Posted by Nezirov on July 2, 2005, at 18:48:04
In reply to Re: No Comment Nezirov on Expertise Alternatives, posted by Nickengland on July 2, 2005, at 16:40:13
That's not what I mean. It is obvious that most (all?) of you have embraced the pharmacological solution and that if I suggest alternatives, you will try to shoot them down. Besides, I'm not against the short-term use of certain drugs to get people "over the hump", but I am strongly opposed to the chronic use of these newer drugs that alter major neurotramsnitters for years at a time. If so many people had "chemical imbalances" as the drug companies would have us believe, the human species would have died out long ago.
You need to take a more holistic approach and treat the individual - look at their personal history and lifestyle and try to understand how that got to this point in their life. Not just say "you have a chemical imbalance, and should take this pill for the rest of your life".
Because I have been persoanlly effected by the inappropriate pushing of thsee drugs, I have submitted a scientific paper with case reports on the persistence of sexual side effects after using SSRIs to a medical journal. I believe I have an ethical obligation to do that, even though it could hurt my career. It amazes me that you can find internet postings about persistent secual side effects of SSRIs since way back ten years ago, when people first started using the internet. Yet, you will not find *one* case report in the medical literature. If there had been one, I would never have taken an SSRI in the first place. This to me speaks volumes about the moral integrity of psychiatrists and shows how little they listen to their patients. I've had people with persistent side effects of this nature tell me that they *begged* their shrinks to write up a case reprt or notify the FDA about this, but were flatly denied. There is not accountability and responsibilty. If and when my paper gets published (it may be blocked because of politics), I hope it prods the media to look at this issue in much more detail, and not just the sexual side effects.
I believe that there are other peristent effects of these drugs that last long after discontinuance, such as apathy and some cognitive deficits. I haven't experienced those myself, but I have heard from many people who have.
As I said previously, I am not opposed to the use of these medications for people who truly need them (and maybe I really needed a course of valium back in 2001), but the reuptake inhibitor drugs have been grossly over-marketed and pushed as a cure-all for everything from PMS to chronic pain. It's just wrong because people don't realize the heavy price they may pay in the long term for using these drugs. They effect too many systemes in the body and that's why there are so many side effects. By contrast, benzodiazepines work primarily on GABA metabolism in the amygdala - they are much more precise, but the drug companies have been pushing the SSRIs because they have patents on those, but not the benzos.
I can suse my own case as an example: When I initially got anxiety in 2001 (while working as a postdoc at a major medical university) the team of psychiatrists I saw (I agreed to be a subject in a training program for young shrinks) tried to push neurontin and paxil on me. I asked the psychiatrists why they thought these drugs were right for me, especially neurontin, which I'd never heard of and appeared to be an anti-epilepsy drug or something. Nobody could give me a proper answer. I asked again why I should try these newer drugs when something like a short course of valium would probably work just fine, but *not one* of then could give me an answer. None of them. So I took valium , and started to improve. But they kept hounding me about getting on an SSRI, even though I was improving. Wouldn't give up about it, and put so much pressure on me that I finally gave in and took the stuff. It was the wrost decision I've ever made in my life. In the future I will always trust my gut instincts and never go against them.
This is definitely my last post on this subject. Good luck to all.
Nezirov
Support and Education forum...even an Alternative Forum for you to post..what more could you ask for... :-)
>
> Take care lol
poster:Nezirov
thread:522303
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050630/msgs/522665.html