My son went off his bipolar meds. I need to know what to do. He is 21 and i cant make him take them.
2007-12-12 03:16:23 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ Mental Health
try to bring your son back to the doctor and get him back on the meds. he may feel better now but he should stay on his meds. his meds will stabilize his moods and he will have lower highs and higher lows. good luk.
2007-12-12 17:31:53 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Very little is inevitable in psychiatry, due to the extreme heterogeneity of the patient population. What will happen with your son depends only on his own individual circumstances. However, stopping bipolar medications (which are strong) cold-turkey is dangerous and can trigger an episode just from the withdrawals. A couple of things you can do:
1. Talk with your son about why he went off his medication. Was it the side effects? Was it not effective? Has his illness progressed into psychosis and he distrusts his doctors? Depending on his answer, he may be open to trying something else or trying his medications again at a different dosage.
2. Try to convince your son to tell his doctor that he stopped taking his medication. Tell him that you are not trying to "gang-up" on him with the doctor to try to get him back on meds, but that you are concerned that stopping the medication without supervision may harm him.
3. Talk with your son about forming a plan of what to do incase of his symptoms returning. Have him identify his most common symptoms and how he can recognize them before they become severe. Sometimes bipolar symptoms can begin with simple feelings of irritability or frustration before they bloom into full depression or mania. Ask him to promise that he’ll call you if he starts feeling bad. Ask permission to call his doctor on his behalf if he starts feeling bad.
4. Discuss therapy as a treatment option with your son. Therapy combined with medication is the recommended treatment for people with bipolar disorder, but some people do fine with only therapy. If you son wants to try this for awhile, that is certainly his right.
Again, what happens with your son depends on his individual situation, his illness severity, his physical reaction to medication, his cognitive reaction to therapy, etc….it’s not something that can be easily answered on a website. Good luck to you.
2007-12-12 04:28:11 · answer #2 · answered by Serena 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I saw this a couple of weeks ago on an episode of Degrassi High... This kid got off his meds.. became paranoid and ran away...
I dont have any personal experience but the show did make it seem as though getting off those meds were a bad thing.
Put them in his kool-aid.
2007-12-12 03:19:22 · answer #3 · answered by reD4luv 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm bi-polar and speaking from experience, the medicines they use to treat bi-polar are very strong and when the meds are stopped abruptly, the brain can trigger episodes. For me, after about 7-10 days of quitting meds, I have to be re-evauluated and placed back on medication. I'm 46 now, and will NEVER quit taking my meds/ I've learned.
2007-12-12 03:26:08 · answer #4 · answered by drumcatblue 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Bipolars are famous for going off their meds. You need to get him back on them as soon as possible. Each time a bipolar goes off their meds they can never get back to the place they were before going off, they fall farther down, their mental disease gets worse each time they lapse. Yes they can be a danger to not only them selves but to others.. The longer they go without their meds the worse it will get
2007-12-12 03:21:16 · answer #5 · answered by tebone0315 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am sorry to say there is nothing you can do. He is 21 and considered an adult. Unless he is a danger to himself or others (then you call the authorities immediately) your hands are tied.
Me=Bipolar Woman, who used to go off her med's and wreak havoc for family and friends!
2007-12-12 04:47:19 · answer #6 · answered by ♥ G ♥ 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i have this to and i have learned to control mine and i can feel when an attack is coming on and i don't take my medicine anymore it would make me pass out and i didn't like the way it made me feel. try a more natural approach they have vitamins to help with this and herbs i use this vitamin b-12 for the nervous system and it helps alto. i can take about 4-5 of them a day. medicine is not always the answer
2007-12-12 03:34:21 · answer #7 · answered by dirt77 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
tell him that they are for his benifits and that you and your family are very concerened for him, and are afraid of what might happen. he could go on a rampage and be angry or destructive... it isnt a pretty site. I have a friend who has the same thing and she went a two weeks without taking her meds. every time i saw her she went crazy one minute she would be furious next destructive then she broke down it tears and then be happy the next. it scarred me but we finally got her to take her meds and she settled down. but if they dont take their meds they could end up hurting someone. i dont know if this helps but i tried ^_^
2007-12-12 03:25:18 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
An abrupt stop to those meds could cause many problems. I know you cant make him to anything, but he should be weaned off slowly. I would contact his doc and let doc know what is going on. Yes, he will probably experience problems.
2007-12-12 03:20:04 · answer #9 · answered by pupgirl 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes he will slowly get "sick" again. This is classic behaviour people feel better then think they don't need the meds. But they do need them on a regular basis. I would talk with his M.D. or psychitrist...................I am sorry I can not give any further advice on how to make him take them. I wish you well
2007-12-12 03:22:33 · answer #10 · answered by shootingstars957 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