Taking Needed Medications is a Form of Self-Care

Have you noticed how much stigma centers around medication-usage? I’ve had numerous conversations with clients desperate to change food/lifestyle in order to avoid medications for a symptom, condition, or lab value out of range. It seems to me that many people feel shame around needing a medication. ⠀
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𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔:⠀
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▪️Patients with Diabetes feeling they’ve failed for needing medication(s) to manage blood sugar ▪️Individuals with mental health diagnoses feeling bad for taking life saving medications because they may cause weight gain⠀
▪️Pregnant women apologizing for succumbing to an epidural during childbirth⠀
▪️Suffering through a headache for hours because maybe it’ll just go away on it’s own (I’m guilty of this one!)⠀
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I’m all for wellness when it comes from a place of compassion and a personalized sense of self-care needs, but the wellness industry has taken the concept of wellness and capitalized on it in the form of FEAR tactics. When it comes to medications, there can certainly be unwanted side effects. But, for many, the benefit of the medication (such as decreasing depressive symptoms or improving blood glucose, among others) may outweigh the cost of the side effect. ⠀
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The Wellness Industry may try to sell you anti-dotes to medication, such as detoxes, cleanses, unreasonable meal plans, and unstudied or overhyped dietary supplements.⠀
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The next time this comes up for you, I invite you to challenge the wellness industry ideas around medication and instead offer yourself compassion and gratitude. How fortunate that life saving medications exist for certain health conditions, like diabetes and depression!

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅?