H,
I've been managing my depressive/bipolar for yrs on & off meds. Most people believe mental health can't be managed without meds, I'm not convinced either way yet, still experimenting with whether I think off meds is ok.
Keep track of how bad you feel and make sure you communicate with any medical staff helping you, gp etc.
The first few weeks is obviously the hardest as the body needs to adjust to suddenly doing without the extra chemicals/hormones etc in meds. It may sound too simple & at first really hard to do but main ways to help us to breathe through every min if you're experiencing anything like panic attack. Try everything you can think of that you enjoy to try to distract yourself from thinking about negative thoughts/panic/withdrawal.
Music, positive movies/shows, if you're up to it go out to shops & other places where a lot of people go. Even if you're not up to communicating, sometimes just watching other people discreetly can be interesting & distracting.
Once you're able to find 1 thing to distract you if only a short time you'll start feeling better. Sometimes with anxiety distractions only helps a tiny bit at s time until you start really getting distracted but it's better then sitting in pain/fear/discomfort.
To make it easier to think of tricks to try, think of it a bit like addiction. How would you suggest an addict to stop what they do? In a way it is sort of similar.
CraftyDivaz
