"You Don't Need Medication!"

[blas87]

I never really paid attention during when for instance Tom Cruise blasted Brooke Shields for using anti-depressants and whatnot, so this is kinda new for me.

Around a year or so ago, I was finally diagnosed with moderate anxiety and was put on medication and I go in every few months to see if my dosage needs to be increased or if I need to try something else.

I was on Citalopram (sorry, not sure what name brand that is) for quite a while, we had to up the dosage a couple of times, but earlier this spring when shit just really got out of control with my last relationship ending and the endless spiraling ball of shit that went with that, along with a beloved aunt dying and then several freaking people being diagnosed with cancer, one right after another after another, along with my brother's ex gf having her baby and we're still in the process of determining the paternity and whatnot, along with the fact that I was trying and trying with NO AVAIL to get back onto my old shift so I could go back to my old friends and old life.............well, I bombed that checkup, so my doctor put me on Setraline (sp?), which is the generic of Zoloft. I'm starting at 50 mg, in a month or so we'll see if I need to get it increased.

I'm not sure if any of you here or on CS have noticed or not...I'm a fucking hell of a lot more mellow than I used to be, and I don't get as upset or riled up as I used to. I feel that medication saved me. I mean, a year ago, I was about ready to kill some people. I was at risk of going to HR or losing my job over how I was reacting to certain people's behaviors at work. Moving back in with my parents was driving me absolutely up the wall. I'm still not the happiest in the world, but what they do doesn't drive me as crazy anymore.

In fact, not a lot drives me too crazy anymore. Pretty much the only things that were able to beat through the medicine and still get to me were my waste of flesh ex mistake, and the inability to get my old shift back. But, time has been healing that first wound pretty well, and my endless battle to get my way finally paid off, and I got my old position back.

Anyway, geez listen to me babble.

Point being....a couple of people have tried to preach at me that it's a waste of money and time to be seeing my doctor for these meds and that I'm just pumping the pig of the pharmacutical companies, that it's all in my head and it's nothing that can't be cured naturally, blah blah blah......my mom accusing my doctor of pushing pills to make me a zombie (which, NO I have not become at all....I'm still plenty active as I was before) and then keep adding more and more meds, which no, hasn't happened yet.

All in all, these meds have really helped me. I wish people would see the good they've done for me.

[Andara Bledin]

The US has a really weird culture around any sort of illness that isn't purely physical and obvious. Even things like lupus, that can be tested for, are treated like "fake" illnesses, while the less quantifiable issues are treated like either hypochondria or pill pushing by "big pharma" and a waste.

Bullshit.

I'm really tired of hearing about "big pharma" by the tinfoil hat crowd that's always full of dire pronouncements but fails do ever have a single citation that isn't to another of the tinfoil hat brigade.

I'm also tired of hearing phrases like "suck it up" "get over it" "it's all in your head" and various other bullshit advice given by people who don't have the first clue what the hell they're talking about because they've never had any experience with the problems being faced so think that everybody else should be able to do exactly what they do and have the same results. Self-centered narcissistic assholes, the lot of them. Too wrapped up in how special they are to realize that there are other people with other problems in the world.

Some people need meds to live fulfilling lives. Those who need citalopram are no more worthy of scorn than someone who needs insulin and shouldn't have to face the third degree from people who are fortunate enough to not require medication.

[Aethian]

I haven't experienced it with the mental drugs I'm taking, mostly cause only the doc and I know, but I have got it with my insulin. I don't know the number of times ill get told of some secret that is supposed to cure diabetes. If it were that simple Mary Tyler Moore wouldn't be donating a lot of her money to be helping children type 1's.

[s_stabeler]

people disbelieving medical conditions... I have minor ADHD and used to get fairly regular remarks about not really being ADHD ( I ignored them- none ever tried to stop me taking my medication, so what did it matter?)

that's another point- ultimately, provided they don't attempt to stop you from taking your medication, does it really matter?

[AccountingDrone]

I have gone way past giving a fuck when people accuse me of something like my allergy or my being in a wheelchair being bogus.

I especially like blasting the latter loudly and in public - I would absolutely LOVE to not have to be in a wheelchair, having spinal stenosis and arthritis in every joint south of my waist is seriously painful and makes it really difficult for me to <insert whatever I was out and about for>.

Usually they are ranting about how fat I am, and if I wasn't so fat I wouldn't need a wheelchair. Then I get to rant on how I sued to actually be an athlete and my arthritis and spinal stenosis started when I weighed 120 pounds and was 5'7", and now I am 5'5" because of all the joint damage and spinal damage. Most of it is actually because of sports injuries.

