When asked what people who were on their recovery journey wished they had known about meds, people responded in many different ways. Here are the responses:

I wish I’d been diagnosed and been able to start on meds sooner.

It might take a while to find the right med for you.

Just because a side effect wasn’t listed on the sheet, didn’t mean that I didn’t have it. I sometimes thought the side effects were in my head, so I didn’t say anything to anyone.

Meds can stop working for what seems to be no reason. Before I knew that I used to think all my relapses were my fault.

There are both livable and unlivable side effects. Only I could decide what was livable and unlivable for me.

Meds don’t always (aren’t able) to fix everything. They sometimes dull what’s happening, and then, with a therapist or friend, you can find some answers on how to deal with what is left.

When I went off my med, the side effects stopped first, and I would feel really good for about a week to a week and a half. Then I would crash and burn. I would have to go back in the hospital.

My street stuff affected my meds a lot more than I expected.

Change one thing at a time.

Finding a psych med can take a while. I thought they would just give me a med that would work. It wasn’t like that at all for me.

I didn’t know the med game was hit or miss. I wasn’t up front about side effects.

Some of the meds tripped my drug abuse background, and I didn’t really say anything because I didn’t understand I needed to.

Informed choice would have been great. Most of the doctors just told me we were going to try this or that, but never really explained why we were doing anything.

I didn’t know about the weight gain* side effect so I wasn’t ready for it and became even more depressed.

*For more general information on meds click here.

*Wikipedia