I Medicate To Meditate

[seabassd]

3 Years ago, if someone had asked me my opinion about medication and/or  meditation I would have answered them with some long sustained obnoxious eye roll. I probably would have responded to the topic of ADHD in the same way. In deeper ways I think I perceived all of the above as some sort of plot by the Devil to turn people away from God. Something left over from a very conservative Southern Baptist upbringing.

It’s taken me the better part of the three years since receiving my diagnosis to become o.k. with the idea of using Medication & Meditation for treatment. The later is a fairly recent addition to my treatment tool belt. Although I’ve been taking medication for a while now I haven’t really found a way to judge it’s effectiveness. Sure my mind has calmed down, but what am I suppose to do with a calm mind besides just sit and enjoy the silence.

I guess it was about 6 months ago that I pulled up an archived (maybe I attended it live, I don’t remember) webinar Rick did with guest Dr. Lidia Zylowska the author of “The Mindfulness Prescription for Adult ADHD”. For those who watched the webinar  you’ll remember that she led a quick guided meditation. I think it lasted for something like 5 minutes. I think just about everyone who was in attendance, including myself ,felt something afterwords. For me it was a deep feeling of calm. A remember a part of me wanted to cry (I can be emotional). I had a similar reaction to stimulant medication the first time I took it.

Oddly enough I didn’t jump on the meditation bandwagon until later. I think it’s been about the last 3 months or so that I’ve really been getting into it. It hasn’t taken me long to figure out that there are times when my mind just can’t wind down enough to allow me to meditate. Even walking meditation can be difficult when my mind is really ramped up. So this is where medication comes into the picture for me. It allows me to settle my mind to the point that meditation becomes possible.

Then I can let meditation do it’s magic that it does so well like…

-Quieting the Judge that nags me all day long. This is sort of a CBT thing but easier to grasp.

-Helps put emotions in perspective, which helps me in making decisions that aren’t knee jerk reactions.

-and hopefully allows me to live more fully in the present with less time wasting energy ruminating in my head. I’m not there yet, but hopefully it will come.

In a nutshell meditation helps me  to distance myself from a crazy mind that makes bad decisions based on  negative emotions, feelings and beliefs  and gives me the opportunity to make the decisions.

The thing that I’m most excited about is that I now have a very specific job for the meds to do. This helps me to target a specific dosage and dose schedule instead of just adjusting dosage based on side effects.

Just wanted to share that with you and see if others have found meditation to be as beneficial as I have. Or maybe just to hear what other have used as markers in determining medication effectiveness.

REPORT ABUSE

[Author]

Posts