That tends to shut them up fairly quickly. Then they slink away fairly briskly.

Keep taking your meds, and fuck them all [or don't, they don't sound like anybody I would want to bonk.] Do what it takes for you to feel better and function.

[Jaden]

Yeah, I got this a lot. A lot of it, was from myself, though. As most of you probably know by now, due to my endless whining about it, I suffer from probably 8 different kinds of depression and/or anxiety. Anyways, I'm on meds and they have helped some. Not an incredible amount, but some. I'm a lot more outgoing than I used to be, and things don't affect me negatively as much anymore. But it took me a long time to get to the place where I could bring myself to take meds. I thought I should be able to deal with it myself, that I HAD to, in fact. It was only when I was forced to take medical leave from college due to how severe my depression was and when I very nearly committed suicide and couldn't get out of bed for weeks at a time that I realized I couldn't do it alone. I was my own worst enemy - in a lot of ways, I still am.

However, I have heard all of that before, from so-called friends and various others. "You just gotta pick yourself up and deal with it." "Be a man." "It's all in your head, just get over it." Etc., etc. It's just about the least helpful thing in the world to hear, since it just makes me feel worse about myself. One of the things that people who don't suffer from depression need to understand about those of us who do is that, the function in your mind that comes so naturally to most which allows you to cope and/or "pick yourself up and move on" just doesn't work for us. Or, at least, it works much differently. The people who understand that are the people you want around you when you suffer from this. The people who don't...well, at best, you should never, ever talk to them about how you're feeling, because they just won't even try to understand.

I'm sorry you've had to deal with this, Blas. Feel free to talk to me whenever.

[Rageaholic]

I'm also tired of hearing phrases like "suck it up" "get over it" "it's all in your head" and various other bullshit advice given by people who don't have the first clue what the hell they're talking about because they've never had any experience with the problems being faced so think that everybody else should be able to do exactly what they do and have the same results. Self-centered narcissistic assholes, the lot of them. Too wrapped up in how special they are to realize that there are other people with other problems in the world.

Some people need meds to live fulfilling lives. Those who need citalopram are no more worthy of scorn than someone who needs insulin and shouldn't have to face the third degree from people who are fortunate enough to not require medication.

I hate "Suck it up" too. It's not helpful and at the end of the day, it's just another way of saying "I don't care".

[crashhelmet]

Since this is a debate forum, I'm going to give the side you all hate to hear/read.

A large of people diagnosed as ADD or ADHD are misdiagnosed because of "Big Pharma," the greed of Psychiatrists, and parents that don't want to deal with their kids. Some people really do have an "Attention Deficit" and that's them not getting the attention that they feel that they deserve, so they act out in order to get it. It's more ego and narcissism than biological.

Different people learn different ways. Some learn by reading, some by hearing, some by watching, and others by doing. Then there are those that learn by combinations of the four. Yet, it seems like if a kid has trouble doing any of those, they're labeled ADD/ADHD. If the subject doesn't interest them, they have ADD/ADHD.

Don't believe "Big Pharma" plays a role in all of this?

Medicine's big new battleground: does mental illness really exist?

The latest edition of DSM, the influential American dictionary of psychiatry, says that shyness in children, depression after bereavement, even internet addiction can be classified as mental disorders.

And some more reading for you all.

Financial conflicts of interest in psychiatry

Nearly One Million Children in U.S. Potentially Misdiagnosed With ADHD, Study Finds

Exposed: Harvard Shrink Gets Rich Labeling Kids Bipolar

Big Pharma Buys Psychiatry: An Aura of Scandal

GlaxoSmithKline to pay $3bn in US drug fraud scandal

Undisclosed Financial Ties Prompt Reproval of Doctor

How Big Pharma and the Psychiatric Establishment Drugged Up Our Kids

Behind the Paxil Scandals

Has Psychiatry Been Corrupted Beyond Repair?

[crashhelmet]

As for depression and rage related issues, some people just don't know how to handle adversity. They fold and crumble or explode when stress piles up or God forbid at the slightest thing that doesn't go their way.

Some people were spoiled rotten as kids and freak when they get told no. Others freak when their fairy tale image of how their life MUST be doesn't happen. Some people refuse to see how something could be their fault and automatically accuse others of attacking them.

But drugs don't fix these problems. Drugs will NEVER fix these problems. Only therapy will. Whether it's with an actual therapist, a friend, or even your self, these issues need to be worked on and worked out.

[Gravekeeper]

ADD/ADHD are a far cry from anxiety/depression to the point of being a different topic.

