I used to go out ~4 nights a week. Days without sleep wouldn’t phase me. Now, I need three weeks to recover from one all-nighter. Time flies when you’re taking medications to treat your severe mental illnesses. No seriously, I can’t remember shit. . . Anyways!
A lot of people spread various misconceptions and stigmas regarding severe mental illness.
A lot of people should be punched in the face. 🙂
Living day to day with the crushing weight of symptoms and side effects on your back is work. It is hard work. Nobody gets it, everybody is weirded out by it or scared of it, and so many people resent you for it. but I’m protected by the ADA so kiss my 504 bittttchhhhhh.
Not only is it work living with various mental illnesses, it’s work finding treatment that even helps you. Throughout the years I’ve had many therapists, diagnoses, and prescriptions. but I’m not writing a 15 page article, that’s no fun for me. Instead, I’ll be ranking medications I’ve taken from “worst to meh.”
* The medications I’ll be ranking will be specifically the prescriptions for the treatment of my Bipolar I disorder. Again, for the sake of length. Different medications work differently for different people. This is my personal experience and opinion and I’m just having fun. Take my words with a grain of salt, as I am just some insane person writing on the internet. Let’s get into it!
WORST: Geodon (ziprasidone)
Death to ziprasidone inventors and prescribers. For months I experienced all side effects and no relief. God forbid you take your dose even two hours late, and if you missed a dose? I hope you make it through the day without ending up in a pair of gripper socks. Nausea, vomiting, dizziness, somnolence (do not take ziprasidone in the morning, you will be asleep by 2pm), and splitting fucking headaches. DO NOT stop your ziprasidone cold turkey, the withdrawal kills. Cocaine, alcohol, amphetamine withdrawal: all very difficult for me, but a walk in the park compared to three days off of Geodon. I cannot stress this enough: taper, taper, taper.
HORRIBLE: Latuda (lurasidone)
Lurasidone will have you flushing your remaining doses of lurasidone down the toilet. Then give you a horrific paranoid delusion that flushing said doses down the toilet will be met with huge repercussions. Suddenly it’s been three full hours of frantic google searching about what happens if lurasidone enters waste water and how that may affect the ecosystem. There is a huge gap in the research of lurasidone in fish. Insomnia and restlessness. Like the uncomfortable amount of energy present in mania but minus the confidence and double the suicidal ideation. I will say though, the 19 hour sleep after I stopped taking it HIT.
LOUSY: Abilify (aripiprazole)
With aripiprazole, there is a fairly even balance between manic and depressive symptoms. Suicidal, yes, but coping with a shopping spree. If only the restless leg syndrome and weight gain weren’t so severe. I mean 40 pounds, really?
MEH: Lamictal (lamotrigine)
Lamotrigine is . . . fine. No long-term or alarming symptoms of mania or depression, for the most part. The belching is a fun touch. The headaches, and vomiting not so much. When you first start taking it, there’s a disruption in sleep pattern. But sometimes that disruption manifests as a dream of WWE wrestlers doing a trapeze act. And wow, is that something.
That concludes my ranking. Hopefully after reading this, you’ll consider being nicer to the insane people in your life. Okay, I have to take my meds. Until next time.
