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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 17 of 17. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Phillipa on March 24, 2007, at 22:21:57
Hi this isn't meant to sound mean or cause any trouble. I'm just going to say what I've noticed with me. Remember it's me no one else. As most people problems in childhood no ones is perfect time to move on accept and move on. So my family as has anxiety disorder. So the only meds available are benzos . So whole family on them. As each or I will stick to myself found interests and got education and did more my anxiety lessened so I naturally on my own cut down on benzos. Did really think about them. Raising three kids going to school and owning a businsess is fun but busy no time to dwell. So I graduate, divorce, move on my own, to a different state that I loved and found many wonderful RN jobs and worked happily for years. I drank 4-6 beers a night and sometimes took a low dose .25 of xanax and slept well and wokeup refreshed and feeling great. And did my chores, ran, went to work usually 3-ll. Then the move to NC and these wierd for me SSRI's came out at the same time my thyroid was going and I got caught in the ad frenzy I call it. None of them worked for me. I had maintained my feeling of feeling really good with Shaklee vitamins and my routine. Also ground my own coffee beans and could drink coffee until the dreaded ad's and then everything went poof away. I had to take higher doses of benzos to get rid of a side effect of an ad that never worked even after months. Boy was I stupid I left my Shaklee and my beer and turned to the pdocs meds. I feel I've lost ll years to them. Now with the new pdoc who says my problem is physical and related to thyroid I will begin to put my life back together as I'm getting old now and want to nurse again at the thing in life I love the best.
Now you know I'm older than most of you but in all my high school days not one person did I ever hear of taking a med if they oh broke up with their boyfriend and felt sad as this is not true depression. And if you were scared about something did you take a pill? No you just did it. Not one person I knew during childhood ,highschool or after ever harmed themselves or was on a medication. On weekends we drank some beer, danced, made-out and had fun. So what has happened to society. Do we expect too much? Does the water really have prozac in it? Why are kids so much larger and people? Why because we use chemicals and I feel talking to people and having fun is the key to mental health. Now don't get me wrong my own ex-father-in-law is classis manic depression so I'm not saying there are not real illnesses. But it seems to me they have escalated to the point that everyone I talk with neighbors sales people in stores is on some psych med. Any ideas why? Do the pdocs take the meds or maybe relax with a nice bottle of wine at night? Love Phillipa
Posted by football on March 24, 2007, at 22:49:44
In reply to Mind Is Awakening After ll Years, posted by Phillipa on March 24, 2007, at 22:21:57
Maybe not everyone needs meds, but I absolutely do.
Posted by Phillipa on March 24, 2007, at 22:57:27
In reply to Mind Is Awakening After ll Years, posted by Phillipa on March 24, 2007, at 22:21:57
You know I hope this is my rant and anger that if you look at heart disease, cancer, Aids, Diabetes, so many new meds and new advances to truly help people and what do we get more of the same. And another theory of mine is the Baby Boomers and all the SS payments the government doesn't want to make. And did you know that at least here nursing homes if they are lucky have a nursing supervisor but the ones doing the patient care are not nurses for most proceedures. And the doctors offices unless a finetuned speciality next time that person puts the automatic blood pressure cuff on you that are inaccurate a good amount of the time ask what their title is. Usually its a tech. And try the BP machines youself in a pharmacy . Take your BP a few times and see how many times it's close to the last reading. For some reason I am furious tonight. Sorry if making or triggering anyone else. You know I'm not usually like this. Love Phillipa
Posted by Phillipa on March 24, 2007, at 22:58:50
In reply to Re: Mind Is Awakening After ll Years, posted by football on March 24, 2007, at 22:49:44
Football absolutely. Remember I said this was me. As many people do need meds. Love Phillipa
Posted by football on March 24, 2007, at 23:02:50
In reply to Re: Mind Is Awakening After ll Years, posted by Phillipa on March 24, 2007, at 22:57:27
Life sucks and is unfair most of the time. If this rant helps you feel a little better then rant on!
Posted by Phillipa on March 24, 2007, at 23:11:32
In reply to Re: Mind Is Awakening After ll Years, posted by football on March 24, 2007, at 23:02:50
You rant too football we just have to keep it within the civility guidelines. Love Phillipa
Posted by stargazer on March 24, 2007, at 23:44:06
In reply to Re: Mind Is Awakening After ll Years » football, posted by Phillipa on March 24, 2007, at 23:11:32
Ranting may be just what you need, all that negativity stuffed down from years of trying to control your emotions and anxiety with medication. You know what, as bad as anxiety is, it will not kill you, neither will depression unless you kill yourself, but the symptoms themselves will not kill you. But interestingly enough, the medications we take can kill us, and people will choose medicaitons every time because society has a "cure" or thinks it does for anything that makes you (not you personally) uncomfortable. I think no one knows how to be uncomfortable with themselves anymore.
