Is anyone here on, or had experience with medication?

[Nimrod's Son]

wow everyone seems to take meds to deal with symptoms but not solve problems

big surprise

gotta love the doctors in the drug companies' pockets, huh?

[brendo_91]

i see the meds as a way to temporarily put the symptoms on hold while you work on the problems... not as a constant thing that you live off. that's a scary thought.

[Olivier]

Originally Posted by **********

exactly, another reason why i'm not taking drugs. i'm so fucking pissed at doctors right now:

a few months ago my brother went to the doctor complaining that he cant sleep at night and is tired / lathargic / sometimes lightheaded during the day. (quick note: my brother is unemployed, at the time was drinking heavily every night, staying up til 9AM, crashing til the afternoon, and eating like once a day. the doctor knew about his alcohol consumption and sleeping patterns) now, i assume:

-a GOOD doctor would say something like 'you need to get back on a normal sleeping pattern, eat right, and stop drinking so much'.

-a RUN OF THE MILL doctor would probably prescribe something without mentioning ways he could help himself.

-a FUCKING TERRIBLE DOCTOR would prescribe wellbutrin to take in the morning for a 'pick me up' that will give him more energy during the day, and a sleeping pill at night to get him to bed: two medications that directly conflict each other and cause seizure/death. a terrible doctor would also fail to remind my brother that he should stop drinking period when on these medications as they also up the chances of aforementioned seizures/death.

guess which kind of doctor my brother has? thank god i talked to him the morning he was prescribed that shit, it took me 5 mins to look up both drugs online and show him that they, when taken together, could kill him.


then in july my friend was prescribed anti-depressants, pain pills, and sleeping pills, all same doctor, all same time. she's dead now. the autopsy report just came in a few days ago, it wasnt even oxycontin like we all had thought: it was fucking wellbutrin, tylenol w/ codeine and some sleeping pill. "recommended dosage" of each as well so not suicide. fucked up

i'm sorry about your loss, and i hope that your brother can find a better doctor.

[Nimrod's Son]

The only medications I'll ever take are to correct temporary physical issues - novacaine, antibiotics, aspirins, etc.

If you're on a drug for more than 6 months and you don't have a potentially fatal disease (cancer, MS, AIDS, asthma, etc) it's time to find a real doctor and stop taking the easy way out.

[dean_r_koontz]

i'm glad nimrod's son is not the guy who handles the health care in this country

[darcyismybass]

Originally Posted by Nimrod's Son

If you're on a drug for more than 6 months and you don't have a potentially fatal disease (cancer, MS, AIDS, asthma, etc) it's time to find a real doctor and stop taking the easy way out.

If you knew anything about anti-depressants and anxiety medication, you'd know how damn impractical this type of thinking is.

[brendo_91]

i would argue that depression can be potentially fatal - if the person is at risk of suicide.

[darcyismybass]

Originally Posted by brendo_91

i would argue that depression can be potentially fatal - if the person is at risk of suicide.

Very true.

[dean_r_koontz]

don't argue with the guy, jesus haven't you people learned anything

[talk show host]

Originally Posted by brendo_91

i see the meds as a way to temporarily put the symptoms on hold while you work on the problems... not as a constant thing that you live off. that's a scary thought.

.

[dean_r_koontz]

nimrod, this nonsense about crack being dangerous is just something those uneducated neuroscientists say, don't listen to em'. yeeahaaaww!!

[strange_one]

Aropax (paxil) for almost 6 years. Can't be fagged getting off them since every time I try it feels like I've been hit with the flu. I think it has only a minimal zombie effect on me these days, or at least that's what I try to tell myself

[brendo_91]

when you try to get off them do you go cold turkey or wean off?

side effects can last a couple months after you finish weaning off.

[sppunk]

Originally Posted by Nimrod's Son

If you're on a drug for more than 6 months and you don't have a potentially fatal disease (cancer, MS, AIDS, asthma, etc) it's time to find a real doctor and stop taking the easy way out.

Blood pressure medication is necessary for many whom have naturally high readings. But depression medication should not be a long-term prescription, correct.

