s_k

Haha, that might be true, actually.
I have the same experience as Pedestrian.
I've always thought my own forum was a forum of people with disabilities.
But now I start to think that my forum is a forum of people that somehow seem to manage, despite their disabilities. That's a good thought

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s_k

Well with 58 tapedecks in my house I can assure you that you will be taped once you get here .
But other than that, I don't think you are taped, indeed.

There's a thing I'd like to say about pills: Try them yourself, don't believe experiences from others. They may be true in their case, but it definately can be different in your case. My ex-girlfriend really functions better with abilify (and a ****load of other medicines) and I'm glad she took the step. Altough I love her the way she is, her quality of life definately improved with those meds.
But she too ran into a lot of meds that had the opposite effect. It's always a question of trial and error, I guess.

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Guybrush

Yes, I don't think it's a very good message to say that sick people should stay away from drugs. It's a bit like telling people with cancer that chemotherapy doesn't work.

From a certain point of view, treating these kind of diseases with pills is easy. There's a chemical imbalance in the brain, too much of this or too little of that. If you can administer a drug, that might fix things. However, getting the right drug and the right dosage etc. may be hard and that may lead to some bad experiences, especially from early on, but these drugs still help a lot of people. Plus, there are some pretty horrific examples of what can happen when people who are seriously ill feel "normal" after taking pills for a while and then stop taking them.

Although before taking medicine, people should definetly look at their diets and excercise and so on as well. Cut milk, corn/wheat based food and sugar from your diet for example as there are studies that show these may be related to psychological problems as well as a range of other health problems.

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Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra

I still don't believe in the power of drugs. You realize that over the long term they literally reshape your brain. It's like crude brain surgery from a half blind surgeon, or trying to cut down trees by throwing tomahawks. It's to inexact to risk permanent change(which could lead to brain damage).

IE. If you don't like what the pills do to you a few years down the line. Tough ****, they've already done it.

I mean, just because you start taking the latest psyche drug, and it makes you feel good, doesn't mean it's always smart. I mean, to me, Abilify is just the much weaker form of Lithium, which is not known to have the most positive effects on the human brain in the long run.

Sansa Stark

Tore is right, Skaligojurah. Mental illness is just that, an illness. When you are ill you can't be better unless you take something to make you so. Your brain is not going to organically fix itself. Taking psychiatric medicine is not like crude brain surgery and should never feel as such, if it does you have obviously not been put on the right medications. I suggest doing some research into medications and have a chance to make your life better or suffer, it's your choice.

Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra

Eh, honestly, when I get sick I usually just eat fresh fruit, juice, and lay down for a bit. I notice that with this philosophy I get the flu far less often, and far less severely than those who are cramming anti-biotics down their throats.

I don't believe 100% in nature, but I'd rather the natural course of things control my body, than some drug. Now, if I had a very very serious disease, and there was no alternative, yes I'd take antibotics. One time when I was a child I had this miserable flu(last really major one I would have in my life), and had a temprature that registered at 104. Then, it made sense. Since, though, I don't go running to the drug store unless I'm 100% sure.

As for severe mental illness. It's too easy to get diagnosed, and it's too easy to convince a doctor to increase your dosage. It's very rarely that you'll be fully in competent hands with a doctor who has the means to properly diagnose, and as said, to be careful with drugs.

There is a lot of historical fact of the negative side effects of riddlin, lithium, etc. drugs considered to be miracle drugs, and frankly... Years later they end up having these severe side effects, but they're already in circulation, and improperly diagnosed at such a rate that they're systematic.

Again, it's like trying to cut down trees with tomahawks. Unless you're of the really wealthy, you will not get a psychiatrist who can properly analyze, and diagnose. Most cases, you'll get somebody who practices many fields, and has too many patients to focus on an individualistic case. There are better means to sort out your psychological issues. Most of them are external.

As somebody who has been plagued with a real very serious illness, I'm speaking 100% from personal experience here. Medical science is a wonderful thing but it's not without flaw. There is no reason why one must risk his, or her brain on something that may just permanently reshape it.

What about ten years from now? I mean, after all, heroine junkies feel pretty happy when they first start, right (In fact, it's probably a million times more potent than anything you'll get over the counter)? Psyche drugs are no different. If the drug hasn't been out for 10 years, there's no way you can prove that there isn't some adverse negative effect on the long term, and due to the fact we're a quick fix society, we already start diagnosing these drugs in excess without even thinking twice of any viable alternate solution.

s_k

So does dying .
Don't get me wrong, I'm completely against drugs up to a certain point where nothing else helps.
I know some people who would have killed themselves a long time ago hadn't it been for the right medication.
I don't do any meds myself by the way. Probably shoud, I don't know.

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Sansa Stark

As someone who also has a very real serious illness, I'm also speaking from experience. It doesn't "permanently reshape your brain", it's only temporary, which is why you withdraw from it.

How uneducated must you be to compare psychiatric drugs to heroin? Granted, a lot of them do provide the same thing (increase in happy chemicals in your brain) but they are not the same. You can't expect doctors to prescribe the exact thing you need. YOU should be monitoring YOUR own health and taking responsibility for YOUR sickness. They are not with you 24/7 and they don't have all the answers, they are human.

All drugs have negative effects, lots of them have extremely positive ones. I speak from experience again as I have been unable to function normally as a human being without medication. I took it as my own responsibility to track my moods and take note of my symptoms and do my research into what could help me.

Ska Lagos Jew Sun Ra

I've read through studies that Abilify in particular is intended to have a long term effect on how the brain reshapes itself.

Personally, having such immediate negative effects, then being able to sort things out without the usage of the drug, kind of makes me question the competence of those who diagnosed me by asking me maybe 5 minutes of random questions, ones of which didn't really factor in their decision of just "diagnose the new drug, and see if it works out".

Not that I doubt that they can't have positive effects, but I believe they should - just as medicine - only used in desperation, not as a first solution to therapy, counciling, and general social activity(most effective of all of them). To say it's uneducated to not compare them to heroine is harsh. When, in fact, the only way to test drugs is monitored application.

Therefore, by the basic laws of science, there's no way to test drugs is to apply them to as many situations as possible. However, if the drug hasn't been around for a long term, it is literally impossible to assume that the drug has no long term effects, and no matter how much education you have, it's a scientific fallacy to assume there are none.

The comparison only remained relevant as something that is known to have differing long term effects, and the assumption that taking a drug for it's immediate effects is a definite indication of what it does in the long term.

Sansa Stark

I will definitely agree that Abilify is a terrible drug, as it nearly killed me, but don't hold that against all other psychiatric drugs, there are many safer options. In my recent experience with doctors, they are more than open to suggestion, which is why it's good to do your own research into medicines that have been shown to help with what you have and not permanently damage you.

It IS uneducated to speak of an opiate being the same as a psychiatric drug, and I say this with the experience of being an opiate addict. Opiates will only serve to exacerbate the mental problems, and does so for much longer than the high lasts. Psychiatric drugs aren't the same in that respect. If I stop taking the medication I take now, I'll only revert to my natural state (manic depression), however when I would stop self medicating with an opiate, I would suffer much worse.