7 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Taking Bipolar Disorder Medication

Knowing how to handle these challenges if they come up can help you stay on track with managing bipolar disorder. From changing your dose on your own to keeping concerns to yourself, here’s a look at seven common medication mistakes to avoid — and what to do instead.

1. Stopping Medication When You Feel Better

It’s one of the most common mistakes people make, says Jonathan Terry, DO, a psychiatrist and the assistant dean of community clinical education at California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Clovis, California.

“Feeling stable is usually a sign the medication is working, not a sign you’re done with it,” Dr. Terry says. “These medications work best when they’re in the system steadily, day in and day out. It’s a lot like blood pressure medication. You don’t feel it working, but it’s doing its job quietly in the background.”

2. Changing Your Dose or Doubling Up on Your Own

If your symptoms worsen, it may be tempting to take more medication to regain control of how you’re feeling. But increasing your dose without consulting with your psychiatrist can also cause problems.

“The problem is that more medication isn’t automatically better, and with some of these drugs, it can be genuinely dangerous,” Terry says.

Instead of doubling up on doses, tell your doctor about your worsening symptoms. It may indicate that your dose needs adjusting, or it may be an early sign of a mood episode that you can catch quickly, Terry says.

If forgetting is a pattern for you, use tools like pill organizers, phone reminders, or linking the dose to another daily habit, he says, like always taking your medication with breakfast (if it can be taken with food).

3. Deciding Too Soon That Your Medication Isn’t Working

Improvement can take time, depending on your medication and the severity of your symptoms, says Khendra Peay, MD, a psychiatrist and the founder of Capital Area Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Washington, DC.

Talk to your doctor if you have questions about your prescription — or you’re worried it’s taking too long to take effect. “This is where it’s important, again, to let your doctor know, so that there can be a conversation of what timeline to expect,” Dr. Peay says.

And if you’ve been taking a medication as prescribed and have given it a reasonable amount of time to work, talk to your doctor about adjusting the dose or trying something else. “Finding the right medication, dose, or combination is often a process of fine-tuning, not a one-shot deal. Needing to adjust doesn’t mean you’re failing or that treatment won’t work,” Terry says.

4. Keeping Side Effects to Yourself

“Staying quiet is one of the biggest missed opportunities in treatment. I’d much rather hear about a side effect early than have you quietly decide the medication isn’t worth it and stop,” Terry says.

Sometimes the symptoms are linked to a medication, but in some situations other factors need to be considered, Peay says. “It may be that you haven’t been sleeping for several days, or that you’ve been drinking a lot of caffeine, or even taking a sleep aid during the daytime,” she says. “We want to know about [side effects], then we’ll ask more questions to see what else could be contributing.”

5. Overlooking Therapy and Self-Care

Therapy is a helpful checkpoint for both you and the provider handling your medication. You may note patterns in thinking, triggers, symptoms, or side effects during your therapy sessions, Peay says, which you can then share during medication management appointments to help your provider assess how the treatment is going. “It’s a form of [symptom] tracking because there’s someone who’s checking in on a regular basis,” she says.

6. Not Disclosing Other Medications and Supplements

“If another doctor doesn’t know what you’re taking, they may prescribe something, not realizing that can cause an interaction,” Peay says. That includes treatment for conditions that may seem unrelated to your mental health.

Keep an updated list of everything you take and check with your pharmacist or prescriber before starting or stopping another medication or supplement, Peay says.

7. Skipping Blood Tests and Follow-Up Appointments

Depending on the medication you’re prescribed, your doctor may order baseline health checks, including urine tests, blood tests, and an electrocardiogram, Terry says. But follow-up tests are necessary too.

Ask your prescriber which checks you need and how often. Follow-up appointments also give you another opportunity to discuss any mood changes, side effects, or difficulties taking medication. “Follow-up is a real part of these treatments, not an afterthought,” Terry says.