I've been refused medicine but I feel like I need it, especially this close to my finals
I'm 16 anddoing my GCSE exams in a month or so, I've had depression for as long as I can remember and have been going to therapy for nearly 3 years but I stopped recently because it wasn't going anywhere, I was constantly told to write down my feelings or whatever and it's started making me angry (which is another thing, I get angry super easilylately). I feel like at this point my last hope is taking medication but neither my therapist not mother want me to take any because of "lasting effects" and it's frustrating me because they don't understand that I'm at such a critical point and being miserable all the time just makes me not concentrate in any way, I've gone from Ato Egrades in a year and I find it hard to function in general around people or anyone and being constantly reminded of how close I am to exams is making me anxious.
I'm not sure what I'm hoping to get from this in all honestly because I know I can't get medical advice but I just needed to get this all out somewhere. Thanks for taking the time to read this if you do.
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Thank you for sharing.I want you to know that we are all here for you. It is true that medicine can have some negative as well as positive effects, and if your parent and therapist are against it, that might bebecause they are feeling concerned. Please feel free to explore around the forum and share your feelings, it might help you know that you are not alone in this.
Hey @saz1752!
Firstly, good luck with your GCSEs! I know this is probably small/no consolation, but having done my GCSEs two years ago, all my friends and I found that they weren't half as bad as we thought they were going to be. Please don't stress too much, although I know that's hard!
So, medication. As you've said we're not medical professionals so we can't really give you much help, but here are my thoughts. I'm currently on medication for depression and anxiety and in the first few weeks my symptoms actually got worse. Some medications also come with warnings as they can increase the risk of suicidal thoughts in under 18s. It can take a while to find the right medication, which is a frustrating process and unfortunately you can get all sorts of side effects including not being able to sleep and dry mouth. Some people don't have much success with medication and it's not a guaranteed fix.I also had to take my medication for a month for it to start having any affect, so it's quite possible it wouldn't be having much of an effect before your GCSEs. :/
Okay, I feel like I've been a bit mean to medication and there's a lot to be said for taking it, if it's right for you. From what I know, atherapist or GP won't actually be able to prescribe you medication, for that you'll need to speak to a psychiatrist. It might be worth talking to your parentsabout your concerns such as the exam anxiety and how you feel they don't understand you've reached a critical point. One thing I learned the hard way is people can't help you with things if you don't talk to them about the issues! Maybe you could alsotry talking to your parentsabout how you feel medication could help you as therapy hasn'tand see what they say.
Finally some tips for surviving GCSEs:
- Don't panic! They're not as scary as you think!
- Draw up a revision plan. Good revision will help you feel a lot more confident going into the exam.
- Get out of the house sometimes! Don't let revision make you crazy, exercise can really help improve your mood (it's also effective at helping improve mood for depression)
- Sleep well!
- In the exam if you get stuck on a question move on and come back to it later, don't let that question make you crazy.
- If you can't answer a question, guess! That guess might actually be informed by a quiet part of your mind telling you the answer.
- Don't let other people panic you. People will freak out before exams and worry about how they've done 100 hours of revision but still don't know enough! Ignore them, they're being daft.
If you want to PM me and talk you're welcome to any time!