Bimbo Bear Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 When your medications stop working, is that because your brain has gotten healthier and no longer needs the medicine dosage you're on to keep functioning? Or is it just because your body gets used to it? I'm asking because I'm praying my brain gets healthy again someday. I want the part of my brain that makes me happy to re-grow and come back. I want any damage done by my bipolar to heal. I just want to be normal a little bit, even if I must be on some kind of meds forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjimjam Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 I'm not aware of any reason why meds no longer working could be sign of something good. One pdoc I saw said the illness changes so meds need changing sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alien Navel Cord Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 I think that from what I understand, there could be 2 reasons why a medication stops working. Your body gets used to it and builds a tolerance, or your condition changes in a way that the medication no longer works the way that it should. I wish I had happier news for you but I am not aware of any studies that show your brain grows back healthy and you no longer have illness up there. I wish! Unlike your lungs for instance, which regenerate healthy tissue after a certain amount of time away from pollutants and carcinogens (to a certain extent). Interesting stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notloki Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 Several reasons. Body/receptors get used to the meds presence and adjust down. Basically tolerance. I'm not convinced a lot of med failures after some time of success to be tolerance. Tolerance is common among benzos and opioids. if it is going to happen it is pretty quick, months. It seems to me that I read about people taking AD's for years and having them poop out after years. My experience is AD's always poop out but it takes years. Thats from ~30 years of AD use. If an AD works it is going to work for a long while then poop out. Years. I have never has an AD work and then stop working quickly. So this suggests to me something more than just tolerance happening. It is kinds like Diabeties II. You don't become tolerant to Insulin, your body becomes resistant to its effects. Just like most mental illness we don't know how the illness works to a great degree. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 3 minutes ago, notloki said: Several reasons. Body/receptors get used to the meds presence and adjust down. Basically tolerance. I'm not convinced a lot of med failures after some time of success to be tolerance. Tolerance is common among benzos and opioids. if it is going to happen it is pretty quick, months. It seems to me that I read about people taking AD's for years and having them poop out after years. My experience is AD's always poop out but it takes years. Thats from ~30 years of AD use. If an AD works it is going to work for a long while then poop out. Years. I have never has an AD work and then stop working quickly. So this suggests to me something more than just tolerance happening. It is kinds like Diabeties II. You don't become tolerant to Insulin, your body becomes resistant to its effects. Just like most mental illness we don't know how the illness works to a great degree. That is consistent with what I've seen others post on this site. I'm going to make a guesstimate that 7-12 years is a very common poop-out timeline for ADs. Some people are unlucky and they poop out much sooner, while others are luckier and get considerably more time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceberg Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 I certainly don't think it means your brain is "fixed" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyRedhead Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 (edited) The technical term for medication "poop-out" is "tachyphylaxis" Here's a good article on AD tachyphylaxis: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/patient-advice/articles/2015/05/28/why-your-antidepressants-stopped-working-and-what-to-do-about-it Kind of a long article, but informative. Edited April 25, 2017 by CrazyRedhead 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissaw72 Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 I guess I am one of the fortunate ones ... I have been on prozac since 1991, and it hasn't pooped out yet. Thank for the head's-up though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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