Whether you’re increasing, decreasing, or switching medicines, a medication adjustment can be stressful! Regardless of what your potential side effects are, there are simple ways to make it a smoother transition.
Below, I’ve compiled the key things that have helped me before, during, and after a medication adjustment. While not all of the suggestions may work for you, even just picking one or two things to incorporate to you adjustment can have a great effect. Don’t stress about doing “all the things”. Instead, add in the suggestions that make the most sense for you at this time. Small changes can have big impacts!
Before
This is the time to get all of your ducks in a row. I like to use the week before a medication adjustment to set myself up for success as much as realistically possible. If you’ve gone through a medication adjustment before, think back and ask yourself “What am I glad I did during my last adjustment? What do I wish I would have done differently?” Your answers to these questions will be unique to you but the suggestions below are a great starting point.
Be Informed
Ask your doctor about what you need to know about this medication change and all of the possible side effects. Pharmacists will give you a list of medical information with all of your medications. Your pharmacy is a great resource but your doctor knows your unique situation best. Ask your doctor for specific questions about how he thinks this will effect you.
These are some questions I like to ask:
While this may seem like a lot of questions to ask your doctor, I personally believe that it’s imperative that you be as informed and as prepared as possible. This is not about feeding your fear: this is about making sure you’re capable of making the best INFORMED decision for your body as realistically possible. Keep in mind that it is your doctor’s job to help you make these changes in a safe way; asking these questions is allowed, expected, and encouraged. Your doctor wants you to be safe and prepared, too!
Reach Out To Your Support System
If you’re lucky enough to have supportive family and friends that you trust, go ahead and give them a heads up of what is going on with your medication adjustment.
Depending on your situation, your loved ones may be willing and able to help you during the transition. What help are they willing to give that you could really use?
Here are some ideas:
It can be really tempting to be embarrassed of a medication adjustment and to tell yourself that you don’t need any help. If you honestly don’t need help, that’s great! But if you’re just *saying* that you don’t need help because you’re feeling prideful or insecure, I encourage you to ask yourself why your loved ones want to help you. Is it because they really want to make you feel small? Or is it because they love you and they want this to be as painless as possible? Only you know the answer for your situation but I’ve found that help from a loved one has often been the help I needed to make it though the adjustment in a better headspace. Just think about it.
Clear Your Calendar As Much As Possible
Depending on the change, I like to start on a Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. This helps for me to get the majority of the side effects handled on the weekend and lets me know if I will or won’t be able to drive to work on Monday morning. It minimizes missing work and also protects my privacy from nosey coworkers.
With that being said, if you know when you’re going to start your medication adjustment and when the side effects will be the strongest, you can use that information to schedule some low-key days for yourself.
Here are some things that might help clear your calendar:
While life is going to keep on happening around you when you do your medication adjustment, that doesn’t mean you can’t make things a bit easier on yourself!
Prepare For The Most Common Possibilities
If you’ve talked to your doctor or gone through any kind of medication adjustment in the past, then you’ll have a leg up when prepping for the most likely possibilities. Since you’re reading this article, I’m going to go ahead an assume that your medication will have some kind of mental effect. Because of that, I think it’s important to consider having the following three things:
Emergency Plan
I go more in-depth about the importance of having an up to date emergency plan here but the short and sweet version is this: having a functional emergency plan provides you with an extra layer of safety in the event that you have an emergency. Pretty understandable, right? If you use the template I made, the whole process should take less than 10 minutes but could quite honestly save your life. I highly recommend this one.
Mental Health Emergency Box
If you’ve got your emergency plan all figured out, the next thing I like to recommend is a mental health emergency box. Like an emergency plan, the emergency box is meant to be used in the event of a mental health emergency to keep you safe until reinforcements can arrive.
Sunshine Box
While a little different than a mental health emergency box, a sunshine box is meant to help perk you up on a low day. Hard days happen for everyone but a sunshine box can give a little ray of hope when you really need it.
During
Now that we’ve finished talking about what to do before you make your medication changes, let’s talk about what to do during the actual change. Even if you’re changing the same medication as someone else, your adjustment will look wildly different. This is one of those cases where everyone is unique. The following four suggestions are still a great starting point, regardless of what changes you’re expecting.
Sleep, Sleep, And More SLEEP
When you introduce or remove a drug from your brain, things are going to happen! If you do nothing else that I suggest, please try to keep up with your sleep. Your mind and body are undergoing powerful changes and sleep is when your body does a majority of it’s healing. Help your body out by giving it the Zzz’s it needs and deserves. Unless your doctor says otherwise, a good rule of thumb is that if you’re tired, you’re body wants to sleep. Go ahead an honor your body’s need for sleep as much as you can. It will make the whole transition much smoother.
Rest
While rest is very similar to sleep, it is a bit different. If you’re getting the right amount of sleep for your body, it’s still good to engage in a healthy resting activity. If sleep is helping your body reset, rest is helping your mind to get a much needed reset.
