Psycho-Babble Medication | about biological treatments | Framed
This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | List of forums | Search | FAQ

Re: Anyone still taking Prozac?

Posted by alohashirt on April 18, 2005, at 17:44:35

In reply to Re: Anyone still taking Prozac? » Maxime, posted by ed_uk on April 16, 2005, at 20:44:30

> Hi Maxi,
>
> >Seems like it's hard in the UK to get on a cocktail of meds........
>
> For many years, pdocs in the UK have looked down on 'polypharmacy'. Everyone is supposed to be treated with only one drug. Combining ADs has been viewed as 'contra-indicated'.
>

> >Ed, is there a reason why they are so conversative with psych meds in the UK.
>
> I don't know really, I would imagine that teaching quality (RE psych meds) in medical schools is very poor. For many years, benzos were prescribed like sweets- there was a massive backlash. Similarly, SSRIs have often been very carelessly prescribed in recent years. Many doctors view them as being 'very safe' and have very negative opinions of older drugs. Most doctors seem to prescribe an extremely limited range of psych drugs. Treatment-resistant patients don't really exist in the UK because so few people actually get to try a wide range of treatments! If you don't respond to Effexor you are likely to be pronounced 'treatment resistant' and abandonned. Effexor is the latest 'cure-all' in the UK.


Someone famously said that the US and the UK are two nations divided by a common language. I think a lot of the difference is cultural. Self-improvement is almost a moral imperative in the US whereas in the UK it is often viewed as "having ideas above one's station." I have had a friend who works as an NHS concultant staying with me and we were chatting about differences. As I described my med history he was in disbelief at the amount "tweaking the meds" to optimize the response to ADHD meds. Of course many US doctors are also reluctant to prescribe to improve the quality of life rather than fix a dangerous condition. A great example of this would be the slow recognition that in aging men testosterone deficiency can have real negative implications for quality of life. Supplementation is controversial for many reasons, one iof which is the parable of Dr Frankenstein.

I like to have an informed partipative role in my treatment and am happy to try something that may or may not improve an already helpful treatment as my pdoc gives me clear information about the risks and instructs me to contact him immediately if any of symptoms X occur.

I think that medication should eb more accessible than it currently is, perhaps in the same fasion that cigarettes are.
Infantilizing people helps no-one. That doesn't mean I want a doctor who abdicates. He/She is still the expert and their guidance is vital. But ultimately I'm the one living with the coindition, the treament and the side effects.

> >...what about people with treatment resistant depression. How do they get by?
>
> They probably just take one SSRI after another for 30 years.
>
> Many consultant psychiatrists here never prescribe MAOIs. I mean, serious, how can a consultant pdoc have never prescribed an MAOI? I imagine that if you asked them they would say that they were 'too dangerous' or that they had never needed to prescribe one. In reality, all pdocs are likely to have had many patients who didn't do well on the 'common' drugs. IMO, the reason why they don't prescribe them is because they don't know anything about them. In some cases, their knowledge of phrmacology is nothing short of appauling. My last pdoc though Buspar was a tricylic antidepressant. They seem to think that everything can be treated with SSRIs, they don't seem to appreciate the side effects, nor do they have a good idea of the common psychological effects of these drugs. The pdoc I saw as a child never believed me when I said that Paxil was making me drowsy and lazy, she kept telling me that it was 'stimulating' and that it would make me highly motivated. I don't know, our pdocs seem to live in a fantasy world.
>
> Ed xxxx
>


Share
Tweet  

Thread

 

Post a new follow-up

Your message only Include above post


Notify the administrators

They will then review this post with the posting guidelines in mind.

To contact them about something other than this post, please use this form instead.

 

Start a new thread

 
Google
dr-bob.org www
Search options and examples
[amazon] for
in

This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | FAQ
Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:alohashirt thread:485014
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050418/msgs/486116.html