Why do those with Bi-polar choose to stop medicine

Then I find he has stopped and is getting manic ( working all hours, grandiose plans, talking to everyone on the phone.) In the early stages he just seems really happy but then it goes into overdrive. He then gets tired - he tells me that it is like being a hamster on a treadmill and he cannot stop running faster and faster nor can he get off it. He then drinks heavily before falling from manic to depression and self loathing. After a few days of this he recommences Lithium, pulls back off the booze and all is normal again, He does this around four times a year - almost in line with the change of season.

I am asthmatic and don't like taking my steroid spray but I do because I know without it I will get sick. I wish I could understand the logic of stopping the medication you need and which seems to work.

Stopping meds seems to be a common thread reading posts on the site.

Can anyone shed some insight as I really do want to understand.

Thanks

Tara

THAT... was a great question, and one we BP's, as well as addicts and alcOholics, should be asking right from the 'GIT GO!'

First, a fact (I have verified this with my shrink and my therapist)--the BP meds generally are designed to be applied for a relatively short time (often twelve weeks), you will often note that the efficacy or usefulness of the med is only twelve weeks. (Lithium is one of the few which seems to have received endorsement for long term use.)

During the period of medication, the patient receives some stability or relief, and, during that period, the patient needs to begin some form of therapy to change attitudes, reactions, and beliefs.

Second, I give you a common example of something almost everybody has done. I have occasionally taken antibiotics, all of which are prescribed for a period of ten days to two weeks. On the bottle, the label always says, "Do not stop taking this medication until you take all of it" [or something like that].

Many times, I felt better after six or seven days, and I stopped taking the prescription. The symptoms had gone away, and I no longer had such a strong reminder of how ill I was. Feeling better persuaded me that I WAS better, and THAT is denial.

Later on, of course, the bacterial infection flared again, and it was much worse than before as well as more difficult to treat! I could have avoided the relapse, if I had only followed the instructions....

You have perhaps heard that alcoholism and BP Mania/euphoria/dysphoria are conditions of the mind that trick us into thinking we're "okay." ...and that's just how it works for me.

Finally there is, as you mentioned, a tendency for me to get "tired of taking the medicine."

I too have asthma (for twenty years), and, early on, I just got tired or indifferent about taking the meds. I was also angry (that's a big part of denial, isn't it) and resentful--always holding to the delusion that, when I felt better and when the meds were working, that I was really not that bad. So, I would play a little "russian roulette" with my meds.

"Russian roulette" is really a good description for relapse, because my mind persuades me that I'm just "NOT THAT BAD"--that it's okay to have one more drink, or to toss my meds aside.

The irony of relapse, Tara, is that some of us have to go through that miserable process more than once, until we are thoroughly convinced of our disease--until we accept our condition and stop courting the deception that our sick mind constantly puts in front of us.

So, I am only guessing, but, based on my experience and the experience millions of others have reported, I suspect that most of us do what your husband is doing out of denial or out of reluctance to accept the truth and get on with our recovery.

I had to get past my denial and learn faithfully to "follow the instructions."

But, then that's the way it works for ME, and I am NOT your husband. So perhaps his case is different, but at least you have another viewpoint.

Take care.

Jim

Post edited by: JR1, at: 12/10/2007 15:28

My hubby thinks the pills should just fix it as he puts it all down to a chemical imbalance!

The Lithium seems to work for him - this week ( despite screwed up flights and day two of still waiting for his missing suitcase) he is back to his normal lovely self, has stopped drinking and it is like a cloud has lifted after just a few days back on the meds.

I think denial is not just a river in Egypt!

Tara

Unless your husband has a change in attitude, like Jim was talking about, there isn't much that can be done about it.

There is a slogan in AA,it goes something like, you have to get sick of being sick, before you can get better.

When the mania hit, my mind told me that meant that I was healthy. I mean, I have all of this energy and all. After awhile, that didn't feel so good. Sleeping two or three hours a night and not being to sit still was wearing me out. And then the depression set in and life really was too much to handle. I am now on medicine that keeps me on a even keel most of the time.

I know that I am not really answering your question, I really have a hard time communicating. It really is a bad feeling to know that your mind works different from others and that you will be dependant on a pill for the rest of your life. I think there is also a stigma attached to mental illiness and addiction and sometimes it hurts because you feel like you are letting down you friends and family.

I hope this helps.

Donna

Now back to normal its like a different man from the one this time last week who was speaking of self loathing and not wanting to carry on.

Time to enjoy the good times whilst they last and hope that the more understanding there is the longer the " good bits " will be and overbalance the hard times.

Tara

regards,

Jim