Posted by stargazer on July 21, 2006, at 0:30:53
I haven't been posting often and sometimes don't read entries on this site for many months. Sometimes I just read for information and most times I don't post because of time constraints inherent in my life. But I am having thoughts about several things I have seen on this website and I wanted to see how others feels about my observations.
One is that I am amazed at the amount of medications, combinations of meds and research that is done by so many of you (you sound like drug researchers using the lingo and no one understanding what the hell you are saying, except other 'researchers' you converse with) to try and come up with a plan for what meds you think you should be on. On one hand it is a good thing to educate ourselves and be informed consumers... on the other hand I don't know how much it is helping unless your doctor goes along with you and prescribes what you feel is the 'best' medication. I wouldn't think most doctors would prescribe meds they are not comfortable with since the potential for side effects is so great, not to mention the risk of liability.
Secondly, what I see in so many posts is nothing I would attribute to clinical depression...on the contrary, I am amazed at the amount of knowledge, energy and perseverance put into finding a medication that will help make you feel better. To me, many posters(?) sound like they are functioning fairly well, at least intellectually as compared with others during depressive crises.
When I was in the throws of my depression there was no analytical processes happening, no ability to tell my doctor what meds I thought would work for me, just utter helplessness and faith in him to come up with the right medications and me believing (albeit unconsciously) that he will help me through this nightmare called depression. Blind faith perhaps, but I still believe that finding a good doctor holds the key for long term management of depression
So are we talking more about depression here or the inability to cope in a chaotic world where we have so little control in our lives (I feel like this) that we look, we research, we try and control which medications we take, without concern for side effects, interactions, long term effects and basically agree to become a human guinea pig for the sake of feeling better. We all are trying to feel better that is our plight, but at what cost to ourselves????
I have big concerns about what everyone is doing to themselves today (immediate needs) and not looking at long term side effects. They will emerge in a number of years of usage, too late for those so eager to try every drug and every combination of meds available for the various diagnoses, too numerous to list. Forget about knowing which med caused what side effect(s), how about spending an equal amount of time on researching which organs will fail due to metabolism in the liver and/or kidneys. I'm sure this knowledge is available and should be part of the process of evaluating which meds will be effective for depression. If this is not done at the outset, then the research is incomplete.
It is starting to sound like we too smart for our own good...
Time will tell...Thanks for listening..
poster:stargazer
thread:668858
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060717/msgs/668858.html