I know many more people that have been truly fucked up by taking these pharmaceutical fixer-uppers than have been helped by them. One guy I knew was taking three or four different pills. He dumped all the bottles out into a Tupperware bowl, and would reach in and snatch out four pills, four times a day. Pot-luck medication. Ended up killing himself. Another guy I know ended up doing the "doctor-shopping" thing. He had four or five doctors, each one prescribing him a different set of pills. He has no clue what he's doing from day to day.
Life was easier back in the old days when you either killed yourself off, got someone else to kill you in self-defense, or found a fucking way to deal with the day-to-day issues of modern life.
Purveyor of Poetry & Porn
Just having a discussion the other day relating to this...a friend commented on how many diseases must have been created in the last twenty years so Big Pharma can sell more drugs...
I'm not even going to go into how many people I know have such issues as "bi-polar" and other things we never heard of growing up...
But, that's a whole story in itself...don't get me started...
Later,
Alan.
And what about the people who really need those medications?
Both of my parents, are in their mid 70's at this point in time. They both worked for the US Federal government, so their medical insurance is top notch, still - many years their occupational retirements, and apparently this insurance always will be 'there'.
Each has spent the last ten to fifteen years or so, enduring various joint replacement and organ assist - surgeries with remarkable successes. They each are on several meds to attempt to balance out blood pressure, minor heart palpitations, pain and swelling from those surgeries, arthritis, vision deficiencies, hearing/balance erosion...the list of diagnosed 'illnesses' is long for each parent - at this point in time.
It is remarkable to me, that both were in top shelf fitness until each retired near the age of 62-63. It also seems to me that was about the time that their doctor (who is also my doctor) began recommending that they see specialists for various afflictions which may have been real or just 'created' within my folks imaginations by suggestions from this general practitioner...and then the 'findings' from the further specialized consultations.
Seemingly they have migrated into the 'occupation' for lack of a better word, of attempting to extend their lives and fitness/comfort of their 70's and 80's and 90's (if they live that long) by continuously visiting specialists for anything which they feel might assist them. My father remains very active physically, my mother hasn't done much since the age of 59-60, except type on a keyboard. Her arthritis has destroyed her hands and fingers. At best her hands can be described as a pair of claws.
8 years ago, when my mother was 67, she lost the last of her five very-close, lifelong running buddies. So, she outlived all her friends who were in her immediate peer group. Shortly after that funeral ceremony, that summer...My mother began exhibiting quite apparent signs of depression. She'd retired from her 28 year long career, her closest friends had all passed. She was truly isolated and alone save for her spouse and a covey of grandchildren. But she had nobody (female) her age to relate to.
After finally convincing her to seek psychiatric assistance (she's of the pull yourself up with boot straps sorority), she was placed on a series of these mood elevators/balancers. Using the internet and fighting her conviction that only losers take pills, she soon began to self-medicate herself (similar to how MrNP's friend did).
Brain chemistry is still something we know little of with certainty. I watched a cheerful, strong-willed woman migrate into complete bewilderment in 6 weeks, and struggle with this for 3 years. She was taking so many medications which, in my opinion were nothing more than a toxic soup in her bloodstream and brain. She's been leveled out for the last five years, but it was touch and go for over a thousand very tense days, with her. I wondered if she'd commit suicide, for many months...urged on by the internal thoughts she was heard to utter to herself (thanks to the stew of serotonin inhibitors or generators and other brain chemistry influencing drugs in her bloodstream). She was completely fucked up, for every hour of the day and I thought we had lost her. She'd never had a drinking problem nor had she ever sought an illicit drug vacation using pills which others of her generation may have played with in the 1950s or 60s.
The ('single' mood balancer) wellbutrin she's on, helped her to quit smoking after almost sixty years of the habit. Though now, she's on a hormonal inhaler to help her lungs function as 'normally' as possible. 9 pills daily w/inhaler, one pill weekly for her. 6 pills a day for my father.
