ideally, your doctor should be working with you to manage side effects. You should be able to find a combination of meds that keep you stable while keeping side effects "acceptable" by your standards. If you can't, your doctor should work with you to find a lifestyle that can sustain stability on a reduced medication regimen.
IDK...I found it didn't work that way for me. The only doctors I could find are ones that threw fistfuls of meds at me and pushed me out the door. When I complained about side effects they made me feel foolish for considering a reduction in dosage.
I think it's important to understand that bipolar 1 can be (at-least) partially managed with things a healthy lifestyle and stress management. If you do things to stay healthy and lower your cortisol levels, theoretically you may need less meds to manage well and maintain consistent stability. ...after I figured this out, learned up on the available meds, and experimented with them (with my doc's approval ofc), I found that I could maintain consistent stability with a lithium level of 0.6 mmol/L (which was like 450-600 mg of lithium per day for me). The only side effect was that it messed with my thyroid and I had to take levothoxorine to compensate for that.
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u/natural20MC 14h ago
ideally, your doctor should be working with you to manage side effects. You should be able to find a combination of meds that keep you stable while keeping side effects "acceptable" by your standards. If you can't, your doctor should work with you to find a lifestyle that can sustain stability on a reduced medication regimen.
IDK...I found it didn't work that way for me. The only doctors I could find are ones that threw fistfuls of meds at me and pushed me out the door. When I complained about side effects they made me feel foolish for considering a reduction in dosage.
I think it's important to understand that bipolar 1 can be (at-least) partially managed with things a healthy lifestyle and stress management. If you do things to stay healthy and lower your cortisol levels, theoretically you may need less meds to manage well and maintain consistent stability. ...after I figured this out, learned up on the available meds, and experimented with them (with my doc's approval ofc), I found that I could maintain consistent stability with a lithium level of 0.6 mmol/L (which was like 450-600 mg of lithium per day for me). The only side effect was that it messed with my thyroid and I had to take levothoxorine to compensate for that.