Why Meds, What do You think they Do, Are you Progressiong, Regressing or Idling.

[Ponder]

1 ... Why Medication?


Did you make the decision or did someone else make it for you?
Rock Bottom?
Peer group pressure?
You know of someone it's working for and wanted to try yourself?
Societal Pressure. Court Order - Hospital recommendation right down to Fashionable





2 ... What do You think they Do?


Do you know much about the medication you on?
What other names does it go by?
What does it do to the Brain?
What side affects do YOU experience?
What changes have you notices over time?
How has it effected your body?
Do you notice a change in Moods?
How long should I be on them before making any judgment?




3 ... Are you Progressing, Regressing or Idling.


How did your body and mind set feel when you first started?
Have any side affects and or your emotional state changed after the initial 6 to 8 week period?
If you have been on the a year now ... are you feeling Heaps Better than when you first started?
Do you find yourself questioning your meds, after telling others how great they have been for you?
How many Off days do you have?
How is you physical condition to whence you first started?
Is your physical condition impacting on your quality of life?
Do you drink and eat things that conflict with your medication?



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I'm curious ... How are you really going? Perhaps you would like to add some questions or even change the ones I pose; or even talk about why the questions, even better Answer the Questions :). (I have to go do some things but will be back to explain why I think these need to be asked of ourselves and why some of the attitudes on medication seem to be missing the point ... will explain later. I don't expect many people to participate but would appreciate it very much ... it's meant to be a personal exploration more than a prescription for others) Just thought it would be a good exercise for one self is all.

[petrified]

Sorry..........,..........................

[Ponder]

(would you consider taking the quote out to keep the thread looking a little cleaner?) No one else here yet. You are welcome and thanks for participating. :-)

[Ponder]

Moving along ... So why the questions.

Guess I'm struggling with the lack of information doctors will often hold back on when prescribing meds, yet the irony is that great emphasis is to seek help from these professionals in the first place. Then there are the users who typically fall victim to talking about medication like the differences when comparing spirits to beer or even like a movie review. Many of the questions posed in forums like seem to reflect such attitudes. Hmmmm, could someone please give me a happy story about X medication. If I take Y, will that help me find myself. Or even a post on how to mix medication with drinking. It's all out there.

COMPLACENCY ... that's the context I guess I am aiming this at. Of course one has to seek professional help when dealing in such medications. These medications can be "dangerous!"

I came to know Pristq like most antidepressants I have had dealings with, because of my suicidal thoughts and actions. At the Pristq website the first thing they do is give the following information.

Suicidality and Antidepressant Drugs

".....Antidepressants increased the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children, teens, and young adults. ..."

Then it goes on to discus the possibility in exacerbating other conditions:

PRISTIQ may cause or worsen some conditions, so tell your healthcare professional about all the medical conditions you have or had including:

High blood pressure, which should be controlled before starting PRISTIQ and monitored regularly
Heart problems, high cholesterol or triglyceride levels, a history of stroke, glaucoma or increased eye pressure, kidney or liver problems, or low sodium levels in your blood
Bleeding problems
Depression, suicidal thoughts or behavior
Mania, bipolar disorder, or seizures or convulsions
Nursing, pregnancy, or plans to become pregnant
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http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/laughing/hysterical-laughter-smiley-emoticon.gif (http://www.sherv.net/emoticons.html) Seriously, you can't blame people for getting a little confused there. "Now Son ... I'm going to prescribe this antidepressant; however, be warned, that it may actually cause or worsen depression and suicidal behavior, so you be sure and check back with me now. OK? http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/laughing/laughing-hysterically-smiley-emoticon.gif (http://www.sherv.net/emoticons.html)

OK ... Lets get the context right. Clearly this medication I am on, is not for children or young adults ... I am 45. Still though ... further down the list on that website, it does warn on many more serious issues that may arise. These medications are not to be taken lightly, as they seemingly are. Certainly not something you can base on someone else's happy or tragic story. Obviously the medications react differently for different people and the only way to know if it's going to work is to trial it yourself and that's that. I can understand for those people who only rely on medicine and are struggling to find something that works, that of course it's only natural to wind up asking others how they fared with x,y & z. It may comfort them to know and also they may even learn something like how many drinks you can have before popping this or that ... who knows, they may even find out how not to mix different pills without foaming up their lungs. That was a big surprise one of my mates told me about. He pops a lot of pills and is a walking chemist. I was concerned for him at first, but he has explained well to me, why he takes them. Mostly for pain.