I realize this is a rambling story, but it may be similar to something in the reader's experience. If so, you are not alone. I wonder if, in our quest to extend the Quality of Life, we may not just be serving as cash cows to the corporate monster and shareholders of this truly fucked up, tentacled, BigPharma economy?
The same GQP demanding we move on from January 6th, 2021 is still doing audits of the November 3rd, 2020 election.
I still have a subscription to JAMA and read it with interest all the time. I find it interesting that a lot of the medicos feel the same as regular Joe's. Like they're owned by HMOs and Big Pharms.
I myself won't schedule an appointment with any doctor on a Monday because of the Pharm Reps that are there. Getting out of their BMWs and tugging their luggage behind them. It takes twice as long to see him because he has to take time to see them.
I do know that once started on Bupropion and other meds of their type it takes time and regulation to get the right chemical cocktail for each person. You have to be on top of it and your doctor so he knows what's happening in the patient. He can't know that anything is wrong if you don't tell him.
That said, I still get the feeling that we as a whole are using meds as a crutch like we never have before. It's easier than working through problems and finding solutions that might not be that easy to do/handle as popping a pill and saying the hell with it.
I find Riddlin a good example of that.
Just keep on adding to the deficit with new prescriptions. Print money on trees that are never replanted in a quantity equal to those chopped down. And when the last tree has been planted and the last crops have been harvested, and the last foods are consumed; will we realize that we cannot eat money.
I have a friend that is on antidepressants. She is generally a fun person to be around when she is in a good mood. The meds help her maintain that mood and she doesn't abuse them. She used to drink way too much and that has stopped too.
I'm sure there are people that can't handle meds and they abuse them. But I'm sure those people abuse everything. I think meds are like anything else that can be abused. Guns, cars, alcohol, secrets etc. can all be dangerous in the wrong hands and without proper training or guidance.
There is no need to blame "Big Pharma" for all these issues.
The reality is that there are a small number of people with serious 'clinical depression' that will benefit from anti-depressants. These pills are meant as short-term control only, during which a person can go to counselling, use time as a healer, and help to get on the mend.
The issue is that doctors have been dispensing anti-depressants like smarties for all kinds of random, temporary ailments and maladies (ie, I'm sad my grandpa died, I'm upset because I found out my husband is having an affair, I gained 10 lbs and can't get bikini-weather-ready, I need to stop smoking, the winter weather is depressing etc.)... For an average family doctor, its easy to write scripts for anti-depressants as a blanket cure-all for everything.
There is a huge difference between being depressed... and having "Major Clinical Depression" (which is to the point where you don't want to get out of bed in the morning, don't want to shower, can't function or go to work)... These people will benefit from these pills...
The average person will go through many periods of sadness, mourning, depression throughout our lives... there is no need to drug yourself up. Use family/friends as a support system, use time as a healer, reach out to support groups, and do the work on your own.
It's only when you are literally unable to even take these initial steps that antidepressants can be useful as a stabilizer of your emotions/mood.
So we can blame Big Pharma who creates the meds or we can blame the doctor who suggests/dispense the meds.
BUT... why not take ownership as the person that is buying/ingesting the meds. Everyone has a choice. If the doctor suggests something, you have the right to say 'no, what are my other options'. Many years ago I was going through a bout of stress/sadness and my doctor suggested antidepressants, and I said no. A few months later, I was totally fine, and healthy/happy again.
As humans we are meant to deal with certain periods of sadness in our lives (especially during periods of family death, economical issues, and marital problems). Deal with the sadness and most of us will get over it on our own... A small number won't, and those are good candidates for anti-depressants.
Did you know that an antidepressant is only 37% more efficacious than a placebo pill? That means that if you take an antidepressant, you have a 37% chance of feeling better than you would if you just ate a jellybean. Do you like those odds? I don't....
...Need to get stoned & drunk and watch Pink Floyd's The Wall
