How I Got Off Of My Meds

For a good portion of my life I have struggled with anxiety, depression, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. I’ve been on a steady stream of medications since I was about 16 or 17. For the first time since then I am actually off of all medications besides vitamins! I’m going to share what I did to get off of my medications. This is just what worked for me, it may or may not work for others. I am not a medical professional.

If you are struggling with your mental health or fibromyalgia these tips may be able to help you get it all under control!

Exercise regularly

I’ve always loved working out. I used to pretty much only do cardio, but I recently started adding in strength training. I found running, elliptical workouts, stair steppers, all of that tended to hurt my knees. I find that with strength training my knees aren’t in as much pain and I feel amazing afterwards. I do still love doing cardio because it is a really great way to keep my anxiety and my stress in check!

If you have fibromyalgia, I highly recommend that you start slow. Start lifting light weights, don’t go too hard at first. Especially if your fibromyalgia isn’t managed extremely well. I know when I started incorporating HIIT workouts and weights I would do one 15 minute workout and be down and out for days. Start with lower intensity stuff if you’re just starting to workout and gradually increase the time and intensity. Once you get into a groove and you are more used to the movement you’ll notice a huge difference in your energy levels, random aches and pains, and your mental health!!

Get on a sleep schedule

This was honestly such a struggle for me. I used to suffer from terrible insomnia. It would take me ages to fall asleep, and when I did I would wake up constantly. I would fall asleep and wake up at random times and my body never knew what was going on.

My boyfriend, on the other hand, had a sleep schedule that most people dream of. He naturally gets tired around the same time every night, and he would wake up around the same time every day. If he would stay over at my place I would try everything in my power to match his schedule but as soon as we would spend a night apart my schedule was back to being wacky.

When we moved in together I was hoping like crazy that maybe his good sleep habits would rub off on me. Low and behold, they did! I actually am in bed and falling asleep by 8pm each night and during the week I wake up between 3:30 and 4:30 am. On the weekends we might stay up until 9 or 10pm and we are usually up by 7 or 8 am at the latest. This has done wonders for me. I was able to switch my sleeping medication with gummy melatonin and have drastically improved my quality of sleep and my energy levels throughout the day. I never thought that would happen because of my chronic fatigue but I can make it through the day (usually) without feeling like I’m dragging too badly!

Meditation

Now, I never believed in meditation as something that could really help me. Until recently. Honestly, we don’t realize how fast our bodies and minds are going all of the time until we really take the time to stop, breathe, and relax. I started doing guided meditations for sleep as well as ones for raising my vibrations. If you don’t believe in the fact that the universe operates on vibrations, don’t worry about it. Don’t force yourself to do anything that you don’t truly believe in because, what’s the point?

When I started truly letting my mind stop and rest I was able to feel like little weights were being lifted off of me. I really felt lighter in my soul and I was feeling much more energized. When I did guided meditations for sleep I was truly able to turn my brain off and really relax my entire body. It felt amazing. So rarely am I able to relax to the point that my brain completely turns off and allows me to really relax. Meditation really helps me let go of my stress and anxiety! I always said my brain wouldn’t let me meditate. That was in fact a lie. I just didn’t want to put the effort into trying.

Reading

This might seem weird but reading helped me tremendously. I tend to read a lot of self development books, and books that really help you learn more about yourself. I find that when I have the knowledge equipped I feel more ready to tackle different things in my life. I also love reading romantic comedy books, fantasy, murder mystery, all of that. I find even reading 10 pages a day helps me to escape my own thoughts and get out of my brain for a little bit. It’s a nice stress and anxiety reliever and helps me be more in the present.

I want to share some of the books that have really positively affected my mental health. They are:

The 5AM club by Robin Sharma

You are a Badass

Health at Every Size

Attached

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

These books all helped me get out of my head and really think deeply about my life. I was able to kind of disconnect with myself and look at my life from the outside. I could use new eyes and take on everything from a different perspective. I even read You Are A Badass twice! Obviously read books that you personally connect with. You want to make sure that you are personally being moved by the books and not just reading them because you think they will help. If they don’t resonate with you, there’s no point in reading them. If reading about far off lands really helps your mental health, read those. If it’s a murder mystery, read that! Just make sure you’re reading something that brings you joy and helps you unwind.

Stress management

This one is incredibly huge for anyone. I used to joke that being stressed all the time was a personality trait of mine. The worst part about it was I didn’t feel like I was kidding. I was stressed and anxious absolutely all of the time. I was never able to relax, and I would stress about the tiniest things. It drove me crazy, drove my loved ones crazy, nobody was happy.

Stress isn’t completely gone from my life, and it never will be. Stress is a necessary evil in life, you are going to be stressed sometimes. The trick is knowing how to handle it and cope with it when you are stressed. I used to cope by drinking alcohol, shopping, sleeping, avoiding responsibilities, and most likely other things as well that I just can’t think of off of the top of my head. Now, I still do those things sometimes. Last night I was super stressed so with dinner I had a small glass of wine, I vented to my boyfriend and I went to bed. I woke up tired but I wasn’t really stressed anymore. My boyfriend usually has to push me a little to vent to him but I’m always thankful when I do. I feel lighter emotionally and I am able to sleep restfully.

