Shown: posts 42 to 66 of 79. Go back in thread:
Posted by SLS on August 3, 2011, at 9:07:16
In reply to Re: Cyclothymia » Dinah, posted by floatingbridge on August 3, 2011, at 9:03:25
> I was sorry to hear of what's going on with your friends, Scott. It is truly a difficult situation, and surely you must take that into account when you are thinking about your own health. It doesn't necessarily mean that your medications
aren't working as well, just that you're under a strain.Yes Scott. I second that, if I may.
Thanks, FB.
:-)
- Scott> > http://clinicalposters.com/news/2011/0325-dysautonomia-mitochondria-pots.html
> >
> > This one was interesting, but I by no means have all the symptoms.
> >
> > What I was reviewing last night was the connection between migraines, IBS, vasomotor rhinitis, mood disorders, and borderline traits relating to affective instability (but not to impulsivity) and the HPA axis - in particular cortisol sensitivity.
>
>
> I'm working my way through these Dinah. The reading is tough going :P. I did find references to HPA disorder and PTSD in the sidebar.... Affective instability. That's a very useful term.
>
> > I think there were other issues I ran across also, though I can't recall them offhand. I originally ran across the idea while researching a very embarrassing manifestation of vasomotor rhinitis. :) I think it's more a question of stress intolerance and sensitivity rather than the more severe dysautonomia.
>
>
> Dysautonomia seems a slightly different bird. Maybe in it's severity of manifestation.
>
>
> >
> >
> > And that this somehow should be reflected in the DSM. It just irritates me no end that there is clearly this population of people who not only have emotional lability, but often also have physical issues that have been linked to problems in the HPA axis, and yet it's ignored in the bible of the profession.
>
>
> Thank you for saying this. It's difficult just being neurotic on it's own without that being the sum cause for everything, like just having one's nerves shot and looping back in painful or at least annoying ways just out of one's control.
>
> >
> > Granted, I may like this theory in part because it validates
> my own observations. I also liked the breakdown of borderline personality into two biological groups of characteristics. This explains why the disorder fits so completely in some ways, but not well at all in others. It also explains my very good reaction to Risperdal. There were a couple of studies showing that some AP's but not all AP's were helpful with regard to
> cortisol sensitivity. Risperdal is helpful.
> >
>
> Well, I do find this helpful because a number of posters with some 'similar feeling' symptom clusters use risperdal. I have notice it drop in and out of their treatment as needed, something that fascinates me. I know it somehow works.
>
> > So maybe I just like the theory because it seems to fit all
> the pieces for me, and also is in line with my own thoughts on the issue.
> >
>
>
> Oh well. Wouldn't be the first :-). But you have as good
> evidence here as anyone.
>
> > I was sorry to hear of what's going on with your friends, Scott. It is truly a difficult situation, and surely you must take that into account when you are thinking about your own health. It doesn't necessarily mean that your medications
> aren't working as well, just that you're under a strain.
> >
>
> Yes Scott. I second that, if I may.
>
>
> Thanks for sharing the links and you thoughts, Dinah.
>
>
Posted by Dinah on August 3, 2011, at 10:29:08
In reply to Re: Cyclothymia » Dinah, posted by floatingbridge on August 3, 2011, at 9:03:25
Blood glucose and insulin resistance. My endocrinologist says I have a *very* extreme glucose response to stress.
Even hypoglycemic unawareness, which I also seem to have. Although if I understand correctly, that should be a symptom of the opposite cortisol problem.
Posted by Dinah on August 3, 2011, at 10:37:39
In reply to Re: Cyclothymia » Dinah, posted by floatingbridge on August 3, 2011, at 9:03:25
I'm not sure I understand it either.
It's just that it keeps popping up over and over again in the most unexpected ways. I feel like I should find that significant. And perhaps that my health practitioners should also find it significant.
Though again, chicken and egg. Hard to say.
Posted by floatingbridge on August 3, 2011, at 11:35:27
In reply to And how can I forget, posted by Dinah on August 3, 2011, at 10:29:08
> Blood glucose and insulin resistance. My endocrinologist says I have a *very* extreme glucose response to stress.
