Prescription Help!

So, I am in counselling right now, and i gotta admit, it is helping a whole lot..

My only problem is: my counselor wants to put me on all sorts of meds..

I don't think i need them, but he is like pushy with it and says i need ad/hd drugs and mood balancers and #, when i made it very clear that i would like to find ways of dealing with it instead of becoming dependent on drugs..

I dont trust Big Pharma (obviously), but everyone is telling me, that it's the only way to be happy because of chemical imbalances in my brain.. I think people have been dealing with this # for years, long before drugs


I dunno, has anyone else been in the same boat? I don't want to take the drugs but everyone is pushing me...

If this is the wrong place to post this kind of thing, just erase, i just thought maybe some people here have had experiences with this sort of thing

My advice to you is that if you don't wanna take the drugs, then you shouldn't. If your Psychiatrist cannot respect that then you need to find a new one if possible. Perhaps a Psychologist instead. I can tell you from personal experience that talk therapy is one of the best treatments out there for the majority of people.

Good luck!

I am sympathetic to your plight my friend.I believe it would be wise of you to find other opinions from other specialists.I know of people who have had bad experiences when off their meds,I have seen what out of control manic depressive behavior can cause.
But if you are not suffering from some heavy psychological problem,I think it best we try to work things out without resorting to psychoactive meds.
I would want to be sure that they were absolutely nessessary before embarking on a regimen of perscrption drugs.
You are within your rights as a person and a patient, to question ,and actively persue remedy.
That is not to say you can self diagnose these things, but you certainly have the right to more than one qualified opinion.....I would ccheck it out if i were you....
Many mood drugs can have serious side effects,always ask for the print out at the drugstore for any meds you get.....that may help you determine what the possible effects you are risking are....Findout what they wish to give you, and look it up online,and it never hurts to ask your pharmacist what alternatives there are....
I wish you all the best, you sound like a winner so keep up the fight.

A very close friend of mine is in the same situation. He has convinced his therapist that pharmaceuticals aren't an option for him and it helps that his therapist is open to alternative treatments. Maybe you should seek out a different therapist?

If your counseling is helping you, I don't understand why they are pushing drugs (aside from the obvious reason - Big Pharma kickbacks and such). Maybe it would be a good question to ask him.

I can only say that I'm very sympathetic and I hope that since your counseling is helping, you can continue on that path.

My counselor is a really cool guy, buuut he has problems of his own that he takes the medication for.. He swears that they work...

My fear, as somebody stated, would be to one day run out of pills and not know how to cope without them..

Like i know I'm depressed, maybe even manic depressive, or just really depressed, i dunno sometimes its bad, like wake up angry or sad for no real reason but other days I'm on top of the world.. Unfortunately i don't have the money to go see someone else (shrink or therapist), only him and he's in training anyways....


And the thing about AD/HD i think is bull, cuz they put me on those drugs when i was a kid and they were horrible.. i was a zombie that would space out constantly..

I truly believe you need to follow your intuition on this. Meds will always be there as an option at any point in the future, but since you have real reservations about taking them, it might be much better to try other alternatives first. Vitamin D, Co-Enzyme Q10, Rhodiola are all excellent for depression. There's a non-profit website called www.earthclinic.com which sells nothing, and which has recommendations from people from all over the world about natural remedies for everything under the sun. It is based on people's own experience.
You might be interested to look at the 'depression' category and see what others have used and found effective.

Best of luck.

reply to post by squirelnutz


We seem to have very similar issues regarding our psychological state.

Here's my advice, trust the meds. Medication isn't a 'big pharma' conspiracy or anything. It's better living through chemistry. If your counselor thinks that you need medication even though you said you'd prefer not to take it, there's probably a reason for that. The reason being that it won't be enough.

I'm currently on two pharmaceuticals for psychological issues and they really help balance me out. They help me act more...normally. And not in the sense of 'like everyone else'. Normal in the sense of 'I don't behave in irrational and unpredictable and slightly paranoid ways'. It's better for me and those I love.

