Posted by bleauberry on September 27, 2012, at 8:56:33
In reply to recent new york times article on antipsycotics, posted by herpills on September 26, 2012, at 19:39:01
I believe antipsychotics are over used. I was on zyprexa for 8 years and most of that time it was a good med for me. So I am not bashing the APs, just sayin, prescribed too often. In my case, it was a third-line choice. But these days it is closer to a first line or second line choice. I think they should remain third and fourth tier choices.
I say that because the risks are real, and high. I say that because these powerful chemicals do a wide variety of mysterious things we know very little about. We know that whatever they do, they impact a lot of biological systems in the body besides just the symptoms. We know that because of movement disorders, diabetes, weight gain, hormonal changes, all directly correlated to the AP.
Emergency rooms are great places for APs. Quick calming, quick control. For longterm patients though, I am more hesitant. There are other safer more benign, yet equally effective, choices to try first.
What really bothers me is that if the reason for prescribing an AP is any of these....
-mood stability
-depression
-mania
-agitation
-sleep
-anxiety
....there are some very good plant medicines that have the same or better potential as the APs, except with near zero toxicity, very low almost nonexistent risk, and very low almost nonexistent side effects, with the additional side benefit of having multiple other built in mechanisms to improve a wide variety of health issues independent of the symptoms at hand.In some cases, APs are the only thing that work. In those cases it becomes a personal benefit/risk decision whether to stay with it or not. If nothing else works, then it makes sense. The thing is, not many people can say they have truly given more benign approaches a good try. Most don't know a darn thing about plant medicines except maybe the St Johns Wort and ginkgo biloba on the shelf at WalMart. Very sad. Those two plants by the way, as popular as they are, are losers compared to the ones I'm talking about.
With such better choices available to patients, it boggles my mind to see them blindly accept a doctor's prescription. I saw that happen the other day at work. A woman was prescribed something by her doctor to calm her down. I asked her what it was. She didn't know. She didn't know! She said it must be good because it was a prescription.
Meanwhile, just down the street at the health food store, is a bottle of something as good or better than the prescription, that costs less than $10.
It's so sad how America has been dumbed down over recent years. It's a tragedy patients do not take a more proactive role in their own care and education.
poster:bleauberry
thread:1026761
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120922/msgs/1026789.html