keepingupwithlife

This hasn’t been a question for me for the last year or so, since I haven’t had the option of medications since I lost my health insurance, but it’s about to become relevant again, so I need to start working on my decision. I do know I don’t want to go back to the way it was, taking dozens of medications a day, filling my body with chemicals and dealing with the side effects while still fighting the symptoms the meds didn’t suppress.

This is  a huge decision to make, with all my issues, and I’m guessing it’s going to be an ongoing thing, since most doctors want to medicate, medicate, medicate. I figure I’m going to have to make individual decisions for everything, although I have been using this time without insurance to experiment with non-medication options like herbs, essential oils, stress reduction, etc. I’m surviving, but it’s not easy, and there are days when I wish I could just go to the doc and get a pill for the pain, so there’s that to take into consideration as well.

For the bipolar, I’ll most likely go back to the mood stabilizer when I can, since cycling is very hard on me, but I’m learning how to manage the anxiety and depression with herbs and essential oils, so that med can probably be left off without too much of a problem. Since the anti-anxiety pill is the most expensive, and causes the most trouble with side effects, I think avoiding it if possible is the best option.

The hypoglycemia is pretty much decided - I control that with diet, but I haven’t had a glucometer to check with in two years, so that comes back, no question. The strips and lancets can be expensive, but that’s pretty much a necessity to really keep my glucose levels where they need to be.

The really difficult question is the meds I was on for the fibromyalgia - that’s where most of the pills came in, and that’s the thing that causes me the most physical issues. Muscle relaxers, anti-inflammatories, pain killers, a specific fibro drug (Lyrica - I doubt if I’ll go back on that one, there were too many side effects with too little benefit. Don’t get me wrong here - I am NOT saying that if you take Lyrica you should stop, or that you shouldn’t try it, or even that it’s not a useful treatment for fibro. I’m just saying that it didn’t work that well for me. I know other folks that it works miraculously well for, with fewer side effects. It’s all in body chemistry and lifestyle and the other meds you take.) I’ve learned I can live without the muscle relaxers if I have to, so I don’t know what I’ll decide about those, it depends on how my experiments with the alternative treatments go, and the pain killers aren’t much of an issue, it took me over a year to use up the last month’s supply I had, so if I need them, I’ll probably get some.

Migraines - the herbs work pretty well to reduce the frequency, so I probably won’t bother with the meds for them. If I get a really bad one I end up having to go to the ER for shots anyway.

My allergies are life threatening sometimes, so the inhalers are definitely coming back when I can get them, and I keep benadryl on hand for emergencies (thank goodness that one is over the counter now.)

There are some alternative treatments I’d like to try if I ever have the money, too. Things like massage, and accupuncture, and myofascial trigger point therapy; and maybe even color therapy or some crystal healing, just to see if they really have an effect. (Even a placebo effect would be fine with me, if it makes me feel better, I really don’t care if it’s science or all in my head.) Just because a lot of folks don’t think something could help doesn’t mean it isn’t any good - remember all the arguments about chiropractic treatments and theraputic massage when they started?  Now both are accepted as valid adjuncts to standard medical treatment, and have graduated from “alternative therapies” to “complementary medicine.”

Sounds like a combo therapy is what I’m gonna end up with, making decisions on individual drugs on a case by case basis. One of the things I’ve learned since not having insurance is that just because a doctor suggests something doesn’t mean I HAVE to take it, and that there are other ways to manage symptoms than throwing pills at them. (And sometimes the alternatives are BETTER than the pills. I much prefer the flavor of a cup of ginger tea to the taste of one of those hideous melt-under-your-tongue migraine pills.)