people too quick to medicate

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Umm how is it an extreme exaggeration to refer to anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, and other psych meds as potentially dangerous? Have you actually looked into the potential side effects especially some of the long term ones for those. I was taking zyprexa for depression as prescribed and it made me ridiculously apathetic and dull minded and carried the risk of developing diabetes and major weight gain(though with me that wasn't a high risk since I lean more towards being too thin. Various anti-depressants have only made anxiety worse without helping depression resulting in me becoming even more unstable and potentially suicidal. I could go on and even post some pages of why various pharmacuticals are dangerous and should be prescribed and used with caution.

I can't even say marijuana is 100% safe in all cases though it does come close to being quite safe, so how the hell are powerful psych meds not dangerous?

I have looked into side effects and experienced profoundly bad side effects on every anti-depressant I've ever tried.

But in each case that happened after titrating past a certain point, to doses that tend to be fairly safe for most people. My zoloft is a lower dose, and I only experienced side effects upon increasing it.

I know enough people for whom medications were a godsend that I am not really all that excited about trying to turn medications into doom and gloom.

I was responding to em_tsuj's post.



Overdosing on or mixing SSRIs can be lethal. I never said there were no risks. What I did say was that they cannot really be categorized as "dangerous." Plus the generally negative attitude about medication in the first place. So many people have an exaggerated view of medications as sinister - especially psychiatric medications.

Also, I didn't say a thing about antipsychotics. However, I do have a friend who basically can't function without antipsychotics due to schizophrenia.

Well maybe your idea of dangerous and mine is different....I take it to mean if something can harm you its dangerous essentially has the potential to be dangerous. Driving is dangerous and people do it every day, not saying people shouldn't and something bad will for sure happen but one cannot deny you could get in a wreck therefore making it a risky and/or dangerous activity.

I don't mean to be entirely doom and gloom, I understand some people are greatly helped by the sorts of drugs I mention...and sometimes people need a lower dosage to reduce risks and side effects...but the risks and fact that these are rather powerful drugs that can be dangerous and shouldn't be handed out or marketed like a cure all that is the right solution for everyone with 'insert mental condition'. Of course some people with schizophrenia are helped by anti-psychotics, but some don't get any real benefit just more medical problems perhaps sometimes this is a case of too high a dosage....and I am sure even with that disorder different treatments work for different individuals.

Absolutely this.

I was in therapy for two years before being prescribed meds. Now I'm on four different pills and my life has been greatly improved.

Talk therapy doesn't do &$% for my issues. I get get tired of hearing the overly-judgmental sanctimonious crap aimed at those of us who take medication. I find that it typically goes along with the attitude that disabilities are all a matter of not trying hard enough, and all impairments can be conquered through willpower and "positive thinking." If someone can improve their life without meds, good for them, but, for me, I can't function with the constant anxiety, depression, and irritability that occur when I don't take my medicine.

As for meds being "dangerous," um, yeah, all medications have potential side-effects. It's a matter if the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks.



Precisely.

The "psychiatric medications are evvviiilll" nonsense is a huge pet-peeve of mine.

Maybe I am misunderstanding but it seems perhaps some of what I've posted is being misunderstood so on that note: Just for the record I take medication....still think it can be dangerous, because its drugs(chemicals that alter your body and mind therefore never without some risk) I'd rather be a realist about it than just trust anything a doctor gives me will be safe and effective for me. I guess I've had instances of medications contributing to me wanting to kill myself and have had to be hospitalized for it so I take the potential dangers very seriously.

If that makes me anti-meds or means I am jumping on the meds are evil band-wagon so be it I guess.

Sweetleaf wrote:

Sweetleaf, you are smart, but the point should be made to some others here that a lot of people do trust that what a doctor gives them will be safe and effective, They just automatically do that, and people can be in such emotional distress that they are looking for anything, so understandably will take a quick fix if that is all they have. I am an addict, so I know all about it. I have been addicted to many things, work, accumulation of objects, sex, art, writing and playing instruments, marijuana, nicotine and certain behavior patterns in relationships are just some of them, and they all did work superficially, but they did not undo the underlying disorder. Usually if a person is going to do this stuff, be it drugs or sex or whatever, there is no way to stop them, as, in a sense, the die is already case. However I would try to educate people about the dangers of these drugs as many people really will take whatever a doctor hands them..I do not at all believe the general public has the view that taking these medications is bad. If they did have it there would not be such a big industry around it..

Who said anything about blindly trusting a doctor?

All medications have potential side-effects. All potential side-effects are different for different people. The question is whether the risk is worth the benefit.

In my case, I'd rather trust the opinion of educated professionals and my own experience than the anonymous opinions of random people on the internet who think they know more about my health than I do.

em_tsuj, I agree with everything you said except on one point: I believe that some mental damage (as you mentioned, sexual abuse, physical abuse . . . ) is so damaging that a person cannot recover without medicinal assistance. To say that someone is not working hard enough on their condition is akin to saying a one-legged person is not trying hard enough to walk normally. The psyche can be damaged irreparably like the body.

Yeah, I research medications rather thoroughly. I didn't want to try another anti-depressant when I got back into therapy, but I gave both Wellbutrin and Zoloft a shot after some research and discussion. Wellbutrin turned out to cause too much anxiety, and Zoloft pretty much eliminates my anxiety.

Also, this is pretty much false:



I don't have any desire to respond to this, but due to the baseless assertions, I need to point out that saying "medication is not so bad" is a far cry from "automatically trusting that "what a doctor gives them will be safe and effective."

