Do I go back to lamotrigine or do I stop taking medications

After having taken 2 years lamotrigine which made me a good effect, I stopped taking it for another 2 years partly because I left it on my own, partly because my psychologist saw me well and gave me the discharge. But a year and a half ago I fell into a depression again, they gave me lamotrigine again and I did not really finish going out but due to financial difficulties I was forced to stop treatment, a few months ago with a business related to the World Cup I recovered my finances and I returned to the treatment but I changed the lamotrigine for the lithium which is really making me horrible effects I gained all the weight I had lost due to depression (15 kilos) in only 2 months, sexual dysfunctions and I feel very bad with anguish pains in the morning as I did not feel long ago and a state of permanent nervousness, I want to return to lamotrigine but this is making me honestly rethink the whole pharmacological system that I do not know if it is a simple business that only sells substances that have the same effectiveness that a placebo and sometimes bring terrible side effects, but when they're telling me that I should medicate for life because that would prevent relapses, but on what is this based? What does an industry or a psychiatrist say that hundreds of patients have seen themselves (not financed by a laboratory) for years to reach this conclusion? I am very suspicious.

Here's the thing about the pharmaceutical companies. Which you can take this information how you will. It's there to make money. You can make a lot more money by making people believe they are sick, and keeping them that way, than by telling them their struggles can be overcome. That goes for the entire medical industry. It's a business, and nothing more.

The research they are basing their "take your medication for life" statement on is biased research. The pharmaceutical companies fund the research and bribe the researchers into publishing only what supports their medication in the long run. They piggyback off this idea of "chemical imbalance" which, by the way, has never been proven. It's simply a theory. And a theory can never be proven, only disproven. So someone needs to get on disproving this idea of the brain having a chemical imbalance.

Why do I say it's a theory? A myth? Well, there's no standard to hold it to. The brain is as unique as a fingerprint. Therefore there is no "normal", which means there can be no abnormal. There can be no imbalance if there is no specific balance in the first place.

So publication bias is a real thing. A lot of the medication they create is studied on sample sizes that are way too small and way too short of a length to tell anything about the medication. Those of us who take medication for mental health conditions, any condition, are guinea pigs. That's just the truth.

You can take what I say how you wish. I work as a peer counselor, I write for Mad in America, and I'm an advocate for alternative mental health solutions. Trust me, I've done my research.

Whether or not you take the medication is up to you. Do I think you need it for life? No. Do I think they're lying to you? Yes. Psychiatrists are often told what to push on people and get money for the amount of prescriptions they write. Would I trust them? No. What would I trust? Your instinct. Trust your gut. Trust yourself. Do some research. Learn about alternatives. Try something different. You may be surprised at the result.

Alucard wrote:
The pharmaceutical companies fund the research and bribe the researchers into publishing only what supports their medication in the long run. They piggyback off this idea of "chemical imbalance" which, by the way, has never been proven. It's simply a theory.

The Achilles heel psychiatry is total lack of objectivity. If they claim that a person suffers from a mythical "chemical imbalance" why don't they perform a comprehensive obvious test showing the level of "imbalance", a test as simple and persuasive as a blood pressure measurement of a eritrocitos calculation?
I guess that the answer is quite simple. Psychiatrists cannot find a single proof for their theories, they cannot find objective evidence of let's say schizophrenia neither in the brain nor in biochemical processes in someone's body. The only thing they can do is to listen to someone's speech, although everybody knows that "words are given to hide thoughts". Although knowing that they keep on playing that cheap play.
It is unbelievable how it is possible to fool people around! In 21st century not a single physician would listen to a patient more than five minutes and hearing just first complaints he/she sends him/her to pass all sorts of necessary tests! Since that moment a physician doesn't listen to a patient any more, watching computer screen with tests results instead.
Just bloody psychiatrists keep on performing magic transformations of words of into chemistry without any reliable measurements. I know that psychiatrist read this forum but never involve into discussions. The reason is simple they have nothing to say. Although I'd like to ask how schizoid I am not recognising psychiatry as a science? How much meds deserves that statement? And my forum activity as whole? What measurements techniques you would to punish me, sorry to cure me, of course? What formulae you use? Do any alternative measurements techniques exist? Can you provide such information following WHO recommendations of informed consent?

A great site of Madinamerica!
I congratulate you for working there, you do a great job for humanity
I was reading many articles from that site and others, but yours is one of the most complete
As for me, I decided to leave the medication, my psychiatrist and my psychologist with whom i had 6 years of therapy, but if he has this criterion with medication, I think he must also have the wrong criteria in other aspects of psychology.

I do not have suicidal thoughts or hallucinations or dangerous manias (as soon as I do not have manias I am mostly depressed), I do not drink, I do not smoke, I do not use drugs and these people try to drug me on a daily basis! The crazy ones are them!
And I'm really tired of to be wondering how to live, I almost feel like I'm confessing to a priest every time I go to the psychologist.
Then i will live free of the field of PSY!

The effectiveness of lamotrigine for treating any mental health disorder is still not established:

https://www.rxlist.com/lamictal-drug.htm#dosage

It was originally used to treat seizures, and then psychiatrists came up with the claim that it can also treat BiPolar Disorder.

Because the effectiveness of most psych drugs cannot be scientifically proven, I would rather be drug-free.

I find lamotrigine makes the difference between me being willing to live or not.
It's one of the very few I've chosen not to cut out.

You could try CBT and DBT etc to see if you can regulate your depression

It doesn't have to be all or nothing.
You can be on it as you work on your thoughts and behaviours (therapy) and wean off or you could do the therapy and if there's no improvement you could go back on for a while.

Just because may need it while you get other things in place doesn't mean it has to be for life.