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The Importance of Staying on Your Meds

© Kathy Brewis

On the journey I take each day through the path of depression, I have been taught many lessons. On this particular week I am yet again reminded of a very important part of my maintenance program. I didn't intentionally let this happen, it just did. I buy my prescription drugs through my insurance's pharmacy. By doing this I can get three months supply of a particular drug for a set price. This price is usually $20 cheaper than going to the drugstore each month to get a refill.

Well, last week I ran out of Zoloft. I didn't think it would be that much of a problem but I also learned that I had run out of refills for this medicine so the pharmacy would have to send a form to my doctor by fax and the doctor has to rewrite a prescription for me. Well, as you can probably tell, this process takes a little longer than simply going online and ordering the drugs. Therefore it is going to take me longer to receive the meds.

In the meantime I have been off the Zoloft for around a week now. I can now feel the affects of not taking the drug so I call my doctor up and tell her what is going on. When I explained that I had been off this med for a week, she said that was the problem. I told her that I was out and waiting for more from the online pharmacy company. In turn she told me to stop by her office the next day and she would leave me some samples I can take home with me and hopefully last until my prescription came in.

Well, these last couple of days have been days from hell. Pardon my language, but if you are anyways connected or have some knowledge of depression and anxiety, you will know that the description "hell" fits like a charm. Well, it is my entire fault for letting the med lapse, but at this point there is nothing I can do about the situation except to wait on my prescription to arrive and start taking it faithfully as I always do.

When your doctor prescribes medication for illnesses such as depression, the doctor means for you to take them everyday until there is a time in which you won't have to take them anymore. A lot of people take themselves off their meds once they start feeling better but that is not a wise thing to do. Antidepressants usually take between 4-6 weeks to take effect. During my recovery from my first bout of depression I had to switch doctors. I didn't really like this doctor so I began to skip appointments and eventually I stopped taking my medicine. This was a huge mistake. It only took about two months and I had a full blown case of depression again. Fortunately I had located my previous doctor and was able to see her now. Don't do like I did and stop going to see the psychiatrist and stop taking the meds. It is a huge mistake if you do.

The copyright of the article The Importance of Staying on Your Meds in Depression is owned by Kathy Brewis. Permission to republish The Importance of Staying on Your Meds in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.