Many psych meds make you gain weight. On top of that, most people with serious mental illnesses do not stay on the first med they’re put on. I know for me, it was one med after another after another, and now I take 23 pills a day and it’s still not enough to manage my illness. So you can imagine, most people with mental illnesses aren’t skinny.
The hardest part about that is, you already feel like a freak because you’ve got a mental illness, and then you look in the mirror and can’t imagine how ANYBODY would like you. You beat yourself up, every day, over something that you really don’t have control over.
You work to lose weight, but as long as you’re on all the meds, it is really, really difficult. You may end up doing things that aren’t healthy, just because you are desperate to be normal.
And doctors don’t help. They seem to think that you are sitting around eating a gallon of ice cream every day, even though they go through with you the looooong list of drugs you’re taking. They think you don’t try. They say unkind things. I, personally, have some amazingly kind doctors on my team that know the situation and know that I do all I can and taking care of my mental illness is more important than anything. But I have some specialists who just don’t get it, and who clearly have no social skills.
The best thing to do is to just never comment on someone's weight. Whether they have gained or lost weight, it brings attention to the fact that you are looking at their body, which can make them even more self conscious. Tell them they're smart, kind, loving, etc. but don't draw attention to something they are probably obsessing over. If they want to talk about it, they'll tell you.
So, if you are like me, living with lots of medications, just know that you are not alone and you are not doing anything wrong. That how you look does not determine who you are, and that the most important thing is that you are healthy and loved. I am so grateful for my team for those rough days, but one day I’m going to be able to just be okay with who I am – all the time. I hope you can, too.
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