I don't want to sound like a complete bitch, I am actually very interested in different people's opinions about medical care but have any of you got a medical degree?
Nopes, I don't. But I know a lot more than most about MH things and cancer because they're big parts of my life and I've researched the crap out of them.
And, I did say 'personally'.
I think some meds are over prescribed, just as I think some diagnosis' are just thrown about.
I hate over medication. We're just creating humans who can't function without medical manipulation.
Very much agree.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DontStopBelieving
I don't think tbh you need a diagnosis to be perscribed ADs I wasn't when I was put on them. yes I was taken off them two months later when they did sod all but I don't actually think you need a diagnois to take them.
Can you explain why you think that?
The reason that the meds did 'sod all' for you may have been because you did not have the chemical imbalance that they are designed to treat. There for making it possible that it was entirely pointless you took them in the first place.
Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want?
I agree with Jodi on the over prescribing, however I don't agree with the no meds no diagnosis, purely because I might be all dead and stuff if my GP wasn't awesome and prescribed me them.
I agree that people should see a specialist before being prescribed medications, and for mental health that would be a psychiatrist. But waiting times aside, there are not enough psychiatrists to cope with amount of people suffering mental illness who would need a psychiatry review to consider the role of medication.
Its not okay, but I think GP's try their best. I know mine refused to touch my medication because she felt she had not enough experience and training. Eventually though, because I kept being referred back [which took an enormous amount of time], she decided to try a beta blocker [a medication more commonly used by GPs than psychiatrists, but which has been licensed for use in anxiety]. Most GP's draw the line at anti depressants, however I feel that if a patient does not respond to first line AD's [typically SSRI'S] they should be seen by a psychiatrist because as Morpheus/Anna said psychiatric medications are some of the most dangerous drugs to be put on.
Sometimes, although not easy due to time constraints, I think GPs should see a patient regularly for a while before putting them on AD's. In my teens a very kind GP counselled me herself for a while [double appointments every week or so, she even offered me a triple appointment I believe which is almost unheard of, but she obviously thought it was the right and professional thing to do] and I felt more supported by that than any medication I was prescribed in my younger years.
I can't say whether I agree with the no meds if there is no diagnosis because I don't feel it's as black and white as that but am gonna come back when I can put into words what I think about the article.
However. I was put on Seroxat when I was 12 by a locum GP after one appointment I chose to make on my own. The GP had never met me before, and I ended up staying on that medication (as well as trying ALOT of others, mood stabilisers, anti-psychotics, benzos, other anti-depressants, sleepers, anti-anxiety..) for 5 years.
Seroxat ended up getting some bad press (there were a couple of programmes of Panorama dedicated to it) and that and other medications have often done me more harm than good. I really wish the first GP hadn't put me on it as it led to other professionals thinking I needed to be medicated and I think I could have got through without it. It was for a 'reactive depression' basically meaning that it was my situation that caused my suicidally low mood anyway. And that was what I needed changing. Not my brain.
I know this doesn't answer the main article but I think it's one of those 'case by case' things and that's a glimpse of mine.
Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want?
I can't say whether I agree with the no meds if there is no diagnosis because I don't feel it's as black and white as that
This.
There is no name (as yet, I'm pushing for 'Jodieitus') for what I have with my intestines but meds help it when it flares up. I can't be diagnosed but I get my meds :D
In US the meds are given out like candy. Commercials are all over TV and print. "Feeling blue?! Ask your doctor about xyz happy pills!". Then people ask the doctor for meds and they get them - poof. Then they are rarely monitored
for side effects.
The same meds are also put in 100 other things. Smoke cessation pills are antidepressants by another name - same for the menstrual moody pills. People are taking meds and dont even know it. Even pre-schoolers are on meds.
I once knew a girl here (2005) who was put on meds and wasn't monitored. Three weeks latter she was wrote a goodbye note and planned to jump in front of a subway. I had to make email some teachers...
In US the meds are given out like candy. Commercials are all over TV and print. "Feeling blue?! Ask your doctor about xyz happy pills!". Then people ask the doctor for meds and they get them - poof. Then they are rarely monitored
for side effects.
The same meds are also put in 100 other things. Smoke cessation pills are antidepressants by another name - same for the menstrual moody pills. People are taking meds and dont even know it. Even pre-schoolers are on meds.
Yeah, I remember seeing a documentary where kids in the US were trialling anti-depressants for effectiveness. There was nothing wrong with some of them who were testing it.
Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want?
My old psychiatrist, supposedly the specialist, put me on seroxat when I was 17 after one short consultation with the reasoning that because seroxat worked for my dad, it would work for me.
Cue another suicide attempt. It was my GP who told me to stop taking it because it was making me worse.
Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back, everything is different…
you once called your brain a hard drive, well say hello to the virus.
In US the meds are given out like candy. Commercials are all over TV and print. "Feeling blue?! Ask your doctor about xyz happy pills!". Then people ask the doctor for meds and they get them - poof. Then they are rarely monitored
for side effects.
That's one of the reasons in the UK drug companies are not allowed to advertise directly to the public. Here drugs have to be approved by NICE to be available on the NHS (taking into account cost-effectiveness and safety). This should help limit over-medicating. Doctors working for the NHS are very aware of the financial restraints and most will try hard not to prescribe something unnecessary for that reason although obviously the more pressing reason is avoiding harm to patients. I know I'm coming at this from a slightly biased perspective but I think that some comments don't do doctors credit. You can't study for 5/6 years, train for several more and not be aware that drugs have side effects and too many is not a good thing. It is always a balancing act of pros v cons and that discussion should involve patient input and the opinion of a medical professional, be that a GP or a Psychiatrist or another kind of specialist for other medical problems.
Always seem to get things just that little bit wrong.
"don't wish, don't start, wishing only wounds the heart"
My old psychiatrist, supposedly the specialist, put me on seroxat when I was 17 after one short consultation with the reasoning that because seroxat worked for my dad, it would work for me.
Cue another suicide attempt. It was my GP who told me to stop taking it because it was making me worse.
If a person went to a doctor and asked for thyroid hormones for a sluggish thyroid the doctor wouldn't give them to the patient without a blood test.
Now its always implied that depression is due to a chemical imbalance but no person is ever tested for any imbalance and that's because its never been proven
^ one of the very reasons I think psychiatry is somewhat of a pseudo-science.
I think psychiatry has never understood causes. In the last couple of decades they have tried the biochemical route with the result that mental health professionals, drug makers and gov bureaucrats have merged.
Academic researchers take grant money from pharmaceuticals and are inclined to tell drug makers what they want to hear. The gov bureaucrat also goes along with the drug maker because first of all they used to be the academic and second of all they hope to work for the drug maker ($) when they finish in government. All three groups start to merge into the same block of people - they just swap hats around.
A result of all this is that drugs are now used for even trivial issues. Kids bored at school are now deemed "depressed" and put on meds.
For me, the worst thing that's happened is that any sense of right and wrong, good and evil has been done away with.
Can you explain why you think that?
The reason that the meds did 'sod all' for you may have been because you did not have the chemical imbalance that they are designed to treat. There for making it possible that it was entirely pointless you took them in the first place.<!-- / message -->
I dunno how to explain myself really but i'm sure some people are on this site that are not diagnosed with depression yet are on meds. And it works wonders for them.
It was to try and stablise my mood because I was really down in school days.
I dunno how to explain myself really but i'm sure some people are on this site that are not diagnosed with depression yet are on meds. And it works wonders for them.
It was to try and stablise my mood because I was really down in school days.
I agree that there are people that take meds undiagnosed and they help them.
Mine were because I was down during a time I went to school too. It was the people at school / home that made me depressed though so looking back I don't see how they thought putting a drug into the mix would improve things happening in my environment.
Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want?
I have read these posts about taking ADs without being diagnosed with depression and am saddened about it. My wife and stepdaughter have been diagnosed with depression and I am fearful for them, especially when I have read all the FDA and other reports about these SSRI drugs possibly causing suicide. It is a scary thought. I have been doing the research on these drugs because of my personal interest and while I found the FDA site informative, I was looking into the legal ramifications and found a very informative site.
Unrelated but viagra side effect was either regarding sexual aid vs. initially being created for the heart.
I think that it is very difficult to prescribe meds period because the patient goes to webMD sees all the side effects and freaks out. Similarly, do you not give a person a prescription because of the side effects?
I have had to get a vaccine before and the nurse asked me questions re: pregnancy and any plans to get pregnant- she wasn't pleased when I said I don't think so..............(I was joking). Similarly a GP or psychiatrist should be familiar with the goals of the patient and the risks and the patient should be able to have faith in the doctor's informed decision.
I can definitely walk in to my GP before I walk into my psychiatrist's office. And in crisis moments it might be who is more available and open to listening to the patient.
~Happy tomatoes together we will be~
You say toe- may- toe, I say toe- mah- toe:
Let's call the whole thing- red
“It’s time to lead the third revolution, which is not to say we want to be at the top of the world, but to say we want to change the world. Because the way the world has been designed by men is not working. It’s not working for women, it’s not working for men,
it’s not working for polar bears.” Arianna Huffington 2014
I don't know about the rest of the world, but in the US, people go to great lengths to avoid diagnosis so they can keep insurance and so that when they have to switch companies for different reasons, it doesn't mess up the rest of their lives.
