Hello.
Welcome to The Own Your Health Podcast.
I'm Cyndi Lynne, and I can't wait to
help you step into your health power.
So if you listened last week, you'll
know I'm doing a little series.
I haven't even decided how long it will be
based on the questions I commonly get asked.
And I commonly get asked the questions in
the form of what do you think about?
And in the last episode, I explained why I
much prefer, and I encourage my clients to ask,
how do you think about, and this week, we're
going to talk about antidepressants and anti anxiety medications.
Now, these can be different, very different
medications, very different conditions, but I think
about them in the same way.
And so I want to give you some insight into
that and perhaps allow you to help your thinking and
how you want to think about these kinds of questions.
So the first thing I always consider with any
intervention, whether it's a treatment for something, whether it's
a supplement, whether it's a prescription medication, I think
about why? The why do I want this?
And keep in mind, I'm not a physician.
I do not prescribe medications.
So my clients don't come to
be looking for the medication.
In fact, very often they'll come to me and say,
my doctor said, maybe I should try such and such,
or I've really been feeling bad lately, or I've really
been feeling low lately, or I've really been struggling to
leave the house because I get so nervous.
And they'll talk about the symptoms,
and then sometimes even very sheepishly,
they'll ask about taking medications.
And this happens very often as people start to
take ownership of their health because, and I look
at it as a very positive thing.
They don't want to be judged. They know that.
They want to be plugged into this standard
medical system where there's a pill for every
ill, but they don't know exactly what else
to do, and they're looking for guidance.
So rather than give them my opinion of, no, you
should not go on antidepressants, which I would never do,
because that's not, I don't have that knowledge.
I have that power.
I don't want it.
I encourage them to ask the better questions.
So, for example, what is it that you want
to get from any medication that would be prescribed?
Well, I will feel better.
I want, it's so hard to get out of bed in the morning.
I want to be able to have more energy.
Or sometimes at night, my thoughts just
race and race, and they don't stop.
Or sometimes I worry so
bad something's going to happen.
I don't want to leave the house.
When a condition is affecting your quality of life
that much, you probably want some kind of intervention.
And very often that intervention can be a medication.
Now, for those of you who are on the journey
or have just started listening to me, you may be
a bit surprised at this, thinking, oh, my gosh, I
thought this woman was going to be different.
I thought it wasn't going to be all the medicine.
And you know what?
It's not.
But there are tools out there that can help someone
get out of bed, that can help someone overcome debilitating
anxiety, so they can actually function, so they can go
to the store, so they can go meet with a
trainer, so that they can go get good food rather
than ordering in all the time, for example.
And when I ask these questions, and when
people start to learn to ask these questions
of themselves, they become clearer on what they
expect, what they want from any treatment.
And that's important, because then should you choose to start
that treatment, that medication, that therapy, whatever it is, then
you have a way to evaluate if that is in
fact helping you achieve your goals, achieve what you desired
from it, or if it's not helping you, if you
just sit back and say, okay, the doctor said I
should take these pills
and I wonder what's going to happen.
You don't have a good way to evaluate
your own situation and what's going on.
So why?
What is your why?
I want to feel better.
I want to have more energy.
I want to be able to function.
I need to be able to interact with people more at work.
I need to be able to get up and take care of my kids.
There's so many reasons, but your
why has to be for you.
So one thing that's a red flag for me and that
I help people identify as a red flag is if I
have someone who says, my husband just really thinks I should
do something because I'm sad all the time. Or
I've always had to be on antidepressants, and I guess I'm
going down that road because I feel like they do.
So maybe I should take some medications.
You know, there's your why has to be
very strong for you because we can't depend
on others for that evaluation either.
Now, there are times when someone is so sick
that a family member or friend will intervene and
actually have to take them to an emergency room.
These are, this is not
the situation we're talking about.
This is someone else's opinion of how
your affect your emotions should be.
So if you're considering, and I say it's because
typically the people I'm working with are working with
me because they want to start owning their health,
they want to start taking control of this.
