Medication is not a cure

Last week, a dear friend asked me, “since you take medication, why do you still have episodes?” This stopped me in my thought process. I had forgotten how many people think medication is a cure for mental illness. It isn’t a cure, it’s an aid.

I used to be anti-medication. My mom believed that God made me this way and there was no need to tinker with God’s design. That was before my massive episode. It was an episode that took me eighteen months to recover from. My brain felt like it broke. At the start of the recovery process, I decided to give medication a chance. That episode was in 2002. I’ve been tinkering with God’s design ever since. It’s the only way I’ve lasted this long.

I’ve been in a lot of medications through the years. I’ve had some truly horrific episodes. I’ve suffered through some terrible side effects. I’m also not in a mental hospital. On this journey, I’ve also experienced weeks of peace. Is medication perfect? Heck no. Would I go back to being unmedicated? Heck no.

I do live with an undying hope that one day I won’t need medication anymore because there actually is a cure. Until then, I do what I can to help lessen my episodes. I take my aids in little pill form.