I'm starting to rant myself, but you know I can rant from time to time, it's better than popping a pill each and every time we get angry. At least here we won't offend as much as we do at home. You know how that can really get us into trouble out there.
Be well Phillipa....Stargazer
Posted by madeline on March 25, 2007, at 6:14:46
In reply to Re: Mind Is Awakening After ll Years, posted by stargazer on March 24, 2007, at 23:44:06
You're absolutely right that the symptoms of anxiety and depression will not kill you.
But man, they certainly can make your life not worth living.
Maddie
Posted by Phillipa on March 25, 2007, at 9:51:41
In reply to Re: Mind Is Awakening After ll Years » stargazer, posted by madeline on March 25, 2007, at 6:14:46
Stargazer and Maddie want to join my rant? If we keep it civil we can not have to pop a pill and yesterday I didn't take the full dose. Took a highter dose at bedtime and will take half during the day to see if that helps. It just makes me angry to see perfectly normal (yeah that word) popping pills and thinking nowthing of it. And the worst is the opiated addict across the streat taking from her Parents and geting methadone and then all other meds free and she feels great and all these family members swarming around her with attention and gifts. I want a remission too haven't I earned One? Love Phillipa
Posted by med_empowered on March 25, 2007, at 10:13:32
In reply to Mind Is Awakening After ll Years, posted by Phillipa on March 24, 2007, at 22:21:57
I read an article about this...about how lots of things in our lives (sadness, shyness, indigestion, so on and so forth) have been turned into "diseases" or "conditions," mostly by companies that stand to make $$$ peddling profits for said "conditions". With psychiatry, I don't know what to think. Yes, meds can help. But on SO MANY PEOPLE? For SO MANY THINGS? What about..therapy or a little bit of valium, or just being there for someone without labelling them?? And yes, meds help, but when you spray so many meds onto so many people for so many various "conditions," you often end up in a situation where the cure is worse than the disease. So, yeah, some people (not a whole lot) respond to antidepressants, but a lot of people will also get agitated, turn psychotic/manic, so on and so forth.
Personally, my views are mixed. I used to be super-pro-med, b/c I've had severe depression, and it felt like a disease, something that should be treated aggressively. Then...I switched, to super-anti-meds, b/c of all the problems with psychiatry. Now? Now I don't know. I'm happier off meds, I have friends doing well on Lamictal, and I've thrown away my absolutist yes/no, good/bad view on the whole thing.
I do think that, with regards to emotional/existential issues, turning them into "medical conditions" kind of turns us into children. We are dependent upon docs and drug companies to feel better, b/c no one is encouraging the resilience we'd need to do it ourselves (or with fewer meds). But then...does being dependent on meds for happiness make one weak, child like? Not necessarily. There's an assertive aspect to it, a sort of "I'm doing this b/c I REFUSE to live like this anymore" element to choosing to be on meds. Now, having meds forced on you...that's just wrong.
But I think you're right, Phillipa; we're being encouraged to see all this things that happen, that should happen, in the course of our lives as "diseases" and "conditions". There are other ways to look at them, which I think could be more helpful. I'm trying to look at things in my life either as obstacles to be overcome (when I'm feeling more bellicose) or important lessons, or both. That's helped, that and saying "yes" to my anxiety and weird emotions.What does everyone else think? Like I said, I tend to vacillate...sometimes it seems awesome (better living through chemistry), other times I feel as if we're being turned into immature "Brave New World" style creatures, giving up liberty and depth in exchange for shallow happiness.
Posted by Iansf on March 25, 2007, at 14:14:17
In reply to Mind Is Awakening After ll Years, posted by Phillipa on March 24, 2007, at 22:21:57
Of course few people were on meds when you were in high school, because psych medications generally weren't available and to the extent they were available, they generally weren't prescribed. But what was available? Cigarettes. Close to two-thirds of the U.S. adulat population used to smoke. Now it's less than one quarter. So don't kid yourself that people didn't use to medicate for anxiety. They medicated big time, but they called it smoking rather than taking drugs.
Posted by Phillipa on March 25, 2007, at 18:38:01
In reply to Re: Mind Is Awakening After ll Years » Phillipa, posted by Iansf on March 25, 2007, at 14:14:17
Smoking has always wired me so I only smoked if drinking beer on the weekends as that's what we did in high school. Love Phillipa
Posted by jonathanupr on March 26, 2007, at 0:47:30
In reply to Re: Mind Is Awakening After ll Years » Iansf, posted by Phillipa on March 25, 2007, at 18:38:01
interesting that I actually got on the web tonight and checked this site a bit. Got to this post and it fits a bit with what I'm going through right now.
for the last 2 1/2 years I've been on an SSRI to supposedly take down the extremities of the side effects produced by a CNS Stim I take for an ADHD and lack of energy issue/problem. Though, ever since I've been on the SSRI i've just been an automaton seeking security through the ways of society and not through the spiritual ways along the lines I had been years previously. I just lost all desire to constantly do the creative writing and hang with other people that share similar issues and interests that I do. I turned recluse big time, and kinda went my own way on getting things done. Spirituality become very little of the spright side, gloomy to say the least. Rain showers did little to me, as they used to produce a tumultuousity of refreshing airs for me.
