quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
If there is an actual external stimulus giving you pain, it's a bad strategy to just numb yourself to the pain. You need to do something about the external stimulus.

You’re not wrong, but I’d take it one step further. If you’re not happy, you need to figure out why and deal with it appropriately.

From personal experience, sometimes one just needs to fix their attitude and appreciate the many blessings that one does have instead of worrying about the things that aren’t exactly as one would like.

Sometimes the question, “How many people out there would kill to have the “problems” that I’m dealing with right now?” is helpful in framing things better…

I don't want to deviate from the OP but I would say Doctors today are more Pharmaceutical Salesmen than anything else.
My last trip to my new Primary Physician is a case and point but that is for another thread.
Disappointing that we seem to rely on technology over experience and common sense now days.

Everyone needs to start reading and learning as much about medicine as they can as you just can't trust the medical profession these days.

When I have gone to a MD, the front office staff is always shocked when I tell them I use no prescriptive drugs. Definitely get the feeling that they think I am doing something wrong.

My guess is that 95% or more of their patients are on prescriptive drugs. All we are doing, for the most part, is make drug companies billions, with little positive effect on our health.

"The U.S. spends more on health care as a share of the economy — nearly twice as much as the average OECD country — yet has the lowest life expectancy and highest suicide rates among the 11 nations."

IMO people in the US need more exercise, less food/less sugar/carbs. This change alone would probably cut our health care costs in half. Re mental health, regular exercise makes a huge difference.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
I don't want to deviate from the OP but I would say Doctors today are more Pharmaceutical Salesmen than anything else.

I think your comment speaks directly to the issue raised by the OP, and I agree with you.

My doctor about three docs back was a DO. Prescription meds and cutting were usually his last resort, rather than first. Every doc since then (MDs, not DOs) have been just the opposite. They've never recommended changes in diet, lifestyle, or exercise, but prescription drugs--right out of the gate.

Coincidentally: There was just a blurb on the local morning "news": Some-or-another study found exercise improves the efficacy of therapy for mental illness.

I wonder if U.S. doctors are so used to seeing average out-of-shape (both mentally and physically) patients that are unwilling to do anything themselves to maintain their health they don't know what they're seeing when presented with a truly healthy patient? I've twice had doctors express concern about my health directly as a result of me being fit. No joke. One sent me out for a heart echo (and told me I shouldn't be doing high-intensity interval training at my age). Another expressed concern when I'd lost about ten pounds of weight (all body fat) since my prior visit a year or so before.

I've never taken any kind of psychotropic drugs. However my girlfriend is on antidepressants. She's a walking, talking commercial for them. At one point in our relationship a shrink she was seeing tried to ween her off them. I got to see her in her "natural" psychological state. It wasn't pretty. She got back on them, and she was fine.

There is withdrawal from SSRIs. It is often misinterpreted as a "relapse". Drug companies don't like the term, withdrawal, discontinuation syndrome is better. Paxil is known for a difficult withdrawal.

quote:

Coincidentally: There was just a blurb on the local morning "news": Some-or-another study found exercise improves the efficacy of therapy for mental illness.

^^^^^^^^^^
Exercise is effective therapy for depression. The University of Wisconsin studied this in the late 1970s. Patients who walked did better than those on drugs.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
There is withdrawal from SSRIs.

One of the two aforementioned docs tried to put me on an SSRI (don't recall which one) for mild, mostly seasonal, anxiety/depression.

After about Day 2 or Day 3 of the "starter pack" I started having weird side-effects. The most alarming was sudden, temporary tunnel vision.

That's when I decided I best look into these things more carefully. Found out that once you were up-to-speed on the stuff you couldn't just stop taking them. You had to wean off of them, and the wean-off period was much longer than the ramp-up period.

NFW!

Returned the remainder of the starter pack to my doc and told her "No way!"

Y'know what I took to solve the problem? St.John's Wort. Worked like a champ. No ramp-up. No ramp-down. Only side-effect was sun sensitivity. I restricted its use to fall-through-spring, anyway. (Like I said: Mainly SAD.)

Later, I joined a gym and began working out 3-5 times/week. Then the St. John's Wort wasn't even needed anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Exercise is effective therapy for depression. The University of Wisconsin studied this in the late 1970s. Patients who walked did better than those on drugs.

Certainly did the trick for me. I haven't needed anything to stay on an even keel since I joined a gym in 2005.

It was several years after that, in thinking about how effective that had been in getting my head straight (well, straighter, anyway ) I realized that up until about the time I started having "issues" I'd always been more-or-less pretty physically active in the past.

Not so much things done with the goal of being physically fit, but just because. Even after I got my driver's license I still often rode my bike. I always walked a lot, did yard work, played casual sports, etc.

Super simple… Especially if you look at countries with socialized medicine e.g. Canada and the UK.


Time is money.


What time it takes to write a prescription is much less than the time to sit down and understand someone’s problems and provide counseling. That simple.


Take charge of your own healthcare. Drive it yourself. Get what you need.

It’s never one size fits all.

In my experience,I’ve seen far too many public school teachers and counselors making recommendations for a pharmaceutical solution to parents for their child's struggles in school. This should not be allowed. There are way too many folks who care deeply about the struggles of others but have no training in the areas they recommend as solutions.