Doctors are actually paid a tiny percentage (commission) for how many times they prescribe a certain brand ... Go Figure! But lets not go down that track ... Medications do work and I know that now "personally"; however ... the amount of emphasis I place on that as opposed to dealing with life in general is still quite a struggle. It usually is when we get a free ride ... but is it a free ride? How much compensation does one have to make in order to be on these meds.

I'll think on that later. I'll see if I can come up with more "interesting" stuff! Time to go play my computer games.

[tailspin]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for such a thought-provoking post. There's quite a lot to digest here! But they are all really good questions. Not sure how much of this I can address in one go, plus I need to think more about some of it.

At any rate, I can relate to your ambivalence about psychiatric meds. What gets me most is that no one really understands how they work. Or why they work. Or why they don't work. As the case may be. Even psychiatrists, when they are honest, will tell you this. They just don't know why some people respond favorably to psych meds and why others don't. Of course there are theories about serotonin etc etc, but the truth is, anti-depressants don't work for everyone and nobody knows why. So we have all pretty much come to accept that starting psychiatric medication is a trial and error process. But if you really stop and think about it, it's a pretty sobering thought to realize that it's basically a crapshoot. I think that studies have shown that anti-depressants typically work about 50% of the time. Yet I was reading that they are now the most prescribed drug in America. That is staggering, considering they only help around 50% of people who take them and that no one, including psychiatrists, understand how they work!! And there is also a a HUGE amount of mis-information about anti-depressants out there. In this country, medication is advertized on TV, including anti-depressants. I have always found this really disturbing. But not surprising. The ads are kind of absurd because the first half paints this picture of someone suffering from depression who starts taking the meds and then feels happy again, and the second half of the ad lists all the possible - really hideous - side effects of the medication, which reads like a nightmare.

Anyhow, I'm going off on a tangent now. Just wanted to say that I totally hear you on the points you made in your second post about the ironies and misinformation surrounding psych meds.

Also, I have to add that I do take psychiatric medication!! I take Lexapro right now, but over the years I've taken most of the other types of anti-depressants too (SSRI's, SNRI's and tricyclics).

Re your 3 questions: Why, How and Now What, to the first question, why, I can say "rock bottom". After resisting meds for a long time, my depression, anxiety and panic attacks got so bad that I was prepared to try anything. I see a psychiatrist for my medication and I like him a lot. Largely because he is honest. Yet he is also comforting.

To your question, what do I think my medication does etc, I think I do have a pretty good understanding of it. At least as far as anyone is able to understand the workings of an anti-depressant. It has helped me with my panic attacks. But I still have GAD and depression off and on. I don't have any really bad side effects from the medication.

I've sort of answered your third question with the second question: the medication helps, but I still have issues. Honestly, the main reason I stay on my medication is because, when I came off it, I ended up back in square one, or even a bit worse than square one. I don't know if that is because the medication screwed with my brain chemistry or what. At any rate, I continue to take it.

I have also had a lot of therapy over the years and that has been helpful too. Medication is only part of it. Definitely not the whole thing. The other part, and the missing piece for me, I suspect, likely has to do with my own willingness (or lack of) to make some changes in my life. I know I need to make more effort to work on my attitude and to make some changes. That part is a work in progress!!

Thanks again for an interesting discussion!

[Ponder]

Thanks heaps Tailspin, I am trying very much to keep it together here. The whole mess is quite sad, and I "really" appreciated someone that can identify with what I am trying to say. I don't think we should ignore discussing something because it's not positive or a happy experience. I am quite depressed when I think how easily people take to the meds without really understanding what they are through no fault of their own. Regardless of what country you live in, the system in regards to psychological medicine is as much a mess as is the number of sufferers of mental illness which seems to be progressively getting worse at a rate faster than any political utopian prediction of increased economic happenings that is destined to bring about global enrichment. No matter how many fast talking well meaning people spreading such messages on the TED talks. Don't get me wrong ... I understand there are indeed many realists out there, trying hard to down size the materialistic way of consuming - but just like the add you described, and the campaigns I mentioned regarding the sale of poison and resulting costs ............

