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Post by missklew on Dec 27, 2011 4:45:34 GMT -5
drug companies aren't your friend. they will do whatever to make a buck.
I took anti ds for many many years. My emotions were flat. withdrawal was easy from them. the last years i took them I started having hand tremors. I told the doctor about it and all he did was write it down. didnt tell me to stop taking it.
way too much pointless meds are prescribed in the states. Medications aren't cures for societal, cultural and values issues.
I tried taking them again a few years after I quit and I had mania really bad. I will never take them again. The doctors really don't know the long term effects of these drugs nor do they care.
It is all about money to them.
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Post by skyhint on Dec 27, 2011 19:58:59 GMT -5
marle and missklew, did you attend therapy at the ssame time as you were taking anti-depressents
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Post by marle on Dec 27, 2011 21:55:09 GMT -5
marle and missklew, did you attend therapy at the ssame time as you were taking anti-depressents In my case, no. That possibly would have helped.
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Post by ura on Dec 28, 2011 4:58:57 GMT -5
Not to drag this too off-topic but how effective was therapy for you people, because I think a few members of this forum have mentioned going to therapy.
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Post by strawberrysweetie on Dec 30, 2011 19:33:20 GMT -5
Besides those issues, there are some people with debilitating disorders for whom the risk and trade-offs are worth it. But they must proceed with great caution. Definitely true. Patients at my workplace are on drugs like anti-psychotics and anti-depressants and god knows what else. But, from observation, I do find it amazing just how helpful drugs can be. Bipolar disorder is sort of another scary one to see. Some people have such severe disorders that majorly impact their lives and make them do crazy things. But it's amazing how much drugs really can change a person around. People who have the capability of being very angry and violent and unpredictable can seem completely different...even nice and, dare I say, harmless...while on meds. It amazes me. Also, at my workplace, I was warned by several staff members, about how nearly all staff wind up taking meds at some point..."just put in 6 months here, and you'll be on them, too" and "We're more medicated than the patients!" Xanax, an anti-anxiety med, is apparently very popular. I've also heard someone say they were on Paxil....and that one, I swear, also mentioned it was for her 'social anxiety'...but she was talking to someone else, which I overheard. I didn't say anything. But they were going back and forth talking about meds, and then the one turned to me and said the thing about how I'd most likely be on them too. As, it's apparently so common there. Anyway...I know one woman said she was off of her meds, and needed her new prescriptions to be picked up. I had to shadow her that day..and man, was she ever so grumpy and short and kind of mean. :S Made me nervous a bit, but apparently meds must do wonders for her too. She's certainly less 'crazy' on them. So, apparently they can be beneficial. But personally, I still feel against them and want to go for as long as possible without them. I just feel like...as long as good news is good enough to turn my mood around even a little, I'll go along without them. Because, I feel like, if I'm depressed...things are clearly all wrong in my life, and I need to work at changing that around. Not just go with the 'quick fix' to numb myself to my life circumstances which may possibly make me less motivated to want to try and change my circumstances around. Then again....if major depression hits, it's a very bad thing. And I think meds can come in handy...help you to clear that thick fog out of your brain which clouds your thinking. I don't really think people are 'weak' for taking them...it takes a strong person to seek help. It is just a shame that meds can come with side effects. And I just absolutely do not want to feel like I have to depend on them unless I feel I'm at that point of complete despair. Which will probably be inevitable for me at some point. I won't argue that. It didn't all work out positively. My grades started to get worse. Stupidly, I didn't attribute this to Paxil at the time. I now think they went down because Paxil removed the mild fear that was motivating me to get my work done. At some point, my grades were looking really bad. As that reality was dawning on me, I saw how terrible my life looked. I still couldn't talk to people socially, had no friends- and with bad grades I couldn't have a good career. It looked like I had no prospects. So I thought about suicide. I kept thinking about it. It seemed logical to me. I researched methods online. I ended up planning my death. I focused on the physical steps of carrying it out, and not the death itself or the aftermath. I knew that if I dwelled on the actual dying, I would be too scared to go through with it. I found it easy to avoid dwelling on those fears. Interesting. I know I've heard of a link between anti-depressants and suicidal thouhts/suicide for some. And I think they said it's because....once the drug starts kicking it, but isn't in full effect yet, it can give one the capability and focus of following through on an actual plan, or something like that. And I imagine, if it lessens general fear, it would also lessen someone's fear of death. Which is really scary. I'm sorry to hear you had such a negative experience. --- Anyway, I just wanted to add that drugs certainly can have their place, and do a world of good. For some people at least. It just depends on your issues and circumstances. If you hit a low point and feel there's no way out, you may as well give it a try. With caution, of course. And if you can find the right drug, it really may do you a world of difference. Sometimes, it takes testing out more than one to find one that will work for you. It's just probably important to realize that drugs aren't a cure-all for problems. They won't make all your issues go away, but they certainly have the possibility to help you to feel more stable and to make you feel like life is more bearable.
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Post by marle on Jul 5, 2012 18:10:04 GMT -5
I just came back to this thread to 'congratulate' GlaxoSmithKline, makers of Paxil, on their record-breaking $3 billion fraud settlement. ^ I think I may have missed the reply above when you first posted it, Strawberry. I read through it all - thanks for posting that. I still agree that there are some people who have no other recourse but drugs. On the issue of anti-anxiety drugs to treat shyness, I think that was my problem. I don't experience generalized anxiety. I experience social anxiety, and general social disconnection. Anxiety is another basic emotion that we all need in small doses. So of course in my case, I lost my normal feelings of anxiety that motivated me to get my schoolwork done. And not plan suicide. Truthfully, I wasn't scarred by the experience, as scary as it was at the time. The very next year I got almost straight-A's and my life was back to (above) normal. My life started going down the tubes again when I began abusing alcohol in college but that's another post (I quit 3 1/2 years ago). I wonder if there is a drug just for becoming social? Someone else posted recently that they became socially normal while taking ecstasy. I wonder if there is a legal drug, besides alcohol, that does that.
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Owen
Full Member
Posts: 161
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Post by Owen on Jul 6, 2012 7:55:06 GMT -5
I just came back to this thread to 'congratulate' GlaxoSmithKline, makers of Paxil, on their record-breaking $3 billion fraud settlement. Yikes! That's a bit of an eye opener, you always like to think companies like that are there to help humanity, then things like this happen and you realize they're just about bottom lines like everyone else. I've never really considered medication as a solution to my anxiety issues. I've thought about it as a solution to the depression that it causes but never the anxiety. I guess it's because I know I can beat the anxiety if I try hard enough. In both cases though it's the side effects that really puts me off the idea. Having said that I know there are lots of people out there that have it much worse than me and for them medication makes a huge difference. A close family member of mine takes medication to deal with OCD and it's made a massive difference. Things were...difficult before the medication. Truthfully, I wasn't scarred by the experience, as scary as it was at the time. The very next year I got almost straight-A's and my life was back to (above) normal. My life started going down the tubes again when I began abusing alcohol in college but that's another post (I quit 3 1/2 years ago). That's both awesome and terrible at the same time, terrible that you had to go through it in the first place but awesome that you managed to overcome it all!
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Post by ura on Jul 6, 2012 8:02:15 GMT -5
Depending on the severity of the condition sometimes drugs don't really improve it, as Marle said anxiety is something we all feel, (some are better at hiding it than others) but I guess if people feel it to an extreme degree than perhaps medication might work but I think ultimately the best way to beat shyness is just constant socialisation and removing yourself from your comfort zones, that however is a lot easier said than done.
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