Posted by Eddie Sylvano on January 31, 2003, at 14:09:02
In reply to Dr. Bob why do you ALLOW neuroleptic suggestions?, posted by chad_3 on January 30, 2003, at 12:30:00
> But I am quite offended (actually "disgusted" is more accurate) that insist to leave free cavalier posts like that below, which recommend neuroleptics for anxiety.
-----------------Whoa... what's the deal? That's the whole point of this board, as far as I can see. People discussing their problems, successes, and questions about medications. Neuroleptics, stimulants, sedatives, antidepressants, anxiolytics... you name it.
Dr. Bob isn't endorsing anyone's suggestions, he merely provides a forum for a relatively small and fragmented audience that would otherwise have no such outlet. If people recommend medications that you disagree with, consider that
1)Just because User A suggests everyone try drug X doesn't mean that anyone can. Physicians are still the required gateway to pharmaceuticals.
2)You can't protect people from themselves anyways. Bad advice comes from all directions, and it's up to the individual to ignore or consider such advice.
3)The people on this board are typically suffering to some extent. They do not (assumedly) take drugs for recreation, but to enable them to live their lives. While it is true that many medications harbor side effects and potentially hazardous complications, these people have deemed such limitations an acceptable cost of addressing a greater disability.
4)The open nature of the forum allows bad advice to be criticized (as you have demonstrated), so that more than one opinion is available.The alternative, as I see it, is to close the forum, or professionally moderate it (which would be infeasible, as it might represent professional medical advice or opinion). FOr that matter, many of the beneficial uses for FDA approved medications aren't endorsed by the FDA, so medically legal moderation would make this board no more than a patchwork of clinical practice guidelines that could be found anywhere. If there were a better way to run this, I'm sure Dr. Bob would be open to suggestions.
To clarify, I'm not criticizing your concern. Permanent damage can be done by neuroleptics, so one should obviously study their profiles thoroughly before pursuing them. I just wanted to illustrate the limitations and benefits of Internet forums.
poster:Eddie Sylvano
thread:137958
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030130/msgs/138560.html