Thinking about Mental-Health Medication: How to know if you should start.

Medication is one of many tools you can use to help stabilize your behavioral and mental health. But it is important to recognize that while yes, medication can work wonders in conjunction with the right mix of coping mechanisms, it will not fix all of your issues by itself. And we don’t want to lean too heavily on medications to cure our problems - your mental health is something that needs attendance and attention on an ongoing basis. It’s for this reason that I always, always recommend going to a therapist before considering starting a medication for a mental health reason (and your doctor probably will, too). You can read my blog post on therapy here if you are interested.

I did not start anxiety medication until my last year of college (I was 22 at the time), and this is because I was terrified of it. I'd heard horror stories all through high school that anxiety medication made people act like “zombies” - apathetic and boring, completely stripping the individual of their identity. I didn't want to lose who I was at the core, even though I was miserable. It was only after almost a decade of constant self-improvement initiatives with only minor results that I decided to bite the bullet and finally try medication with the support of my therapist.

I'd spent years and years trying everything I could before medication. It slowly became clear after all that time that the therapy, yoga, running, herbal supplements, affirmations, and even church attendance were not going to be enough. I’d been doing exactly the right things, but it wasn't working for me - I was still quite anxious and depressed, and when the pandemic hit my mental wellness took a nose-dive.

I spoke to my therapist about how I'd been feeling. I told her that my anxiety was debilitating for me-- I wasn't getting school work done on time, I wasn't connecting with others, and I couldn't shake the feeling that there was always something bad waiting for me around each corner. She admitted to me that she had believed for a while that I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and that, as long as I also continued therapy and my other coping mechanisms I had built, she believed that medication would help me. She explained that my emotions were like peaks and valleys, and that they were quite dramatic and close together. “With the help of medication, you can bring those peaks and valleys a little closer to the middle line."

I was hesitant to continue, but at this point I really felt that I had nothing to lose. I knew that I couldn't keep living the way that I was, so the only thing to do next was drag myself to the doctor. I told them my fears -- that I would lose myself and my personality. And I was pleasantly surprised by how reassuring they were. They had spoken to my therapist and after evaluating me, told me that I most likely had a chemical imbalance that was contributing to my anxiety. They told me that they were determined to be a good support system for me, and that I had nothing to fear.

Pros, Cons, and Conspiracies

Going on medication is a journey and it can take some trial and error to find the right fit for you. The first medication I tried made me feel restless and affected my sleep schedule. After a month or two, I decided that it wasn’t right for me, and switched over to a different medication, which I’ve been on ever since. I do consider myself lucky, as I know friends who have gone through several more medications before finding a good fit. But the end result seems to be universal - once you find your fit, it's all worth it.

The pros of being on medication are that, when you find the right one, your problems do lessen. You have one more layer of support that you didn’t have before to help level your mood. Medication can boost your mental stabilization, and at least for me, it has played a pivotal role in my mental health journey.

The cons are that it may take you some time to find a medication that is right for you, and in that process, you might deal with some side effects. On top of this, some meds can take anywhere from weeks to months to take full effect, so you may be dealing with side effects (or the lack of any effect) for a while until you determine that the medication is not the right fit for you. Another con to mention is that there are some meds that you can’t just stop, otherwise you’d go through withdrawals, so changing and/or stopping that medication may take some time as you ween off of it (with the help of a doctor, of course).

I've gone through this weening, and as it only took a week or two (and I wasn't on a very high dose), this period of time didn't really affect me at all.

Some conspiracies you may have heard about medication are that you will never be yourself again-- instead inducing a drugged-up, false version of yourself. Another pessimistic viewpoint is that medication is subbing one unhealthy coping mechanism (ex: alcohol) for another, and that your body will never learn to balance its natural chemicals and emotions if you supplement it with manufactured chemicals. I could write whole blog posts dedicated to these two conspiracies alone, but let me break it down simply: medication is not intended to act as a recreational drug, and it is not meant to change who you are integrally.

Yes, some medications may be strong, and you may not like how they make you feel. But you can always change prescription strength, or move on to a new prescription entirely. You should feel better on medication, not like a zombie. Because I am on a prescription that suits me, I have never felt more like myself. I am so much more level-headed, and feel that I can actually pursue my passions and navigate my relationships healthily. Your brain isn’t going anywhere, and neither are your emotions. Therapy and medication don’t stop thoughts and behaviors, but make us more aware of them, while giving us a bit more agency to calm ourselves.

Prescriptions are not just substitutes for other recreational drugs. Drugs like alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, ecstacy, etc have effects that harm and sometimes even destroy our cells, whereas prescribed drugs should be heavily tested and deemed healthy to use by the Food & Drug Association. It's important to have these types of conversations with your doctor when thinking about going on medication - your provider is aware of your health history and will make informed decisions about what they believe to be the most beneficial for you.

How long will I be on meds? When can I stop?

Ah yes, people always want to know the answer to this question. And I actually can’t tell you - this is something only you and your doctor can figure out. Some people go off their meds in a few months. Other people will need to be (or choose to be) on medication for years. Some for their whole lives. But I strongly encourage the idea of length not to scare you. 

Focus on one day at a time. Is medication serving you today? Is it making it easier for you to cope? There is absolutely no shame in being on medication, and this idea that you are not yourself when you are on medication is not true. Continue to have conversations with your doctor and make informed decisions about your mental wellness.

In Conclusion

You have nothing to fear in starting medication. Having a team of doctors behind you is very helpful in these situations - they should be a support system for you throughout this journey. Once you find the ideal fit, the benefits of taking mental health medication will severely outweigh the cons.

Let me know if you have any questions, thoughts, or opinions in the comments down below -- have you ever tried medication for your mental health? What was it like?

And as always, thanks so much for reading!

Xx,

Renee