sears - "These drugs are both lifesavers and evil." What a mind-blowing statement. I believe it is probably accurate. When I became, at midlife, unexpectedly delusional and quite psychotic (had been bipolar most of my life without knowing it) a good shrink pulled me back from the brink with a long, evolving series of psychiatric meds.

However, she neglected to ever consider getting me off the meds at any point. Years went by, she died, I got old and progressively lost a lot of hearing. Research told me the hearing loss could be attributable to the powerful meds, and I seemed pretty sane, so a year ago, I took myself off them gradually.

Now I have just discovered that my most recent meds, which I was on for years, are BOTH associated with a higher chance of having Alzheimer's. My message to everybody on meds - never stop researching the effects of whatever meds you are on, or were on in the past. You need to know as much as possible.