>
> Even hypoglycemic unawareness, which I also seem to have. Although if I understand correctly, that should be a symptom of the opposite cortisol problem.This is something I don't understand.. Though you have mentioned your issues, and so many medications affect glucose response ( if that is a working term.). Diabetes is on
both sides of my family.....But there is the opposite, isn't there? My friend does not make enough insulin. Stress exacerbates this and underlies
her particular form of presenting depression....Sometime I feel like I am working on some sort of medical degree.... The endocrine system is very, umm, complicated and under-understood. At least in practical medicine.
Posted by Dinah on August 3, 2011, at 12:25:17
In reply to Re: And how can I forget, posted by floatingbridge on August 3, 2011, at 11:35:27
It's all very confusing.
And I just realized I am obsessing about this today because I want to get my mind off my gall bladder surgery. :)
I'd better go do something productive instead. Or spend time with my dog. There's nothing like a faceful of sheepdog hair for what ails me.
There's no hurry, I suppose.
Posted by floatingbridge on August 3, 2011, at 13:38:28
In reply to Re: And how can I forget » floatingbridge, posted by Dinah on August 3, 2011, at 12:25:17
> It's all very confusing.
It is. And of course, quite justifiable to obsess over. Then, we (the royal we) know that obsessing serves it's purpose for only so long. Sheep dog hair will do, hopefully quite nicely. Dogs don't obsess on what might ail them, but what they want to do: eat, play, spend time with owners, smell (o,k, I do have a scent hound.). But smell is just an unfathomable (to us) language for dogs. When we walk the dogs in public, there are always the favored sniffing (and marking) spots. I
figure they are somehow checking their inbox.I didn't know about the surgery. My friend (the one with low insulin) had it, and it was an o.k. experience for her w/o any real repercussions on her life (like diet). She had stones :-/
and her gall bladder was removed. She has not missed it.Best with this, Dinah. Don't stay offline too long (cause you'd be missed!)
>
> And I just realized I am obsessing about this today because I want to get my mind off my gall bladder surgery. :)
>
> I'd better go do something productive instead. Or spend time with my dog. There's nothing like a faceful of sheepdog hair for what ails me.
>
> There's no hurry, I suppose.
Posted by Phillipa on August 3, 2011, at 20:34:05
In reply to Re: And how can I forget » Dinah, posted by floatingbridge on August 3, 2011, at 13:38:28
Dinah I didn't realize you were having your gallbladder out. Endoscopic or cut open and remove? Right shoulder pain? Phillipa
Posted by floatingbridge on August 3, 2011, at 22:20:29
In reply to Re: Cyclothymia » floatingbridge, posted by Dinah on August 3, 2011, at 10:37:39
Well, I see my new pdoc tomorrow. I'm glad he has requested to see me so often. Like Mellow said above, sometimes things feel 'crystal'. That is now in the mornings despite early awakenings. It used to be reversed. I woke in dread.
Now the afternoons and evenings are terrible. I swear I don't know what to do other than be very observant.
Some of you might recall I have seen lots of specialists in the past few years. Fact is, I am miserable with the same symptoms, but like the article Dinah posted on pots, doctors have given up. My endocrinologist has only ever tested my tsh. I get tired of asking for tests because it makes me look absolutely nuts. I know it does. How does one even get a cortisol test? When I first met this endocrinologist, I said I might have some HPA dysfunction. He looked at me. Not mean or anything. Then said why would you think that. Well, because of chronic PTSD. So he asks if I have a therapist.
He's an o.k. guy. I don't need every test run in the book. Frankly I am too tired to endure it. But to not want to test my hormone levels other than tsh I find so disheartening.
I have told three practioners explicitly that I have difficulty standing up. I can sit down and I feel better. Standing, just standing can increase my fatigue. Then I see that link about pots and dyautonomia.