Stress management can look different for different people. I find that when I workout consistently, whether it is cardio or weights, I have a much lower stress level overall. I also find that reading and meditation help my stress. Walking outside and playing with my dog also greatly improved my stress levels. Lately I have been making cute stickers and decals and that is one way for me to let stress out in a creative way. Try different hobbies, try walking outside, try meditating, try playing with a pet, whether it’s yours or a friends. Do whatever you can to keep your stress levels low. It will help with anxiety and depression and I have found, in my personal experience, it helps reduce the frequency of fibromyalgia flares as well as migraines if you suffer from those.

Eating well

Typically eating well is thrown into every self help post that I’ve seen. However, when it comes to keeping fibromyalgia under control it is honestly so important. I’ve noticed that it has helped a lot with my depression as well but I mostly started eating healthier to try to find a way to manage my fibromyalgia without having to take a ton of gabapentin every day.

I typically don’t eat too much processed sugar (candy, cakes, brownies, cookies, etc) even though I have a super huge sweet tooth. I have realized that I tend to get bad flare ups when my processed sugar intake increases. At work recently we started having a candy dish. With my massive sweet tooth, I obviously indulged. However, this left me with a terrible flare up. I have nerve pain all over the place, I am sore, I am lethargic, and the fibro fog is real. The only thing I’ve changed? I’ve been eating candy. I have been free from bad flare ups for 3 months, and I haven’t been taking any medication for a little over a month now.

I can see now that my sugar intake is directly linked to my pain. I, of course, decided to go ahead and do some digging to see if there was a documented link between fibromyalgia and processed sugar. Turns out, there indeed is! Sugar is directly correlated with higher pain in those with fibromyalgia. Sugar tends to lead to increased inflammation, which is linked to increased pain. If you were to look into the anti-inflammatory diet you would see hardly any processed foods and sugar due to the fact that it leads to an increase in inflammation. With anybody that can cause more joint pain, but with someone with fibromyalgia, it is linked with widespread pain.

Therefore, I willingly (unknowingly) gave myself a humongous flare up. It took 2 days for it to really hit me, but I am on day 2 of this flare and I am over it. I had to cancel a massage because I hurt so bad. Try and find healthier substitutes for your cravings. I have found dark chocolate greek yogurt bars are a lifesaver when I am wanting something sweet! Also dark chocolate covered figs, or dairy free chips do the trick if I am wanting something savory! I’m sure you can find a switch that you like just as much as the processed goodie you want!

Drinking enough water

I will be honest, I used to avoid drinking straight water like the plague. I would always whine about it not having any flavor. I wouldn’t drink straight water for weeks (months?) and then wake up incredibly thirsty drinking every juice or soda I had in the house until I caved in and drank water and realized my body was probably severely dehydrated.

I now drink 1 gallon every day. That’s right, 128 ounces of straight water goes into my body on a daily basis. I tend to workout for 45 minutes everyday, and I sweat a ton. I have to replace all of that fluid! Our bodies are made up of 60% water! It is so important to stay hydrated. I have noticed when I am properly hydrated I have more energy, I am more alert, I am not as bloated, and my digestion is better. I also find that my anxiety can lessen if it’s acting up and I take a sip of cold water. It has a way of bringing me into the present moment.

Other benefits of being hydrated are: limiting headaches, helps treat kidney stones, and helps prevent hangovers! It also helps you stay at peak physical performance. Your body functions so much better when it is hydrated. I have a rule that in the morning I have to drink 24-32 oz of water before I have a cup of coffee. After that, I have to drink a full gallon before I can have soda, juice, or alcohol.

Limiting alcohol

Speaking of alcohol, limiting it will improve your mental health! It will also decrease flare ups! Alcohol is a downer, or a depressant. If you are consistently drinking too much your brain will stay in that state. Alcohol tends to lead to feelings of anxiety and stress. Drinking in moderation, or cutting it out all together, can greatly improve your mental state. I know I tend to start drinking more when my depression and anxiety are on the rise. The only helpful thing about that is that my boyfriend is able to notice and point it out to me so we can figure out what is triggering it. If I’m feeling down I really have to make myself stay away from the alcohol and focus on water until I am mentally in a place where I truly can drink in moderation without it negatively affecting me.

In terms of fibromyalgia, alcohol is also inflammatory. We know what that means! More pain. Nobody wants more pain. I know that comfortably, I can have 2 moderate glasses of wine and not have any adverse pains from it. If I start to go a little crazy I know that the coming days will be quite uncomfortable. It really ends up coming down to what your body can handle, and what is comfortable and normal for your body.

Again, I am not a medical expert, but these tips have helped me tremendously. For some people, medication may just be a fact of life. That is okay. If your medication really truly helps you feel normal, and you have no adverse side effects, that is amazing! I had just been on medication for so much of my life that I wanted to try and deal with my health problems as naturally as humanly possible. I was able to find a way to do that!

When I have a flare up, I will take medication. I have gabapentin on hand in case I need it. I mostly use this if I have a bad flare up and I have to go to work. If it is a time when I don’t have to work the next day I will take an edible. I found these are incredibly helpful at slowing down and stopping fibro flares. They help my body relax to a point long enough where it can really recover and allow whatever is going on to heal.

Find what works best for you. I hope these tips help you to at least manage your anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia better!