 So as some of you saw yesterday when I posted on Twitter, as well as Instagram, that I ran out of my Prozac. All right, so in this video I wanted to discuss the very real situation that a lot of you get into where you run out of medications because a healthcare system isn't so great here in the United States, but I also had a reply on Instagram to the effect of have you ever just tried being sad. And the inner angry Chris wanted to be offended by this statement, but the reality is there are a lot of misconceptions about antidepressants and depression and anxiety and everything like that. So let's clear all that stuff up in this video. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel, my channel is all about mental health. So what I try to do sometimes is share a little bit of my experience, get some advice based on my experience and what I've learned over the years. So if you're into that stuff, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And make sure you follow me over on Instagram and Twitter at the Rewired Soul because I often get feedback from all of you guys asking about topics that you want me to cover and everything like that. So make sure you follow me over on social media. All right. So yeah, like I said, we're going to be talking about a few things. We're going to be talking about medications. We're going to talk about running out. We're going to talk about misconceptions about medications and everything. So I recently did a blog post. I can't remember if I did it on my website, the Rewired Soul dot com or over on medium. But I just finished reading two great books. One of them is called Good Reasons for Bad Feelings. It's all about evolutionary psychology and why we get anxious, why we get depressed. It even dives into addiction and eating disorders and schizophrenia. And it takes a whole evolutionary look at all these things. And I also finished reading a book called Saving Normal. And this was written by the guy who headed the team that wrote the DSM for all right. And a lot of what both these books were talking about is how some of these feelings are absolutely normal. We have a tendency to over diagnose over Medicaid and all that. All right. So I'm going to circle back to that a little bit later. But first I just want to share my experience about being on antidepressants. And the thing is like, unless you're talking about Xanax, pretty much everything else is like just classified as an antidepressant. Right. And when I say Xanax, I mean more benzodiazepines as a whole like volume and things like that. But anyways, I was diagnosed with a generalized anxiety disorder. All right. And I also have depression. The primary reason that I actually take medications is for my anxiety. All right. Like if it was like which one's worse, it's my anxiety and the depression is, you know, it's down here. It's something that's a kind of a pain in the ass to deal with. But the anxiety is the worst part. But anyways, when I got diagnosed about seven years ago, they put me on Lexapro. I'm going to link a video up in the info card about why I switched from Lexapro to Prozac. It had to do with, you know, side effects and, you know, just some other stuff like that after I was on it for years. But yeah, I've been on Prozac for the most part of the last almost a year, I think, just kind of off and on. So anyways, when I switch from one medication to another, there's one piece of advice I'll give all of you. When you're switching medications, always have a refill of your old medications. All right. Like going through that whole rickamarole of like getting the new medication and then maybe it doesn't work out and then having to set up a doctor's appointment and getting a different refill. I always make sure I have a backup. And the other thing is too, whenever you're switching or getting off of one and onto another one, make sure it's under a doctor's supervision. All right. Like for example, one time after I wasn't taking Lexapro for a while and I got back on it, like I started out with my original dose, which I think was like 20 milligrams and I was sick to my stomach like all day long. Like I thought I was going to puke. You know what I mean? And that's like, those are like mild symptoms compared to what some other people have when they go back and forth on medications. But anyways, I went into a situation that a lot of you have run into where I don't have health insurance. Well, let me correct that. I didn't have health insurance. I'm in a weird situation right now. But anyways, I was self-employed for the most part of the last year. Some of you saw that I recently went back to work. I have a full-time job. I have a part-time job. I also have YouTube and everything else that I'm doing. Right. But anyways, I haven't had insurance, but luckily the pharmacy that I use here, they gave me like this little discount card because I also take some blood pressure medications and like the medications were super cheap. I think for three months of Prozac it was about, I don't know, I think like 10 bucks, which is not bad at all. But anyways, I saw that I was running out. I was running out of Prozac and I tried calling my doctor to see if she could just refill my prescription. And I have one of the best primary care doctors. Like I know a lot of people have bad experiences with doctors, but like my doctor is amazing. And I don't know what's going on because I haven't talked to her in months since the last time I went in for an appointment that I had to pay out of pocket for. But yeah, I tried calling earlier this week when I got back in town to be like, yo, I need a refill. And usually they make you come in, but like my doctor knows I haven't had insurance, so she'll try to just refill my prescriptions as long as, you know, they're not like addictive medications or dangerous or anything like that. Like some doctors will just refill it without you coming in. One of the reasons doctors have you come in though is because some medications are addictive. Some medications do have more severe side effects. So before they keep you on a medication, they want to do a follow-up. All right? The pessimistic view is like, oh, they just want money for these visits. But a lot of it is so they can follow up with you. But anyways, I couldn't get a hold of my doctor. I couldn't get a hold of anybody at the office. And I ran out of my Prozac. And like I mentioned, I had a backup of my Lexapro. So this is the second day in a row where I've been on Lexapro after I ran out of Prozac. And because of my full-time job, I just qualified for health insurance. I haven't gotten my information in yet. But like if it was really like, if it was something I was really freaking out about, I could probably, you know, call the insurance provider and get the numbers and stuff like that and, you know, set up an appointment and all these other things. You know what I mean? But it's just not something that I'm freaking out about at this point because I still have the Lexapro. All