Lesson Learnt...

I’ve only typed up a short article this week because I’ve made some mistakes with my health lately and they have made me a bit too down to write much.

This is the lesson I learnt…. Again…

My medication had been working very well. Even with Mike’s suicide, I’ve been able to grieve without it overcoming me. But for one of my medications, I was on the original name brand. It is a fair bit more expensive than the generic, so I decided to switch and that was my mistake.

Although both name and generic brands have the same active ingredient, apparently the generics can vary a little bit in the amount they have in them. So, in this case, my new generic was not as strong as the name brand for me this time.

The medication I changed brands with was my antidepressant and I started to feel down. First just feeling a little sad (not that bad, but noticeable), then waking up and not wanting to get out of bed (quite uncomfortable), losing interest in hobbies, and then last night I felt worthless and had some suicidal ideation. No plans, but just an old chestnut of mine where I think about whether society would prefer me to be gone.

At least I saw it happening bit by bit and I’m going back onto my original brand as soon as I can. For now, I’m upping the generic brand I still have to see if that helps. I don’t like making these changes without my psychiatrist’s consent but it’s the weekend and I’ll be seeing him in a week anyway.

I’m a bit better today, even though it’s only been one night of the new change. Placebo or not, I’ll take it.

So, if your medication is working fine for you, I strongly recommend not changing brands – whichever brand you happen to be on (generic or not). If it isn’t working, try talking to your appropriate doctor for assistance.

Lesson learnt, again.

Larz

29/05/2022