Replies to '09/28 Overmedicating America: The Cruise Controversy'

 

Concerning the chemical imbalance, that is very much a drug company scheme. If you want to prove that the brain has a deficiency of Serotonin you must kill the person, and grind up their brain and measure the serotonin content. 

  

There are probably legitimate hormonal reasons for postpartum depression and anxiety, but no mental illness is purely cured by drugs. The DSM actually states that for a person to be termed mentally ill there must be no underlying medical reason for the disorder. 

  

So if a woman has too much or too little estrogen or other hormone, why on earth do you think that would be improved by inhibiting the serotonin from being metabolized and leaving her body? 

I think the answer to PPD may be found in a simple thyroid test for many people. That was part of my postpartum trouble as well as my mother-in-law's. These conditions often go undiagnosed and doctors simply throw SSRIs at them. When that doesn't work and the woman gets worse, do they consider other options or stop the meds or test for thyroid problems? Not usually, they first increase the dose or try to add more drugs. 

  

Psychiatry wouldn't be such a crock if doctors and drug companies would just tell the truth and trust their patients more than their own egos and their precious drugs which line their pockets. 

I don't have a problem with the concept of treating a mental illness with medication, but I do have a problem with people telling me I am wrong about the drugs being dangerous when I know what they did to me! If it works for you, great, but I don't appreciate the drug companies covering up the legitimate cases of adverse effects. PPD is much less serious than people think- it's the actual psychosis that is serious, and for too many women who actually have killed their babies or committed suicide, if you look under the surface of the news story you will find they were on high doses of many meds. Did the meds in this case prevent or cause a tragedy? 

  

Until the drug companies and doctors start using honesty and trying to avoid harming patients, we will continue to see unprecedented violence and suicides. 

Again, if the meds work for you and make you feel better, great. But for those who have adverse reactions, there needs to be some support from doctors and society. It was only against my doctors' wishes that I went off the meds and was able to get well. 

  

Doctors should take their RX pads more seriously and stop dishing out meds like they are candy. 

I encourage any one with a mental illness or a physical one that manifests itself as mental to get a 2nd opinion. It could be your thyroid. It could be that your meds are making you sicker. I also believe in therapy to help with coping skills. 

  

If the drugs were actually proven safe, then I would not have any problem whatsoever with using them to help you get over your slump. I was so naive that I believed they would help me and I took them unquestioningly within minutes of my doctor giving me the samples. I had no idea that there were so many cases of suicide and murder from these drugs. Andrea Yates and Chris Pittman are just a couple of examples. If I had known of the possibility that the drugs would cause me to go crazy, I would have been able to avoid 3 months of torture and a hospitalization. But I didn't. I guess that makes me who I am today. I just hope that my experiences will be able to help someone not have to find out the hard way, or maybe it will help save someone's life. 

  

Good luck to everyone on this board. 

I have to agree with you. I am bi-polar and it is a chemical imbalance of the brain. Maybe these people need to do some medical research on the subjects like I did. You go girl.