Huge mess ... I think people are getting sick of the adds and can see the irony and it's contributing to the growing numbers of prescribed medications. I'm sure of it! The more accepted it becomes, the worse its going to get. Seems like all the Zen, Herbal & eastern philosophies have been highjacked by the more able, the wealthier and turned into some kind of new age commodity that has a fashion all of it's own. I try very hard here to wrestle my own Bias with the constant "imprinting of missing out because I don't have". The concept itself, so often sold like so, creates the walls of indifference which in turn develops into conflict, between otherwise unnecessary stereotypes. GGGrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

If only we could just be more accepting of each other ... I really needed to get some of that off my chest.
__________________________________________________ _______

Thanks again for answering some of those questions. GAD is a really crappy name ... I don't find anything generalized about it, however the term is so typical. Almost like the Too Hard Basket. Damn I need to cheer up, & I know it. Why is it we focus SO MUCH on the fear of fear ... the whole Self DXing that goes on. I'm struggling with all the queries of I must have this or that, Do I have (and the weird names they are coming up with these day) ......... To be true Tailspin ... that's also another reason I'm kind of asking people to question themselves ... regardless of really wanting any answers. I mean you seem to know what rock bottom is ... It's just SOOOOO damn frustrating at seeing individuals who have not even started in life hitting the bricks and thrown into the mix with the settings how that are. I feel hard for that avenue and it makes my blood boils at times ... the cost so that others may live as they do.

I went off mine sometime back and slipped hard ... atm I am suffering with trying to get more active ... as I really should be ... all of us should be. Food too ...

I'm defiantly getting what Physco Therapy I can get too. That stuff I am trying to get out now (and sorry if its considered a trigger) spins so rapidly in my head when I am not focusing on the light. I do the walking in circle thing, head low no eye contact ... already said some of that I know ... but all that which I just said, broils and broils and I can't think where I am going or what I am doing and escalate from there. That's why I am on that quinapine ...

I'm still struggling with the tiredness from that, and in a certain way get down thinking on a similar irony with the antidepressant I take for the other issues ... Oh Boy ... BUT ............ I go write quickly now on something positive that happened today.

I can still do that ... Your definitely a fighter and you also have an excellent ear! http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/smile/fake-smile-smiley-emoticon.gif (http://www.sherv.net/emoticons.html)

[Perses]

1 ... Why Medication?

No, I made the decision myself. Two reasons: one, I had discerned a destructive pattern of anxiety that was derailing my life. Second, my sister is bipolar and the first times she was put on lithium at age 18, she went from psychotic to functioning in three weeks, so I had seen first hand, miraculously, the power of modern medicine to treat an illness that had my sister lived earlier would have probably killed her, or left her imprisoned in a mental institution.

I asked to be put on anti-anxiety medication initially for very specific events: travelling to India on a year-abroad program (was given a two weeks' supply of Xanax to help me get over any initial anxiety that might cause me to book a ticket home. (I had no side effects going on or off Xanax, which indeed I stopped early because I didn't feel I needed it.) I spoke with my sister's psychiatrist and he prescribed this medication for me. I took classes at a university prior to going to graduate school, and, again, concerned that I might derail my prospects, I went to the mental health clinic and spoke with a psychiatrist. Same medication, no problems. When I went to graduate school, I spoke to yet a third psychiatrist, as well as a therapist, and was prescribed clonazepam on a long-term basis as well as a Xanax for night time help. Experienced no side effects. A year later, concerned that I was also depressed as well, I was put on sertraline. The only side effect was that I started to feel hungry. Two years later, I decided that really I didn't need the Xanax and just stopped taking it cold. A couple of nights of some sleeplessness, but other than that, no problems.





2 ... What do You think they Do?

Yes, I know something of what clonazepam and sertraline do. Yes, I know the generic and brand names for these drugs. I know that clonazepam is used to increase GABA and I know that sertraline is a serotonin booster. I experience no side-effects. In fact the drug that turned out to have the worst side effects was metformin, a diabetes drug with a fascinating history. I felt horrible for about 4 weeks, all sorts of intestinal trouble, but I had know that would happen and that these effects would pass.

Let me just answer the rest of your questions by giving you my history. So, I've been on 1mg clonazepam and 100mgs sertraline for 18 years, during which time I have gotten a PhD, studied for a year in the Middle East, had several jobs in teaching and doing administrative work. I swam, studied ballet, ran, performed. In other words, my medications never gave me any trouble, but did help me. I am also not one to self-medicate. I don't drink, have never smoked cigarettes or weed. Never ever took recreational drugs. And, diabetes runs in my family, but I am very well-disciplined and so have kept my blood sugars near normal levels by not eating carbs.

