When people are sick, they go to the doctor. When people break a bone, they go to the doctor. When people have a mental health issue, they go to the doctor. When people need a solution to a problem, they go to the doctors. And what is the first thing a doctor will typically do for a patient that comes in with a problem? They will find a solution.

Unfortunately, many times that solution involves medication, most of which features side effects. We have all seen the commercials: "Taking this medication involves side effects that may include, but not be limited..." and the list is almost endless. Most of the side effects involve making a person physically, mentally, or emotionally unstable, worse than they were when they initially came into the doctor's office. How many times has that happened to you?

Sit back and think about it. It is almost a guarantee that you can recall at least one instance where you went into the doctor for (insert illness here), were prescribed medication, went home, followed the directions, and discovered that you now had additional problems that you didn't walk into your doctor's appointment with.

They include headaches, nausea, aches, pain, stomach discomfort, and a variety of other things that are either too gross to list, or too uncomfortable to talk about. It's not just uncomfortable because you don't want to remember what happened, but you also don't want those around you to know how many times you went to the bathroom in a particular period of time.

Been there? Done that? We all have at one point in time. While the doctor's are prescribing you medication to make you feel better, sometimes medication isn't always the answer.

Medication is a quick cure-all for any ache, pain, ailment or problem a person may have. Lord knows we've seen the commercials mixed in between innings of a baseball game, between time-outs in a football game, or even during our favorite television program. We can see commercials for any type of medication that will cure cramps from menstrual cycles to headaches to vomiting to that uncomfortable thing that happens when we spent twenty minutes in the bathroom on the toilet, feeling like we've just discharged our bowels into the sewer. We've all been there. But how many times does the medication help? I'm not here to say it doesn't. But I'm also here to say one thing.

Medication isn't always the answer.

Go talk to someone who suffers from bipolar syndrome. Have a conversation with a person who deals with emotional issues, mental health issues, or anxiety. When talking to them, ask them what is the first thing their doctor did when they went in to talk to them about finding a solution. They will tell you almost identically the same thing: their doctor prescribed them pills.

If you talk to a person who has dealt with seeing a psychologist, a therapist, a mental health professional, or someone in behavioral health, ask them what their doctor heavily recommended, and I almost guarantee you they will tell you the same thing: their doctor prescribed them pills. Or if he/she didn't prescribe them medication immediately, they strongly recommended it.

When a doctor prescribes pills, they have hopes that the first time is a charm. They want to hear back from the patient, and be told that it was a fix-all for the problem. They want to hear that the solution to the problem was a little (insert color here) pill that fixed everything that was wrong with the person. When it involves a broken bone, a headache, an ache, pain, cramp or something physical in nature, chances are, it probably did.

But when it involves mental health, depression, bipolar syndrome, or something else that is mental and psychological, chances are, a person will tell you their doctor had to test them with at least two or three different pills. But what that person may not tell you is what those pills did to them. The pills made them angry. They turned them into a zombie. The pills made them hostile. They sent them into an emotional head spin. They kept the person from sleeping. They decreased their appetite. They turned them into someone or something they weren't.

Medication isn't always the answer.

A physical ache or pain isn't easy to cure, but the pills make the person feel better. The doctor knows this; the medication will take away the cramps, the dull throbbing in a person's leg, head, or other body part, and at least for a moment, an hour, or a day, it will make the person feel better. But when it comes to emotional issues, depression or bipolar struggles, it becomes a chemical thing. The body has to adjust, learn whether the medication is good or bad, and wait until the body figures out exactly what it's going to do. Not everyone is a medical professional who will know the immediate result. The pill bottle will warn the person taking them of the potential side effects, but it doesn't always give the right information.

This article is from a personal standpoint. This article is written by a person that has dealt with these issues. This article is written by a person that has been through the mental issues, the emotional struggles, and has dealt with seeing a doctor for these things. This article is written by a person who has taken different medications, suffered the side effects, lost sleep, hasn't eaten, and has turned into a person they once weren't. This person is me. And this person is telling you the simple truth.

Medication isn't always the answer.

