Originally posted by Spacecadet
When (s)he is on their medication, they go away. But a couple of times a year their health issue flares up and they make themselves known again. Once you've seen the cycle a couple of times the pattern becomes familiar.
It is not uncommon for those on psychiatric medication to want a holiday as they make you feel 'comfortably numb', but the comfort becomes paranoia too. So when the prescription runs out, they sometimes do not start taking the new lot to remind themselves of what it feels like to be 'alive' again. Then the manic symptoms start again.
Eventually it slows and stops. Whether that is the tricyclics finally kicking in or some other self-administered medication is hard to say. I expect they (or a family member, or the counsellor or the MIND volunteer) recognise what they are doing and they start taking the tablets again.
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