First hand I’ve witnessed bright and very physically active kids turned into semi-zombies through prescription medication. On the other hand, I’ve also seen pharmaceutical therapy act as the catalyst for miracles in restoring wholeness to children.

Silent

quote:

Originally posted by Silent:
In my experience,I’ve seen far too many public school teachers and counselors making recommendations for a pharmaceutical solution to parents for their child's struggles in school. This should not be allowed. There are way too many folks who care deeply about the struggles of others but have no training in the areas they recommend as solutions.

First hand I’ve witnessed bright and very physically active kids turned into semi-zombies through prescription medication. On the other hand, I’ve also seen pharmaceutical therapy act as the catalyst for miracles in restoring wholeness to children.

Silent

My former cousin by marriage is an Autism treatment specialist (PhD LSU) and she ran into this with schools wanting kids medicated. She had to warn them by prescribing Ritalin for ADHD the child will be reclassified as "special needs" and the school may have to incur significantly greater costs for reasonable accommodations.

Any teacher or school administrator that attempts to diagnose or recommend medical treatment for a child should lose their jobs. No exceptions. Anyone who attempts to circumvent the lawful authority of parents and legal guardians to make ALL health care related decisions for their children should also lose their job.

They get rid of recess and then wonder why kids can't sit still in class. Cause-effect-critical-thinking? Guess they can't...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lefty Sig,

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
Jesus, I must be one of the 10% of women not on any prescribed medications..
I do think it’s a bit strange how this twisted to women so quickly, and in what seems to be a negative way, esp since OP was general in his terms of who takes these meds.

Back to his point, I have had a (male) doc attempt to prescribe an SSRI to me when I went in for a physical and commented on SAD that seems to hit me in the latter stages of winter. ?? Knock me over with a feather. I was surprised, and to be frank, haven’t returned to that practitioner. So, yes, without any real consultation or further delving, he was quick to pull out the rx pad, instead of referring me on. YMMV.

Should have tried to prescribe you a sun lamp instead. Those can work wonders sometimes on SAD.

quote:

Originally posted by Silent:
In my experience,I’ve seen far too many public school teachers and counselors making recommendations for a pharmaceutical solution to parents for their child's struggles in school.

My teachers tried telling my mother this when I was in elementary school because I was hyperactive and had difficulty focusing. They told my mother I may need ritalin.

She mentioned this to my pediatrician during my next physical. His reaction was one for the books

"JESUS CHRIST HES A FUCKING BOY! THAT'S WHAT BOYS DO, THESE TEACHERS NEED TO STFU ABOUT MEDICINE AND WORRY ABOUT TEACHING"

Pretty much verbatim according to my mother.

Here’s a ‘pro-tip’, don’t take SSRI drugs on a whim or put your kid on them casually if either ever plan to try to get a pilot medical license.


Now before you jump on me for playing doctor, I’m talking the CASUAL prescription, which I’ve seen. This could be the adult who just mentioned, almost in passing, that he was ‘anxious’ about a life event or such. The Doc says, ‘let’s try this for a short period’.

The same with a kid, Dad is off working, Mom takes him in. He’s not ‘focused’ at times, ‘anxious’ again with certain school aspects. OBTW, he’s 16, just a short time, see if they help.


I’ve seen very casual, intended to be short term prescriptions, trip a guy up. While at it, ovoid the DUI too.

Cosmetic psychopharmacology for enhanced working attitude and attention…

Sounds like with most problems Medical related the real cause is the Insurance system.

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
If there is an actual external stimulus giving you pain, it's a bad strategy to just numb yourself to the pain. You need to do something about the external stimulus.

You’re not wrong, but I’d take it one step further. If you’re not happy, you need to figure out why and deal with it appropriately.

From personal experience, sometimes one just needs to fix their attitude and appreciate the many blessings that one does have instead of worrying about the things that aren’t exactly as one would like.

Sometimes the question, “How many people out there would kill to have the “problems” that I’m dealing with right now?” is helpful in framing things better…

I agree with you so I'm not arguing but, also from personal experience, it's easier said than done. It's little comfort that someone who lost a leg would gladly trade places with me and my paper cut. My paper cut forces all of my attention on my condition and it feels my whole world is collapsing in on me.

What did you do or use to "fix your attitude?" The way I coped was to play twilight golf as often as I could to just get away from what was in my mind. When I tried to go to sleep, I would relive the last round to drift off into sleep as I remember walking off into the shadows to get to my ball. Otherwise, I couldn't sleep.

My house was underwater, I was stuck in a job that was killing me in terms of time and stress, my 401k was halved, and I thought I was doomed to having to work until the day I day. That was a period of 8 years. I finally decided to stop working as it looks like I could even though I still sold my house at a loss.

I've learned to steer clear of any mood altering drug and definitely a full stop deal breaker if a woman I'm interested in is on them.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
Here’s a ‘pro-tip’, don’t take SSRI drugs on a whim or put your kid on them casually if either ever plan to try to get a pilot medical license.

A doc tried to diagnose one of my kids with asthma. Really worked hard to force the diagnosis. Turned out she had pneumonia. Age 10 roughly.

People don't realize that the doc puts a code on a form that goes into the big computer database, and that can become a permanent problem in the future. Pilot medical certificate is just one example. It can also affect future health insurance and life insurance.

As data becomes more centralized it will be harder to keep these frivolously and incorrect diagnoses from causing problems.