Medication is not a total cure - please read!

Every day I log on here there are more and more posts about medication and mainly Citalopram but others frequently come up in new posts too.

I am not sure how many people read the "medication" website page on the left but here are some extracts:

The medications may significantly ease symptoms and give you a well needed break from feeling so terrible each day but they will not cure you of all your problems or symptoms. Using medication can prove to you that the symptoms you are experiencing are indeed anxiety and not some other dreaded lurgy as many of these symptoms will lessen or disappear whilst you are on the medication.

If you go on medication but do nothing else constructive to help yourself, you may find the initial symptoms reoccurring once you stop the medication. If your issues are caused by something that may improve naturally over time like a bereavement then medication may be all you need to see you through a particularly difficult patch but medications are not a permanent solution to an established emotional problem.

Please please remember that medication will not cure you of panic and anxiety - it reduces the symptoms and makes life (sometimes) more tolerable but most if not all people suffer horrid side-effects whilst starting and stopping it.

I was forced on dothiepin and then Prozac 12 years ago and told there was no other way to get cured. I knew no better! I stopped them after a year and have not been on any for over 11 years. Docs prescribe it cos it is easy to give people a tablet and tell them to take it.

Of course there are ways : self-help, counselling, CBT but no-one told me that at the time.

Please do not assume this is a miracle cure and please if you do take it then do take other steps as well to get better. Do not rely on it fully cos it can let you down at times.

There is no miracle cure for panic/anxiety - it is a combination of many things and you have to work at each one.

We offer loads of advice on the website here if you take time to read it and more importantly ACT on it.

Medication has its purpose but be careful of depending on it for a miracle cure please.

I agree, but it is nice to have something that eases the pain slightly so people like me can be strong enough to get out of bed, get off the darn chair, maybe even tentatively step outside after many months & know that despite feeling terrified & miserable, the outside world is beautiful. Although there are many mean people who can hurt, there are more people who are nice, or just average.

My medication eased the intensity over weeks, months, years. I was able to find strength in myself that I was certain I didn't have & fight through my fears, fight to get work and education. Fight to know that it didn't matter if I could only work 15 hours/week when everyone said I "should" be able to work full time. I got back to any work, & slowly increased it over the past 5 years to 24 hours per week & then I can study too. I never would have dreamed that could ever be possible.

I also hoped for a miracle cure 4 years ago, but I didn't expect it cause I'd been on medication when I was younger & it barely seemed to work, but it must have a bit, cause I didn't give up on my school. I coped somehow. The medicine made me worse before it made me better, it was scary at the time.

The medication helped me to be strong enough to take those first steps of accepting maybe I could cope with what seemed like a huge study load. Once I got started, my competitive nature took over. I had to fight HARD! I kept leaving the classroom every couple of hours to cry, people upset me, the pain was agonizing. Life without work was too full of "nothingness". I could never go back to that. I made it through somehow, partly because of the strength inside, partly because the medication reduced my symptoms slightly & gave me a small taste of the normality I am fighting for.

That's my thoughts on medication. Nothing to be ashamed of. Not a magic cure. Something to help people cope when they feel like they can't go on. Then we have to look inside ourselves, find what we think is important out of life & fight like hell for it no matter what. One step at a time....

Melody - I totally agree that the medication provides short-term relief from symptoms but then you must work at the problem to get full benefit from it.

I just want people to realise that it is not a cure as such and it can be a tough ride starting and then stopping the medication.

It is not like taking an anti-biotic to cure an infection and then the infection is gone. Anxiety can be lifelong if nothing else is done to eliminate it as well.

Hi Nicola,

I agree. Recovery is a long journey. It takes work and discipline. Medication is like a crutch. It's there when everything else is exhausted.

I think it's about looking into ourselves, even when it's most painful, to see that what we think is so scary is our own minds & memories. To see that it is not the way to go fighting ourselves, but to accept that it's OK to be vulnerable & sensitive. There are even some benefits to being that way. being a victim forever is never going to work. Each of us has more strength inside of us than we could ever imagine. Denying ourselves will never find the strength. Caring for ourselves & doing the hard mental health stuff accesses the strength.

But there is never any shame in taking medication. It is a mild reliever of the emotional pain, to help us find what is already inside of us the whole time. Maturity, growth & strength. Getting worse before it gets better is a fact of life. Anything that is worth doing is never going to be easy. It's worth the battle!

That's what I think in retrospect anyway. I still cry heaps & have panic attacks. I also have the awareness that it is not all the way it seems. I never could have seen past that without the medication, coupled with the resultant changes I made with my life. Taking risks is what changed my life.

Quick fixes never work anyway! Life is a journey. One step at a time!

Melody

Hi

I totally agree that there is no shame in taking meds to deal with an immediate crisis situation. For instance I took them after the suicide of my fiance 9 years ago, but it certainly did nothing to solve my anxiety issues. If anything they were harder to deal with when I came off the meds because the meds had masked the anxiety and I hadn't learnt stategies of dealing with it.

