"Take vitamin D, take B12, go outside, get exercise, eat healthy, do this, do that. You don't need medication." Alright look, don't you think we know that already? I can tell you right off the bat, I do my gosh darn best to exercise, eat well, and I do in fact take those supplements. Guess what? I still need some help with medication and I am certainly not ashamed of it. So stop acting like it's a sin that I need extra help.
I will agree that diet, exercise, therapy and working on relaxation, like meditation, does absolutely help. However, I am talking about when you already do all of those things and your mental health still isn't doing well. That is perfectly ok! We have a physical chemical imbalance in our brains and you are not at fault for that. So please, stop telling us that we don't need medication.
Next you might say, well there are herbs you can take! I will reply, yes and no. While a lot of people may suggest St. John's-wort (a plant that is supposed to help with depression), that herb can have multiple different reaction with many other medications. For a person, like myself, who has other conditions and MUST take other medications, I cannot take that herb. Before you start asking about what it is and what herbs you can give me, I'm already seeing a naturopath and guess what, normal supplements and herbs do not fully benefit me. I do, in fact, need medication.
Let me ask you this, why do you feel so compelled to tell us that we don't need our medicine? To be brutally honest, you're not helping us, in fact you may be hurting us. You confirm the stigma that our mental illness is not a real thing, that we just make it all up. Have you been depressed and ever tried to go out an exercise? Have you felt the struggle of being on the verge of killing yourself or going to school? To continue about your daily activities even though you see absolutely no point to the world around you? Have you ever experienced going to weekly counseling sessions and even after going to multiple different counselors, you still are having trouble with daily activities. These mainly apply to depression. Think of all of the other mental illness that are equally as difficult to manage every day. If not more difficult. It's hard for us to get up every day with a positive attitude when deep down in our minds something tells us, "It's not worth it. You're not worth it." Constantly putting us down. "Why exercise? You're fat and ugly anyways. No matter how hard you work, you will amount to nothing. You are nothing. You are worthless. No one loves you or or ever will." I can tell you, it's hard to do anything with that voice in your head.
So yes, we have tried it all. No we can't just put a smile on our face and be ok. It takes a lot of hard work and sometimes we need extra help. We get that help from our medication. It doesn't harm us physically in anyway. It helps with that chemical imbalance so we are finally capable to embrace life like we've always wanted to. We are not lazy. We are not a lost cause. We do not just want attention. We are hard workers and yes medication helps. We can live our lives like we always have wanted to and there is nothing wrong with that. We are not ashamed.
