Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Those "unnecessary" psychiatric drugs

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Posted by Sunspot (Member # 77) on :

Okay. This pisses me off.

People claiming that kids don't need anti-depressants (Prozac, Paxil, Luvox, Xanax, etc), Attention Deficit Disorder (Ritalin, etc), and the like.

Kirstey Alley, oh yeah you're so cool. Marching to stop the prescribing of these medicines to kids and comparing it to handing out cocaine.
*!!!*

If I didn't have Paxil, I am sure I'd be dead. From suicide, of course. Or drug overdose.

I mean, I miss Paxil for two days while I was in Jamaica and I started self-injuring and having thoughts of jumping off our sixth-floor balcony. I was so close.

I should be on Klonopin for my OCD/Anxiety problems, but it made me sick.

I mean, what the F*** does M(r?)s. Alley think she knows about this?? I have a horrible time in Art class when we paint or do pottery because I have to have my hands clean at all times. My papers and books have to be all parallel to my desk-edge. I can barely go to concerts, pep rallies, and sometimes even crowded theatres because I start panicking and get real paranoid. I need there to be a rythmic shound or else I get really jittery, so I tend to tap cans, pencils, whatever against the table.

OMG I mean it. If I could talk to Ms. Alley, I'd beat her upside the head and then lock her in a room for me, without my meds, for two weeks.

Think she'd change her mind about kids not needing behaviour-modifying drugs?

STUPID celebrities.

*is really really angry*

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Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Some people seem to think that sending our kids to a bottle everytime they have a bad feeling is a flawed method of parenting, one that will ultimately have dire consequinces for everyone.

Sure, there are some people, such as yourself, apparently, who require medication. There's nothing wrong with that. But we hand out pills to kids like they handed out lobotomies in the early part of this century, as a miracle cure for any and all mental ailments, real or percieved.

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"You can't catch me where I'm gonna fall. You can't catch me where I'll hide. This world's too cold, this Nova rolls. I'm moving to the sun."
--
They Might Be Giants

Posted by Cargile (Member # 45) on :

What happened to you?

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Think of it this way, at least we will be in prison together.
Tom to B'Lanna, upon reaching Earth and and being arrested by Tuvok.

Posted by David Sands (Member # 132) on :

I'll throw my view to the ring too. As a person who's had some experience with psychopharamcology from his studies, the complaint centers around the state of therapy using drugs: right now, our chemical therapies are equivalent to opening a door with a lock we can't see using a sledgehammer. They're effective, but too crude given the barriers there are to targeting specific areas of the brain that could get rid of highly specific behaviors. Plus we have problems even identifying which areas do what. My answer to Ms. Alley is that, yes, drugs are not the magic bullets to mental health difficulties, but when our hand is forced by problems too deep for psychotherapy (e.g. suicide, severe anxiety, schizophrenia), it offers the quickest, cheapest, most pervasive way to secure life and limb.

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-Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 6th century B.C.E.

Posted by Jubilee (Member # 99) on :

Paxil is a Serotonin re-uptake inhibiter... It has to build up in the system to take effect, and when it is in the brain, takes weeks to wear off. Therefore, missing two days of it will not throw you off balance nearly that much. If you were injuring yourself and wanting to throw yourself off a cliff, it was because you psychologically believed you needed the drug every day in order to be "normal".
I know this because I was on the drug for 2 months.

Drugs for depression work on about 1 part actual chemicals, and 2 parts believing that the drug is going to work.
As you believe you can't live without the drug, you can't.

I believe that I CAN live without the drug, and I've been fine for nearly a year now. It all just depends on your outlook on life.
Now, that's not to say that the drugs don't have a purpose. If taking them has kept you alive, that's great.

But I remember how I was when I was on Paxil. CHARLES remembers how I was like on Paxil. It was NOT a good thing. It made me constantly flightly. I was a zombie. I was never on the planet, and half the time not even coherent.

I think that if there are other ways to treat these young children, they should be looked into. I read a list of the side effects of ritalin. There are over 20 of them, as compared to the 4 good things. Why should we make children suffer stomach problems, seizures, and all sorts of other things just for the sake of making them learn like all the other children? In the name of "Normal"?
I think not.

These children have enough problems without making them worse.

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*HUGE EFFING BIGASS GRIN*
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Posted by Xentrick (Member # 64) on :

You haven't heard? If some one was a star on "Cheers," he or she gets to be an expert in the subject of their choice.

Example One: Ted Danson, world-class marine biologist

Example Two: Woody Harrelson, recognized authority in ecological studies

I'm expecting John Ratzenburger to finish his much-awaited Unified Field Theory any day now.

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

*lol*

That makes me wonder about Kelsey Grammer...

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"You can't catch me where I'm gonna fall. You can't catch me where I'll hide. This world's too cold, this Nova rolls. I'm moving to the sun."
--
They Might Be Giants

Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :

I think in the end that is must come down to a decision make by the doctors and the parents. I think in each case it would be a tough decision, but having some celeb on the "cause de jour" circuit is rather irksome. Esp. after the incident in Colorado.

However, simply putting anyone on Prozac or Zoloft or Luvox is not an answer. Esp. for children. There has to be serious follow-ups and inroads made in therapy sessions with both the children and parents. That is an important step that it seems far to many people miss when it comes to dealing out these types of drugs. It takes a great deal of time and effort on the part of the parent to work with the doctor to assist the child. There is no quick fix...and these are cases when the American attitude of "I want it 5 minutes ago" just does not address the problem.

So, unles the entire cast of Cheers has had to deal with OCD, then they should keep their BMW drivin noses out and stick to things they know about.

My 2 cents.

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Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

The problem is that the overprescription of drugs for those who really don't need them will end up with enactment of laws that will make it nearly impossible for those who DO need them to get them.