I haven't been on meds for six years now and at times the anxiety overwhelms me but through experience I have found ways of distracting myself from it and I always return to what I feel is normal within a few days. To be honest, life is a bit of a rollercoaster but being on meds and coming off them changed my opinoins about ' quick fixes' with anxiety, there aren't any. I would be very wary of going back to meds, but they do have their place in a crisis.

But that's just my opinion, everyone is different.

Pretty obvious, if there were a cure we wouldn't be here.

i agree that meds arnt the answer but i tried everything for over 18 months and wouldnt take them. i had councilling paid for by myself and it learnt me how to control pas but unfortunetly after a total crash last weekend doc persuaded me to take them. I am hoping this will only be short term untill i find away to better deal with issues although i do feel everytime i have been to docs the only thing they offer is pills

I agree they're not a total cure but they do have their place in recovery. If I hadn'at taken medication over the years, I would never have got to where I am now. I keep taking the maintenance doses alongside therapy, exercise and generally looking after myself physically. When I have been off meds, I've tended to self medicate

i agree they do play a very important part in recovery for some people like my self. i have just had 4 days in hospital to get stable on medication to help with my recovery which has proved great,do not be afraid or ashamed of taking meds that is what they are there for to help us through tough times.

I agree that meds won't cure a person, but if one is not offered counselling, and one can't afford private counselling, what is one to do? I am on 300mg of serequel which basically makes me tired and I really don't want or need that, I don't see the doc until Jan, and I am seriously considering telling him that I don't want any more drugs, after all if I can't talk to him then what's the point? I will still have depression and no self confidence, I am really sick of getting no-where fast, how can I trust someone that I only see every four months? I am luck in that I don't appear to be as severe as some people on here and for that I am eternally grateful. and to those who are suffering really badly then I hope that things will turn around for them soon.

To me medication was a crutch I used whilst I accepted why I was having the symptoms I had. No doubt it helped me, but it's acceptance of why you are feeling like you are and dealing with this that is the real path to recovery. Acceptance and stopping being afraid is the key.
Myra

Hi i also agree that medication is not a cure however it helps you to stay on an even keel while you work on your problems. I have managed to continue working although it has been a major struggle as my work and my boss is part of the problem. I still have bad days and i am nausious most mornings but on the whole the medication has gave me a balance to get on with my life whilst working hard in the way i think and deal with things.

well done nmp , i think we have needed this thread for along time :)

This is an interesting thread. I wonder if medication plays different roles depending on what is being treated. Anxiety v depression v eating disorder etc. I took prozac for eleven years and the only reason I have stopped taking it is to change medication from one which was given for eating disorders to one that may be better for major depressive disorder and addictions.

I debated this with my counsellor as some folk see medication as a short term fix to get people though a bad patch. But for some it is a long term help and I certainly see the medication I have taken as something more long term and that my brain is permanently lacking an element which medication gives it. My doctor said I had to face facts when I saw her, that I have had a depressive disorder for virtually all of my 42 years and that's not going to change. Sure pills are no miracle but if people need them long term, possibly for their entire lives then that's what they need. I would never hurry to stop taking a drug I found helpful providing I could deal with the side effects. For Bulimia and compulsive exercise disorder prozac was the wonder drug and it was miraculous to me. Edited to say I am back on prozac as my body dysmorphia came back within days of stopping it. For certain conditions I believe medication is a long term cure not a short term fix. For my body OCD prozac is a total cure and I hope to take it permanently.

I agree, completely, to everything Nicola has said. I find it very sad that I've now been on medication of different types for about 20 years. I used to get angry that the very first referral I had to a Psychologist ended up with me being taught relaxation techniques. And that was it!! (It was and is more complex.) But I sometimes think if I had persevered and practiced such techniques and really tried other things before leaping into taking meds with such readiness then I might be more adept now at dealing with difficult times, without having to rely on prescription drugs. Doctors are time-pressured with sometimes limited experience and resources on how to deal with such problems. Medication is the quick fix solution. Helped considerably by a multi-million pound pharmaceutical industry!!! And yes, medication can and does help ease suffering. But I agree, it doesn't cure the problem.

May I ask Nicola what techniques and strategies you yourself have found helpful in your own recovery? It seems so often to be a mix and match of what works best for each individual.

Thanksx

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nomorepanic

Melody - I totally agree that the medication provides short-term relief from symptoms but then you must work at the problem to get full benefit from it.

I just want people to realise that it is not a cure as such and it can be a tough ride starting and then stopping the medication.

It is not like taking an anti-biotic to cure an infection and then the infection is gone. Anxiety can be lifelong if nothing else is done to eliminate it as well.

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So glad you put this .
I totally agree and thank you for posting I have actually just posted on a thread that after years of Anxiety and a fear of medication ( I mean years ) I have only just started taking meds but I also know having family members who have taken medication that it's vital to also have the medication walk hand in hand with some form of other support .

For me now the time is right to try the medication but I am doing that along side therapy and self help and the help of many on this amazing forum .

Hand in hand and one day sometimes one hour at a time is all we can do but your right Anxiety needs to be managed in many forms not just medication .