Lets talk meds...

Hi guys!


Welcome back to the blog,
today i have a post about something that’s really important to me and something i find really important to talk openly about! We’re talking about medication for mental illness. 
little disclaimer: i’m not a medical professional nor do i want to be perceived as one! this is purely based on my own person experiences and knowledge...remember to always do your own research and chat with your doc!


I’ve been taking medication for my mental illness since I was 15 and i’m 20 now so it’s been a few years. I was extremely lucky to find something that worked for me right off the bat, but that’s not always the case! Medication for mental health is the opposite of a one size fits all situation, because it’s sooo different for everyone. It’s all about trusting your doctor and having good communication with them, so the first step here would be to ensure you have a doctor you align well with. one of the most frustrating things about starting medication is that it takes about six weeks to fully kick in and give you the full effects. It’s so important to be well monitored by a healthcare professional during this time so that any changes or side effects can be spotted and noted. This will be the worst time period because you’ll likely experience nausea and fatigue and no positive effects of the meds YET. But if you push through this time period, you’ll start to loose the side effects and gain the positive effects. It’s so hard to stay positive and patient during that time but it’s so worth it if the medication really ends up helping. And sometimes you’ll need to have the dose adjusted or the med changed and it can be so frustrating but again, soooo worth it. 


Starting to take medication for mental illness can feel like/be a really big step and that’s usually because of the stigma that comes with it. When really, taking meds for a mental illness is no different than taking insulin for diabetes, it’s just something you need to do to maintain your health. This is a big reason as to why i talk to openly about taking meds and don’t keep it a hidden part of my life. And I encourage everyone to do the same. 


personally I started on 10 mg of my medication, and a couple years later I had to adjust it. My daily anxiety was coming back and thats ok...it’s pretty normal to need adjustments here and there. I had a severe panic attack that lead to a trip to the hospital and then an adjustment in my meds. I went up to 15, and then very recently had to have my dose adjusted again. The same thing happened, so I talked to my doctor before things got really bad again and upped the dose to 20 mg which is the maximum for that medication. It didn’t quite do the trick to I’ve very recently added in a super small dose of another new medication. I was honestly (and still am) so nervous and anxious about it because you never know how a new medication is gonna make you feel. But I realized it was more important to take the risk because of the potential that it could make me feel SO much better. And honestly it already has. It’s so important to weigh out those pros and cons and remember that under your doctors care, nothing terrible will happen to you from simply trying the medication. It definitely takes courage to take that step but it’s sooo worth it. 

​This was a shorter one but also a really important thing for me to touch on as we’re trying to break this stigma, because so many people go unmedicated simply because they’re afraid. If anyone reading has any specific questions regarding my experience with medications, my DM’s are always open. 

As always thanks for reading...
xoxo -Maddi