inkskinned:

“if you take medication for that, you’ll be taking medication all your life!!” yeah, and?? bud, i already put on my glasses every morning. it’s like. a condition of mine, not a side hobby i’m pursuing irresponsibly. 

crimeronan:

sadhoc:

tonight’s informational post (why do i always think of posting when i’m in the shower) is about a medication side effect called akathisia

akathisia refers to an intense need to move your body, and severe discomfort when sitting still. the best way i can describe it is that it’s like the time i took 800 mg of caffeine back in college but multiplied by a thousand. a person experiencing akathisia might bounce their leg, pace, wave their arms, rock back and forth, punch drywall, etc.

the other defining piece of akathisia is severe distress. you do not want to be moving around. it’s not like stimming, where moving makes you feel better. instead, it feels like if you stop, you will explode. it feels like your body is completely outside of your control. there’ve been reports of prisons using akathisia-causing drugs as a form of torture for inmates. it definitely feels like torture.

with akathisia, the restlessness takes priority over sleeping, eating, showering, or doing any other basic task. no matter how tired or hungry you are, you can’t stop to go to sleep or to prepare food, so you just keep pacing and bouncing around, as your brain function deteriorates from exhaustion and hunger. this can lead to hallucinations, mood episodes, or serious physical illness.

the most common cause of akathisia is antipsychotic medication. not just the old first gen ones, but also a lot of the newer ones too. the problem with this is that the kind of person who gets prescribed antipsychotics is also the kind of person who has little sway with doctors. often, psychiatrists (and sometimes sufferers) will mistake akathisia for mania or psychotic agitation, and will then increase the dosage of the medication that caused the akathisia in the first place.

however, if you come in saying “i think i have akathisia” they might actually listen and can give you a plan to switch or decrease medications. there are also medications that can be taken in conjunction with antipsychotics that block the side effects. just saying the name “akathisia” is what worked for me: i spent weeks trying to explain my bizarre restlessness and insomnia->psychosis, got interpreted as manic, and prescribed more antipsychotics that had more side effects. but once i said “i read about something called akathisia and i think that’s what’s happening to me” i was put on medications that mitigate antipsychotic side effects, and now i’m (mostly) stable again.

so yeah, if you can’t stop moving and it’s ruining your life, try looking up akathisia and calling up your psych armed with pubmed articles on it.

i’ve had akasthisia before and it’s exactly as op says! i took my medication at night and then would restlessly toss and turn for hours; i tried taking it during the day and ended up pacing around our porch like an agitated wildcat for The Entire Afternoon

i was blessed by a psychiatrist who knew what he was doing so when i called the office, the convo went:

me: this medication is making me…. uh….. i can’t stop moving, i’m agitated

the receptionist: agitated??

me: NOT violently, just – i can’t sit DOWN

the receptionist, kindly: does it feel like you’re crawling out of your skin?

me: YES!! YES THAT’S IT

but again, as op says – a lot of psychiatrists do Not know how to recognize it. it’s a relatively rare side effect and if your psych doesn’t specialize in psychosis, they might not have seen it before. which can lead to dosages being upped instead of lowered, which becomes straight-up malpractice when the doctor decides to ignore your own testimony due to your psychosis

being on (different) stable medication has saved my life but the akasthisia was so awful that i DID almost quit treatment altogether. so be aware of it and self-advocate as much as you can

justsomeantifas:

justsomeantifas:

justsomeantifas:

veeronic:

justsomeantifas:

it is literal violence against disabled people to make necessary medications so expensive that only the rich can afford them. it is insurance companies supporting eugenics. It is in fact a death sentence. It’s not just “good business” It is literally “good euthanasia” 

After receiving FDA approval my steroid; Deflazacort, just went from 800$ a year to 89,000$ a year.

I’m told my insurance will now cover all of it but to say the least I am skeptical… especially if(when) the ACA gets repealed.

It’s not life saving but it probably adds some years.

Yeah, repealing the ACA [obamacare] will kill millions of people, they’re getting rid of us as fast as they can. These prices are not possible for the average disabled person to pay, because most of us can’t work.

need I remind everyone, disabled people at most make around $8000 a year, the poverty line starts at around $11000 for a single person. and disabled people can’t even save over $2000 or they are removed from their disability benefits, which means we cannot even save up to the poverty line.

some of these medications that keep us alive are so absurdly out of our reach without it being covered we would die, either faster than normal, or as soon as we run out. There is absolutely no way around this. 

