Hello. :)

Since diagnosed in '05, I've had trouble remembering to take my meds, but sometimes it's on purpose. :rolleyes: I've finally figured out that that screws up my stability, but I kept thinking that as soon as I was "better," I.E. stable, I could stop the meds and nothing would happen. BIG mistake. :S I always hoped Mom would never notice as most of my episodes turned to hypomania before depression...she noticed. <.< But it wasn't until going to the hospital that it really hit me how important it was to take my meds regularly and now when I forget, it is really forgetting - not being obstinant. Also, I've realised I forget my meds a lot less now...My main problem was the Lamictal because the taste is just awful. >.< However, I learned by trial and error that if I take it with milk, it masks the taste completely and I've had no problems since. ^_^ I was just wondering if anyone had problems with taking meds? I figure I can't be totally unique in that aspect...I just liked hypomania so much that I wanted to skip my meds for a while...but it never worked 'cause I invariably crashed, which ruined the experience completely...

Paige

I have to admit that I consider it from time to time. I really wanted to be stable, I was sick of the cycling, but who knew that underneath the hypomanic bursts of energy lay...a slug? I am terrible with motivation, I have very low energy levels physically (my mind is a wheel in motion, however).

So sure, I have those days when I think "Hey, how about I just skip this Lamictal for a little while and see if the dex provokes hypomania? I would get so much accomplished and feel good about that, and then I can go back on them and nobody will be the wiser!".

Yea right :rolleyes: if I am honest with myself, I know that they would notice, alright and not only that, they would have to suffer for my bad decision. And man, would that feed the inevitable depression! And I was undiagnosed and untreated for so long that my bipolar has done that mutation thing. I very seldom have a "white" hypomania anymore. Although I might get all the energy and the need for less sleep, most of my hypomanias are "black" these days. I am generally irritable and I can turn on a dime and become, well, pretty evil if the truth be told. Nasty, cutting, cruel. Yep they'd know and yep, they'd suffer. So not worth it. So my house is a mess and I remind myself that one day, the children I adore who make all this mess will be gone for good. My house will be clean then.

I seldom forget to take my Lamictal these days but I have a potent motivator too. While I might be able to forget or ignore what will happen if I am hypomanic, its virtually impossible for me to forget what will happen if my daughter Spacemania, a member here, goes hypomanic! Her hypomanias are distinct and...well...as much as I can relate to her and understand that its not within her power to control herself? She will drive the people around her to utter distraction. Hypomania for Space manifests in many of the typical ways: less sleep, high energy, bursts of amazing creativity, all of the usual ones...but she suffers from the pressured speech component to a very, VERY large degree! I mean, she talks constantly and rapidly and it never seems to end. She will beat your ear right off of your head and still keep talking. If she cannot talk to you, she will talk into the air. If you ask her to please give it a moment's rest...oh who am I kidding here? Even if you beg her to give you just a few minute's peace, explaining as kindly as you can that you simply cannot take anymore? She will say "OK!"...and go right on talking. :faint: I know from past experience that she is aware of what she is doing, and horrified that she cannot control it.

And I adore this child, ya know? I hate to see her suffer...and I also hate to endure her pressured speech. Too much of it will eventually trigger a cycle in me, too. So because of that, we take our Lamictal together, every night and although we both have that ADHD tendency to forget to take pills? Usually one of us realizes that this has happened and will fetch the other, even if they are already asleep, to go and take them. I doubt that we have forgotten Lamictal more than say 3 times in the entire time we have been both been on it. For Space its more recent than for me but it has worked out nicely in the end. :)

Now the APs are another story! At one time both she and I had been RXed them on a regular schedule...but our schedules did not match. She was twice a day and I was three times. This did NOT work out at all! We practically never took them. :o Finally our doctor asked us how it was workig out and I had to admit that we had been taking them PRN instead of according to the prescription. He asked how that was working out and honestly it was working out fine, so he just threw in the towel and admitted defeat on those. We just cannot do it, the ADHD is too severe and we admitted we were beaten. The APs are now RXed PRN and we just wing it and hope for the best.