Posted by Mireille on July 26, 2002, at 21:50:54
In reply to Re: Going off Effexor, thanks in part to you all!, posted by oracle on July 26, 2002, at 16:57:17
> As to long term testing:
>
> Well, this is a hot issue with AIDS. Do we wait
> and study long term or treat people who are sick now ? Do we tell patients that we have meds in the pipeline but we have to wait 10 years to use them, despite the fact they are excellent treatments.
>
> In the AIDS meds we fast tracked them, but because
> we fast tracked them we waited till people were really sick. We now know this policy killed many
> people. We now know many AIDS meds need to be given as soon as you are HIV+.
>
> People seem to demand meds with no side effects
> without realizing that it is impossible to do this. Even water kills.
Yes, but alas, we also know much more about water (depending on which area you live in!) and its effects on the body...no, I don't buy that "everything kills you anyway" idea in this situation...that lets the drug cos. off the hook.I have a friend who is here in the US studying the AIDS virus, so that would be an interesting question to pose to him...but my thoughts are,...ok, I tried to formulate them a few different times and realized what a huge ethical can of worms we're opening up here. I mean, I think the drugs should be a LAST resort, at least for mentally ill patients. I think first of all that in AMerica, Psychiatrists and psychologists should NOT cost an average of $50 a session (that's from my own experience with three different docs), should be reimbursed by the government, and should be available to everyone. Hopefully, that would help the problem of all of the seriously mentally ill folks who are wandering the streets right now because either there aren't facilities for them, or the facilities are running drug and prostitution rings (that one in upstate NY that was on "60 Minutes" about a month ago), so they may as well be on the streets. I think that we need to clean up our health care/mental health systems and offer other options than drug treatments. I don't know. That doesn't seem right either, because there are still people who need the drugs no matter what.
Maybe if you are definitely ready to die, know you're going to die unless you try something, maybe then you can say, "ok, I'm willing to try this drug even if it has long-term side effects that are detrimental..." BUt then the drug makes you feel better, you love your life, and BOOM! You find out you're really going to die now because of some side effect...I don't know what the right answer is.
Maybe you're just right. Maybe even water kills and we should just be glad to still be alive.
Thanks for making me think it out, oracle. Although I don't know that I've gotten anywhere. I'd like to find some answers in science..I eagerly await your answers re: DES.
Mireille
>
>
poster:Mireille
thread:113537
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020725/msgs/113895.html