Who here doesn't take medication

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I was always dead-set against meds, but I did give in and take paxil for awhile. I highly doubt I would take anything like that again unless I was in a dire situation. I hated how zombie-like I felt. Even if I did feel sad, I couldn't even cry, which is major for me to let out those feelings. But mostly I didn't feel much of anything. Even when my emotions get difficult, I'd rather just let myself feel it and BE MYSELF than mask it with drugs.

i have try some drug:
coffer
ritalin
paroxetine
prozac
clonidine
clomipramine
amantadine

5-htp
l-tyrosine
selenium
mag-VB6
hops-Valerian
melatonin
fish oil

and now i am on prozac
everyone is different , everyone must try the different drug and different dosage.

and go following your feeling ,do you want to do.
i think this is very important!
not following expert's advice or dogma

C2H5OH

Sometimes I wonder whether something for depression would help, but I have never taken any meds (other than antibiotics).

I don't smoke anymore, but I used to sometimes go outside by myself and sit and have a cigar. I think the "need" for a cigar was really a need for time out, but I did like the nicotine hit. Now when I need time out, I go out to the garage and mess around with fishing gear and have a beer.

I used to drink two pots of coffee at work, but I've cut back to a single triple-shot first thing in the morning. Apparently I spontaneously turned into a complete as*hole after 2pm. Never noticed a difference, personally.

I smoke a pack 'n change of cigarettes every day.

I drink like a fish every night.

That's the Bipolar side of me trying to self-medicate. The nicotine calms me. The alcohol numbs me and helps me sleep. I'm in the midst of coming to terms with the grim reality that what I need are prescription drugs rather than the continued lung and liver abuse. I've avoided them because I had a terrible experience with anti-depressants when I was much younger (and it turns out that in many cases anti-depressants are really, really bad for us co-morbid Bipolar types).

I narrowly avoided an addiction to THC (the idea of trying to procure it for myself was so terrifying that I never pursued it - chalk one up for AS). Never did anything harder than that.

As for regular medication, I got the usual rounds of antibiotics (last time was almost twenty years ago for a really nasty case of waking pneumonia) and was heavily dosed for ear infections as a kid. Funny, I've always assumed my problems with understanding conversation were a result of some kind of hearing loss resulting from burst eardrums, though now I wonder if it might be a perceptual disorder... I must look into that further.

I don't ascribe to homeopathy - it's been pretty thoroughly debunked.

I never remember to take my damn vitamins.

I sometimes wish like hell there was something I could pop that would help me understand other people better, or make me more comprehensible to them, if only for a few hours.

Nick

Personally I think life and learning is the best medication of all.

I used to do Zoloft and Lexapro for depression, but neither helped. To be honest, I think my "depression" was just a natural emotional response to having no life and hardly any friends - it was a consequence of my circumstances.

I self-medicated because I wasn't diagnosed for a very long time. Then I found natural help and have a great way to let go of stuff, especially anger. I do a daily treatment and that's great.

I don't take psych meds or meds for anything AS-related.

AS is not an illness, so no need to "medicate" it.

My regular fitness routine is great for handling negatively obsessive thoughts. It costs nothing but an hour of my time every couple of days and keeps me physically fit as well. I laugh in the face of psychiatry - bunch of quacks, they are.

I don't take any medication, I avoid it unless it's something necessary for my physical health (such as painkillers for intolerable pain).

However, in the past I have taken:

Gingko Bilboa tablets (for memory problems, the stuff never worked for me)
Zoloft (Felt more like a placebo that just killed my emotions, very glad to be off them but I still have alot of depression trouble and I can't weep when I really need to)
Garlic Tablets (can't remember what this was for)
Centrum (harmless test to see if it made any difference, it didn't)

My personal experience is that medications only seemed to work on physical conditions, not neurological/emotional/psychological conditions... So I refuse to take anything that isn't for treating the former. Though, if I ever do end up having a seizure or schizophrenia condition, I dare not refuse to take the correct medications for them. I'm not a person who thinks only in extremes.

I try to avoid all drugs and artificial substances because they react badly in my body. Psychoactive are the worst, causing indiosyncratic reactions like hallucinations and being knocked out 4 days by one Rispiridol. I have had CPR twice from drugs given after begging not to be drugged. Only one drug to help mood was Nardil and the next doctor wouldn't let me take it when they found out. It caused hypertension anyhow.

I don't even like vitamins and they throw the body out of balance if not taken as part of a whole food. However, I am taking Mg and B 100 temporarily on chiropractor's orders after an MVA and Cognitive Aminio that markedly help my mental function. Even took some muscle relaxants and meclizine for intractible diplopia and vertigo. These symptoms are still distressing, but don't take the stuff after first few days.

Each person must decide risks and side effects versus benefits and do what is best for them. I don't belive in forced drugging and erasing brains with ECT by force. People who are able to state their wishes should be allowed to follow them unless they are to stop violent crimilnal behavior. Not bothersome stuff that harms no one.

for past 4 years, I have been focused on Essential Oils and use them to improve health, mood and environment

Am experiencing my first winter without Seroxat (SSRI) for about 5 years :-/

Was initially treated at age 9 with Phenobarbitone (barbiturate ~ now banned) and then from age 18 onward by Nardil (MAOIR), tricyclic anti-depressants, Stelazine and Valium at irregular intervals. abused all of them if possible mixed with alcohol and/or street drugs then age 42 just took Seroxat for a couple of years, had a break, for 5 years and then took 18 months to come back off it. I do not intend to ever (EVER!) go back on it/them.

The whole drug saga has been a disaster - the first incident left me mortally depressed for my entire childhood and prey to abusing any drug i could lay my hands on.

I am now 48 and psycho-active drug free (OK caffeine and alcohol in moderation). I have cholesterol and blood pressure meds and that is it. I use buddhist mindfulness practices and a modertae life to keep myself healthy.

Just say NO!

Peace

Tog

I don't think medication would solve whatever the problem is that I have.....but I am initially confused as to what the problem is?