Anxiety About Being on Meds....

Does anyone else struggle with fear of developing serious side effects from meds or from being on so many medications? Or...does anyone have suggestions on how to deal with these feelings?

Lately, I have been thinking the worst about everything. For instance, fear of TD, akathesia, heart problems, and black box warnings from antipsychotics. Plus, I've been on high dose Lamictal for a long time and heard horror stories about how the rash could be deadly, and it scares the crap out of me.

I already have problems with severe anxiety, so I overthink everything. But these fears do not seem completely irrational in my head. I can't stop thinking the worst. I'm not sure how to cope with these feelings???

Huge medication cocktails have seemed overwhelming to me in the past. Many would say I am still on a large cocktail, but it is smaller than it has been, and I also take many fewer supplements. That reduction helped me a lot, in many ways. As for my current large cocktail, I am used to it. Seeing real value in each med I take helps.

I won't say there aren't major side effect risks with some meds. There are, but some fears are overblown. Some side effects are also not major tragedies. I don't worry about TD or Lamictal rash. I strongly doubt I will ever get them, at this point. I'd more likely die by car accident, but I still drive. Akathisia? I've had it, and one of the times it was quite bad, but it went away after the causing medication was stopped. Not all antipsychotics give me akathisia.

I've had other bad side effects in the past. Some simply went away, with time, while getting used to the med. Others did require med changes.

I guess my worst permanent effect from a med has been mild kidney damage from Lithium. I did have to get off that, but luckily the issue was discovered early. I'm just fine. I drink a lot of water and take care of myself so it doesn't worsen. It doesn't affect my life negatively.

I think that if you get regular physicals and bloodwork done, take generally good care of your health, and report any concerning side effects early, things usually are just fine.

I'm not anxious about my meds. I have a couple minor side effects, but the benefits of my medications are more significant.

What BirdDancer said.

Thanks for your response. That is a good way of putting it: that someone is more likely to die in a car accident than develop life-threatening side effects. This is something I should remember. Today, I am a little lightheaded from my recent dose increase of medication. My health anxiety often makes the feeling even worse, because I start panicking. But today, I am trying to allow myself to say "it will pass." Hopefully it isn't lasting, and it is just my body getting used to it. Anyway, this is definitely something that I'll need to work on.

Yes, I do worry about dangerous side-effects - especially because I have developed some of them already. But I cannot function sans meds.