[avian chaos]

Originally Posted by **********

when the house is remodeled we'll have a tub and i am definitely buying some bubble bath!

sometimes the 'scale' thing helps, like imagine that if all of the world's suffering/war/starvation/drug addiction/etc etc is a 10, yr problems or worries are like what, a 2? 3? that helps to put things in perspective. also, when i find myself caught in a little 'what if' loop, worrying about shit that i cannot help, i just say 'STOP' loudly to myself, and it sort of snaps me out of it.

all you can do is just strive for whatever you feel will make you happy.

Yeah, no, don't get me wrong, Dom, this is great advice but I guess maybe you don't really know a lot about OCD. When it takes control it makes it literally almost impossible to function or have any grasp over my own thoughts or actions until I find a reaction or solution that cancels it out. I wish saying "STOP" was good enough, or thinking about all the more terrible things that are happening to people around the world (if anything, that would make it worse, I'd imagine). It isn't a matter of being depressed or feeling sorry for yourself and striving for the best in life, or simply waiting for the anxiety to subside-- it literally takes control of your brain (again, not trying to downplay those with depression or other illnesses... Just trying to differentiate).

And drug companies... Jeez. Yeah. Number one reason why I've never tried to medicate myself before, and probably never will, despite the .02% of people in this thread who've had somewhat successful results. Meditation is supposed to be really, really helpful for people with OCD (probably help out you 'n' Ash, too, if you don't already) but it's also really, really hard for me to get into... Er, for obvious reasons

Sometimes I wish someone would just hypnotize me.

[bardy]

what do you mean by OCD, kimmy? Do you have to do things a certain amount of times or have things in a certain order before you feel okay? Or are you really superstitious and think that things you do effect other thing's results? (like saying something to yourself over and over will make it more likely or less likely to happen)

[Rarely]

avaian chaos is a fucking idiot

why do you morons respond to threads like this?

[strange_one]

Originally Posted by brendo_91

when you try to get off them do you go cold turkey or wean off?

side effects can last a couple months after you finish weaning off.

cold turkey or weaning seems to make me feel the same amount of crapiness. I have managed to go from taking 1 20mg dose every 2 days though rather than every day as prescribed, so that's some kind of breakthrough. Any longer than that and the withdrawal kicks in fast.

I'll add that I first took the pills for an anxiety problem I had where I couldn't stop thinking about urinating. It wasn't really anything to do with depression, whenever I left the house I had to map out public toilet plans in my head and couldn't go very far without needing to pee. It's an OCD-related thing I suppose.

[avian chaos]

It's okay, Dom-- it was really sweet and very sincere advice

Thanks to everyone else too for all their input and stories and stuff. I don't think I'll ever seek prescription drugs but it was real good to read what you guys had to say about your own experiences.

[bardy]

I asked you questions

[strange_one]

Originally Posted by bardy

I asked you questions

well OCD is divided into two distinct groups. I haven't read up on it in ages and don't remember exact terms but it's something like:

There's the typical one where the person performs physical tasks, eg washing hands, touching things a certain number of times, counting, repeating words.

Then there's intrusive thoughts, where the sufferer obsesses over what's in their mind over and over again, but they're not performing physical tasks.

[dean_r_koontz]

the second sounds a lot like bardy and kimmy dan who both seem to obsess over their overactive brains

[dean_r_koontz]

"oh no my brain is too active. help me, it's full of activity."

guess what, if it wasn't active you'd be dead.

[brendo_91]

i'm experiencing severe moodswings. from sunday night to tuesday night i was devastatingly miserable... and then at about 11:30pm it was like a switch was flicked in my head and i was all of a sudden all love and rainbows and everything seemed right with the world. even more extreme, this morning i listened to the zwan album the whole way through without once thinking 'wtf is this gay shit?'.

if i were on medication, i wouldn't have had the crushing sadness, but neither would i have had the burst of happiness either, if that gives you some idea of how depression meds sort of force you into the inbetween. it's no "happy" medium, but it's not sad either.