Posted by ksvt on October 21, 2000, at 22:12:55
In reply to Re: SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT US ALL, posted by GLYN on October 21, 2000, at 19:05:19
> I find all your responses fascinating and I'm glad to hear that Sharon feels she has more insight on herself after Noa's comments.
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> Your also right as I do accept labels far too easily and in fact I almost cling to them at times but this post is helping me to rethink these things. Some may describe me as in a constant state of mild mania - actualy I have severe anxiety and mild depression but I have been on the lookout for other stuff since I became obsessed with my mental health - but I am know realising that this is not an illness with me but just a part of who I am (the apparent mania that is). For instance, I NEVER go to bed before 4 am, have racing thoughts, a general inability to "relax" like "normal" people by watching hours of mind numbing TV, and a million and one good ideas most of which I fail to fulfill for lack of time and the one's I do manage to pull off keep me occupied from wake to bed. Is this an illness? I hope not as I would not want it any other way as I am happy with who I am - and a lot more so since this thread started. I live a diverse life - I'm an artist, published author, Jazz musician, academic, business man (I own and run a couple of web businesses), web designer and a whole host of other things - too many to mention. Strange thing is that although I would describe myself as well accomplished in all of these things I have yearned all my life to find the one true thing I was born to do. Yes, you say, "sure sounds like some form of mania to me" but I can honestly say that I truely love all of these things and have always found each of them relief from the otherwise one-dimensional life that I see other "normal" people lead (I sound arrogant now and I'm sure that they do indeed lead fuller lives than it appears).
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> If a doc ever described me as Manic and gave me a pill to make me "normal" I'd be broken hearted. Anyway, where does passion end and mania begin?
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> I beg to differ over cure. I believe that there are such things as cures. The Nazis found a "cure" to the Jewish problem just like we British found a cure for distinguishing ourselves from others less intelligent or refined by constructing a polite society and a class system (I must say that the USA is the only other country in the world where I see this as well defined as it is in the UK),
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> Drugs can cure but as somebody else said it all depends whether you see it as an illness or not. Alcohol "cures" inhibition, nicotine "cures" the need for nicotine, a bullet "cures" a bad relationship - but the question is in all cases "is the cure better than the problem?" and I believe that we must ask oursleves that before we hit the pills. If the answer is "yes, I'd rather cured" then great as this is the easy option - its learning to wrestle with our problems because we feel that they are worthwhile thats really tough.
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> I am starting to think that by taking the pills I do that I may be missing out on the experience of improving and stretching myself by getting over then by hard work and self analysis. Surely, none of us REALLY believe that our "problems" are always chemical do we? IS somebody going to tell me that boredom is caused by a lack of alcohol in the brain as well. Just becuase fiddling dopamine and serotonin makes us feel better doesn't mean that the lack of them or abundance of them is a cause of our problems does it? I've heard of people being given SSRI's after their partner has died (within days often) because they feel depressed - for heaven's sake who wouldn't? So why a drug and why an illness?
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> ANyway, thats enough ranting for one day.
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> Glad I was only paranoid about insulting people.
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> BTW: Dont mean to be pedantic but I am a 29 year old male from the UK - just noticed that I was refered to as a "she" in some posts. Or maybe there's something I should know about my gender or sexuality which you have all noticed? They say you are the last to know?
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> : )
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> Thanks again.
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> Glyn
This thread has progressed very quickly in a short period of time, and it's gotten far too lengthy for me to really digest so what I say may be very redundant. Nonetheless, i would like to weigh in. I found this site only about 4 months ago in the process of trying to get some drug info. In the past I've been on numerous different ADs without really knowing anything about them. Several things struck me about this site: 1) People take so many different combinations of things. In a sense this is heartening, because my pdoc never really let me know how many alternatives were out there, so I frequently have felt like I'm running out of options. It's also been good for me to see how much effort people have been willing to put into finding the right meds combination. 2) Some people on this site do have an incredible amount of knowledge about meds. I have a very sparse scientific background and lots of the time, the information desseminated around here passes right over my head. Nonetheless, it can be communicated as simply or as detailed as you'd like, and I'm awfully grateful for the input. 3) Even if my understanding of some of the physiological issues is limited, this site has been very helpful in allowing me to understand the kinds of questions I should be asking my pdoc and the kinds of issues I should be concerned about. Being able to do this has certainly helped me feel that I am taking a bit more control and not just floating along for the ride. 4) I've always been impressed with the amount of support people are offered on this board. It's heartening for me to see that even if it's not a thread that has anything to do with me. 5) Depression can be an unbelievably isolating illness. I can write things here that I can't really say to anyone and I know that what I write will be understood by people whose experiences have been similar. It's nice to find people who speak your language even if it's a language skill that you'd love not to have. 6) I don't see mental illness as anyone's hobby. It seems to me that most people here try to lead pretty normal lives. As someone else observed, people do get better and leave. I'm not anywhere near as inclined to spend time on this site when I'm feeling great. Thanks for raising some interesting points for discussion. ksvt
poster:ksvt
thread:46800
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001012/msgs/47042.html