Medication can help to adjust chemical imbalances in the brain that may be causing or exacerbating symptoms of mental illness. With the right medication, you can often reduce your symptoms to a more manageable level, allowing you to live with fewer disruptions to your work, social, and personal life. But everyone’s brain is different and may react to medications in different ways.
Psychiatrists will often start patients on a particular dosage of medication, but based on feedback about your experiences, they might adjust or change that dosage entirely. However, this requires you to be able to communicate clearly when something should change. In this blog, let’s go over when to consider medication adjustments and signs that it might be time to talk to your therapist.
Why Medication Needs To Be Adjusted
It’s a frustrating experience when a medication that once worked wonders for you begins to be less effective. Unfortunately, this is sometimes a reality of medication management. After a long period of time taking a particular medication, your brain may adjust to it or the chemicals of your brain might change. This means for the medication to be as effective as it once was, you may have to change the dosage.
On the other hand, sometimes life circumstances and your mental state as a whole may necessitate a change in adjustment. For instance, if you find that your depression or anxiety symptoms have been heightened for an extended period of time, your psychiatrist might recommend a higher than usual dosage. If your mood has been relatively stable, and you’re struggling with side effects of the medication, you might need to reduce your dosage.
5 Signs You Should Talk To Your Psychiatrist About Medication Adjustment
So when do you need to talk to your psychiatrist about medication adjustment? Here are five indicators that it may be time to adjust.
#1 - Unbearable Side Effects
When you start any new medication, your psychiatrist will go over potential side effects with you. These are rare and generally mild. It may impact your appetite and heat sensitivity, your sleep, or you may in some cases experience issues such as headaches or rashes. The type of side effect will depend on the medication.
In most cases, if you experience any side effects, the positive impacts far outweigh them. However, if you find that your side effects are more disruptive to your life than usual, you should talk to your psychiatrist. This could be a sign that you have a reaction to these medications or might need to adjust your medication.
#2 - Change in Benefits
Does it feel like your medication has simply stopped working? Your symptoms have reverted to their usual intensity, and whether you take your medication or not seems to make no difference at all. Many patients make the mistake of assuming that this is simply a fluke of imagination. But it’s important to pay attention to how you’re feeling. If your medication isn’t working anymore, or isn’t working the way it once did, this is certainly something to bring up to your psychiatrist.
#3 - Change in Symptoms
Mental illness may be something you live with for your entire life, but it is also something that is frequently in flux. Your symptoms may intensify or lessen and some may disappear entirely. It’s a mistake to assume that if your symptoms lessen, you no longer need medication. Often this is merely a sign that your medication is working. But if you notice that after an extended time, your symptoms have changed for better or worse, tell your psychiatrist. They may increase or reduce your dosage accordingly, to suit your current needs.
#4 - Major Life Changes
Your mental health does not exist within a vacuum. It is often impacted by external factors. When you go through major life changes, your mental health needs might change. If you’re experiencing a divorce, for instance, you may need more help to manage your symptoms than usual. A cross country move could be a source of anxiety, and the loss of a job could increase feelings of depression. Grief or life-altering injuries, too, could require you to change your dosage.
#5 - New Medications
When you’re prescribed another medication for your mental or physical health, you may find that it interacts with your psychiatric medication in adverse ways. For instance, with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) or serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI) — often prescribed for things like depression, anxiety, PTSD, or OCD — there is sometimes a risk of serotonin syndrome due to interactions with other medications. Serotonin syndrome is a drug reaction in which an excess of serotonin can lead to symptoms of nausea, fever, tremors, delirium, and rapid heart rate. It is rare, but can happen if your medications have a poor reaction to one another.
A medical professional will almost always take your current prescriptions into account when prescribing new medication for you. This way, they can avoid medications that are known to have a bad reaction to each other. But remember that brain chemistry can be highly individualistic. Sometimes an unexpected or rare reaction may occur. When it does, make sure to tell your psychiatrist, who may decide to adjust or change your dosage.
It will always take a little bit of time for your brain to adjust to new medication. Your psychiatrist will typically tell you how long — generally 1-2 weeks. However, it’s a good rule of thumb to bring up any concerns or changes that you notice to your psychiatrist. The stronger your communication, the better they will be able to provide you with the medication you need. Contact Rivia Mind today to speak with a psychiatrist or book a 15-minute free consultation.