right? So I hope those are some tips for all of you who struggle with medications and everything like that. I did a poll a while back asking how many of you go to therapy and how many of you can't afford therapy, but you would go if you could. And it's just very apparent that a lot of you out there do care about your mental health, but you don't have the resources. All right? But just remember that Medicare and stuff like that, like if you're unemployed, like you can typically qualify for state insurance that will get you the mental health medications. There are also a lot of resources in different cities and states for free mental health care, even if you don't have Medicare yet. Like I know here in Las Vegas, they have probably three or four locations of free mental health clinics and they'll refill medications and things like that. So anyways, getting back to that Instagram comment that I got where haven't, have you ever just tried being sad, right? So like I said, like I just finished reading those two books, Good Reasons for Bad Feelings and Saving Normal. And it's, it's this fine line because I'm recovering prescription drug addict. I hate taking medications. I absolutely hate taking medications because of the prescription drug epidemic in the United States. You know, I'm very mindful of the overprescribing and everything like that. So I'm like, you know, it's this weird line, right? And something that I've talked about many times on my channel is that, you know, my, my end goal is to just have good mental health and get off meds, right? But the thing is, is that some of us do need these medications. So the first thing that we'll talk about is that comment specifically, have you ever just tried being sad? Yes. All right. And I recommend all of you do the same. One of the biggest misconceptions about antidepressants is that there's just this happy pill. I remember back in college, my, one of my best friends, he went through a breakup. He had his high school sweetheart. We went off to college. They broke up and he was so sad, so sad, right? So like, part of those two books I've referenced, like it is normal to be sad after a breakup. Let me repeat that for the people in the back. It is normal to be sad after a breakup. All right? It's normal to be sad after someone close to you passes away. These are normal feelings. But my friend, he was talking to different doctors and things like that. And he even talked to my mom asking, you know, how he can go about getting antidepressants. And that's when I first learned. We were about 18 years old. So I first learned like these pills are not just a happy pill. There's this idea that if you're sad, you just pop that pill and you're happy. That is not how these things work. Like if you're going through a difficult time, like, sorry, baby girl, sometimes you just got to go through that stuff. Right? So why do I take these? Like I said, my generalized anxiety disorder is my main problem. Depression is down here. Like my depression is a lot to do with like numbness, not feeling anything at all. You know, it's not, it's not as much about negative thoughts. That's, that's something I just chalk up to normal because I get imposter syndrome and all that. But anyways, like about that comment, have you ever just tried being sad? I don't take these pills to not be sad. I embrace my sadness. I understand sadness is going to come. I understand, you know, even anxiety is going to come and everything like that. But here's why I take these medications, even though I've tried to be off of them many, many times, when I stop taking these medications, my head gets really loopy. All right? Like that's why I take these medications like, and it's not just for me. It is very apparent. Like it is like my beautiful girlfriend Tristan and I, we are great communicators. I don't mean to brag, but we communicate fantastically. So, you know, I let her know, you know, issues I'm having with my medications, everything like that. But one of the reasons I do that, I recommend that for all of you too, is like two reasons. So, a little bit of accountability, right? Like, you know, like if I'm taking my meds and, you know, all this other stuff. But the other one is, is like, if, if I start getting a little wacky, I want her to know, like, there's something changed in my life, right? When it comes to my mental health medications, because when we're struggling with mental health issues, we don't even know that they're happening, right? Because it's all, it's all just one organ. It's all just our brain, right? So, we start believing our thoughts. We start thinking this is normal. It's very hard to pull ourselves out of it. So, it's great to have somebody in your life who acknowledges this. But anyways, like Tristan, she, it's very apparent to her when I'm off my medications, right? Like, if I'm not taking them for a while. I did a video a week or two ago about, you know, we're applying to leafy greens. We're cool now. But yeah, just talking about, like, I get it. Like, when some of us, when we're off our meds, we get wacky, right? So, so I wanted to squash that kind of misconception that anti-depressants or even anti-anxiety medications, whatever you're taking them for, like, they're not all about just not being sad or not being anxious. Like, when I say wacky, like, let me elaborate on that. My head races a million miles a minute. I've never been diagnosed with, you know, other illnesses and everything like that. But, you know, I do get very hyperactive. You know, some people ask me, like, are you manic, you know, and things like that. Like, I go completely off the rails. And I'm just, like, some, there might be some videos that you can find in me where it's like, oh, maybe Chris wasn't on his medications. And, you know, even if I was, like, I wasn't doing the other things to supplement those medications. But anyways, if you have experience with this stuff, share them down in the comments below. Let me know why you take medications or why you don't or what your experience is. Like, I want this to be a community where we share our experience. But remember, everyone out there, I'm not a doctor. And most of the people you see down in the comments aren't doctors either. We are just sharing our experience. But always, always, always talk to a doctor, talk to a psychiatrist, a mental health professional, whoever it is. And by the way, there's a little bit of a debate on whether or not primary care doctors should even prescribe mental health medications. If that's something that you want me to talk about, let me know down in the comments below. All right. But anyways, that's all I got for this video. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And a huge, huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on Patreon, as well as everybody who supports the channel by buying my mental health books over at the rewiredsoul.com or buying my merch. You are all amazing. All right. Thanks again for watching. I'll see you next time.