Key Considerations for Changing Your Bipolar Medication

Many times during treatment, you may have to consider whether to change your bipolar medication. This is a complicated question and a personal one. The answer varies from person to person. If you're considering changing your bipolar medication, here are some things to think about.

Why Are You Thinking of Changing Your Bipolar Medication?

There are many reasons to consider changing your bipolar medication. For example, it might be due to the lack of efficacy or the presence of specific side effects. Changing your bipolar medication may address your concerns, or it may not. Regardless, it's essential to know exactly why you're changing your bipolar medication so you can create specific goals for the change.

The Possible Positives of Changing Your Bipolar Medication

You may find that when you change your bipolar medication, your goals are met. Your new medication may be more effective or may have fewer side effects. It may even have hidden benefits that you weren't officially looking for, like an increased libido. That's the good news.

The Possible Negatives of Changing Your Bipolar Medication

The trouble is that nothing comes without risk. The risks of changing your bipolar medication include:

• Introducing mood instability or even a full-blown mood episode during or after the switching period
• Not meeting your goals for changing bipolar medication in the first place
• Finding out that the new medication has negatives of its own that outweigh its usefulness

Any of the above may lead to you needing to go back on the original medication or find something new again.

Things to Consider When Considering Changing Your Bipolar Medication

The possible positives and negatives are part of what to consider when looking at changing your bipolar medication, but there are other things as well, like:

• Accessibility: Can you reliably access the new medication? For example, does your insurance company cover it?
• Effectiveness: What is the likelihood that this new medication will work for you and address your concerns? Your doctor can offer guidance on this.
• Past experiences: How many medications have you tried before? What was your experience like when you tried those? For example, if the last time you tried a different medication, you ended up in the hospital, this is important to remember.
• Risks: What are the risks to you if the new medication isn't effective and you're without effective medication for a period of time? How likely is it that a severe mood episode will be a result? What will happen to you if you do have a severe episode?
• Withdrawal: What is the withdrawal from your current medication likely to consist of? (Note: If withdrawal is a concern, your doctor may be able to provide medical assistance to mitigate it.)  
• Doctor's recommendations: What are your doctor's recommendations? You don't always have to follow them, but they should be taken into account.

All of the above are important to consider. Some may swing your opinion more than others.

What It Comes Down to When Changing Your Bipolar Medication

None of this is to say that changing your bipolar medication is a bad idea; it's just to say that there's a lot to consider when thinking about it.

Once you consider your goals, the possible positives, and the possible negatives, there is only one more variable: your risk tolerance. Are you willing to risk what you have today for what you might have tomorrow? Sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes it's no. Either answer is okay as long as you carefully think it out. If you're not willing to risk a major mood episode because it may risk your life, that's reasonable. If you are willing to take the risk because the current side effects are truly intolerable, that's reasonable, too. Your particular situation will likely fall somewhere in between.

No matter what, discuss all your concerns with your doctor and get all the information you can before you decide whether to change your bipolar medication. This is the best way to know what you're getting into and prevent a negative outcome.