Against Medication

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I'm highly against any form of medication. It can severally limit a younger individual and on another hand completely limit an older person. Sometimes it helps, but I am under the impression that it hinders more than it helps. Maybe with something a little physical, something that can be physically handled and treated. But for let's something Asperger or Autistic or even neurological it can do more damage than good, imo. Especially when they are treating a symptom and not the cause.

I had wrote my current situation in another thread with my 19 year old and my 14 year old brothers. And the therapist wants to put the 19 year old on medication to calm him down. And I'm like this fix likes she is trying to fix the blame over the problem. She is only treating a symptom not a cause. We have never had this issue with her before. But lately she's been a little iff. Or maybe that's just my thinking. I should make a statement that he has mild autistism with a mood disorder. [bipolar type 1]

We've been suggested by another therapist when P Boy was 15 to put him on medication. It never really worked P Boy refuses medication and the woman who gave birth to us did everything to make us seem normal. Taking medication, in her mind, would have meant he wasn't normal.

I guess another reason I am against medication is that we as a family don't use medication. When I busted my knee after someone tried to merge into me on my scooter, I didn't take pain killers or anything of the sort and let it heal naturally. The common cold, we don't take medication. We have never in this family used medication to solve our problems.

I'm on the fence. P Boy has never been as bad as he has been now. P Boy has never exploded as wildly as he has before, until now. And I rather help him in a different way then go, "Oh well you're behaving bananas time to pop some pills".

I'm against medication. But am at a lost of where I should go.

I think medication can be risky, but in some circumstances it's needed.

What if you had a heart disease, and your doctor recommended pills to lower blood pressure? It's not a perfect analogy, but like heart medication, psychiatric medication can save lives and improve future health in some circumstances.

Personally I'd say to weigh the pros and cons in each case rather than making a general statement about whether medication is good or bad.

For example, I used to never, ever take pain medication when I was in pain. But then my periods started causing severe pain for the first day I flowed - pain so bad I'd faint. I decided it wasn't worth putting up with agony just because I didn't like the idea of taking pain medication, so now I only take pain pills for my period and nothing else.

People who have bipolar need to be medicated. I've known plenty of people with BP who try to go the natural route and end up back in the hospital. It is just a matter of finding the right combination of medications, which can take a while and side effects can suck....but still with it and find a pdoc that is willing to work with you and come up with the best solution.

I can totally understand your hesitation. And I have a physician husband and several in the family on both sides. Regardless of all this, I am still hesitant with almost any psychiatric meds. I took my shrinks about 15 years to get my drug combo right. Uggh!

I also have friends that are totally into holistic health. They rarely take any meds at all.

Many have the same reservations you have. Hopefully you get all the information you need to make an educated decision that you can feel confident in.

My brother, P Boy 19 said to me, "I don't want to eat like a f*****g cow,"

He makes me laugh. And I know that probably sounds rude and I know that some people have that problem. But P Boy has always had the issues of side effects.

He even told me, "Why do I want something to make me "better" when it gives me a set of a whole bunch of new problems? That's f*****g squared. Doom if you do and doomed if you don't."

Excuse the language, I am quoting him here. I understand heart medication. But as I said, he doesn't want side effects. He doesn't want to have problems fixing a problem.

We had a long talk about it.

He says, "It's like a leaky faucet. Why the f**k would you fix a leaky faucet by drilling a hole on the other side? That doesn't fix anything. A side effect that makes you tired or whatever the f**k it does is basically drilling a whole on another side of a leaky faucet. And that's bull."

Most of the side affects wear off after 6 weeks-3months. Really bad side affects usually take 3 days. After that, it really isn't that bad. If you come across something that really sucks, then switch. It takes time but once he finds the right combination, he will feel much better. I'd at the very least start on lithium. It really doesn't have any horrible side effects and works very well for most people. It is by far the safest of the bp meds.....they've been using it a long time.

All right thanks. I'll do that.

If his pdoc doesn't specialize in BP, I would switch. You want someone who knows a lot about the different meds available. BP is tricky to medicate sometimes.

Also, lithium is not as effective if you go off of it and then go back on. If he starts it, it is important that he sticks with it if it is working for him. Have his doctor discuss that with him as well.

