Posted by SLS on June 2, 2005, at 8:38:18
In reply to Re: Feel like I'm going to have a seizure, posted by linkadge on June 1, 2005, at 21:35:40
Hi Linkadge.
> I am sorry, I just cannot believe that.
Linkadge, I'm sure by now you know that anything I suggest to you comes only from caring. Please don't be offended or feel somehow accused. If I appear firm on some issues at times, it is to act perhaps as a devil's advocate.> I am fairly certain that these medications have permanently dammaged my brain.
The word "damage" carries with it a sense of physical destruction. We both know that there are some drugs that indeed do things that create differences in morphology and physiology that are irreversible and affect profoundly brain function. I don't find that antidepressants fit well into such a category. I think it is important, however, to recognize that what antidepressants can do is to produce long lasting changes in the receptor-second messenger-genetic complex such that subsequent exposures to the same drug might not offer the same compensatory events that confer therapeutic effect. The brain, unfortunately, becomes accommodated to the action of antidepressants with repeated exposures. Whether or not this can be considered "damage" is a matter of semantics. It is what it is.
> Perhaps, when I can walk in a staight line again,
My depression affects profoundly my physical coordination. I can't walk a straight line either. I am constantly bumping into things. This symptom developed before I ever took medication. These things improve as the depression improves unless ataxia is a side effect of the medication (as can be with Lamictal, for instance).
> I will asess my mood assues as being anything other than drug induced.
I hope you are not placing global importance on your ability to walk a straight line as to dictate your decision. There are just too many other things that you present with to take into consideration.
If you truly believe that your brain is damaged by drugs and refuse to return to them, and yet are still motivated to make the most out of the life you were given, it probably makes sense to seek counseling to learn how to go about it. If you do return to medication or some other somatic treatment, you might continue to profit from counseling anyway. I have.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:505435
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050601/msgs/506807.html