What happens if the medicines you’re prescribed are actually making you worse, not better? What happens if the doctor you turn to for help isn’t helping? Our guest, Jay Shifman, public speaker and host of the “Choose Your Struggle” podcast, shares his long journey back to himself.  As an adolescent, Jay was diagnosed as bipolar. The medicines he was prescribed to treat his disease led him to years of prescription drug misuse, addiction, and two suicide attempts. Jay is not bipolar, but it took years of struggle and nearly dying for Jay to finally figure that out. 

Prescription drugs, like the anti-anxiety medication, Benzodiazepine, that Jay was prescribed and later became dependent on, are some of the most highly abused substances. 4.8 million Americans misuse benzodiazepines alone. The recent opioid epidemic across the nation illustrates that prescription drugs can be just as dangerous as street drugs. For more on the potential harms of prescribed medicines, check out this week’s blog, “The Sometimes Risky Business of Prescription Drugs.”