psych meds...the not so skinny

Psychiatric medications can do wonders to help people manage the symptoms of severe and persistent mental illness. I have been taking psych meds for nearly 25 years and the experience has been both a blessing and a curse.

The struggle stems from the myriad of debilitating side effects and the exorbitant cost. From my personal experience psychiatrists have a one track mind. They appear to only be interested in resolving my psychiatric symptoms… as they should be. However, they don’t place any emphasis on the side effects of the medication. While taking an antipsychotic once, I began gaining unbelievable amounts of weight. I must have gained 80 pounds in less than a year. My doctor at the time asked what I wanted most, to be sane or to be skinny.

In his mind it was an either or scenario. He didn’t take into account all the damage to my physical health that the weight was causing. He didn’t appear to be concerned about the pain in my joints, the sleep apnea, high blood pressure or prediabetes. He only appeared to care that my voices were manageable. That taken care of, his job was done.

My general practitioner on the other hand was livid. How could I let things get so bad? Didn’t I care about my health? Didn’t I know that people with mental health challenges die on average 25 years earlier than those without? And when I explained that I was struggling to maintain my sanity with highly potent meds, she didn’t believe me. She didn’t believe that the meds I was taking could have the effect on my physical health that they did. She blamed my ills on my lack of discipline and inability to regulate my eating habits.

Is it any wonder that people who really need psych meds often go off them?

Other troubling side effects include hair loss, foggy thinking, slurred speech, excessive salivation (drooling), stiff muscles, drowsiness, erratic uncontrollable movements, nausea, headache, insomnia, constipation, dry mouth, dizziness, light headedness, high blood sugar, hypertension, seizures, death, and on and on. Again, I ask, is it any wonder that people who really need psych meds go off them?

Then, there is the cost. First let me just stress that everyone with a psychiatric disorder does not have health insurance. And even with health insurance there is no guarantee that you can get the meds that work best for you. From my experience, the most effective meds with the least amount of side effects are the most expensive. I once came across a med that worked brilliantly. Very mild side effects, totally squashed my psychosis, and easy to take. A thirty day supply was $1500. It took me two months of letter writing to my insurance company and two months of a less effective medication to get them to pay for it.

For many, psych meds are a way of life. They can be transformative and make it possible for people living mental illness to live the life they want to live. However, users of psych meds can pay a high price for their sanity. It is a delicate balancing act between managing one’s illness and the sometimes debilitating side effects and comorbidities. 

There’s no easy solution, but a step in the right direction could be better communication between behavioral health clinicians and medical doctors. A collaborative effort between these individuals coupled with greater self-advocacy by peers could make all the difference.