I finally found my way to a CNS stim that exacerbated my OCD very little, and have been weaning down on the SSRI to a great extent, as well as weaning down off the benzo I was taking for the sleep disorderment caused by the SSRI. Thus far I feel like the soul in me is coming back to life. I just created a huge life for myself while on the meds the past 2 1/2 years, a good life, but one that is so so different than what I was leading the years prior.
I was doing some construction work on a house project tonight and it kinda came to mind that spirituality seems to rest so much on our emotions and experiences. SSRI the pill that killed my spirituality! I can't wait to wean off of this stuff for good. It's a fresh of breath air even though the withdrawals put out that sign of beware.
I'll definitely be sticking with a few meds, CNS stim for one, and maybe another at a low dose. Lesson I learned: some meds seem good, but in the end can take more than they give....and other meds can really just be beneficial in giving more than they take. Journey is to find which ones.
Posted by bulldog2 on March 26, 2007, at 9:23:24
In reply to Re: Mind Is Awakening After ll Years, posted by jonathanupr on March 26, 2007, at 0:47:30
To set one thing straight anxiety can kill. It leads to high blood pressure and has many bad effects on the body. I also believe it depletes the brain and can lead to depression.
People have always suffered from mental maladies. As noted above people smoke and drink and some take illegal drugs for their moods. This has always been so. Narcotics used to be sold over the counter in America before all the drug laws. I read a book that estimated in the early 1900's over a million people medicated with over the counter opiates. Because they were cheap these people did not look like addicts and were just like any other middle class citizens. They were productive but needed their opiates.
Now we enter the modern era. These drugs are illegal and we're told smoking and drinking are bad. I'm not so sure moderate social drinking is so bad. Read about some guy who died at 116 and he had a drink of vodka every day. The medical establishment has determined that their medicines are far better for our mental conditions. SSRIS are given out like candy for depression, anxiety, ptsd etc. Usually they cause so much anxiety you need benzos or more if your already on them. Pharmaceutical companies push these drugs because there's big money in them.
So here we are in the year 2007. Are these new psychotropic meds really better than the opiates and the cocaine laced coca cola of the early 1900;s. Or a couple beers after work to kill the tension?
Posted by Llurpsie_Noodle on March 28, 2007, at 13:55:14
In reply to Re: Mind Is Awakening After ll Years, posted by bulldog2 on March 26, 2007, at 9:23:24
alcohol can worsen depression, but it's also a wonderful anxiolytic. It's how my family survives "get togethers".
I like this rant.
RANT ON!
Posted by bulldog2 on March 28, 2007, at 15:09:11
In reply to Re: Mind Is Awakening After ll Years » bulldog2, posted by Llurpsie_Noodle on March 28, 2007, at 13:55:14
> alcohol can worsen depression, but it's also a wonderful anxiolytic. It's how my family survives "get togethers".
>
> I like this rant.
>
> RANT ON!
>Sounds like my family. I make sure there's plenty of beer for family get togethers.
Posted by DStupid on March 30, 2007, at 20:18:02
In reply to Re: Mind Is Awakening After ll Years, posted by Phillipa on March 24, 2007, at 22:57:27
Good ideas, Phillipa. I think the root of the problem is money. The popularilization of psychiatric meds is based in the U.S. government's refusal to fund mental-health institutions and related facilities. We all have seen homeless mental patients who have been discharged without any provision for their upkeep. (A recent analogous case in the U.S. is a hospital discharge of a paraplegic on a wheelchair, to the skid row.) Institutionalized mental patients are an extreme case, however. There are millions of those, like me, who are uncomfortable with the present life as the society presents it to them: long hours at work, high prices, few places of entertainment, no health insurance if unemployed, low social security benefits on retirement, lack of adequate medical care, disrespect by the aristocrat (wealthy, or professionals like doctors). Such people can't be institutionalized; the legal commitment standards aren't met; and the government doesn't want to pay for their stay even if do qualify for commitment. So what's an easy answer for the government? Let those people be drugged with the psychiatric meds. Let them be chemically happy -- not as people -- so that they can continue functioning as units of society. No longer is the government waiting for people to become mental ill before treating them. No, it's nipped in the bud. The government assumes everyone to be mentally ill, and therefore makes available preventive treatment to everyone. More than just makes available, through the Federal Drug Administration, it lures them into an easy fix: Ambien or Lunesta for a sleep disturbance, Prozac or its siblings for a slight depression, Klonopin for a slight worry.
We're living under a slogan: You got a problem, take a pill and don't bother us.
This is the end of the thread.
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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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