Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 98280

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Drug: a poison with some beneficial side effects?

Posted by Elayne on March 16, 2002, at 5:02:02

I hesitate to write this because I don't want to undermine anyone's recovery, but I need to know. Does anyone else find it hard to keep this risks and benefits thing in perspective?

Yes, if you have a psychotic, life-threatening illness, there is no question (for me, at least) that even a risky drug is worth taking, especially in an acute episode, and probably long-term. But my illness is more subtle, more insidious, and ultimately (up to now) self-limiting. So the problems with mood stabilizers really bother me and make me wonder if they are worse than the illness. Until, of course, the illness gets bad, and then I feel that nothing is worse than the illness and I'd be willing to take anything.

For example, there is discussion in the neurology literature of the bone-thinning effects of the anticonvulsants, as a class. There is also a concern about the effects of these drugs on folate metabolism. This has direct implications for pregnancy-related dangers as well as cardiovascular implications for everyone else. Topamax has just been associated with a certain type of eye damage. Serzone has been found to cause far more cases of liver failure than anyone had anticipated.

It seems that when a drug comes out, all we have to do is sit back and wait for all the scary stuff to emerge "post-marketing."

In non-psychiatric medicine, blood transfusions used to be offered in serious, but not necessarily life-threatening situations. Now that we know the risks of HIV, various forms of hepatitis, and viruses yet unidentified, blood transfusions are almost never done outside true life and death circumstances.

Should we be looking at psych meds like this?

Elayne

Re: Drug: a poison with some beneficial side effects?

Posted by OldSchool on March 16, 2002, at 15:30:24

In reply to Drug: a poison with some beneficial side effects?, posted by Elayne on March 16, 2002, at 5:02:02

> I hesitate to write this because I don't want to undermine anyone's recovery, but I need to know. Does anyone else find it hard to keep this risks and benefits thing in perspective?
>
> Yes, if you have a psychotic, life-threatening illness, there is no question (for me, at least) that even a risky drug is worth taking, especially in an acute episode, and probably long-term. But my illness is more subtle, more insidious, and ultimately (up to now) self-limiting. So the problems with mood stabilizers really bother me and make me wonder if they are worse than the illness. Until, of course, the illness gets bad, and then I feel that nothing is worse than the illness and I'd be willing to take anything.
>
> For example, there is discussion in the neurology literature of the bone-thinning effects of the anticonvulsants, as a class. There is also a concern about the effects of these drugs on folate metabolism. This has direct implications for pregnancy-related dangers as well as cardiovascular implications for everyone else. Topamax has just been associated with a certain type of eye damage. Serzone has been found to cause far more cases of liver failure than anyone had anticipated.
>
> It seems that when a drug comes out, all we have to do is sit back and wait for all the scary stuff to emerge "post-marketing."
>
> In non-psychiatric medicine, blood transfusions used to be offered in serious, but not necessarily life-threatening situations. Now that we know the risks of HIV, various forms of hepatitis, and viruses yet unidentified, blood transfusions are almost never done outside true life and death circumstances.
>
> Should we be looking at psych meds like this?
>
> Elayne

All the more reason to do ECT, as ECT doesnt involve drugs except for brief anesthesthia. Also, things like the VNS implant probably have a "clean" side effect profile compared to drugs. Actually, when you really think about it, ECT has the "cleanest" of all side effect profiles among the various treatments for severe depression.

Old School

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