As a fellow sufferer, I urge you to consider what your professional is telling you. You should ask for a description of how the medications work and be sure that you get on the stuff that's best for you. I remember spending a while bouncing back and forth between ADHD meds, it wasn't fun. Try to get it right the first time.

Don't do it Nutz. It becomes a roller coaster ride you can never get off of.

I was miserable years ago and was put on anti-depressants.
I realized the source of my misery was my own mind.
I changed my outlook and got off the pills but it wasn't easy to stop taking them.

If you live in fear or dwell on negativity of any kind it will take you down with it.
We all have the power to change.
Give being positive and helpful just a week's serious effort before you resort to drugs please!

You have a good mind, I've read many, many of your posts here on ATS. I consider you a kindred soul, if you will.
Take serious stock of yourself emotionally and see if there are thought/feeling patterns you can change.
Drugs should be a last resort and they can be very helpful to some, perhaps even you.

At any rate take care of yourself Squirrelnutz.
You have many friends here rooting for your happiness and success, myself included.
Feel free to share and let us know how you're doing.
Best wishes, Dave/ATA

Diet and exercise are important too. Anything there that might need changing first?

reply to post by squirelnutz
aquirelnutz,

Mybe your practitioner is hooooked also and knows no other way. Hooked on legal drugs of many kinds is just as bad as many of the illegal ones. My poor wife is a hooked zombie and knows it and I almost was way back but when I would miss a dose and start getting all buzzy I knew I had gone as far as I was going to go. I was OK in a couple hours and stayed off. Get plenty of exercise in fresh air and sunshine if possible and practice deep breathing until it becomes a habit and make sure of a good diet. Reduce sugar and bad fats as much as you possibly can. Go to a good natural heath practitioner if you can or you can get the info on this old web.

Truthiron.

thank you all for your comments and help!

It's just hard because everyone is trying to convince me that drugs is the only way..

I exercise and eat OK, but i still have those really dark days....

And i tried Herbal Supplements for about a month but it seemed to make it worse, but i was taking st johns wart, and a brain booster pill and some kind of root thing but i got to a point i havent been in years after taking those (Maybe it was too much on my brain) i dunno...

i honestly just want to be normal... I'm tired of being Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde.. I just want to be Dr. Jekyll lol

I have a question for the people that do take meds:

What would happen if they took your drug off the market? Would you be able to cope or driven insane by the lack of it?

Just wondering

Thanks again for all the replies, I knew i wasn't special

reply to post by squirelnutz


Well, there are all sorts of replacements. I'm on a non-stimulant for ADHD (it's also an anti-depressant, but it doesn't have that effect on me, as different people have different neurochemistries) because I actually had to change my ADHD medication when I made a transatlantic move. The stimulant I was on wasn't sold here and I hadn't responded well to other medications, so I tried this one. It's helped me a lot, though I did initially have some gastrointestinal issues (you might get them from medication too, it's fairly common so don't worry because they go away...yes, your brain has something to do with poop).

As for my antidepressant, I'd easily find a replacement.

I actually tried a period of time without medication, it wasn't a wise move and it ended up causing quite a few problems for me. It wasn't because I needed the medication, it was just that I had returned to unquestionably bad behaviors that I had gotten rid of with the help of medication.

And remember, medication isn't magic, it's only something that helps immensely. You'll have to put in personal effort anyway.

Best wishes in your quest to solve your problems. Please try to be reasonable about everything.

*******UPDATE*****

I decided NOT to take the medication and decided to change my whole life....

I quit my job, got enrolled back in school, and started smoking pot, again...

So far, so good.. What actually helps is a little quote from my favorite band, Flogging Molly, when i'm having a bad day i just think about :

"Today will be better tomorrow, they say."

So i just tell myself that I will look at today, tomorrow and think it was better times... I dunno, unorthodox but it helps me...

Oh and i'm drinking the # outta Chamomile tea with Honey, which is extremely good at taking the edge off