#i haven't needed tension tamer tea in a year now

[sanguinifex]

I think we need to talk more about getting on meds for mental illness and stop just relying on stopgap coping mechanisms.

Untreated anxiety or OCD? Can fucking kill you.

Untreated depression? Can fucking kill you.

Untreated bipolar? Can fucking kill you.

Untreated schizophrenia? Can fucking kill you.

There are medications available for all of these things. For the first 3, there are lots of treatment options. Treating schizophrenia is often a bit harder, but even most people who don't respond super well see some improvement, and the FDA just approved a new treatment for people with schizophrenia who don't respond well to conventional antipsychotics.

It is literally a million times easier to exist when you're on the right medication. You just...exist. And do stuff. And before you know it's been months and you haven't wanted to die at all.

A lot of people are scared of medication because they think it will make them gain weight. A lot of meds don't actually do that, or have only very little weight gain. Wellbutrin, an atypical antidepressant, can sometimes make you lose weight. Buspirone, a maintenance medication for anxiety disorders, isn't associated with weight gain. Lithium, a treatment for bipolar mania, isn't associated with weight gain. Second-generation antipsychotics, used for bipolar mania and schizophrenia, are associated with weight gain, but any of the first like 3 you'd be prescribed aren't going to make you gain more than like 20 pounds.

And so what if you do gain weight? You might need new clothes, and it sucks to have to replace all your pants. Healthwise, you're better off 20 pounds heavier on medication than you are with an untreated mental illness. If you're anorexic, the anorexia will be less bad if you're not depressed or OCD anymore.

Some people are worried about being involuntarily committed. Health systems generally avoid doing that anymore. Unless you're actively in crisis, they won't. Even if you go in involuntarily, their goal is to stabilize you and get you out of there as soon as possible because that's what makes sense for their revenue cycle. Insurance/medicaid only pays so long. I went in for a manic episode and was out in 10 days, and the last like 4 were because they needed to get my lithium level stable. Also, the hospital food was actually good.

Seriously. Just ask your doctor or go to urgent care and ask about medication. It will be so much calmer in your head, and you'll be able to do things you never thought you could do. I'm in graduate school now. I'm getting good grades. I still get doubts about myself but they pass. I'm going to do things with my life. And it comes down to four medications to treat four mental illnesses that I thought would send me to an early grave.

Be the person you can be. Take the damn meds.