Rest will look a little different from person to person but the idea is to let the mind have a break. If you find yourself “going blank” or “zoning out” during your activity, you’re doing it right! The goal is to let your brain breathe with as little input as possible. Some favorites of mine are:
As best as you can, resist any negative self-talk that may pop up when you’re resting. Resting does not mean you’re lazy! While on the outside, it may look like you’re “doing nothing”, on the inside, your brain is getting a powerful jumpstart. Think of it like running updates on your computer: without these updates, your computer would run slower and slower until it crashed. No bueno!
While your brain needs rest on a regular basis, a medication adjustment is like a giant update that needs time and resources to update correctly. Your brain is SO much more important than any computer so make sure you’re doing regular updates via a restful activity!
Journal
Journaling is a fantastic (and free!) way to connect with yourself on a deeper level. It’s a simple and effective way to release bubbling stress, ease preexisting emotions, and help you to understand why you do the things you do.
When you’re in the middle of a medication adjustment, your mind may be swirling around with thoughts in every direction. Using a journal is my go-to way to reset myself through out my medication adjustment. While I find it helpful to journal about once a day for a few minutes, feel free to write as often and as long as you’d like!
If you’re in therapy, it can be really helpful to talk with your therapist about some of the themes you find while you’re journaling. Even if you don’t currently work with a therapist, re-reading your own journal entries is an easy way to become better connected with yourself and that’s always a good idea!
Love Yourself
That’s right, I said to love yourself! Everyday, multiple times a day. It may not feel like it but you’re working *really* hard. Changing up your brain chemistry is no walk in the park and you deserve some extra TLC for being brave enough to go on this journey.
Some of my personal suggestions to give yourself some love:
The overall goal is to make sure you take some time to remind yourself just how amazing you are and to make sure you feel loved from head to toe. I know first hand how easy it is to feel all kinds of negative emotions about myself during a medication adjustment. News flash: it’s probably not true! You’re an incredible, brave, and strong person that is choosing to better themselves. Go on and feel free to give yourself some love.
After
Some medication adjustments will take a few days and some can take weeks or months. However long it takes, that’s how long it takes. It’s not a race! Health is a journey and a medication adjustment is no different.
At the time of writing this, I’m going through a medication adjustment that my doctor thinks will take three weeks to completely adjust. For my specific circumstances, a flare up or incident can occur weeks later but the majority of side effects should wear off after three weeks. Assuming everything goes according to plan, I intend to transition into the “after phase” about three and a half weeks from my initial medication change.
Regardless of how long you think it will take for you to enter your “after” phase, the following tips will help for your transition to be a smooth one. It’s important to remember to be gentle with yourself! If your adjustment takes longer than you expected, that’s ok. These tips will still be here waiting for you when you’re ready.
Talk With Your Doctor
Now is *not* the time to ghost your doctor! As best as you can, keep up with any appointments and check-ups. These are for your best interest. If you have a question about how and when you take your medication, tell your doctor. If you’re experiencing a weird side effect, tell your doctor. If you’re feeling like something is wrong, tell your doctor. Pretty much, when in doubt, give your doctor’s office a call. Better safe than sorry! (Unless it’s an emergency; then call 911 first!)
Gently Up Your Schedule
As tempting as it may be to ramp up your schedule on your first good day, the best way to make sure you’re setting yourself up for long-term success is by slowing increasing your schedule. When upping my schedule, I find it’s best if I gently start with something that will have a large, positive effect.
There will always be a hundred and one things that you “should” do but what thing can you add back to your schedule that will increase your quality of life? Here are a few ideas:
I find it best if I give something about three days to see how I feel. If I’m feeling great, great! Add one more thing in and give it three days. If after three days I’m not ready for more, that’s totally ok! I start with the most impactful activity and slowly add them back in. That’s how I roll.
As with all of the suggestions, use your common sense and be safe about it. It’s ok if you need a little more time to add something into your schedule or if you need to start small. Small strokes fell great oaks!
Maintain Your Sleep
You know how I said that sleep is pretty important during a medication adjustment? Sleep is actually really important every single day! While there will obviously be days in everyone’s life where they’ll be forced to get less sleep than they’d like (newborn baby, anyone?), getting quality sleep is hands down the best way I’ve found to improve the quality of my life. Trust me when I say you’re not missing anything that great when you sacrifice your sleep.
Keep Journaling
While the majority of the side effects may be over, your thoughts may still be going through a powerful change in perspective. Journaling helps you to log these thoughts, keep an eye on developing issues, and to overall be more proactive about your mental health. In a way, I feel like journaling after a medication adjustment is even more important than doing it during. I find it’s best to do both if at all possible but it’s extra helpful to journal after an adjustment.
Self-Love As Needed
If you think you might need self-care, the answer is probably a resounding “YES!”. I think a lot of people really, really, REALLY underestimate the amount of self care that they need to be their optimal self. I know how exciting it can be to “get back to normal life” but please consider making self-love a part of your every day life. You’re a pretty special person and you deserve to feel loved, ya know?
TLDR?
Get your sleep, keep up contact with your doctor, and gently love yourself! Even just implementing a few of these suggestions can help you to have a smoother transition. Medication adjustments are not always a walk in the park but you know what? You’re capable of amazing things. You’ve got this!
What About You?
Do you have any tips for having a gentle medication adjustment? Let us know in the comment section down below!