirals into enough self-hate that she starts taking her meds again... and magically she's "all better".

It's a miracle.

Every time.

People with chronic conditions are stigmatized in America. You are weak, and less, and should be culled from the herd for the good of the country. We learn that from fucking birth. It's a hard belief to shake when you have been indoctrinated with it from birth.

My wife saw a cross-stitched pillow once (I think?) that said something like, "If you brain doesn't make the chemical, it's OK to use over-the-counter."

She sees her meds like an ankle brace; if your ankle is weak, you use a brace. If your brain doesn't make enough of the right chemicals, it's OK to supplement them. No guilt. No weakness. Just a fact that every body is different.





Devac  ·  1113 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I've been on various heart medications, with only short breaks from them, since turning five(?), so it's a different, long-internalized perspective. What stopped me from getting psychiatric help earlier is that congenital defects can't conceivably be my fault. Idea of being of shitty body and mind just demoralized me further, which is irrational on its own anyway.

Thank you for saying all that. It helps me ground what's going on if it makes sense.