medication

Below is a link to an explanation I wrote about Tramadol. I hope it helps someone 👍

Medication Explained: Tramadol 💊

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Is this the way I’m meant to feel? Dosed up on happy pills and mind altering drugs. Am I an addict now because I have to take them everyday? It’s explained as being a dependence rather than a addiction. But I have to take these pills every single day, morning and night. Addiction is marked by a change in behaviour caused by the biochemical changes in the brain. Isn’t this what my medication is doing to me? Dependence is characterised by the symptoms of tolerance (the capacity to endure continued subjection to something such as a drug without adverse reaction) and withdrawal (by firstly developing a form of drug dependence. This may occur as physical dependence, psychological dependence, or both). While it is possible to have a physical dependence without being addicted, addiction is usually right around the corner.

If I miss taking my medication for a day I can feel the change in my mood. If I decided to stop taking them completely then I shudder to think of the actions I would get up to. I fear that I wouldn’t be able to function without them, be a confused and anxious person who would be at 6’s and 7’s with life. My Bipolar Disorder would become unbearable for me and I would have trouble with coping with the mania and depression. Further to this, I would put unnecessary stress onto my parents and friends. I wouldn’t be great to be around for anyone. This is only me surmising however based on the information I have been given from my Health Professionals. The only thing is that these treatments don’t put you back together as you originally were. You are remodelled, your brain chemistry altered by drug after drug after drug to become someone that looks like you, but really isn’t you.

#Medication #MightyTogether

Here’s a post I wrote about Gabapentin. Check it out if you’re interested in reading it and if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out in the comments section 👌

Medication Explained: Gabapentin 💊

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I’m not a Pharmacist or a Doctor. However, I have a degree in Medicinal Chemistry and I have found that my peers have found it beneficial when they ask me about what they have been prescribed. I’m able to put it in to Layman’s terms and not blind you with science. Having said that, there’s still a few parts that are complexed and tricky to understand. I have tried my best to simplify things best I can and if you have any questions feel free to ask me 👍

If anyone has any questions or requests regarding “Medication” then please get in touch with me and I’ll get a concise and detailed explanation back to you. I explain the history of the drug, how it works and what the side effects are. But I can tailor my response accordingly to suit your questions.

I use text books like the ones on the image above to form my explanations. I don’t just Google it as there’s a cacophony of information and noise thrown back at you when there’s very little information to make it plausible to form your explanation from as there’s two fake news posts to match the one that is validated.

As I said earlier, I’m not a qualified expert on this subject to be able to say what you need to do, however I have a degree in the Chemistry of Medicine and how it works so I can bridge the gap between what the average person understands and what the health professionals say.

I’ll never advise you to do anything that I don’t understand about the situation and I won’t tell you to do X, Y or Z without being 100% confident in my advice. If I can’t answer your question then I will do my upmost to advise or refer you to your health professionals or the relevant medical care.

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Here’s a link to a blog I wrote about SSRIs and how they work etc. Please feel free to check it out and if you have any questions about it please don’t hesitate to leave me a message in the comments section 👌

Medication Explained: SSRI (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake In...

#MightyTogether #Medication #MentalHealth #Antidepressant #MajorDepressiveDisorder

Below is a link to a page from my blog that contains some accounts of how my Bipolar Disorder has impacted my life. I know that everyone is different and that there are different experiences that we all have, but I hope that if you are to read it, it can help you in some way 👌

Living with Bipolar Disorder

#SubstanceAbuse #Psychosis #Medication #MentalHealth #MentalIllness

Below is a link to a blog I’ve written explaining the drug Lorazepam. It is a benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety disorders and sleep disorders. If you have any questions then please leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you 👌

Medication Explained: Lorazepam 💊

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I’m currently going into a Bipolar Depression phase where I’m sleeping an excessive amount of hours (12 hours at least per night). This is rendering me in a state of what can only be described as a sleep hangover’. I have no appetite through the day and I’m going two or three days without food then I’m gorging on an excessive pizza order. I’m looking pale and tired according to my friends who I have seen and I feel my clothes are a little bit baggier.

So on Tuesday I’m seeing my General Practitioner (GP), because my psychiatrist discharged me in to their care, to see if they will increase my Fluoxetine (antidepressant). It is the only one of the three medications I take for my bipolar they have control over controlling the dosage. My Lithium and Olanzapine have to be controlled still by the psychiatrist.

This appointment has rendered me extremely nervous and anxious. This is because I struggle to get my point across when I see a health professional. I have tried to write it down before for my appointment with my psychiatrist but I’ve always been too embarrassed to take it with me to show him or ask him. I’ve attached some photos of the sort of stuff I wrote, which took me a while with researching it and all, but I never had the confidence to actually show it to my psychiatrist.

So, I was just trying to get a stable perspective of what to say to the GP to give him the best possible opportunity to help me the best way possible. I’ve said this in my blogs before about how Bipolar attacks you from different directions every time you experience a mania phase or a depressive phase and this depressive phase I’m currently experiencing is a new one for me. It is a cruel beast that rears its ugly head from a variety of directions to constantly keep you on your toes.

Secondary to this, I recently had a blood test which showed that I had a raised level of Thyroid. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) is a hormone that the pituitary gland produces to regulate the thyroid gland's production of thyroid hormones. This majority of the time indicates an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism). This can be an effect of taking Lithium. My GP rang me to tell me it was raised but only slightly. I said to him that I take Lithium and this was most probably the cause for it. He then asked me how I know that. When I told him I researched it myself he just went “mmm” in an unsure, unimpressed sort of way. He emphasised the fact that the health professionals really don’t like being told somethings that they really should know in the first place so that these sort of situations can be avoided.
#MentalHealth #Medication #Doctor #MightyTogether