Is underrated tough. For all the chillcool I believe myself to be, the stigma gets to me. “Why should your body need medicine to be happy?”
It doesn’t, it needs medicine to keep functioning; like bodies do when they have cancer, TB, or viral fever. One time the chemicals in my brain, kept me in bed so long, that I could not get myself water till I landed in a hospital for dehydration.
I have been taking MH medication, on & off, for 10 years now. I have gone from fighting my doctor for asking me to take medicines to take them but stopping as soon as I felt better to being thankful that humans made science & medicines that allow healing.
In the next post, I write about some things that helped me get from there to here.
- Don’t Google the medicine you have been prescribed. Ask your doctor what the medicine is for; & if you must, ask a friend to Google it for you.
- Think of them as antibiotics for viral or chemo for cancer, whichever feels fitting. Ask yourself “what would I say to my parent if she said she doesn’t need medicines for fever or cancer” Say that to yourself.
- Know that you will not get the medication right in the first go. Getting the medicine & dosage right is an iterative process. I took medicines, big & small doses, for anxiety for years till the doctor decided to try PTS medicines. Over the years, my dosage increased from 37.5 mg to 70 and got enriched with depression & anxiety meds.
- The medication doesn’t fix itself. Talk to your doctor. Your doctor is human, they can’t read our body or mind to the extent we hope they can. Give them feedback -I am feeling better, but keep having nightmares-it’s makes me ravenously hungry, I have to wake up in the middle of the night to eat-
- Make note of these feelings, experiences & thoughts. Don’t rely on memory while talking to your doctor; you may exaggerate or numb them based on what you are feeling that day.
- Find a buddy. Ask someone if they want to do check-ins with you; send you an emoji every time they take their meds, whom you can send a word after you take yours; like a virtual shoulder to hold while you walk with a sprained ankle. Or ask me to add you to the buddy Whatsapp group I started.
- Do not stop taking your medicines when you start feeling better. You still need them, to maintain levels of necessary chemicals in your brain. The buddy system helps with this.
- Have faith. It works. It’s not magic, but it works. Think of it as trying to build a playing card fort. You’ll need faith that it can be done, determination to try newly, differently when the cards fall, patience with yourself & the cards & help from people who can understand that you must do this.
Most importantly, remember, if you keep at it, through dehydrations & sleep-eatings, you have a chance of stumbling on beautiful days when you can lie in the sun & make some happy.