Medicine-free

Is it working for anyone out there?

I'm new here, 19.5 yrs old, been diagnosed for a couple of years after some incidents. I've been on Seroquel with Zoloft and Ativan, then didn't like that so went free for about 6 months. Then I tried Lamictal in January and had a severe allergic reaction ( DRESS syndrome ) and just got my liver back to normal. ^_^

So I'm done with meds for a while. Pretty traumatized from the reaction/hospital and I'm trying to deal without meds. I currently have no responsibilities, and things are pretty manageable.
Since I will be working and back in school in the Fall, I am wondering if anyone here has been able to manage their life with just talk therapy?

Any input is greatly appreciated

-slipping

Gosh, sounds like you have been through it with meds - I am not surprised you are looking at not taking them. I am someone who needs meds - I do really badly off them. but there have certainly been ppl here who have managed to come off them - hopefully some will post in this thread. I have also had talk therapy and it has had a massive impact on how well I am now so I def think that is important andwill hopefully help you in managing things. Lifestyle is important whether you are on meds or not so things like healthy eating, exercise and good sleep are important. I am sure others will have more to add as like I said, I am really ill off meds. But I wish you the best and I hope you are able to get things stable for you. I would advise doing this with the help of a Dr tho to keep an eye on how things are going.

Cracked

I am off meds right now too. I was just diagnosed bipolar in November, hospitalized at first of December, and quit taking meds January 1st (the side effects were so bad I quit cold turkey), and had really, really bad withdrawals for 7 days, even after being on them for only 4 weeks!
Ever since then I've been super baffled by this whole bipolar thing, and finally figured out that i'm in a Mixed state right now. Before that I had more distinct phases of hypomania/mania and depression, although I didn't even know that's what they were. I had been misdiagnosed as Anxiety Disorder 13 years ago, so all that time (and probably since my teans) I was actually living with bipolar on no meds, without even knowing my correct diagnosis or how to handle it.
Being in this Mixed state is much harder, and I feel like almost any little stressor can totally trigger me right now, like being too hungry, if I get hurt, if someone yells at me, any kind of over-stimulation just sets me off. I'm just now starting to learn that for me, keeping all stimulation to a minimum is a must. And I know I do better when I'm eating right and paying attention to my sleeping, but quite frankly, the slightest challenge gets me off track with my health habits, so even though it's helpful, counting on health habits is unrealistic for me.
I guess my advice would be to get really really prepared with some coping skills, like a therapist might have you list your early warning signs and coping techniques or something. Even the back ground stress of school and work could start to wear you down in time, and maybe you could prevent a tailspin by keeping your awareness up and being prepared.
This is coming from a 43 year old single mother of three who never made it through her 1st year of college... but I didn't know what I was coping with back then. Consider yourself lucky at least in one small way, that You know your diagnosis at such an early age, so maybe you can be better prepared for getting through your life with it a lot better than I did!

Nope. I tried going med-free and that's how I ended up in my last full mania, even with weekly talk therapy. I know a lot of people who have gone through this type of attempt to be med-free, and what I see is they eventually go back on meds, because the meds help with this illness. It's chronic and lifelong, just like diabetes, and there's good reason to accept that it needs meds management.

If you do persist in tying to be med-free, I agree you should do it with a doctor's supervision so that you together can be on alert for any changes that indicate it's time to start taking something. And have regular talk therapy, too. The e stressor that will come when you return to school could very well start tipping you towards mania or depression. I wish you luck in this endeavor.

I do know people who have been off meds for periods of time and done really well but literally all of them have ended up back on something. It's very hard to deal with the side effects but I've had this discussion with my doc and he said (in his opinion) bipolar is the last disorder he would ever believe being unmedicated. The unfortunate truth is that when it's as unpredictable as it is it's easy to slip one way or another and it's hard to get out. Just my experiences and a few close friends. I obviously can't tell you what to do but in either case I hope you have no problems

I'm bipolar and have been med-free for a few months. I prefer being completely off my pills (Cipralex) because I feel so much clearer in my head. Now I actually have to deal with my disorder, though. The mania, the depression, the in-between feeling and getting my emotions in check. They were very out of control when I started to step down and take less, and when I was completely off them I almost felt like I was crying all the time. I remember watching TV one day and starting to cry because I saw a really cute baby. It was really, really embarrassing. Now I'm better at controlling it, I think. I'm starting therapy soon as I still have some issues and I just hope I will get even better and perhaps more stable.

That is the cool thing about meds for bipolar.
Something will work for anybody.
Nothing will work for everybody.

The joys of mania... writing something down and thinking I am so profound.
My note above can be interpreted and misinterpreted many ways.
Sorry.