medicine
The medicalization of mental illness has given rise to many forms of pharmacological relief that restore chemical imbalances in one's brain.
Living with Borderline Personality Disorder – Rx Me Good, Part 2
Happy New Year to me. My plate was full. In fact, it was MORE than full—it was overflowing. With my son in kindergarten, me working 6.5 hours a day while being in online college courses, trying to balance my fitness goals as well as keeping my home life/personal relationships stable—the universe was weighing on my shoulders. Normally, this pressure would have been MORE than enough to break me down, but in a relieving turn of events, the medicine my psychiatrist prescribed to me was WORKING. No longer was I waking up in the dead of night in a panic. I could answer the phone without my heart racing and my fear rising into my throat. No longer were my actions and emotions unpredictable; my mind was clear and suddenly I was able to experience life in a way that I had always dreamed of—without dread, without hopelessness, without fear.
By Jess Didway8 years ago in Psyche
How Anti-Depressants Gave Me Back My Life
I had my first anxiety attack when I was ten-years-old. I had just eaten a piece of cake and gone to bed. My mom wasn’t home, but my dad was downstairs watching television, and both my older siblings were asleep. All of a sudden, my stomach churned, and I felt like I was going to throw up. I immediately sat up, fear and nausea pulsing through me with equal force. Eventually the wave of nausea quieted, but the fear I had experienced with the nausea did not. The act of throwing up had always upset me (as it does many people), but for some reason, on this night, that one wave of nausea triggered something inside of me that would change my relationship to the world forever. I went downstairs to my dad and sat on the couch watching television with him until my mom came home, my whole body paralyzed with fear at the thought of throwing up.
By Katja Alexandra8 years ago in Psyche
Medication Taking as the Key to Success
Taking my medication daily is something I do without thinking about it. I mean, I do not skip doses like many people I know. I chose medication since it helps regulate my body as well as my power. Without my meds, I’d be in bad shape. Skipping my medication could frankly kill me. I don’t get people who do this. I dump people like that. I can’t stand people who refuse medication on top of that. Stubborn people who refuse to take any medication. When a friend asks me why, I am at a loss for words. I stay friends with my stable friends.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Psyche
Bipolar and Schizophrenia Meds I Have Tried
Long before I found Geodon, I tried quite a few medications in order to get stable. The first I tried was Zyprexa, which didn’t take care of the whole problem right away. I was on a dose of 10 mg of Zyprexa when I was in junior college working on my A.A. in creative writing and my A.A. in anthropology. I was also on something like 75 mg of Effexor, and I was started on thyroid hormone at 20 in 2001. It didn’t get stable until 2002-2003. I was on Effexor until I got boils at San Francisco State, which appeared on my face. I had to beg them to lower the dose because of the side effects.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Psyche
Mean People on the Bus
I lived in the Mission-Excelsior district while I was going to school at San Francisco State University. A bus route ran through that neighborhood as a way of getting to school. This incident happened on the 14 however, which went down Mission itself while the school line went to Ingleside. Living off campus was better than living on campus, as way too much drama was happening on campus, save me moving with normal roommates as well as accomplishing my desire to live with a graduate student on top of that. The school wasn’t having me move out of a toxic living environment. On the bus one day, I was going home from somewhere, when this guy puts his arm around my seat, so I leaned forward as not to have him actually touching me. The woman next to him was an elderly woman with extreme jealousy problems toward me.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Psyche
How I Keep My Chronic Anxiety Under Control
It really is a whole lot of replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts. I have tried many medications and have come home with buspirone. Buspar has few side effects, although insomnia is one when you overdo that medication, like I tend to sometimes. I used the "Attacking Anxiety and Depression" program by the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety to get myself as far as I have gotten now, which is really not to feel my repressed anxiety. I have schizoaffecive bipolar 1 and anxiety is a huge part of that. I fancy myself as having every form of anxiety in the DSM but, well, my diagnosis is generalized anxiety/or anxiety state, as it says so on my medical record.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Psyche
Medicated: My Life on ADHD Medication
I was diagnosed with inattentive type attention deficit hyperactivity disorder when I was 11 years old in South Carolina by a local psychologist. My parents were desperate for answers of why their daughter, who was an average student with good grades, was failing the seventh grade and facing summer school if things remained unchanged. Once the diagnosis came the meds came soon after.
By Sierra George8 years ago in Psyche
Living on the Edge
In America, 1.6 percent of the population suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). In Canada, 2 percent of the population are effected by this "dramatic and erratic" personality disorder. Borderline personality disorder is a personality disorder characterized by intense mood swings, impulsivity and severe problems with self-worth. Borderlines also suffer from bouts of inappropriate rage, fear of abandonment, suicidal gestures, unstable relationships and chronic feelings of emptiness. Unfortunately, like most mental illnesses, BPD is often coupled with other mental illnesses, and treatment options vary from person to person.
By Hailey Gumbley8 years ago in Psyche
Xanax
A few years ago I was diagnosed with a few mental health conditions, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) proving to be one of the more invasive ones in my daily life. I still experience extreme anxiety making plans with friends I've known for ages, throughout the day I experience moments where it feels like my heart is going to beat right out of my chest, and I tend to think of the worst when something doesn't play out exactly as how I thought it would.
By Katharine Danae8 years ago in Psyche
Magnesium: Nature’s Anti-Depressant
If you’re like millions of other North Americans, chances are you suffer from depression or anxiety. Many of us resort to taking prescription medication. It is incredibly easy to get prescription medication for anxiety or depression. I’ve been told by general practitioners that taking medication for it is as “common as mud.” Is this a testament to our society? A lack of resiliency or an over dependence on pharmaceuticals? Perhaps a combination. But, what can be done about it?
By Michelle Glavic8 years ago in Psyche
Living Psychogenic
Psychogenic pain disorder; something most of will go our entire lives without hearing about. Even fewer of us will ever have the opportunity to learn about it, quite possibly because most of us will never experience, nor will we know anyone who experiences, this pain firsthand.
By Kamryn Davis8 years ago in Psyche
