Successful discontinuation of bipolar disorder medication

Patients with bipolar disorder need to take medication all year round. If they do not take medication regularly, the patient's condition will continue to worsen, and may even cause unnecessary trouble and burden. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to stopping medication for patients in normal times. It is necessary to wait until the condition is completely stabilized. If other problems arise within a short period of time after stopping the medication, continued observation and treatment are required.

Prognosis of the disease Most patients with depression have a good prognosis, but a few have a prolonged course of the disease and repeated attacks, so timely and thorough treatment of the first depressive episode is crucial. For patients with a first depressive episode who have achieved clinical relief through drug treatment, most scholars believe that the maintenance treatment period is 6 months to 1 year; if it is a second episode, maintenance treatment is recommended for 3 to 5 years; and if it is a third episode, long-term maintenance treatment is recommended. Most scholars believe that the drug dosage for maintenance therapy should be the same as the therapeutic dosage, while some scholars believe that it can be slightly lower than the therapeutic dosage, but patients should be advised to follow up regularly.

Five long-term strategies can help you prevent depression or keep it from coming back.

Strategy 1: Pay attention to sleep, diet and exercise

We cannot ignore the basic physiological factors that may lead to depression. If you don't sleep well, have a poor appetite, and allow yourself to be in a bad physiological state, you will easily become depressed because daily activities drain your energy and quickly overwhelm you. Insomnia is a common consequence of low mood, which in turn can make you more vulnerable to depression. During a depressive episode, it's difficult to take any direct measures to deal with insomnia because you need to focus on dealing with the depression. Therefore, when you are in a good mood, you should develop good sleeping habits.

Special attention should also be paid to alcoholic beverages. For people who are prone to depression, this is a big problem. Alcohol can temporarily allow you to escape from problems and worries, but the sense of ease and confidence stimulated by alcohol is very superficial. The problems are still lurking beneath the surface, spreading and growing in secret, and will eventually erupt, bringing deeper depression that will be more difficult to deal with than ever before.

Excessive dieting can make you irritable, depressed, tired and weak. In our society, women generally want to control their weight and body shape and therefore control their diet. However, they often link their self-esteem too closely with body shape, appearance and even dieting.

Exercise can prevent the onset of depression and help increase physical strength. It can also improve mood quickly and buffer depression for a short period of time.