People are dying because of these prices, and make no mistake, this is intentional. They’re not just “stupid” and “don’t understand what their actions entail.” They want us dead. These people do not want disabled people to live, that’s all it boils down to.

thought i’d specify disabled people who arent on disability benefits, I know for a fact not enough people get the disability benefits that they deserve, and that was a mistake on my part not to include. These people who haven’t been granted disability money make either nothing, or far less than non-disabled people, some places it’s legal to pay disabled people 22 cents an hour. 

This too is violence, and further proof that no matter what we do we cannot afford such outrageous prices of life-saving medications on our own.

And you know what, there are disabled children who cannot work, and if they only have one or two parents …. minimum wage isn’t even going to cut paying for these medications, and even the national average income would not cover some of these life saving medications, surgeries, and treatments. Commodifying medicine is genocide.

hymnofamedicaloddity:

rarara-riot-grrrl:

vetmedirl:

princess-xion:

simonbitdiddle:

gandalfkorv:

adistasteformath:

I honestly hate how art and media have kind of romanticized the idea of like “going off your meds and being your true self again” because like I started taking antidepressants and like immediately got a new job, found a place to live, improved my relationships with people in my life and completely reconciled with my sort of estranged ex-girlfriend?? Medication can be rad and while I realize that it’s not for everybody I don’t think anything should be trying to convince anyone that being on medication inherently makes you less of who you are

(Most) Medication is for helping you to be you again. The real me isn’t tired by just walking to the train station. The real me is not my anxiety or depression. They don’t define me.

The real me is who I am when I’m not anxious and feeling worthless 24/7.

Medication is supposed to be the chemical equivalent of glasses or a wheelchair, depending on the severity of impairment. It tries to help you compensate for what has been taken, been broken, or is missing.

In particular, i always hear the myth that anti-depressants give you “artificial happiness”… no, no, no. They give your brain the ability to be happy. You won’t always be happy, and sometimes you’ll be sad. But the happiness you’re able to feel when you’re on meds is your own, real, happiness.

SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE NEUROTYPICALS IN THE BACK!!!

I mean this is important for neurotypicals but it’s honestly more important for people who struggle with mental illness and hate being on meds for a variety of reasons (aka me).

Take away med stigma! Don’t deny yourself something that can help you live a more fulfilling life and don’t shame people for their choices!

lilitharcane:

veganasana:

If you’re feeling better, that’s good!!! If you’re no longer feeling chained to your mental illness, even better!

But please please please please pLEASE do not stop taking your medication because you feel better. 

You feel better because your meds are working.

If you stop taking them they’ll stop working.

And that means relapse.

So if you’re on meds and you’re feeling better, keep taking them!!!!!!!

This is really great but if you’re on the bp spectrum it’s good to keep in contact with your doctor, because while sometimes anti depressants are good for snapping you out of a depressive or dysthymic cycle it can trigger you into a hypo/manic cycle so they’re not good long term. I don’t see it talked about much on tumblr and this is really great but it’s just a PSA! After you’re not feeling depressed it’s good to see if a mood stabilizer would be better for maintenance.   

edwardspoonhands:

In 2008, I went to a campaign rally for Barack Obama. I saw him talk, it was great. I came home and the next day I got very sick. Then I made a video in which I sang a brief song that went:

Barack Obama gave me a disease
He shook my hand right after he sneezed
and now I’ve got a fever of a hundred and three
Barack Obama

Now, I didn’t actually shake his hand, and he didn’t actually sneeze, but I figured I did get the illness at the rally because there were thousands of people breathing on me and that was bound to happen.

But, in fact, that is not what had happened. 

I got much sicker the day after I made that video. I had a full body rash and my blood pressure had dropped to 80/30 and I couldn’t stand up without passing out. I had to go to the emergency room and get an IV of fluids and steroids because I was having a systemic allergic reaction to a new medication I was taking. 

The medication, sulfasalazine, is not usually prescribed for ulcerative colitis because of the frequency of these dangerous allergic reactions. But because my medication was so expensive, and sulfasalazine is so much cheaper, my doctor had elected for me to try it out and see if it worked for me. 

Obviously, it did not, so I had to go back on the $400 per month stuff, which I am still on. But I would not have had to take that other medication, nor would I have ended up in the hospital with a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction if we had had the Affordable Care Act, because I wouldn’t have had to choose a potentially dangerous medication just because it was cheaper. The $400 stuff is now actually cheaper for me than the sulfasalazine was.

So, basically, I owe the president an apology.