I'm not self-dxing. But heck. I figured out that somehow standing is fatiguing. I don't just sit around and dream this up. I don't like this. I also don't feel competent to figure this stuff out.
Anyone can see from my posts how my mood goes up and down.
Even as a pre-adolescent, I looked at other people and actually thought, their body works. It just works right. They get up, go to bed, have stress, miss sleep, but something is always resetting them. I feel like I am missing something.
Pdoc tomorrow. Thanks for all this discussion. I need to read threads a few times to really get them. I haven't even finished the links Dinah posted.
Over and out.
fb
Posted by floatingbridge on August 4, 2011, at 18:58:11
In reply to Re: Cyclothymia, posted by floatingbridge on August 3, 2011, at 22:20:29
Yes. 1/8mg per night. The new doc says I should know fairly quickly if it will help with PTSD and 'affective instability'. Amazing the value of accurate terminology. Communicated to me clearly that if I feel 'weird' in the way abilify and seroquel felt to stop immeadiately and call.
Bipolar spectrum, too. He suggests (pending reaction to the risperdone) low dose lithium. Needs my bun and creatine levels tested first, even to start at 300mg. That's fine with me. The last doc never checked that.
Bumped Emsam to 9mg. Told me to get a bracelet and reread the food stuff, but not to worry about it.
I am greatly relieved this guy can use low doses. He suggested the splitting of the risperdone. What do I know about dose? He says it can be very strong.
We'll see.
Thanks again for the support.
fb
Posted by Phillipa on August 4, 2011, at 19:38:05
In reply to Jeez, I did it. Added risperdone., posted by floatingbridge on August 4, 2011, at 18:58:11
FB write about your experience today. Greg read also. Years ago I was given a sample of resperidol and Greg very supportive at time. And at the time anxiety horrible. So he offered to take the resperidol with me. We each took .125mg and felt hungover when woke the next am. Last we took it. Too strong for me. And EMSAM up to 9mg that's two changes at once so how will you know what's doing what? Doc then said I didn't need it from the reaction. Think same thing happened with next door neighbor. One dose that was it and she takes 6mg of xanax a day Love Phillipa
Posted by SLS on August 8, 2011, at 9:48:09
In reply to Jeez, I did it. Added risperdone., posted by floatingbridge on August 4, 2011, at 18:58:11
Risperidone might help you. I hope so. However, recent studies report that this drug is ineffective in the treatment of PTSD. It may be that your doctor has had success with it. The good thing is that if it doesn't work, chances are that you won't be taking it beyond two weeks.
Don't be discouraged if risperidone doen't work. I'm sure there are alternatives to pursue.
- Scott
Posted by SLS on August 8, 2011, at 9:53:59
In reply to Re: Jeez, I did it. Added risperdone. » floatingbridge, posted by SLS on August 8, 2011, at 9:48:09
> Risperidone might help you. I hope so. However, recent studies report that this drug is ineffective in the treatment of PTSD. It may be that your doctor has had success with it. The good thing is that if it doesn't work, chances are that you won't be taking it beyond two weeks.
>
> Don't be discouraged if risperidone doen't work. I'm sure there are alternatives to pursue.
>
> http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/08/02/risperdal-ineffective-for-treatment-of-ptsd-in-veterans/28302.html
Nardil !!!Phenelzine (Nardil)
Possible Benefits. Useful for panic disorder, OCD, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, PTSD, as well as depression. In one study, using between 45 mg to 90 mg per day, phenelzine produced significant panic symptom reduction in more than 75% of patients. complete control of the panic attacks usually takes 4 to 6 weeks of treatment. Current research also suggests it can be beneficial for social phobia.
http://www.anxieties.com/panic_medication_MOIs.php
- Scott
Posted by floatingbridge on August 8, 2011, at 11:34:00
In reply to Re: Jeez, I did it. Added risperdone., posted by SLS on August 8, 2011, at 9:53:59
Thanks Scott. I did post the JAMA study on babble, and as you may recall, much of the real technical language sounds like a word salad to me (that's about my ability, not the format's failure). I recall that it worked for a tiny subset which was far lower than researchers needed to add risperdone to treatment protocol.
