Posted by Buckeye Fan on January 1, 2010, at 10:07:37
In reply to Re: New Year...New Plan, Advice needed.... » Buckeye Fan, posted by Phidippus on December 31, 2009, at 15:40:20
> > After more than 12 years of benzo's and anti-depressants, I feel I have lost too much of the real me.
>
> Be sure you're not confusing symptoms with the 'real you'. Drugs do little to take away from the basic person you are and are really designed to eliminate the symptoms of mental illness which do much more to abscond the 'real you' than the side effects of most drugs. I can not function as the 'real' me without Lithium, period. I lose myself to the symptoms of my illness without a simple metal.
I understand where you are coming from
Phidippus....but I must say in my case and in testimonies of others I have read about and posted with....long term PDrugs can and do have an effect on ones basic personality.
I think it stands to reason that by ingesting Meds that dull the responses to Life, a person will "adjust" to these dulling effects by incorporating new responses and thinking patterns in response to Life's challenges, after years and years of antidepressants, tranquilizers and mood stabilizers.At least I believe that is true in my case.
The Meds we take take have a blanket effect on our nervous system, and our reaction to Life.
That is the purpose for many of these Meds.
To compensate or lessen our bodies OVER-REACTION to stress, trauma , and misplaced thinking patterns.
They DO serve their purpose by dampening our CNS
so we can deal with reality and our problems, challenges and attain our Goals.
Unfortunately....these Meds cannot be "turned-off" selectively...we cannot get properly excited when something great happens in our life...nor do we fall into a suicidal despair when things done go our way.
PDrugs are a mixed bag...and we take the good with the bad.
> Does the cancer patient lose themselves to the bone-burning effects of their chemotherapy? No, but when the cancer spreads to their brain, they certainly do. We mentally disabled may not have cancer encroaching on our minds, but instead were born with inadequacies instilled in our thinking organ and those inadequacies can cripple us in an instant. We toil with invisible disabilities and need medication just as much as the sufferer of MS.
>
> Without medication we can't be ourselves, otherwise riddled with anxiety, fending off voices or riding the waves of impossible emotions. An array of pills are available to us and more than likely we choose the pills that make us feel best and suit our basic selves. Pills can never make us something we are not because we reject those that make us feel not-ourselves.Again...you raise some excellent points!
I believe in many cases these drugs are every bit as life saving as insulin to the diabetic.
Many are predisposed to severe mental illness that history records drove them to an untimely grave or worse.I guess I need to find out if I can be one that functions without them.
Maybe I cannot...but I feel I must try.
> P
Thanks for your insight, and I will keep you postedBF
poster:Buckeye Fan
thread:931755
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091227/msgs/931969.html