Posted by bob on March 8, 2000, at 20:00:09
In reply to Re: paxil and suicide, posted by cynthia on March 8, 2000, at 15:34:22
We had a discussion about the heredity issue a few months back. Facing that issue made me realize that along with my troubles come certain gifts as well ... as if the same portion of my brain is invulnerable to some things yet vulnerable to others. Two sides of the same coin. The fine line between "genius" and "insanity" ... how many of us are straddling it?
But like Cynthia said, if something goes wrong, you treat it.
As for getting meds from your GP -- go for it. I'm glad to hear that your mind is open to other avenues of treatment and that you'll use them when you can. I'm sure a lot of folk out there are helped by what their GP can do for them -- I have a brother in that group [grrrrrr ... da bum goes in to get some pills, and gets a combo, cytomel & celexa, that works for him immediately ...].
The thing that always concerns me, as a fellow Babblelander, is if things stop working. I've seen a number of folks get on here who start one med then stop, by their own choice, a few months later because they feel good or because they thought it wasn't working ... and that stopping precipitates a crisis. I was in a similar situation, and it caused a great deal of pain for me and those around me. Once I finally started seeing a psychiatrist, he told me in no uncertain terms that the reasons I had used to decide on stopping were unwarranted, and that he never would have suggested the path I took. It seems a common enough story here -- how some uninformed decisions early on can screw up things for quite some time.
That's why good information is just as important as anything else when you're just starting treatment.
Missy, I can remember staring down that "medication for life" thing, too. It's a tough pill to swallow, pardon the metaphor. Who knows? Maybe *I* won't be on meds all my life. The thing is, if I have to go back to living the way I was OFF of meds, then life on meds is more a gift than a curse. It takes some getting used to, and probably some combo that really makes you feel better, before it becomes bearable.
my two cents,
bob
poster:bob
thread:26269
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000302/msgs/26396.html