Another med has been mentioned that I have not heard of yet, sulpheride (sp!). I want to look into that as well.
Nardil is still in the wings. The new doctor is very open to that--he brought it up, but considering he had just met me, and the stuttering mess I was, he had really no idea if I would uphold the diet restrictions. So we started where I had left off
with Emsam. I am now at 9mg. We'll see. Some things are
not budging yet. However, I am aware of folks on Nardil that still experience the affective instabiliy I do (now that I know what the heck to call that pernicious symptom).I actually haven't read the second link you posted here yet, so off to do that.
Thank you for the links. I appreciate it them greatly. And the encouragement! We all need some of that, don't we? Hope your Monday morning is going well, Sott.
fb
> > Risperidone might help you. I hope so. However, recent studies report that this drug is ineffective in the treatment of PTSD. It may be that your doctor has had success with it. The good thing is that if it doesn't work, chances are that you won't be taking it beyond two weeks.
> >
> > Don't be discouraged if risperidone doen't work. I'm sure there are alternatives to pursue.
> >
> > http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/08/02/risperdal-ineffective-for-treatment-of-ptsd-in-veterans/28302.html
>
>
> Nardil !!!
>
> Phenelzine (Nardil)
>
> Possible Benefits. Useful for panic disorder, OCD, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, PTSD, as well as depression. In one study, using between 45 mg to 90 mg per day, phenelzine produced significant panic symptom reduction in more than 75% of patients. complete control of the panic attacks usually takes 4 to 6 weeks of treatment. Current research also suggests it can be beneficial for social phobia.
>
> http://www.anxieties.com/panic_medication_MOIs.php
>
>
>
> http://www.google.com/#hl=en&cp=13&gs_id=1e&xhr=t&q=phenelzine+ptsd&pf=p&sclient=psy&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=phenelzine+pt&aq=0v&aqi=g-v1&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=661c0b1152c259b4&biw=1920&bih=879
>
>
> - Scott
Posted by floatingbridge on August 8, 2011, at 11:40:50
In reply to Re: Jeez, I did it. Added risperdone. » floatingbridge, posted by SLS on August 8, 2011, at 9:48:09
Wow, Scott. Your google search certainly brought up more than mine ever did.
Thanks!
BTW, I had considered parnate because of fatigue, and that shows up in some of the search engine hits. But it really doesn't target anxiety (in general) as well, according to general knowledge, does it?
Of course, this is a discussion for myself and my doctor.
I really wanted to give you a big second thanks for your google search. :-)
Posted by floatingbridge on August 11, 2011, at 17:31:32
In reply to Re: Cyclothymia, posted by floatingbridge on August 3, 2011, at 22:20:29
Well, I will discuss discontinuing risperdone tomorrow with the pdoc. I think I feel better at a reduced dose of .0625 per night.
Will discuss how long I should really trial it for, since I don't want to bounce around.
I am disappointed right now, but found a therapist. I also think I did pretty good stepping out of my comfort zone to try a new med. I'm not booting it out yet. But ten days hasn't
improved what I most sought to improve.I have read that risperdone is especially helpful for curbing aggression, the sort that can manifest as SI or outbursts. If anything, I internalize. So aggression is there, but not expressed. Just wondering if the mood stabilizer route is the way to go.
Who knows? Until tomorrow....
Posted by Dinah on August 11, 2011, at 19:03:16
In reply to Risperdone, posted by floatingbridge on August 11, 2011, at 17:31:32
I can't speak to whether or not Risperdal is helpful to you. Or whether or not the ramping up of your other medication is affecting your Risperdal response.
But I don't think the means of action is all that specific. It is used to curb irritability and aggression, but it doesn't work directly on those things. It works by reducing agitation. It's a tranquilizer. So that if you're anxious, the tranquilizing effects might be helpful. If you are irritable or aggressive, the tranquilizing affects might help that. If you're buzzy from hypomania, the tranquilizing effects might help that. If you self injure, AP's may help not by addressing some center in your mind that causes self injury, but by calming the agitation that often leads to it. If you obsess or have difficulty with clarity of thought, and those difficulties are caused by anxiety, agitation, or an excess level of adrenaline or cortisol, the tranquilizing effect can be helpful.
