Posted by fluffykitty on September 25, 2001, at 12:31:12
In reply to overmedicated, posted by gracey on September 25, 2001, at 10:59:13
First let me say that Im really sorry to hear about the awful experience that you have had. I have heard similer stories so you are not alone. I think the problem is two or 3 fold. One is that doctors are not wizards and often do not really know what the problem is or how to "cure" which is why medicine is often referred to as an art more than a science. Some doctors are better artists than others. Second the drug companies are out to make money pure and simple and they push the drugs on the doctors to prescibe them. Some doctors give in and do it and others dont and just wait to see what the track record a drug makes before trying it. The thing is though if there was not money to be made there would be little incentive for the companies to make the drugs in the first place and for many people who are living better lives through chemistry, this would be really awful as well if they did not have that help.
The solution of course is for people to take the time to educate themselves about medicine and drugs to the best of thier ability as a layman to use that information for the benefit of themselves and thier children. To get as many opinions as possible before deciding what course of action to take and then trying various methods to see what works and what doesnt. Also important in this whole thing is to try and find the root of the problem, not just treat the symptoms. But of course we tend to trust doctors and professionals to know what to do and do the right thing but unfortunately this does not always happen.
I have a friend who is a really cool guy who as a child was diagnosed with ADD or whatever in high school and was put on meds to avoid being kicked out of school. He was turned into a good little doobie by the drugs. When he got to college and was in control of his own life, he decided he didnt want to be on the meds, that his parents and society were not going to tell him how he was supposed to be as a person or live his life. He found after stopping the meds that he could not focus on college classes and had to drop out. The thing is though he didnt really care because he didnt really want to be in college. He had other things that he wanted to do with his life and went on to do them. He is a much happier and more interesting person as a result.
>proportions. Pharmacutical companies seem to
>have a pill to squelch every human emotion,with
>the implication that what we feel is somehow not
>normal, and must be "cured" with medication. InThis could be seen as some sort of evil conspiracy or simply as I stated above.
Also remember that some of these human emotions being squelched are the desire to kill one's self or worse and in that case its not such a bad thing. The human body is like a machine. When all its self regulating systems are in working order, then you dont tend to pay any attention. However when the system gets out of whack, doesnt work right in some specific way, then there is more harm done by not trying to fix it then letting it fail or get worse and worse until it breaks down.
In the case of this and human emotions, its the process of rebalancing them so that a person can function and FEEL their more pleasing emotions and living and dealing with the not so pleasant ones. In the case where drugs do squelch and "zombify" a person, I think then the person knows the drug isnt helping and would try something else. All of our emotions are useful and tell us something, allow for intuition and a weather report so to speak so to stamp them out completely would be like cutting off your tongue to spite your face. Who wants that? On other hand who can live in a hurricane all the time when just a little rain and sun will do?! :)And as for the machine analogy, while its easy to fix a car, the complexity of the human body is a far different matter. Doctors these days in 100 years will be regarded as no more than witch doctors working with stone knives and bearskins.
As a child I had really bad temper problem so my parents took me to a doctor who put me on Stelazine then some other drug called Trilifon. I didnt take it for more than a year. It helped but I went to live somewhere else so once I was taken out of the environment that was causing all this I didnt need it anymore because my temper problems went away.
Good luck!fk
poster:fluffykitty
thread:79542
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010917/msgs/79549.html