This summer I went off all drugs for about 8 weeks. I had just graduated, moved back to my home city, planned on doing nothing for a while, and since I didn't yet know what doctor I would use, I just arbitrarily decided to see how things would go. Really, it was pretty stressful moving back home, but I didn't have any side effects coming off the drugs. However, when I started to look for a job, my anxiety shot through the roof. It was only in attempting to get restarted on my meds that I discovered that benzos could be addictive. In other words, not knowing that I would have trouble coming off of them, I really didn't.

I went back on sertraline first, but that didn't help with my anxiety, so I saw the psychiatrist and am on clonazepam again. I also see a therapist. So, the side-effects of anxiety are a thousand times more horrifying than the side-effects of the drugs. Second, no drug is such a miracle worker that one doesn't still feel depressed or anxious. Drugs don't cure one's anxiety, they just help one manage it. Second, I am of the firm belief that one must go see a psychiatrist. I trust the psychiatrist to be knowledgeable about drug interactions and what drugs can or can't do.


I am progressing through life, and, more importantly, I have helped others progress through their lives. :)

[Ponder]

Thanks for taking the time to share that Perses. Clearly you have a good grasp. I am in the middle of a huge move myself and have planned well ahead for it this time. You have given good examples and your phd clearly shows in your concise witting.

It's good that you have been able to help others. Feels good and can be rather healing as well, although it's kind of a skill that needs devolving in itself. Lot's of well intending people out there to be sure ... I just don't like it when either religion or money comes into it.

I'm going to continue focusing on what I see here ... with regards to getting psychiatric help, In Australia here as good as the welfare system is and as happy as we should be about that ... if you can't get a private one, you typically have to be at a stage where are are harming yourself or others. That's the truth of it here. We are becoming more like America everyday. I speak for the unemployed and uneducated. I need to be clear on that. For those that are scorned due to their non contribution, welfare mentality and mental retardation. Join any social media facebook page with a local newspaper and one can clearly see such bigotry runny rampant in western nations. The so called economically well to do and have societies.

Seems like the Oprah Winfrey crowed are getting their does of physco therapy and quite a good quality of it, while the other half get theirs climbing the walls of some privatized prison tucked under the hills outback.
__________________________________________________ ________________________________

Alas we got to take whatever we can get and when helping those oppressed types it pays to acknowledge how much more they really have to offer if able to see "through he haze of their meds". Typically they are medicated more to suppress or despite what the handlers/administrators think their intent to be; you can be sure those purely lost and shackled types just go from pill to pill with no more hope than what the next dose brings.

Just letting the thoughts pour here ... no polished posts to be sure ... but to keep it in the right direction and restrict myself from being admonished for focusing on negative thoughts (which I need to express and rarely do well in Positive only forums) ...

I was pleasantly please to run into an Indian doctor that put me on this medicine I now take. I had to push hard to see that man ... due to the extreme nature just how many sick people are climbing the priority list. Only those about to explode and or doing their best get to bee seen. So many people just taking meds to get a quick fix ... the criminals and druggies that have to be exposed, sour out & redirected. Whilst it made my job of being heard that much more difficult, I feel very much for those individuals too ... I know just how hard it is for them.... those scorned unemployed, non contributors, welfare sucking types ... The walls of indifference felt to it's very core.

I guess I'm just trying to self educate here. Just PM me if this raw emotion is too much, perhaps you can redirect me into a rant room, but can't really see where to go.

There's too much stigma on the reliance on being medicated for those that do not to speak out at any rate. None the less, I welcome those to get up and have their say as well. I'm going to fight this BS wall of indifference but staying true to myself and refusing to be muzzled for the sake of others comfort. I'm working to come of my meds in a two year plan or so ... and I'll be sure to keep speaking as I will and disregard the misinterpretations that come along. The medicine is helping me see clearly for the moment, yet does little for the pain. Life throws lots of challenges at us, that make many people turn to the pill & it's Big Business ... so I'm not convinced that is reason enough for the majority that medicate as they do.

We should be prioritizing those well to do types in the same manner as they do for those on the edge ... Ha! Imagine that. Talk about shoe on the other foot.
It's been great ... time to go serve me wife ... no prioritizing there. :)

[Ponder]

I think there is a level of co-dependance in here that's as unhealthy as what many consider my outlook to be. I really don't think I have anything more to offer here. Thanks for your help.

Dave
Davekyn
Ponder
Me
Mr non anonymity!

Nice speaking with those that have been around the block and back again. Think I go learn that Poetry I once spoke of. Really learn to get my message out there. Take care and all that ... and thanks for listening. My time is done here. ;)