Not for nothing were the old AP's called major tranquilizers to the minor tranquilizers of benzos. To me it's a different sort of tranquil. Benzos tranquilize my brain and sometimes make me sleepy. They affect my thought and ability to work in a negative way. While AP's tranquilize more at a deep down physical level. Very helpful for someone who often feels overwhelmed by the stimulation of everyday life.
I don't think any medications work all that specifically. I always loved this link. I had a huge ah-hah reaction to it. I suddenly realized that the fact that SSRI's were helpful in so many disorders didn't mean that those disorders were necessarily caused by low serotonin. It was just that SSRI's had an effect on mood in many people, and that effect was helpful in a wide range of illnesses.
Posted by floatingbridge on August 11, 2011, at 20:21:18
In reply to Re: Risperdone » floatingbridge, posted by Dinah on August 11, 2011, at 19:03:16
Dinah, I am finding this a great link. How you ever found it, well thank you for sharing it. I am still reading it (it's suppertime around here), but I am inclined to say it would make a great sticky or whatever those things are called to this site.
The risperdone is tranquilizing. I read something I could almost understand about it potentiating the effects of benzodiazepines, as you had speculated earlier. This seemed a variant particular to, but not exclusively so, to
risperdone. I lost the link :-/. Unlike Abilify, there is nothing activating *for me* about it.My observations to date are increased crankiness and a deeper dip into my depressive/dysphoric state. The dip is not
all day. The crankiness, however, is. That could be explained in other ways such as I feel enough energy to be cranky, because I do have situations to be legitimately displeased with. GI issues seem more pronounced, but I seem to get *that* reaction to a slew of meds :-/. Again, in ten days time, it is difficult for me to be sure.Not being benzodiazepine naive, and being maintained on it for so long has difficulties, and one is feeling uncomfortable with another form of tranquilization.
I so appreciate your interest and the exchange of ideas on this. It has been enormously helpful, especially in kick starting and supporting a more observant stance on this. Medication trials can be so subjective, and I can become reactive to medications issues in general.
Thank you. Hope you are feeling well!
Posted by floatingbridge on August 12, 2011, at 1:11:18
In reply to Re: Risperdone » floatingbridge, posted by Dinah on August 11, 2011, at 19:03:16
From this link:
>
> http://simonsobo.com/a-reevaluation-of-the-relationship-between-psychiatric-diagnosis-and-chemical-imbalances4) The chemical imbalance model is not an important part of the basic (animal) research being done to test new potential anxiolytics and anti-depressant agents. The chemical imbalance model might or might not stimulate a search for agents that effect given neurotransmitters, but while there is
some research on genetically predisposed strains of mice and
guinea pigs, who may be wired differently, or chemically different, most research is done on ordinary animals that are environmentally stressed and then relieved of this stress by potentially useful chemical agents. For example, the FST (forced swimming test) tests the ability of drugs to postpone
hopelessness in animals forced to swim and swim and swim to remain alive. SSRIs do this. So do noradrenergic agents (which interestingly enough, are more likely to cause the rats
to try to climb out of their test environment (Detke 1995)). More pointedly, for the purposes of my argument, rat pups that are isolated from their mother and litter mates produce ultrasonic sounds that are indicative of stress. SSRIs reduce these sounds. (Oliver, 1994) Recently, there was excitement
that substance P antagonists may be useful psychotropic agents because they were shown to reduce stress induced vocalizations in guinea pig pups (once again separated from their moms). A drug successfully screened in this manner will
certainly not be presented to patients as a drug that is so good at shutting off distress that it even works to subdue what might be considered the prototypical model of terror, a
helpless infant separated from its mother. A patient told he is being given a drug that will kill his reaction to what has been upsetting him will approach that treatment very differently than a patient given a different spin, one told that his medication is treating the chemical imbalance that is causing his ailment. *Similarly, primary care physicians and psychiatrists will be far
more enamored with the thought that an agent has been
tested (and even better, FDA approved) for a specific DSM-IV
disorder if the mindset is that the effectiveness is due to fixing faulty synapses, rather than that the patient is being drugged out of his suffering.*
-----------At the end of the paragraph is the idea that the spin that correcting a scientifically backed chemical imbalance is more appealing providers than 'drugging' a patient out of suffering.
