A bit of back story into my decision to not medicate.
Diagnosed in 1997 as bipolar, rapid cycling and mixed states with psychotic tendencies,,,perscribed paxil, lithium and zyprexa,,,paxil dropped after 17 days due to acute manic state. Lithium helped stabilize my condition but over time developed temors and what I can only describe as a "black hole" in my emotional affect. Switched to depakote in 1998 and continued until 2001; I believe this is also when I stopped taking zyprexa as well. I did very well on the depakote the only downfall, massive weight gain--111 pounds in less than 6 months. I also still had tremors tho not as acute as with the lithium. I also suffered from acute muscle fatigue making walking difficult especially after the weight gain. [I have since lost 95 pounds but re-gained 40, took 10 years to get that amount of weight off. I am not happy about the recent weight gain but am working at losing it again.]
After consulting with my psychiatrist and my general doctor I decided to stop my medication altogether (2002?). I could no longer handle the continued weight gain and I was experiencing unexplained pain in and around my liver area. Also about this time is when many medication where being blackboxed or completely pulled off the market. The final straw for me was the "alleged" link between psychotropic medication and diabetes, I was diagnosed in 2004(5). At this point every medication I had been on in the last 5-10 yrs fell into the blackbox/pulled category, including my medication for arthritis.
My decision to stop my medications was an informed one and not a delusional one. In other words I didn't just quit taking it because I felt I was better and didn't need them. I stopped because I felt as if my medication was killing me. It was not an easy decision, it has forced me to be in tune with what my body was telling me and to realize my limitations.
So whay does this article upset me:
Abilify (aripiprazole) is an atypical antipsychotic medication commonly used to treat schizophrenia and acute mania. In 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its use in the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder – to prevent the recurrence of mood episodes. Unfortunately, evidence proving the effectiveness of Abilify as a maintenance medication for bipolar disorder is scarce and questionable.
An article published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine (Tsai et al) looks critically at the scientific evidence that supports such widespread use of this medicine for maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder. They found only one blind, randomized, controlled trial to support the use of Abilify in the long-term maintenance of bipolar disorder.
This whole story is a travesty for the medical profession – and for psychiatry in particular. We are prescribing a medication in massive numbers with woefully inadequate scientific research to support it,,,
And that folks is why I no longer take medication for my bipolar!!
[On a side note: I also discontinued my initial diabetes medication after 10 months due to the same issues. It wasn't until last year that I re-started a different med combo. So far so good. I am lucky tho that my GP is very open minded, she understands my issues and didn't poopoo it away. We were able to find medications that I was comfortable with taking and also work well to control my sugar levels. I learned the hard way that messing with diabetes is not a good thing as it nearly killed me.]
Abilify | Aripiprazole | Bipolar Disorder | Maintenance | Bipolar Beat
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