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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 11 of 11. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by oldschool305 on November 27, 2007, at 2:42:45
I am just curious, how many of you developed depression, anxiety, bipolar, OCD, or any other mental disorder casused from previous drug abuse? I know a lot of disorders can be hereditory such as schiztophrenia, alcoholism, etc.
The reason I ask, is becasue all of my panic/depression/anxiety/mental aguish all started after years of drug and alcohol abuse. Now I rely on medications on a daily basis to try to live a somewhat normal life.
Anyone else have the same issue? did you ever use drugs before your problems started? Were you fine before you used drugs or alcohol? Or have some of you never used illegal drugs and still developed these disorders?
I wish I could turn back time and have had just SAID NO TO DRUGS. They ruined me... I know the brain has a special way of healing itself after time but dang, how long?!
Posted by pstrait on November 27, 2007, at 2:48:55
In reply to Was your depression/anxiety/OCD casued by ......, posted by oldschool305 on November 27, 2007, at 2:42:45
Correlation does not always mean causation. You should not be overly hard on yourself about this -- whats done is done, and there are lots of other explanations. The drug use could have brought out something that was going to emerge shortly anyway. Many mental illnesses don't appear until the 20s. Also, the drug use may have been an early symptom rather than a cause.
Posted by pstrait on November 27, 2007, at 3:21:01
In reply to Was your depression/anxiety/OCD casued by ......, posted by oldschool305 on November 27, 2007, at 2:42:45
Correlation does not always mean causation. You should not be overly hard on yourself about this -- whats done is done, and there are lots of other explanations. The drug use could have brought out something that was going to emerge shortly anyway. Many mental illnesses don't appear until the 20s. Also, the drug use may have been an early symptom rather than a cause.
Posted by Racer on November 27, 2007, at 7:59:09
In reply to Was your depression/anxiety/OCD casued by ......, posted by oldschool305 on November 27, 2007, at 2:42:45
In a lot of cases, that early drug use is actually an attempt at self-medication, because of disorders lurking under the surface. I know I drank too much in my teens, and took my share of drugs -- and several other peoples' shares, if you come right down to it. But I suffered an anxiety disorder from early childhood -- that's in retrospect, it wasn't actually diagnosed until I was 40 -- and depression from the beginning of adolescence. If those disorders had been addressed effectively, I suspect I wouldn't have played with drugs or alcohol nearly as much.
As for what you're experiencing, I also agree with Pstrait that correlation does not equal causation -- it's quite possible that the difficulties you're having now have nothing to do with the drugs. That's not to say that I don't understand regretting drug use -- I regret mine, for many reasons, and I do think it has had a lasting effect on my brain function. I don't think I'm nearly as smart as I was before starting to play with drugs. On the other hand, I'm middle aged, so maybe it's normal aging -- and anyway, I don't own a Way Back Machine, and there aren't any spectacled dogs around, so I guess I'm stuck with what is. Regrets, at this point, don't do me any good, but do have the potential to do damage, so I try to save mine for where they're a little more benign. I really regret waking up at 3:45 this morning, for instance...
Good luck.
Posted by Phillipa on November 27, 2007, at 11:48:33
In reply to I agree with Pstrait, posted by Racer on November 27, 2007, at 7:59:09
I imagine as I went to bed at 2am. Strange sleeping hours I keep. But feel better at night. Dang the getting dark so early. But I didn't use illegal drugs was married with a child when marijuana was popular in the beginning. Now we all drank alchohol but it's legal. Phillipa
Posted by torachan on November 27, 2007, at 17:49:59
In reply to I agree with Pstrait, posted by Racer on November 27, 2007, at 7:59:09
I found your explanation of your past experimentation with drugs and alcohol, and your deep conviction that an underlying disorder has haunted you for quite some time to be eerily similar to my own situation. I'm in my mid thirties now, being treated for primary anxiety and its consequential cousin depression with benzos, a current trial of buspar, and possibly another experiment with an SSRI, but since my childhood I've known as only one can know that something was amiss with my social behavior. I was extremely shy around strangers and reluctant in public places, yet quite gregarious, if not clownish around my friends. It seems to me I've always overcompensated in my social behavior by being too reliant on the attention of others in order to mask my own insecurities and anxious underpinnings. Instead of being self-secure and confident in who I really was, I would put on a mask and perform to the audience of my 'friends', all the while preventing any genuine, revealing interaction with them.