I still wonder at the impasse that occurred in my former treatment why I was literally labelled an addict, told that repeatedly that I was both physically and psychologically
dependent on medication (um, yeah, duh), and driven into a terrible withdrawal. A few months prior, I was getting pretty desperate. I said to my pdoc/therapist that I really needed something to 'hit me on the head' pharmaceutically speaking,
to just put me out of my misery was the occasion arose, and that I did not likembeing heavily medicated 24/7. He started when I said that. He was shaken, actually; I know because he would quote this back me every other session to convey his concern how unhealthy this impulse was, how wrong, how disturbed he was. I am given to colorful language, true, but it did speak of my absolute despair over my dysphoric peaks. How I had always been able to use Xanax (within the bounds
of my prescription) to provide what I tried to explain as my panic button.But I had never abused or acted out these impulses. I had endured and endured, and I was trying express in my clearest voice that I was losing the ability and strength to endure. Yet my behavior had not changed. I kept accurate med records, took my meds as prescribed and admitted my to-go panic button, Xanax, was losing efficacy. Week after week, I soldiered into his office for more therapy of worsening quality and no medical treatment plan in sight.
I read the above paragraph and thiought that I unknowing crossed a very deep moral/ethical boundary with this doctor by becoming desperate enough to say, in other words, *yes, drug me, please!*. Not by any action other than the expression of my deperation and pain. Instead of mercy, I received no quarter. Within about two months, I was screaming my head off and at the ER with what I now realize
as a double withdrawal of Xanax and Emsam.I feel as if I have been on a forced swim myself for a very long time. I have always found the practice of laboratory forced swims wincingly painful. It is odd that a science that talks so often of genetics actually uses a 'nurture' stressor often in their tests. I think the conditions of a forced swim are
a valuable corollary to real life for many folks, certainly for me. Some of us just break down. However, it may not be giving us the evidence of the kind genetics we are told or believing we are seeing.There are still such moral underpinnings to science that remain for some unexamined. A Puritanicalism I had not seen before.... A squeamishness when encountering suffering.
Posted by Dinah on August 12, 2011, at 7:56:45
In reply to Re: Risperdone » Dinah, posted by floatingbridge on August 11, 2011, at 20:21:18
I got the link from Babble. Not long after I came here, I think.
It's hard to understand how some medical dependence is addiction and how some is not considered a bad thing. I'm not sure how I'd function without my Provigil in the morning, and there for a while I thought I'd soon need more just to stay awake. Only other changes in my health woke me up enough to manage on what I'm prescribed. And it was physiological h*ll to wean myself from Luvox. Never again do I want to feel brain zaps.
Maybe the difference is how much the doctors see the drugs as having a negative impact on our lives? Or which medications bring a "high"? I've never quite understand that concept as I don't at all like the sensation that comes from large amounts of alchohol or pain meds. They make me feel sick and dizzy. But I daresay some meds are seen in a negative light by doctors.
Wishing to medicate away pain seems natural enough to me, and no cause for disapproval. The pain of agitation and anxiety can be overwhelming to those of us who are overly subject to it.
To some extent I blame the pdoc from h*ll for my worsening of symptoms. I was always anxious and prone to agitation, but I think those years on Luvox really did have a kindling effect, and lowered my threshold for reaction.
Posted by SLS on August 12, 2011, at 8:21:27
In reply to Re: Risperdone » floatingbridge, posted by Dinah on August 12, 2011, at 7:56:45
Hi Dinah.
