Medication Merry Go Round

It should be simple. But like many of life’s twists and turns, ins and outs, ups and downs, it’s not. You would think that if you take your medication all should be fine. It’s not that easy though. It’s like a person with diabetes trying to regulate their intake of insulin only much trickier. Sometimes a diabetic needs more and sometimes less insulin depending on their blood sugar level. With diabetes, there is one primary drug, insulin and there are good tools for diabetics to use to monitor and keep track of their changing blood sugar levels.

Not so with bipolar disorder (BP). First, there are a variety of drugs used to treat BP none of which were created with BP in mind, and second, there is no way that a bipolar person can measure the changes in their brain chemistry and neurotransmitter function, or tell if they need more of less of whatever drug they are currently taking. The only clues that let you know if you need a med increase, decrease, or change is either unwanted side effects from the drug, or a fairly significant and unwanted change in mood.

By the time you get to either of those places, it usually means having to suffer through another trial of medication changes and weathering the side effects, and putting up with the mood swings while waiting to see if the med change works or make things worse. I know that the alternative is not acceptable – having uncontrolled mood swings to the point that life becomes so disrupted and unbearable that it no longer seems worth living, but it sure would be nice if someone out there would come up with a medication or set of medications that are targeted primarily at BP and that are research based. And it would be even better if there was a tool that people with BP could use to measure whatever it turns out that we need to measure to be able to reliably monitor biochemical changes so that we can regulate our medication based on some measures other than subjective explanations to the physicians about “how we feel” and how we are functioning or not functioning well. It doesn’t seem like to much to ask. Of course, a cure would be even better.

Until such a time, it appears that the medication merry-go-round will continue.