Posted by Jen Star on July 19, 2005, at 17:54:37
In reply to About my post..and Suicide..., posted by med_empowered on July 19, 2005, at 17:45:30
I agree with you on a lot of what you say. I think it's dangerous to get too "into" any one method to cure something as fragile and mysterious (even to the best neurologists and researchers!) as the human mind. If we focus on drugs to the exclusion of religion, meditation, etc, we are losing out.
As I said before, Lexapro works for me (or I think it does...either way there is something strong and amazing going on in my head and in my brain.)
But I think in general we as a society are starting to overmedicate in general -- taking drugs for certain conditions because of the clever advertising. And I DO think that drugs are approved very quickly without enough solid research on their effects or side-effects. Think about fen/phex and the heart valve issues; Vioxx/Celebrex and the heart attacks/strokes/etc; Accutane and birth defects.
I read that in the 1800's mercury and arsenic were commonly prescribed by the best educated doctors to cure common ailments -- and ended up killing people. It just seems that in our quest to make ourselves healthier, we sometimes get stuck in setbacks along the way.
I wouldn't argue that medical care is excellent, and it's getting better all the time. But I do think that it's not perfect, and that it's a good idea to investigate other remedies to see what works.
I believe that mental illness is real. I'm just not sure that our drugs really work to "fix" it. I hope that as tech. advances, our drugs become more refined and can really help the majority of people.
JenStar
poster:Jen Star
thread:530123
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050718/msgs/530218.html