When I hit my mid adolescence, a slightly older 'mentor' introduced drugs to me--hashish/grass--and along with the already embraced alcohol, and some LSD, mushrooms, and the occasional mysterious pill mixed in (probably amphetamines in retrospect, perhaps barbituates), I was propelled down a path that was perhaps inevitable though not at all beneficial. As time passed approaching adulthood, school work and the reality of my future life were deeply entrenched as both annoying afterthoughts. There was no turning back, but then my underlying problems forced their way to the surface as reality could no longer be ignored. I withdrew from life in my early twenties, experienced some situational depression, and my hidden anxiety burst to the scene in the form of PANIC ATTACKS.
It's impossible for me to put into words the agony, despair, and terror a good old-fashioned panic attack can instill in one's mind. Not to discount the torment of depression, but I'd take a dose of it over panic attacks any day of the week. The only other mental illness I fear more would be schizophrenia. Anyways, I discovered benzos--lifesavers in some respects but not all--and life goes on in some form or another.
Posted by rgb on December 1, 2007, at 9:38:04
In reply to I agree with Pstrait, posted by Racer on November 27, 2007, at 7:59:09
Hello Racer,
I'm not saying drugs _can't_ permanently affect ones brain negatively (if heavily abused), but why do you think they did for you? If it was just some moderate use or use of drugs that are known not to be neurotoxic, I guess it's unlikely and you might be worrying too much :)
Anyway, it's sort-of impossible to tell what would have happened without drugs, since - as you say - changes happen with our without drugs.
Posted by Racer on December 1, 2007, at 19:17:26
In reply to Re: I agree with Pstrait » Racer, posted by rgb on December 1, 2007, at 9:38:04
> Hello Racer,
>
> I'm not saying drugs _can't_ permanently affect ones brain negatively (if heavily abused), but why do you think they did for you?I don't think I did say that -- I think I said that my teenage drug use was self-medication for existing depression/anxiety disorders. Or, at least, that's what I meant to say. Are you addressing this to the original poster?
Posted by rgb on December 1, 2007, at 19:27:13
In reply to Re: I agree with Pstrait » rgb, posted by Racer on December 1, 2007, at 19:17:26
Hi,
I don't mean to come across as pedantic, but you wrote:
>I do think it has had a lasting effect on my brain function. I don't think I'm nearly as smart as I was before starting to play with drugs.
Although you did give a counterargument yourself following that.
Posted by Racer on December 2, 2007, at 18:22:28
In reply to Re: I agree with Pstrait, posted by rgb on December 1, 2007, at 19:27:13
> Hi,
>
> I don't mean to come across as pedantic, but you wrote:
>
> >I do think it has had a lasting effect on my brain function. I don't think I'm nearly as smart as I was before starting to play with drugs.
>
> Although you did give a counterargument yourself following that.Ah, OK. That I can explain.
Everything I read says that the human brain is still developing until about twenty, so most of my drug use occurred while my brain was still developing. Somethings, like the effects of alcohol on brain development, are well enough researched that I feel pretty confident my teenage drinking caused some structural changes. Other drugs I just assume would also have lasting effects, but I haven't read anything about what those would be. (I'm a dork, and do read a lot of weird things...)
So, I think my teenage years did no favors to my brain development, and I swear I'm just not as smart as I was, but it's not something I spend too much time worrying about. The only reason I mentioned it here at all is that the original poster was attributing his/her psychiatric difficulties to drug use. I tend to think that drug use is more often an attempt to self-medicate, rather than a direct cause of problems. I know that it was about self-medication for me.
And the amounts involved were fairly substantial, and the drugs were known to have neurotoxic effects. But, again, I don't have a Way Back Machine, and don't really think about those things too much. I can still feed myself, and dress myself -- despite what my ex used to say about the results of dressing myself ;-) -- so I've got enough brain power left that I don't worry too much most of the time. Also, of course, I'm middle aged -- the middle aged brain is on the downward slide, so some of my decline is just age related. There's no way to know if or how much of my decline is related to my mis-spent youth.
Hope that answers your question.
Posted by Phillipa on December 2, 2007, at 20:05:29
In reply to Re: I agree with Pstrait » rgb, posted by Racer on December 2, 2007, at 18:22:28
All of my brain MRI's in my 50's said normal for age so I think I'm safe. Phillipa
This is the end of the thread.
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