-- Posted by murphy mcbagel at 5:05 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 tell me honestly, what happens when you go off your meds? or better yet how were you before you took them? did you ever consider alternate treatment? -- Posted by HatesYou at 5:06 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 They look like this: -- Posted by The Stranger at 5:06 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 I am sorry but I am not bipolar i feel for all the bipolar people and i wish that they wouldn't -- Posted by murphy mcbagel at 5:07 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 like has anyone not felt any better on medication? or have lost their ability to give a crap about life? -- Posted by jsgirl at 5:08 pm on Dec. 28, 2008                                 -- Posted by mz pretty01 at 5:09 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 before my meds i would freak out and get mad over tha smallest things..i would act like a totall psycho sometimes..then they but me on my medicine and it made me calmer and nicer..one time i decided i didnt need them because i was feeling better so i didnt take them for a week and then i started to feel really suicidal and crazy..so yah..its best to stay on them once you start them. -- Posted by murphy mcbagel at 5:12 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 so anyone think outside the box? like for instance..."why am i like this? why is mental illness more common then it was 100 hears ago?" no one here takes things into their own hands? im feeling pretty lonely now. -- Posted by rileyana at 5:20 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 Im bipolar but like without my pills im not bad. Like im not anger management. I have Depression, anxiety, ADHD so i dont really notice it when i dont take my pills. Actually i really dont think i need them. When  i was taking Abilify and Geodon, they made me get seizures. So dont take them, if you do sports. lol and Lemictal and Lithium and Lexapro dont work for shit. I have never found medication that works. Have you?? -- Posted by murphy mcbagel at 5:24 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 Quote: from rileyana at 5:20 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 Im bipolar but like without my pills im not bad. Like im not anger management. I have Depression, anxiety, ADHD so i dont really notice it when i dont take my pills. Actually i really dont think i need them. When  i was taking Abilify and Geodon, they made me get seizures. So dont take them, if you do sports. lol and   Lemictal and Lithium and Lexapro dont work for shit. I have never found medication that works. Have you?? nope. but ritalin worked back in 7th grade. i never felt like i needed to talk on it. -- Posted by HOLLOWdepths at 5:25 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 Quote: from murphy mcbagel at 5:12 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 so anyone think outside the box? like for instance..."why am i like this? why is mental illness more common then it was 100 hears ago?" no one here takes things into their own hands?   im feeling pretty lonely now. I do the same thing... but when I go off the meds, I end up severely suicidal. (Mostly, in my opinion, because of the pills in the first place.) I think clearer, and I feel everything. I'm not throttled into mania or depression. I personally think this particular "mental illness" is overused to explain and categorize teenagers. It, like many other mental disorders, cannot truly be confirmed as a diagnosis until the brain stops developing, around age 25 or so. I have looked into alternative treatments, including vitamin supplements, eating well, and exercising, but after starting the medications, nothing has gone back to normal. I didn't have any traces of bipolar disorder until I had been swallowing the pills for awhile and decided to stop them. Ridiculous. Now I am stuck in a vicious cycle. -- Posted by Solstice at 5:25 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 I was diagnosed but refused medication. I'm not interested in knowing my life and how I percieve it is being manufactured by some drug induced state. No offence. I have made good to control my impulses. This is just me personally, I can not speak on behalf of other people who have been diagnosed with the condition. By the way.. My Father is also Bi-Polar. While I admit my childhood could be considered "fucked up", the good side of him that partially existed before is now gone. Now he couldnt go off the meds if he wanted to, even to try a new medication. Once he didnt have the money to get his prescription filled and the person he was without the meds, was something much worse and completely different than what he was like without them. Enough so, that is nearly cost a few lives. So.. If you go on the medication, know the side effects and accept that your life will never be the same without them. I would suggest exploring other treatments or options. -- Posted by emowhore at 5:26 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 i was pretty much depressed all the time. and i would go from completely happy to  completely sad. and if i dont take my meds then i have a depression attack -- Posted by Solstice at 5:36 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 Find a Muse and a passion to dedicate yourself to. Something that is forever progressive, and acts a vent towards any emotion you are coping with. Some if not most of the worlds greatest artist and philosophers had this same condition, and during a period oftime when diagnoses and treatment was unheard of. Find something you love doing, and reguardless of your mindset and mood, you can return to that thing and find relief from your thoughts. Dwelling on them will give you understanding if you consider multiple perspectives and are able to analyze yourself, but dwelling too deep might overwhelm you.. which leads to panic attacks and such that most people relate to. Do what you can.. Being stubborn was the greatest asset I have in life. If you feel you have nothing left to live for, live in sheer spite.. It's an unusual thign to say, but it's simply how I am. I've been there, like many.. I have too much pride to let this world take me down.. Later on you'll look back and wonder why you were even that depressed over something so.. unsubstancial and continue to to become stronger when faced with those situations. -- Posted by murphy mcbagel at 7:56 pm on Dec. 28, 2008 thats a very awesome perpective, Solstice. i totally respect you. i just honestly feel as if im crazy in the worst way (no good ways about it) im going through about every alternative treatment, mostly for anxiety because i always feel zoned out and worried. like im trying something called the failsafe diet, which is supposed to help you avoid toxic food chemicals that i am sensitive to. no one believes it'll work though...