A non-psychiatric example: Demerol.

My gf needs Demerol. She has three severe chronic pain conditions, and is allergic to virtually all other forms of painkiler (I've seen her having a reaction, and it ain't pretty.)

However, Demerol is also the addict's pain drug of choice.

She knows she's not an addict, I know it, and her doctor knows it, as well.

The problem is the laws enacted to make it difficult for an addict to get their hands on Demerol ALSO make it nearly impossible for a person like her to get it, either. When she TRIES to get it, she's often treated like a criminal. Pharmacies have threatened to report her doctor. Hospital doctors aren't willing to give it (she often ends up in the hospital after, waiting too long to treat herself because she's using up the last of her prescription, and if the doc fills it too soon he can get in trouble, she gets so sick she can't even keep the pills down.)

It's a @#$%*ing mess and I'd like to get my hands on the people responsible and show them just what having severe migraines, interstitial cystitis, and the aftereffects of cervical rib resections feels like.

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Posted by The Excalibur (Member # 34) on :

My aunt passed away three weeks ago. Over the last eight years I handled all her meds. She had gone blind after surgery, and took no interest in life. Lithium brought her out of it, but you can only take it so long. she went through the whole gambit of drugs mentioned above over the 8 years, with only me knowing what she was taking every day.

Two days off of any drug you take on a regular basis can make a big difference. Be it Paxil, lithium, Zanax or Prozac. Through mix up between myself and the hospitol or Dr. she missed meds a couple of times and I could see major changes. She didn't know she had missed the drugs, she just acted "erraticly".

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PARTURITION

Posted by Jedi Weyoun (Member # 110) on :

hm. my mom has a theory on what kids who take paxil "really" need. i'm not so sure i agree with her though. oh well. i say, if nothing has helped before they get on the drugs, then that's what helped.

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Clones are People Two

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Posted by bryce (Member # 42) on :

My gradfather has Parkinson's; Valium takes off 20 yrs. of his life.

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Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :

My father has Parkinson's, and wouldn't go near Valium with a 10-foot barge pole.

I've always foudn it interesting that the US, a country that has a slightly funny attitude on drinking (compared to the UK and Austrailia) also perscibes drugs at the dropof a hat in a lot of cases. Compared to the UK at least.

The problem is, how do you seperate the people using the drugs as an excuse, a crutch, a way of not taking responsibility for their lives etc, from those who need them? You can't. And so some people (like in First's case) who need the drugs find them difficult to get, and others get given them when what they really need to be told is to stop whining and take responsibility for themselves.

It's similar to what happened with Antibiotics. We discovered them, realised they were a great thing, and started dishing them out without much thought to the long-term. And no we're at a state where Antibiotics are becomming less and les suseful, with the notion that bacteria could be completly immune to them withing 30 years. Are anti-depressents causing long-term problems (socially) due to over-use? Quite possibly.

Personally, I don't even like taken antihystam-thingies (Hay Fever tablets). I'd rather have a runny nose than take drugs daily. Although that is a very mild case and I'm not sure how I'd act if I got something serious.

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'You want the moon on a stick, don't you?'
-Richard Herring

Posted by The Excalibur (Member # 34) on :

I'm allergic to almost everything organic, and take meds, and still my nose runs.

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PARTURITION

Posted by Jedi Weyoun (Member # 110) on :

I hear you on the antihistamine stuff...i never had allergies till i moved....never had them BAD until i left for school. then it all fell apart. a month ago i started having headaches from hell that lasted nonstop all day long and nothing could abate them. i'd been given claritin for an ear infection (? go figure...) and thought a refill would help. despite my aversion to the idea of taking a pill daily, it helps. hopefully i won't get addicted to the crap, or get to the point where its no longer useful. but for right now, it keeps my head from throbbing like there's a knife jabbed into it (well, sometimes it stops it, anyway...) so i'll keep on taking it for a while. *shrugs*

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Clones are People Two

"The Force is like duct tape: it has a dark side and a light side, and it holds the universe together"
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Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :

The differerence there is that an ear infection is a physical problem, easily identified. Psychological problems are by their nature subjective and hard to identify. How can you tell if someone is mentally ill, or just a cry-baby? It's hard.

Being given medacine for an ear infection I see as being completly different and reasonable. You won't be taken them for ever, you're hardly
to get addicted to them.

Saying that, medicines in the US seem a LOT stronger than in the UK. I've never heard of anyone getting addiced to ear medicine. What exactly is cleratin.

BTW, I don't really find that the antihistamine (Zirtex is the brand name) helps with the hay-fever much. Although it did clear up my spots.

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'You want the moon on a stick, don't you?'
-Richard Herring

Posted by Simon on :

Well in the US the more powerful a medicin is the more expensive it is and the more money hospitals and drug companies make from it.

Posted by Jedi Weyoun (Member # 110) on :

Liam: true enough...what i meant about, though, was kind of the 'nocebo' effect someone was talking about. a LOT about medicine is psychological, as well as physical...

...or IS that what i was talking about....*scratches head and shrugs*

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Clones are People Two

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Posted by Warped1701 (Member # 40) on :

Liam: Claritin is a anti-histamine decongestant. For use when your sinus' are so stopped up you can hardly breath, your eyes are terribly swollen, and other allergic type reactions. Now why someone would perscribe it for an ear infection is beyond me.

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Posted by Jedi Weyoun (Member # 110) on :

warped: because it is a decongestant, as you said, and that was part of my problem with the ear infection. ALL, i do mean ALL of my sinuses were stopped up badly, my equilibrium was all off, and my ears wouldn't equalize. *shrugs* it helped, anyways.

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Clones are People Two

"The Force is like duct tape: it has a dark side and a light side, and it holds the universe together"
([[[[[[*]}��