Stages of life…to take meds or not to take meds

I wasn’t exactly sure how to title this and I have been thinking about this since Monday. I actually kept the title as a draft so I could think about what all I wanted to write.

I don’t even know if the title says what I want this to be about, so I will explain further. We all have different stages of our lives, obviously. Even here, reading each others stories about to medicate or not to medicate, etc… we are all in different situations. Some people feel that they don’t need medication, it makes them worse, some feel they need it to feel/behave better, we all know the different reasons without me listing them.

My thought is this…different stages of our lives also require us to take different stances. For example, I have tried to go off of meds, I exercise daily, take my daily supplements, eat well, etc… however, I have 4 children (ages 11-2) and at the time even younger. For others it may be a spouse or a job, or any other personal situation.

A couple of days later and I am still working on this draft, what is my problem. Every time I go to sleep the entire blog goes word for word thru my head and the next day comes and I can’t get the words out. Here it goes again…

I have to be in the right mind to be able to take care of my children in the most positive, happy, fun way possible. It is not fair to a child to have a parent always having to pay attention just to themselves or one that is always apologizing yet doing the same horrible yelling over and over again or sleeping all the time and not being an active participant in their lives.

If I do what some people suggest is the ‘all to all’ of being healthy and ‘the best way to live’ meaning being off of all mind altering medications, I would either be raging and apologizing 2 wks of every month and then crying and feeling guilty the other days. Crying so much that my childrens, my husbands, and my own lives wouldn’t be what it is today. Would I be any good to my children, absolutely not. And, this is with my vitamins, exercise, sleep, etc…

My body just doesn’t cooperate like that. :) I am very fortunate that I am doing okay right now with the 2 medications/dosages and hard work that I put towards dealing with my PMDD and that I am not having any negative effects. I am sometimes quieter during my 2 wk time compared to my normal chatty self, but nothing to the point of sitting in the corner alone. I can handle that.

If I didn’t have children, or like others who may be single parenting or have a job where their boss won’t give any time off or any work from home time, etc… I might have more options. You know though, even as I say that, I don’t think for me right now I would even take it. Like I have mentioned a thousand times here, I am doing much better on my meds.

I have been on meds that changed me for the worse and I was the first one stopping and even worse a couple of times going cold turkey because I couldn’t stand them that much! As we all know, that was EVEN worse, but I learned. I felt wonderful when I got the ICK out of me. I do know the feeling of drugs in your system, sluggish feelings, feelings that you just aren’t yourself, etc… please don’t think that I just found the great meds for me and don’t understand why people get off meds, oh believe me I do. :)

The reason I decided to write this is not because there are so many people getting off of meds, there are a ton of blogs on people getting off their meds and doing it the right way…Man I wish those were out there when I was doing it, sadly enough a lot of docs don’t do it slow enough. I am writing this because unlike a lot of disorders Doctors are still completely baffled by PMDD. There isn’t any medication out there to ‘treat’ PMDD yet. Of course there are anti-depressants that are prescribed, but they will not ‘fix’ you, but will help some. Also, a lot of what you will find will be exercise, sleep, eat right…this is the only way to fix it, etc…

I want for Women to also know that if they do all of that AND they still suffer, they have NOT failed. Those are MUSTS!!! You have to follow a routine, it’s just going to be one of those things. You need to get plenty of sleep, eat healthy and stay away from sugars and processed foods, stay away from caffeine, exercise DAILY, stay away from stressful events…as Women/Moms it’s tough, but if you need meds too you have not failed.

I used to tell a friend of mine, if you were diabetic you would take your meds, yes?  Okay then, take your meds.

I am grateful that 4 times in my life I was able to go med-free. When I am PG and when I am nursing and don’t have a period I don’t have my PMDD. I have 4 kiddos and nursed for a year, actually a little over, LOL. I was symptom free/med free all the while, it was AWESOME!!!

I am so proud of the Women that are able to go without meds, it is a tough road and to be able to do it deserves a HUGE pat on the back and you should really be proud of yourself too.

For all of the Women/Moms out there who feel that they need the meds, it is a tough decision to decide to take them, I am proud of you too for deciding that you want better for yourself and those around you too.

We all have different decisions to make, I hope all of the Women out there will make the best one for yourself today, do a TON of research, talk to a TON of Moms, listen to YOUR gut and be proud, not embarrassed of your decisions.