As for depression and rage related issues, some people just don't know how to handle adversity. They fold and crumble or explode when stress piles up or God forbid at the slightest thing that doesn't go their way.

What you're describing would be more a manic condition. With actual depression you don't feel. That's the problem. There's no emotion left in you save the sorrow, numbness and exhaustion with existing. You have no capacity for happiness or anger.

Conversely, with anxiety, you have fear, worry, tension, dread, etc all the time regardless of the situation. They don't turn off and they don't stem from any logical source. They're just there. It doesn't even matter if your brain is calm, your body is reacting like you're in a life or death situation.

But thank you for your armchair diagnosis.

[s_stabeler]

Some people really do have an "Attention Deficit" and that's them not getting the attention that they feel that they deserve, so they act out in order to get it. It's more ego and narcissism than biological.

what you describe is attention-seeking, more or less, and indeed is not ( as such) a mental illness. It is NOT the problem in ADHD. ADHD is basically where you cannot concentrate. what you describe is when you don't want to concentrate. do you know how difficult it is when people just call you an attention-seeker, a troublemaker? when you have little-to-no idea why? let me tell you, it can destroy you. It makes you feel like the whole world is against you. Kindly do not generalise in saying that ADHD is an ego or narcissm problem. it is NOT.

I apologize if I seem to be a bit harsh, but I had to go through years of people saying crap like "he's just an attention seeker" when I genuinely do have ADHD. It's one thing above anything that triggers my temper.

[crashhelmet]

ADD/ADHD are a far cry from anxiety/depression to the point of being a different topic.




What you're describing would be more a manic condition. With actual depression you don't feel. That's the problem. There's no emotion left in you save the sorrow, numbness and exhaustion with existing. You have no capacity for happiness or anger.

Conversely, with anxiety, you have fear, worry, tension, dread, etc all the time regardless of the situation. They don't turn off and they don't stem from any logical source. They're just there. It doesn't even matter if your brain is calm, your body is reacting like you're in a life or death situation.

But thank you for your armchair diagnosis.

Anxiety and Depression?

It could be Meige's disease.

It could be Postural Tachycardia Syndrome

It could be Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

It could be your diet

While it's not much, my armchair has a bachelor's degree in psychology. I'm not an expert, but I am educated.

[crashhelmet]

what you describe is attention-seeking, more or less, and indeed is not ( as such) a mental illness. It is NOT the problem in ADHD. ADHD is basically where you cannot concentrate. what you describe is when you don't want to concentrate. do you know how difficult it is when people just call you an attention-seeker, a troublemaker? when you have little-to-no idea why? let me tell you, it can destroy you. It makes you feel like the whole world is against you. Kindly do not generalise in saying that ADHD is an ego or narcissm problem. it is NOT.

I apologize if I seem to be a bit harsh, but I had to go through years of people saying crap like "he's just an attention seeker" when I genuinely do have ADHD. It's one thing above anything that triggers my temper.

I agree. It's NOT ADD or ADHD. However, it is often incorrectly and unethically diagnosed as ADD or ADHD.

[Gravekeeper]

While it's not much, my armchair has a bachelor's degree in psychology. I'm not an expert, but I am educated.

So, to sum up: "It could be a rare misdiagnosis"?

Yes, so could literally anything else. Also, Meige's and Postural Tachycardia Syndrome almost exclusively affect women. As for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, that has always been one of the more difficult ones to diagnose.

Any rare, complex condition can lead to a misdiagnosis or a delayed diagnosis as other factors need to be ruled out. You could make that argument about literally anything. Because that's how medicine works. Process of elimination.

If you go to the doctor and complain about stomach pain, he doesn't immediately skip everything and diagnose you with cancer.

I suppose what I'm getting at is that your proclaiming the sort of opinion that comes across as a dismissive jerk to people that actually have or have had depression or anxiety. You know, the one everybody was complaining about in the thread. -.-

[Andara Bledin]

God, despite that degree, I sincerely hope you don't actually practice psychology. It's people like you that drive those who legitimately need help into hiding their symptoms because the one person that was supposed to listen to them dismissed them, instead.

I live with someone who has a physiological reason for his inability to control his temper and responses. It took thirty-five years before he found a psychologist capable of putting two and two together and actually recommend effective treatments because all of the ones that came before were judgmental assholes who thought they knew better than their own patient about why he was the way he was.

But, hey, that's only twenty of his most productive years down the shitter because the people who were paid to help him made decisions about why he acted the way he did before the ever even met him, much less actually listened to what he had to say.