Wake up in the morning and put your shoes on with your head spinning. Try to get breakfast and be so sick to your stomach that you don't want to eat. Try to get behind the wheel of a car when the whole world is spinning around you, and you can't see straight enough to drive, let alone back out of your driveway. Think about driving down the street at 25 miles per hour, and then accelerating to 70 miles per hour on the expressway, sick to your stomach, and so physically unable to function or cope that you can't even remember which day it is, and where you are headed. That is why the answer to the solution isn't always to be prescribed pills, and why a doctor's solution to fixing a problem isn't always right.

Go to work and sit at your desk with your head spinning and not remembering exactly what you had planned. Forget where you were supposed to go at a certain time during the day. Forget an important appointment that could make or break a very significant part of your day, or impact not just one, but a dozen lives. Sit back and ask yourself why your doctor prescribed you this medication after six others didn't work. Question why you are being treated like a scientific experiment, and why your doctor keeps saying that it's trial and error, and eventually he or she will get it right.

Dealing with mental illness, depression, bipolar syndrome, or any other number of emotional problems is difficult enough. But when you can't think straight, can't eat, can't sleep, and no matter what you do, you've become a person that you don't like, it's not going to make your days easy. It's not going to make your weeks easy. It's not going to make you a fun person to be around. It's going to change your attitude for the worst. And it's going to make you strongly dislike the person you are. You feel angry. You feel depressed. You feel down in the dumps. You want to sleep all day. You either don't want to eat or you can't stop eating. And even when you go back to the doctor's, what's the first thing they want to do? Prescribe you pills. Give you more quick-fix solutions to your problem. Ever been down that road? Yes. I'm certain you and others have. And that's why this article says one thing.

Medication isn't always the answer.

One day you are a nice person, laid-back, can get along with people pretty well, and enjoy life. The next day the medication kicks in, you are drowsy, upset, angry, and can't think straight. Two days later, you start to wonder if it's something you ate, something you did, or something in your schedule. You start to question what's going on in your head, or if you need to see a doctor. And then you remember something important. You went to a doctor. You were struggling and suffering. and the doctor did what the doctor always does. He or she prescribed you pills.

If you are a person that deals with bipolar syndrome, emotional problems, psychological issues, or has dealt with being a guinea pig after trying four or nine different types of medications with long names and big pill bottles, you've been through this. You know what this article is about. It's about you. It's about me. It's about people who have been in our shoes and walked in our lives. It's about people who have gone through these struggles, dealt with this suffering, and understand what it feels like. And we are told that the doctors know what they are doing--all while we are sick, throwing up, not sleeping, turning into a zombie that sleeps 15 hours a day, or becoming a person that not only we dislike, but everyone else around can't stand being around.

Medication may not always be the answer, but I'm not saying that anyone with any type of ache, pain, struggle, suffering, or problem should stop taking pills. This article isn't criticizing anyone who takes pills to fix their problems or takes pills to make themselves feel better. Doctors are there to help patients. Counselors and therapists can do wonders by having a simple conversation about life, asking someone what the problem is, talking them through it, and helping them by just being there, rather than handing them a prescription on a piece of paper and sending them out the door. This is about helping people by doing something other than turning them into a pill-popping addict, using them as a guinea pig, or filling them full of medications while making the pharmacy rich, doctors richer, and sending all of those medical companies fat paychecks in the mail.

Medication isn't always the answer.

The writer of this article has dealt with everything that was discussed in this article. Everything from seeing doctors, to talking to therapists, to visiting counselors, to being a guinea pig for prescriptions, medications and professionals who think that the solution to the problem is taking the little (insert color here) pill and it will take all of the problems away in the blink of an eye. And the truth is this: I've lived it. I've suffered through it. I've missed out on sleep. I've slept too much. I've missed out on eating. I've eaten too much. I've turned into a person I don't like. I've been the person others don't want to be around. I've hidden from the world. All while taking the little (insert color) pills that my doctor, therapist, counselor, or other medical "professional" has prescribed to me. All while questioning my sanity, wondering what in the world I was doing, and not leaving the house for a day or a week at a time. As a person speaking from experience, I am here to tell you one thing:

Medication isn't always the answer.