She's qualified in both autism and BP.

So was our last doctor, but we got changed doctors when our insurance plan changed.

That great then!

There are times to be against medication, and times to embrace it. You wouldn't deny a diabetic insulin, would you? Mood disorders can be successfully treated with medication for many people, and that can be literally the difference between making it in this world, and not. As your brother reaches adulthood, it is probably time to give this serious consideration. The related class of medications is risky in teens, and are usually better left untried except in the most extreme circumstances (IMHO), but has been used safely and effectively with adults. I know it isn't an easy decision, and I can't say when it will be time, when the potential benefits move ahead of the risks, but if it reaches a point where there is a strong chance that a pill can make life better for your brother, then it is time to try.

I know. I think he's scared. We're both scared to be honest.

He doesn't want to loose his sense of self. But he keeps saying his brian won't shut up. That it's constantly going and going. He says the only time it makes sense is when he hears his music.

He said that he's heard some people loose the creative side of themselves when they go on medication. I'm sure that's one of the reasons. He found reason and voice in his music.

I never dealt with medication. And I have become a psuedo parent for these two. I don't want him to become someone else. That sounds so wrong and rude.

My bipolar husband is against medication, too. However, he tends to quit his meds without telling his doctor, suddenly stop going to appointments, etc., instead of trying to work with his doctor to find a solution.

As a result of my husband's attitude, I have to accomodate him a lot (let him nap in the middle of the day, not require him to help with our two special needs kids, and not requiring him to be a better provider) and have put up with a lot--called terrible names and even being physically threatened during a manic episode in 2007.

I used to be on a lot of meds all of the time for epilepsy--which was cured in 2000--and the side effects were horrible. In hindsight, I should have learned more about the meds myself and been more honest with the doctor, and maybe things would have worked out better.

I'm currently on a med for a bowel disease, and it is literally a life-saver. So I'm not against meds, but a person needs to go to a good doctor, be honest with him or her, follow the doctor's instructions, and learn about the meds himself or herself.

i think that right there is the problem. autism, bipolar, there is no cure for these things. you literally CANT treat the cause of autism, the only thing you can do is treat the symptoms. im not too familiar with bipolar, but i think medication there is basically trying to do the same.

our family is pretty anti-medicine too, and it can be hard to move from that mindset into one that says medication is a good thing. but medication CAN be a good thing, if you need it and it works for you. the goal of medicine should never be to do harm, and the benefits should always outweigh the negatives. but you simply wont know what the negatives are until its tried.

i would say encourage your brother to look into the available meds, have him actively work with the therapist to identify a plan of action. make sure he researches the options and has a role in choosing what to try. make a plan b and plan c if the first one doesnt work well. reassure him that if the meds have a negative effect on his creativity, the plan will change. he is really too old to force him to do anything anyway, he needs to be on board and helping steer the course if you want medication to succeed in helping him.

Another thing to think about: medicating an adult is different than medicating a child. First of all, these medications are tested on adults, so they have a very good idea of how an adult will react (sadly, this is not so with children, they just lower the dosages.)

Second, your brother is at an age where his brain is pretty much done developing, so my other concern about making changes to brain chemistry while the brain is still trying to sort itself out doesn't really apply. (Not judging parents who go the meds route: there are times when safety trumps the two concerns above.)

I was on medication myself for a very short time, in college, when I was just a bit older than your brother (I have some sort of mood disorder that's in the world of bipolar.) It was a long time ago, so it was a tricyclic antidepressant, something they don't use much anymore. There were a few side effects, but mostly I felt like I was (metaphorically) surrounded by pillows: not much of any feelings got in. It was a huge relief; I had been severely depressed for so long I had forgotten how it felt not to be in despair.

The meds gave me a sort of foothold, and I was able to pull myself up, be effective in therapy, and get somewhere with the battle against depression. I went off them after about a year (you do want to give whatever it is at least a year, there's a lot of dosage-tweaking stuff that has to happen before you can really know how it's working.) I would do it again if I had to.

I can't blame you and your brother for being concerned, and I don't have a good answer for you. Good luck.