Medication

I believe it is time to address medication. Do understand that I'm not professional, I'm not a doctor. This is just from my experience and some from those closest to me.

My first experience with anti-depressants was back in 2007. I had moved away from home and all the craziness of life settled on me with all it's responsibilities. I was under quite a bit of stress and couldn't handle my life load. My doctor put me on some medicine that he said, "will lower your stress level." I actually had no idea they were anti-depressants until much later. I moved home several months later because I had also been diagnosed with hypoglycemia and I couldn't afford the diet the doctor's had put me on.

I stayed on that medication for a while and then decided that I was ready to wean off of it. Which I did. I went back on the meds a short while later, weaned off of them and went back on them again August of 2010. You'll probably be thinking, "Erin, why didn't you just stay on them??" Well, the fact is that I never expected to go back on them every time I weaned off! I didn't like being on medication. It was shameful to me. And so, I went on them as long as the doctor suggested and then went off of them again.

However, things changed a bit this last August. I went back on the same medication I had been using for years and this time, it wasn't working. I went through three different dosages trying to get the right balance and it just wasn't working. The dosage was either too low to be working well enough or too high to the point of me becoming super apathetic (which is what happened the first time I went on them in 2007. I stopped going to work and school because I just stopped caring). Neither of those solutions was working for me and so I asked to try something new.

I asked the doctor if I could try what my dad had been on a year or so ago. This is a usual request because often if a medication works for one family member, it will work for another. That's what happened with my mom and her brother. The medication that worked for my Uncle ended up being the stuff that finally helped my mom. I have been on that one for the recommended 6 weeks (it usually takes about 6 weeks to notice any improvement that the medication is making). It has done nothing for the anxiety that is now a part of my day to day life and I still take a long time to get to sleep.

I went and talked to my doctor once again on Tuesday and told him that the anxiety wasn't working and that I wasn't able to fall asleep at night. He actually changed my prescription, which I was actually surprised by. Soooooo, now I am weaning off the last one and starting a new one again.

Third time's the charm, right? I'm really crossing my fingers for it.