Psychiatric Medication and Dating/Relationships

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Serissa
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11 Feb 2006, 3:10 pm

I'm curious about this: How do you feel about partners and psychiatric medication ("headmeds")? I have a friend who dated a girl with bipolar and said he'd never date anyone on headmeds, ever again. ((I might add that when he said this I felt really guilty and said nothing; it's a mark of both our personalities that when he found out I'm on medication I was shocked when he was worried that I'd been offended.))

So, here are some questions, in no real order:

Would you ever make dating someone/being with them contingent on them not needing psychiatric medication?

Would you ever make dating someone/being with them contingent on them not taking psychiatric medication which they might need in the future?

Would you ever make dating someone/being with them contingent on them not taking psychiatric medication which they are currently taking?

Would you ever make dating someone/being with them contingent on them TAKING psychiatric medication which they are currently taking?

Would you ever make dating someone/being with them contingent on them TAKING psychiatric medication which they might need to take/are being recommended to take by a psychiatrist?

If any of these are true, under what circumstances would they be true? ((Think everything from post-natal depression to severe bipolar to schizophrenia, and, for some questions, how severe these conditions might have to be for them to factor in as a dealbreaker.))

Note that I'm not talking about illegal drugs/non-prescribed medication/prescribed non-psychiatric medication.

I, personally, could not date someone who did illegal drugs or regularly got drunk/significantly effected by alcohol. However, I could date someone on psychiatrtic medication, provided it was properly treating their problems so that their current state was tolerable. If their non-meds state was not tolerable, I might make dating me contingent on them being on the meds (example: if the person became abusive or violent off the meds).

One extra note: I think anybody who was around me off of my Zyrpexa would probably not want to date me off the Zyprexa. ((Yes, I'm even more psycho when I'm not on that stuff. It can be worse. A lot.))



Tashie
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11 Feb 2006, 4:15 pm

I wouldn't make meds an issue by itself.

For me the real issue would be whether that person increased my stress levels or not. If by them being on meds they were more stable and happy then that would be fine by me.

Having needed meds in the past I know how useful they can be to keep your head on, and how awful I was without.



NeantHumain
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11 Feb 2006, 6:20 pm

I'd be more likely not to date psychotic women or highly neurotic women. Such people usually have tons of baggage that would make a relationship with them more likely to be unpleasant than anything.



Tashie
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11 Feb 2006, 7:10 pm

Good point Neant, would you include people that have a temporary need, such as depression or post natal depression as psychotic or highly neurotic?



Sarcastic_Name
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11 Feb 2006, 9:18 pm

I disagree with most meds, it would depend on the situation.


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renaeden
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11 Feb 2006, 10:54 pm

When I saw GalileoAce last, I was on three different sorts of "headmeds" (what a cool word!).
Now I am on only one (Lexapro), I wonder what his thoughts are on this. I wonder how much my personality has altered since I last saw him. I wonder how it will affect us for the future. I wonder what he thinks of all my visits to doctors/psychologists. It is strange to wonder what someone thinks, in the past, I couldn't have cared less.
If he took psychiatric medication, I would support him in the ways I knew how. The reason why, I think, is because I know what it is like to be in the same situation.
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GalileoAce
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12 Feb 2006, 12:43 am

renaeden wrote:
If he took psychiatric medication, I would support him in the ways I knew how. The reason why, I think, is because I know what it is like to be in the same situation. :)


While I can only guess what it's like to take psychiatric medication (the worst I was on was Ritalin..) I will support you without a seconds hesitation :)



LeBrodeBrus
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12 Feb 2006, 3:14 am

Head Meds! hmm maybe should be called NuroMedCreations.I would consider going with a woman on a date.Not to marry though.Just friends then all is well! :D



hell_grey
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12 Feb 2006, 11:27 am

i would date a person taking meds if the person seemed stable i guess.... like not impulsive enough to just stop taking their meds one day and get crazy withdrawal from doing so and then take it out on me.. etc etc. overall i dont think taking meds is a big deal. i guess im biased cause i take meds though. it would stink to be turned down by a person just because i take a medicine



quietangel
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12 Feb 2006, 7:20 pm

I don't know if I could discriminate against someone because of prescription head meds. If I liked the person and we got along fine, then that would be all that mattered.

Now on the subject of illegal drugs, I couldn't go out with someone who is using as it is illegal.


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Sunni
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14 Feb 2006, 2:30 am

It wouldn't matter to me.

A lot of people have a fear of the unknown, and start to feel left out when they realise someone's on medication, as if that person isn't being genuine. I reckon if you like someone enough to want to be with them, then you will see that person's nature through any substance anyway. Meds can calm a person down, or bland them out, or hype them up or whatever, but they don't radically alter their entire being. It's just like a particular style of clothes, or weight gain or loss, or money or circumstances which are forever fluctuating.

Life is fluid, and in the long run you have to cope with a partner being in all kinds of states.. so if you loved and trusted someone, why would some crappy meds make a difference?