JustGotOut Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Before my illness and before I took psych meds I think most would describe me as outgoing,funny,creative,fun, but after taking medication although no one has said this, I think people would describe me as boring, uncreative, not very fun or playful or spontaneous, perhaps robotic and just plain slow. I say the last things not out of depression but out of an honest critique of the way I have changed due to medication. I'm just not as quick or sharp as I was while not on medication. Do others here struggle with this as well and if so what did you do to get that zest back into life. Don't get me wrong I don't feel dead inside or anything and I am overall pretty happy. But the facts are I'm just not as creative or sharp as before medication. I would like to have the best of both worlds, being creative and sharp and full of life while being sane. Can I do it? Has anyone done it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeAChillPill Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 It would be helpful for me to know which meds you are on. Here's my personal experience. Zyprexa helped me sleep at night and stop being manic or delusional but the buck stopped there. It did indeed squash my creativity and spark. This will not be everyone's experience though because we are all very different. I lost a lot of talent and I perhaps intelligence. I haven't taken it in almost two decades but I still feel some of the aftereffects. Abilify, for me, has been neutral as far as affecting my intelligence or creativity. It neither helps or hinders me. I've been able to attend college and attain a 4.0 GPA on a much larger dose of Abilify than i am on now. I am learning my own way of painting which is nothing unique but I am just kind of finding what works for me and this is a fairly new development. I take 7mgs Abilify now and a few years ago I believe it was closer to 20. My Dr. thinks I'm actually more in touch with reality and more appropriately responsive on the lower dose. I have been symptom free for many years but hardly anybody else is so lucky with my type of illness which is Schizoaffective. The medicine may provide some protective benefits so i just keep taking it. Antidepressants are another thing that do not affect my creativity or overall cognition. They can make me foggy or restless but I'm still ME if you know what i mean. Amphetamines are just a NO for me as they make it impossible for me to be rational or calm. They give me anxiety which hinders everything but of course that only lasts as long as the drug is in my system. Anyways, there are tons of psychiatric drugs and maybe your Dr. can help you find a combination that makes you function better without having to sacrifice some very important things. I was feeling a little bit unmotivated and my Dr. added Wellbutrin XL to my cocktail about year ago. It seems to give me more energy without being over-stimulating. Over time things do get better. I realize it's a tough thing to face but just know you're not alone. I think the fact that you KNOW you're not the same means that you're not broken. The pieces you're looking for cannot be erased but they can be hidden. Teasing out what is buried now might be a matter of time, practice, and or med adjustment which is something to talk about with your Dr. The brain has the innate ability to regenerate and it has lots of plasticity. Give it time and keep pushing forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGotOut Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 33 minutes ago, TakeAChillPill said: It would be helpful for me to know which meds you are on. Here's my personal experience. Zyprexa helped me sleep at night and stop being manic or delusional but the buck stopped there. It did indeed squash my creativity and spark. This will not be everyone's experience though because we are all very different. I lost a lot of talent and I perhaps intelligence. I haven't taken it in almost two decades but I still feel some of the aftereffects. Abilify, for me, has been neutral as far as affecting my intelligence or creativity. It neither helps or hinders me. I've been able to attend college and attain a 4.0 GPA on a much larger dose of Abilify than i am on now. I am learning my own way of painting which is nothing unique but I am just kind of finding what works for me and this is a fairly new development. I take 7mgs Abilify now and a few years ago I believe it was closer to 20. My Dr. thinks I'm actually more in touch with reality and more appropriately responsive on the lower dose. I have been symptom free for many years but hardly anybody else is so lucky with my type of illness which is Schizoaffective. The medicine may provide some protective benefits so i just keep taking it. Antidepressants are another thing that do not affect my creativity or overall cognition. They can make me foggy or restless but I'm still ME if you know what i mean. Amphetamines are just a NO for me as they make it impossible for me to be rational or calm. They give me anxiety which hinders everything but of course that only lasts as long as the drug is in my system. Anyways, there are tons of psychiatric drugs and maybe your Dr. can help you find a combination that makes you function better without having to sacrifice some very important things. I was feeling a little bit unmotivated and my Dr. added Wellbutrin XL to my cocktail about year ago. It seems to give me more energy without being over-stimulating. Over time things do get better. I realize it's a tough thing to face but just know you're not alone. I think the fact that you KNOW you're not the same means that you're not broken. The pieces you're looking for cannot be erased but they can be hidden. Teasing out what is buried now might be a matter of time, practice, and or med adjustment which is something to talk about with your Dr. The brain has the innate ability to regenerate and it has lots of plasticity. Give it time and keep pushing forward. I'm currently on latuda 20 mg klonopin 2 mg trazodone 200 mg and ambien 10 mg. I'll have to add these to my sig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 My personal experience is that meds may impair your creativity, energy, and performance some, but perhaps not nearly as much as you think. The mental illness itself may be more responsible for the degradation of your mental faculties. And if you have a bipolar-type MI, you might go off meds and think that you are more creative, but that may not be the reality. It could just be the hypo/mania talking. I do find that depression sucks the life out of my creative juices nearly entirely. And depression can be difficult to treat. So you may feel crappy and blame it on the meds, when in fact it's the depression that's the real problem. When I went off of meds in July, I was expecting this huge change that never materialized. There was a bump, but it wasn't anywhere remotely near what I was expecting. I do know that I've never been the same since my first mixed episode. Everything went kaflooey on me then. I have been on my fair share of medication over the years, and going off of meds has never yielded significant results. And then the world gets turned upside down and you eventually end back on meds anyway, perhaps after completely wrecking your life. In any case, proceed with caution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissaw72 Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) 9 hours ago, JustGotOut said: Before my illness and before I took psych meds I think most would describe me as outgoing,funny,creative,fun, but after taking medication although no one has said this, I think people would describe me as boring, uncreative, not very fun or playful or spontaneous, perhaps robotic and just plain slow. I say the last things not out of depression but out of an honest critique of the way I have changed due to medication. I'm just not as quick or sharp as I was while not on medication. Do others here struggle with this as well and if so what did you do to get that zest back into life. Don't get me wrong I don't feel dead inside or anything and I am overall pretty happy. But the facts are I'm just not as creative or sharp as before medication. I would like to have the best of both worlds, being creative and sharp and full of life while being sane. Can I do it? Has anyone done it? I can empathize with what you said. (bold 1) I struggle with this too ... before all the meds, I was also outgoing, funny, creative, spontaneous, etc. When the meds entered the picture, it all became the total opposite for me too. I haven't found anything up to now, anyway, that will give me back all of those qualities. Actually, I think if I got all those things back, I wouldn't even know what to do with them because it has been so long since I've experienced them. (bold 2) I haven't had the best of both worlds. I just can't do it. I've tried though ... went off of meds, became psychotic, but I had those good qualities back. But I couldn't do both, being sane while having the "spark" in life like I used to. Meds just get in the way of everything. I am really interested though to see if anyone can stay sane and have the spark to do things in life also. I agree with @Flash that: 4 hours ago, Flash said: going off of meds has never yielded significant results. Edited March 12, 2017 by melissaw72 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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