Side effects of medication

A lot of meds have side effects. This is especially the case with meds for mental health issues. Every person is different so meds will affect people in different ways, and everyone is different. Some may not experience any side effects at all whilst others may find the effects to be too bad for them to continue taking the medication. What works for someone may not work for you and vice versa.

Something that a lot of psychiatrists recommend is: do not read the side effects listed in the prospect. The prospects have the obligation to list every single side effect that people have reported whilst taking those drugs even if it was just one person. So it is not an accurate depiction of what you may experience. A lot of anti-anxiety meds have numerous side effects listed and reading them could increase your anxiety instead of reducing it which is what you were given the meds to begin with. So it might be better avoiding to read those if your doctors tell you so.

Some meds will require you to get medical tests and analysis every X amount of time. Make sure you go to the doctor every time you have to and that you complete all these tests so that your psychiatrist can decide whether or not you should continue with the medication. This is very important so make sure you do it and you take the results to the psychiatrist for them to determine what's best. Lithium, for instance, requires that you get your blood tested more or less every month (at the beginning of taking it) to make sure that the lithium levels in your blood are alright. If they weren't, your doctor would recommend another drug for you to take instead of continuing with the same one.

Side effects can vary between almost non-perceptible things to very noticeable ones. If you notice a side effect, as mild as you think it is, there's no harm in mentioning it to your psychiatrist for them to consider whether it is normal and what to do.

I mentioned this on Twitter the other day and people responded by reporting some of their side effects. Shaking seems to be a common one but it ranged from that to not being able to speak. The latter one is obviously a very serious one so if you experience it you should let your psychiatrist know as soon as possible.

My hands are very shaky with lithium and that is especially the case when I get anxious. The first two months applying mascara and eating soup proved to be extremely challenging. If you experience something like that or any other side effect, do not panic, but do let your psychiatrist know. In my case, for example, my psychiatrist determined that it was a normal side effect and that it wasn't so important for me to change meds.

However, I remember when I used to take topamax, I had very vivid nightmares where I woke up not knowing whether or not it had been real. That began affecting my sleeping pattern since I didn't want to go to sleep at night since I was afraid of the nightmares. And that led to lack of sleep. Sleep is extremely important for everyone but especially if you're dealing with a mental health issue. My psychiatrist put me off topamax and replaced it with something else.

My problem with nightmares may not have seemed a relevant one but that's why it's best to mention all side effects to your psychiatrist so they can decide what is best. They will probably ask you what you think and whether you find such side effect too incapacitating to continue taking the meds. So please do tell them about any and every side effect you experience.

If you're taking any of the meds that I mention do not think that you will experience the same side effects, they may work perfectly fine for you and you may not experience any side effect at all. As I said, we are all different. So please don't take this as a reference of the side effects of these drugs. Even though meds may have side effects I think that it is extremely important to take them if your psychiatrist has recommended you do. I can say that meds have helped me.

PS: I wanted a nice image for this blog post but I considered most of the ones I found triggering. So I decided to make it myself and this was the best I could do.