I apologize in advance for my conclusion, but couldn't resist:

I have tremors from the medications I take and twitches and my vision has become blurred. But I am still going to keep taking them. It's a small price to pay for a functioning mind.

Yeah, I've pretty much done the same thing in regards to researching any new meds I was prescribed. Also, my psychiatrist started me on the lowest dose possible and was pretty quick to pull me off any medication that was causing any adverse side-effects.

I'm thinking some people have encountered really horrible psychiatrists.



Absolutely agreed.

I've done lots of drugs, pharmacutical and not pharmicutial....I also have done lots of reading and crap about it so I am very much aware all drugs have potential side effects and risks...and they all effect different people differently. I just think caution should be used when prescribing drugs and when someone is taking prescribed drugs....I think caution should be used if someone is using recreational drugs. I suppose I have just had bad experiences trusting professionals so I sort of take everything with a grain of salt and like to do some of my own research....after all some doctors prescribe certain drugs because drug representatives will encourge them to prescribe specific drugs...I just feel its never good to blindly trust someone best to do a bit of your own research to. Of course it is a question of if benefits outweigh risks, but I feel much of the time people are misinformed or ignorant about the potential side effects which I see as an issue.

You can recover from severe trauma without medication. It depends on the effects of the abuse. Let's say the abuse results in a person who has dysthymia. That person can go without medicine. If a person dissociates or has severe anxiety, medication is good idea. Every case is different. Psychotherapy is definitely warranted to work though the emotional reactions and distorted beliefs that resulted from the abuse, whether or not the person takes medicine. Working through emotions and learning positive coping skills is what enables recovery from cases of severe trauma.

I think saying a blanket statement like "doctors are too quick" denies individuals their positive experiences. It sucks always thinking people will judge you. People you work with, teachers, friends, people that you care about what they think about you. You have to be careful and know that you make not personally considered when a person decides that meds are bad, and they make people kill themselves, and they do bad things with them.....etc etc.....

I learned the hard way about medicating too quickly.

Yes, some doctors do recommend medication too quickly without a thorough assessment and looking for any potential health risks the person could get if they take the medication. Some doctors even deny it was the meds when those side effects happened.

I did fine on SSRI's, though I did get an increase in sensory sensitivity. I'm more violent without medication tbh. Even Ritalin regulates my emotions.

Then there are some doctors who refuse to medicate you which is where I kind of am. I have severe GAD, bipolar, ADHD, PTSD - all being under treated. I forgot epilepsy too. I think I'm partly to blame though. I'm too nervous about side effects and losing my energy and creativity. The same old bipolar pill dodging story.

Birth control left me with a hormone imbalance and the beginning of a mood disorder, and Ritalin led to the complete development of bipolar 2, sometimes crossing into bipolar 1 territory.

My anxiety is so severe these days I won't see a doctor at all, even one that I can talk through my problems with.

I think some people with mild conditions may be being medicated when therapy and good diet might be enough. I didn't go on SSRI's until I after I attempted suicide and I avoided anti-anxiety meds for about 20 years until I decided severe GAD was too much for me, then realised it made me freak out about making a phone call when little things kept going wrong with the call. It was either engaged or I had to call a second number, or the appointment got postponed. I took it to mean maybe some higher power was hinting that I shouldn't take medication.

Back to my original point, whatever it was...I think doctors need to be more thorough when doing an assessment. They need to arrive at a decision long after that 1 hour session, unless the patient is climbing up walls because of their anxiety or it seems they need medication immediately because their condition is so serious. If not they can just continue to have therapy sessions and work on coping mechanisms like CBT, good diet and exercise and a whole change of environment. Or something they can do that makes things easier for them. If there's hardly a result then they can go on medication. And of course, just because they start medication doesn't mean therapy sessions stop too. It's a combination of different methods that will help them overcome their symptoms.

Edit: the whole 'climbing up walls' is an exaggeration and is not meant to be taken literally.

I recently learned that some people go off the medication too quickly. I think I went off Ritalin too quickly but I had been taking 5mg's pills (half a pill) for weeks and didn't think I could get the dose lower than that. But some people actually take weeks and months to completely go off the medication and don't get those horrible withdrawals. I hated those Ritalin withdrawals.

I almost got addicted to it. I only needed a small amount to become manic and anything higher would result in extreme teeth grinding. But I got rid of the pills and had one relapse over new year which resulted a super charged manic euphoria combined with alcohol, and by the end I was a tragic mess. I was depressed and thinking about suicide for days. I regretted the whole night and still feel guilty when thinking over it. Ritalin made me remember everything. If it was just alcohol and any other drug I wouldn't have the memories at all.

The real reason I went off Ritalin is 5mg doses every 4 hours, probably only about 15mg all up with a few beers (5), made me collapse in my bathroom and almost snapped my neck. Destroyed my eye glasses which almost stabbed me in the eye. I was out of control. I had to stop before I killed myself.

I was prescribed Ritalin before my diagnosis of ADHD was finalized. It was a 'trial run.' I was ignorant that what was happening was mania too. It hit on the second day and I thought that's how the meds was supposed to work. I can't believe the other people I knew with ADHD didn't pick up on it. I became mad. Delusional with hallucinations and just on a euphoric high every day for a whole year. I got some depressive episodes after that which taking Ritalin could counter.

I told all this to my psych and both he and my mother didn't think Ritalin was responsible. My mother told me to suppress my behaviours.

My moods haven't stabilized even though I stopped Ritalin 8 months ago, not including that one pill I had on NYD.