I am 39 y/o and I would love to med free! I have struggled with depression since the age of 12. It's only been the past 10 years that i've been on and off medication. My biggest passion is photography and since being on meds for the second time, i've completely lost interest in taking photos and also painting. I don't feel creative anymore and I really miss that part of me. I want to stop taking my meds because I believe it hinders my creativity and also my capability of feeling joy within my heart. I have a wonderful life but so often I have an "empty heart" and I do believe it's the medication. Prior to be medicated I would feel as if I was coming out of my skin for days and then slide into a depression for days. My concern is my family. I'm newly remarried and my husband has never experienced life with me while off the meds. Has anyone ever become drug free and if so, how was your behavior?

I've never been drug free since 19985 because I know what I'm like when I'm depressed or manic and I never ever want to be that way again...
A change of meds might be a better choice??

The wife is hard to live with w/o the meds. I might have to reconsider my mariage if she went drug free.
Be careful!

I was diagnosed BP in 1989 but didn't believe it and stopped my Lithonate and AP. Within a year I was divorced -- I could not stand to have people around me including my wife.

I was single until 1996 with only sporadic instances of mania, very little depression and no meds. Remarried, then first wife tipped me over the edge into depression by kidnapping our son whom I had custody of. My GP put me on various SSRIs, finally settling on Zoloft. I was taking it from 1996 until the end of 2000, when I stopped. I was hypomanic during the Zoloft, ran up a lot of debt, but personality wise was manageable. But I went completely off my rocker after a few months without it -- paranoia, delusions, hated having people around me... just like before. Marriage number two crashed and burned.

Went back on Zoloft in 2001 then stopped early this year. Once again, extremely depressed, cutting urges and suicidal ideations, then hypomania that bloomed into an almost complete manic episode. I was delusional again, extremely vicious to people, and almost lost my job. I am back on Zoloft but am seeing a psych this week to see about mood stabilizers as well.

Needless to say, I don't date and am not in any relationships and will not be until I get myself stabilized. If not, I'm resigned to possibly being alone...