> To some extent I blame the pdoc from h*ll for my worsening of symptoms. I was always anxious and prone to agitation, but I think those years on Luvox really did have a kindling effect, and lowered my threshold for reaction.Excellent insights!
I hope you continue to visit the Medication board from time to time. Your knowledge and understanding are extremely valuable.
- Scott
Posted by Dinah on August 12, 2011, at 12:38:46
In reply to Re: Risperdone » Dinah, posted by SLS on August 12, 2011, at 8:21:27
Thanks, Scott. :)
But I must confess that what little I know about meds, I mostly learned here, from posters like you.
Posted by Phillipa on August 12, 2011, at 19:22:36
In reply to Re: Risperdone » SLS, posted by Dinah on August 12, 2011, at 12:38:46
Dinah didn't realize you had used luvox you mention difficulty weaning off. How high a dose did you get to? And did it work for you at all. Thanks Phillipa
Posted by hyperfocus on August 16, 2011, at 3:35:04
In reply to Compelled to quote.... » Dinah, posted by floatingbridge on August 12, 2011, at 1:11:18
The Sabo article starts with a valid premise - that alleviating chronic psychic pain can produce significant resolution of many psychiatric disorders - but it seems to fall in the same mindset of other doctors saying that psych meds somehow produce a euthymic effect as simple and uncomplicated as painkillers. The same mindset that sees what psychiatric patients go through as merely the same life circumstances and stressors that everyone goes through. There are a lot of people diagnosed with depression who could benefit from psychotherapy and CBT and lifestyle changes and better support and better coping skills, et.al. and should not be on psych meds. But what about the many, many people with complex syndromes and hard biological deficits? I don't understand psychiatrists who have so little empathy for the raw pain and suffering their patients go through, and treat them like difficult weak children who need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. It's as if you need to be running around naked threatening people with a knife or a bowl of Jello or something, to get psychiatrists to realize that what we have is every bit as real a disease as cancer. The brains of people with MI are demonstrably different and damaged and produced severely reduced emotional and cognitive functioning. What's so hard about understanding this?
fb I'm glad you found another doctor. Mental illness has nothing to do with personality or life circumstances. You can enjoy people's company and have crippling social phobia. You can be an eternal optimist and have debilitating depression. If your old doc has ideas about you seeking some sort of drug-induced emotional high or tranquilized calm, then it's good you moved on. There is NOTHING wrong about seeking meds to get better. If they want to they can withdraw all cancer drug therapy and tell the patients to take Vitamin C and diet and exercise and go for a vacation and a 2nd honeymoon and see how far that gets them.
Posted by Dinah on August 16, 2011, at 5:03:25
In reply to Re: Compelled to quote.... » floatingbridge, posted by hyperfocus on August 16, 2011, at 3:35:04
It's been a while since I read the article, so I'm not sure if he implies that. But what I took from the article was sort of a refutation of what some people were saying about SSRI's at the time. That if you responded well to an SSRI, it meant that you were low on serotonin, or had some specific underlying condition. Or that such and such condition was caused by low serotonin.
I don't think the fact that the drug has a universal way of acting means that the patient doesn't have a real biological condition. Aspirin or prednisone work on a wide range of illnesses by reducing pain and inflammation. It isn't correcting some natural deficit of aspirin or steroids. It's just that many, but not all, medical conditions respond well to the conditions aspirin and prednisone bring about in the body.
It's the same reason AP's are helpful for more than psychosis. They have a tranquilizing effect. Many mental illnesses respond well to a tranquilizing effect whether or not there is an imbalance of dopamine.
I just took from it that psych meds might not be as specific as they are sometimes thought to be. That doesn't mean they are used to treat real conditions. But then I haven't read the article in full for some time.
Posted by floatingbridge on August 16, 2011, at 8:24:52
In reply to Re: Compelled to quote.... » floatingbridge, posted by hyperfocus on August 16, 2011, at 3:35:04
You heard about the jello...?
Go forward in thread:
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Script revised: February 4, 2008
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