Posted by KaraS on December 11, 2004, at 20:03:40
In reply to Re: Withdrawal symptoms, posted by linkadge on December 11, 2004, at 16:27:01
> I don't think that "mainstream doctors" were ever denying discontinuation syndrome/withdrawl. I have a book from the 80's which says to slowly taper from and TCA because abrupt discontinuation will cause "significant withdrawl symptoms".
>
> When my mom took doxepin in 84 she was warned that suddenly stopping the medication would cause severe side effects.
>
> I don't think that it was ever "totally denied". I think it was just never "focused on".
>
> In the past when amitryptaline was given for depression, it was rarely prescribed for more than 6-8 months. I know of 10+ people who took TCA's temporaraly, and recovered.
>
> We've sort of phased into a "life time" of medicating regime. Many patients are told that they will need to take their medications for life, when in the past people got better from their depression, and the bandaid was removed.
>
> I don't know what's up. But maybe the doctors have something to do with this life time prescribing idea.
>
>
> Linkadge
>I should have added in my previous post that I was including doctors going all the way back to the late 70's.
In terms of medicating for life, I think it really depends on the individuals involved. I know of several people whose basic chemistry is quite healthy and they function quite well in the world normally. Then they may go through something horrible with unusual stress involved and they fall into a depression. Those type of people seem to do quite well on an SSRI. They reset their chemistry back to a more normal state. They are on the drug for several months and they are fine when they go off of it.
OTOH, there are people like me whose basic chemistry is not healthy. If I'm not on medication I become seriously depressed and I start getting panic disorder symptoms. I am convinced that I have to be on medication for the rest of my life. While I am not naive in terms of the workings and motivations of the drug companies and even some doctors, I know that in many cases, they are right when they talk about people who need medication for life.
poster:KaraS
thread:427180
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041211/msgs/427919.html