In our weekly mental health chat, a few words on long term medication, and the taboo that sometimes surrounds it.
My first repeat prescription was given to me at approximately age 12. Now, 30 years later, I am on significantly more daily medications.
For any physical ailment, medication is expected and understood. The same applies to short term antibiotics or pain medication. However, long term use or anything prescribed for mental health conditions or invisible illnesses is still somehow frowned upon. If I had a penny for every time I was told to simply go for a walk, try yoga, or drink water to improve my health, I would probably be a billionaire by now. All because there is still a misunderstanding – or chosen ignorance – around the need for many people to require medicinal intervention.
The first time I encountered the taboo around medication I was 18 and one of my colleagues at the time stage whispered “I am sorry to hear about you needing antidepressantsā across the table where other staff members were sitting. I was mortified; not because he knew or because he had alerted others to my situation. I was mortified because in that moment I ‘realised’ I was supposed to be ashamed or embarrassed. As I now close in on 42, with a longer list of prescribed drugs than I suspect my local pharmacy needs to order in a week, I am angered that I was ever made to feel that way.
Let’s put aside the fact that we now understand more about mental health and invisible illnesses (supposedly), and let’s focus on the fact that it was the medication itself that was the problem in these instances. My depression wasn’t in question; my citalopram was. It was assumed to be a cheat’s way of fixing the brain. By some, it was even considered a placebo.
Over the years my prescription list has included more medications than I am able to count or even recall. By the time you read this, I will have already taken at least the first eight pills of the day, just so I can eat breakfast. An average day equals 14 tablets. Double that for a bad day. And don’t get me started on side effects.
Anybody in the same boat would probably say the same thing; we would give anything to not need these chemical support networks to survive. It is hard living with any health condition, but it is significantly harder when being made to feel like the 1pm reminder on our phone signalling our next dosage is akin to an illicit drug deal in a public setting.
Medication exists for a reason; to aid those in need of extra physical support. Even for mental health conditions, which are often the result of chemical imbalances or other issues pertaining to the physical health of the brain. They are prescribed to people for the same reason that somebody with a broken leg may need crutches or a boot, or how some people are reliant on inhalers to aid their breathing. In some cases, the medications are an emergency necessity, such as an EpiPen. But because most are taken orally and primarily in tablet format, it is judged and deemed ‘less than’.
I assure you, those who have to rely on medication just to get through the average day are not cheats, do not have it easy, and are certainly not weak. They are warriors. They are battling their own bodies, as well as society’s opinion on their choice of weapon. Some don’t believe in medication, and that is their prerogative, but we are not to be shamed for choosing that option.
Thanks, as always, for reading. This column will return next week.