Posted by Geezer on November 26, 2002, at 8:51:01
In reply to Re: wow...amen to alan on this , posted by syringachalet on November 26, 2002, at 7:32:13
> Can a nurse and someone who has personal lived with the positive and negative side effects of twenty years of psychoactive medication have a moment at the microphone.....?
>
> I have seen in my 20 years of nursing psychotrophic medications evolve from those that simply snowed the patient and never really helped resolve the issues that inititally caused the need for the meds to today when in many of the clients I see are able to function in the community at a level that their familys and long time friends never thought would exist. I have even had one mother tell me that her'son had come back from the dead and anything he could do for himself for a happier life was just fine with her'.
> As a consumer, I too have seen psych meds make lighting speed strides in assisting clients and their families to have so much better lives.
> The cleints who could have developed TD and all the medical issues that associate with it had almost evaporated.
> For some, their being able to just remain out of custodial care has save our local state agencies thousands of dollars per client every year.
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> When I have a psych doc ask me if I think that the meds for John or Mary are working and do we need to reassess, I consider not only the input of the clients family/significant others, but I espeically ask the client if she/he feels differently on one med vs another..no judgement/bias..and in terms of their ability to function in the ADLs.
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> My concern with any new med that comes out, regardless the reason it was prescribed, is how does it positively/negatively impact the clients daily life.
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> One old MD told me once that mental illness is much like a skin rash...you inititally treat the symptoms to give the patient some relief and if youre lucky you find out what caused it to occur and help the patient avoid its reoccurance....
>
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> Thanks. syringachaletHi syringachalet,
Very nicely worded piece containing a great deal of truth for the fortunate 70%. Do you think there will ever be any attention given to developing efficacious medications for the rest of us? I have been at it for more than 30 years (have had brief periods of relief...18 mos. on Prozac) currently completeling an ECT series and taking 30mg of Parnate-not doing real well.
I would take isssue with only one comment in your post "the comment from the old MD.....treating the symptoms-then avoiding the reoccurance...". For many of us 30%'ers the illness is genetic, after a certain number of episodes the reoccurances become spontanious.....no trigger needed. For us the psych-social approach is a waste of time and splitting SSRI isomeres doesn't seem to help much either. Sorry to sound negative, just wanted to say there are some of us still waiting.
Geezer
poster:Geezer
thread:109458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021122/msgs/129387.html