Happy Pills Don't Make Me Happy

LIVERMORE, Calif.--I've been on psychiatric medications since I was 10 years old. Today, I take six prescribed medications a day, plus three over-the-counter pills. Doctors seem to think that medications are the cure for everything, and because of that, I am stuck in a trap.

A lot of people use drugs recreationally to feel better. I do that every day with my meds and hate it. How would you like to remember that you have to take three orange ones, a blue one, a white one, a red one and one that changes color every time they up the dose? If I forget one dose, I feel like crap. I've heard from others about heroin withdrawal, and it feels like that. How is that good for my body?

In December, an annual report on American health stated that 44 percent of Americans are on prescription drugs. Many people who are prescribed narcotics or non-antibiotic medications become addicted. Some people lie about their symptoms in order to continue the medication. Withdrawals from these can be worse than withdrawals from street drugs. When and where will this stop?

I have been on so many different psychiatric medications over the years it makes my head spin -- I was even a test subject for quite a few. When my doctors told my Mom I was bipolar, they automatically gave me a bunch of pills to take. Wellbutrin, Neurontin, Seroquel, Depakote, Effexor, Inderal, Trileptal, Paxil, Zyprexa, Lamictal, Abilify -- I've taken them all. I call them happy pills; they call them "chemical balancers." At one point I was on a type of speed, much like Ritalin, that messed me up really bad. Once, I was even prescribed a narcotic that is illegal to the rest of the world.

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