May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Today’s post also recognizes May 4–10 as Tardive Dyskinesia [TD] Awareness Week. TD, characterized by facial tics and trouble speaking or swallowing, is a side effect of some antipsychotic medications.
Could the Treatment Be Worse Than the Disease?
Sellers of FDA-approved medications are required to mention possible side effects—even during a 30-second commercial. However, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, if hearing about possible side effects scares someone away from a helpful option. Would you be eager to try something that could cause:
- Seizures or chronic muscle tremors
- Dizzy spells
- Blurry vision
- Sexual dysfunction
- Diarrhea
- Obesity
- Insomnia
All these are possible side effects of antipsychotic, antidepressant, and/or antianxiety medications. It doesn’t help that most mental-health prescriptions are trial and error to begin with, due to complexities of brain wiring and individual chemistry.
Still, once the best prescription is figured out, the benefits outweigh the risks.
Points to Remember
Here’s what you should know if your doctor recommends medication for mental illness.
- The doctor is best positioned to judge your needs. “Side effects” lists, written for a general audience, include every remote possibility. A doctor sees and hears the individual you.
- Make sure your doctor knows: what medications you’re already taking; any diagnosed health conditions you have; and your personal and family history regarding health problems.
- Don’t be afraid to ask about specific concerns. Nothing that worries you is “too silly” to mention.
- If you do have side effects from a prescription, tell your doctor immediately and get advice on the next step. Never stop or change something you’re taking until you get the doctor’s approval.
- Finally, untreated mental illness has “side effects,” too. These include work dysfunction, social isolation, chemical addiction, and even suicide. Don’t let fear of medication problems scare you into risking a worse problem.
There’s an App for That, Too
Another important part of managing treatment: track your experience and share it with your providers.
Advice from Alejandra “Ale” Gonzalez, BridgingApps Digital Navigator:
Especially for individuals who take multiple medications, it helps to have an app where they can document any side-effect symptoms. A look at your notes is often what shows that a certain medication is reacting negatively with another, or otherwise causing side effects. Here are three free apps that offer symptom tracking:
- Medisafe: The Health Trackers diary allows users to document symptoms (and set reminders to document). You can also take notes; keep records of health events; and use a calendar to manage appointments. Plus, there’s a place to list doctors’ contact information, and a place to create medication-adherence reports that can be shared with doctors or others.
- MyTherapy: Medication Reminder: Besides medication and refill reminders, this app features an integrated patient diary where users can record measurements, symptoms, and doctor visits. The Today screen shows an overview of medications, measurements, and symptom checks for each day.
- Pill Reminder–All in One: I recommend this app if you have a lot of in-person appointments: no internet connection is required, which makes it extremely helpful at any office where reception is spotty. Users can show their doctor their medication-adherence records, plus notes on side effects. Caregivers as well as patients can track health data, and make suggestions on what to discuss with health professionals. There’s plenty of space to type in notes before, during, and after each appointment, so users can easily refer back to questions or doctors’ instructions. And the appointment alerts are also a great help.
See also: BridgingApps Mental Health Apps list