Question: When can I give up medication for Bipolar Disorder?
Answer: I can give up medication for Bipolar Disorder as soon as I am no longer Bipolar.
Question: Isn't Bipolar Disorder a chronic illness that can be treated, but that never can be cured?
Answer: Yes, just like schizophrenia.
Question: Does that mean I can never give up medication for Bipolar Disorder?
Answer: You can give up *any* medication that has been prescribed for you and then wait an hour, a day, a week or a year and find out what will occur.
For example, if you are diabetic you *can* give up your medication today. It is with your powerto do so. However, you might enter into a diabetic coma and be found dead on your kitchen floor, like my father.
If you are Bipolar and commit a crime while unmedicated, and/or become "a danger to yourself and/or others, you might end up in prison or involuntarily committed to a mental institution until others no longer consider you a danger.
By way of analogy, if you have been drinking heavily for years, can you stop cold turkey? Of course you can try, without medical advice, but it might cause you to see snakes and ants crawling on your body and then you might start hearing voices coming out of your breadbox, telling you to kill yourself.
Question: If you are an alcoholic and have stopped drinking, when can you start again?
Answer: You can start drinking again as soon as you want to experience the consequences again that made you stop drinking last time, and maybe worse.
Question: So, can I really stop taking medication for Bipolar Disorder?
Answer: You can do whatever the he** you want, whenever you want to do it. You *can* run across the Belt Parkway naked, until the consequences hit you.
Question: So, should I stop taking all of my medication and see if I no longer need it?
Answer: You can remove the steering wheel from you car and see if you no longer need it.
I'd rather have a frontal lobotomy than a bottle in front of me.
Joined: 02-07-2017