And so we can remain in control of our health
even if we are utilizing the services of physicians, psychologists,
psychiatrists, if we're the ones calling the shots, and we
can call the shots when we're informed.
And we become informed by learning
how to think about these things.
So another question I ask is, how long do
you think you'd like to be on these medications?
A big red flag for me is any time
anyone's been given a prescription and said, you'll just
be on this for the rest of your life.
Because you know what?
So much changes.
So much changes in our body, so much changes.
Even in the pharmaceutical industry, it would be really
disingenuous to say you're going to be on this drug
for the rest of your life, and two years
from now, a much better, safer drug comes out
and that you wouldn't be changed to that.
So I'm always very skeptical and encourage my clients as
well to be very skeptical if someone says, oh, you're
just going to be rest of your life.
And this is especially true for
antidepressants and anti anxiety medication.
And so I ask folks, all right, let's say you go
on this, on this medication, and let's say you want to
give it six months or a year or two years, you
know, maybe you're willing to stay on it forever.
But like I said, most people I work
with are looking to get out of this
mainstream medical situation that we're in.
So, okay, if things are really bad to
you now and you really want to do
this, I absolutely support you in that.
If that's something that you'd like for me,
I can absolutely support you in that.
And I support you in, what else are
you doing besides the pill or besides the
shot or besides whatever mechanism this comes in?
And we often get kind of a blank look and
it's like, okay, we can use this medication to get
you over the hump, and what else are you doing?
What are you going to change in your lifestyle?
What are you going to change in the way you eat?
What do you change in your environment?
And it's almost as if once people are given
permission to use that biggest, most powerful tool that
we often think that medical intervention, then there's space,
they can calm down and there's space enough to
say, okay, how can I start working on this
a little bit, kind of around the edges?
How can I start making changes that may
allow me to get off of this medication
sooner rather than later, if that's a goal.
And again, I'm not a physician,
I don't put anybody on medication.
I certainly don't take anybody off of medication.
But when you're going to start taking something, we've talked
about this before, you always want an exit plan.
So what can I start changing in my
life if I have an absolutely horrible job?
I can't just quit.
Perhaps for most of us, that's not an option.
So, okay, maybe I need to take some medication.
Maybe I need to start getting support
in the rest of my life.
Maybe I need to start building other bonds
and pathways and relationships and get myself feeling
in control and together enough that then I can
go out and look for another.
And now this is just one example, because as you know,
I believe we are in control of all of our
choices and we are responsible for everything we bring to us.
And if you, if you're a new
listener, that may sound rather harsh.
The flip side of that is that we
get to create everything that comes to us.
And whatever we're calling in, we can change and
we can adjust and we can make changes for.
So I absolutely believe in taking responsibility
for everything we bring to ourselves.
And if we're calling in something that we really
don't like, then how do I think about this?
How do I solve for this?
How do I think about what tools are at my disposal?
And pharmaceutical solutions can be tools and they can be
tools on your path to owning your health and then
on your further path to finding out what other aspects
of your life, what other levers do we have that
are in control of our bodies, our minds, our emotions?
And I can tell you, things like nutrition really,
really impact the chemicals that we have floating around
in our body. Our environment, our level of sleep
can impact anxiety and depression tremendously.
But if you're in these positions, if you're in the
grips of depression or of terrible anxiety, you're not able
to go out and assimilate information and gather information and
learn and work on your sleep and work on the
habits and work on all of these things.
So, absolutely, an antidepressant, anti anxiety
can be a good tool.
It can be a bridge that will allow you to solve for
all of the other areas on your path to your health.
So I hope this has been helpful on how
to think about, rather than just asking some expert,
about taking anti anxiety or antidepressant medications.
And again, I realize, you
know, very different scenarios.
Sometimes they overlap.
But the how, the how to think about it
is very much the same for these and for
a lot of, a lot of mental illness issues.
So if this has been helpful, absolutely reach out,
let me know.
If you have other how to think about questions, let
me know, because I continue to compile this list.
And as always, if you like it, please rate
it and absolutely share with somebody that you love.
So until next week and our next,
ask me how go out and own it.
