Taking anti-depressents?!
Question: ok I think it's time I goto the doctor or something about this but,
1. Is it your regular doctor? or do they send you somewhere else?
2. what kind of medications can you get put on, and what are the risks and side-effects
3. What do you have to answer to make sure you get on "happy-pills" and
4. How good are the happy pills
Answers: ok I think it's time I goto the doctor or something about this but,
1. Is it your regular doctor? or do they send you somewhere else?
2. what kind of medications can you get put on, and what are the risks and side-effects
3. What do you have to answer to make sure you get on "happy-pills" and
4. How good are the happy pills
My standard post follows, but, if you are young, antidepressants are unsuitable for young people. See depression treatments, at ezy build, below, in section 2, and consult a doctor, to eliminate thyroid problems, etc. as possible contributing factors: also seek a referral to a therapist using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy. It is your decision, and yours alone, as to whether to take any antidepressants offered, but, before you do, read section 1, and check medications out at www.drugs.com so you will be on the lookout for side effects, like sexual dysfunction. My strong recommendation, however, is to follow the advice of my doctor, his associate, and Nathanial S. Lehrmann, MD, Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP, and Dr. Mercola, at www.mercola.com and many others: avoid antidepressants (pages 2V, and 2Z refer, & antidepressant websites: page 2). The reasons why we all share the same view on this are explained in full, as you will find, if you read the whole section. All of their advice, (except prayer, because many people are not religious) I have incorporated into the "core treatments" of the multidimensional approach to treating depression, including occupational therapy, relaxation techniques, and exercise, with others as options, such as the supplements: Inositol, or SAMe, or herbal remedies, like St. John's wort. If you are diagnosed with clinical (major) depression, antidepressants may be necessary for a while, which will give the treatments time to become effective. The antidepressants themselves need at least several days, or even weeks to begin becoming effective. It's a good idea to taper off them slowly, with medical advice, after several months, say, to a couple of years, at most, because they are only effective in the long term for about 30% of people. Because of this, you would be well advised to begin the treatments immediately, and maintain them. I'd just thank your mental health care provider, and pocket the prescription, trying the treatments for a few months, to see if they are sufficient for you, before considering filling it (unless clinically depressed, and having great difficulty functioning, or suicidal, in which case I'd take them). If the amount of daylight you have been exposed to recently has reduced, perhaps due to the change of seasons, see Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) in section 2, at http://www.ezy-build.net.nz/~shaneris and, instead of taking 4 Omega 3 fish oil supplements, daily; replace 2 of them with cod liver oil supplements for the winter months only! (or, as probably a better alternative to the 2 cod liver oil supplements: 1 teaspoonful of cod liver oil, with a little butter, to ensure its use; I take mine on sourdough rye bread, or toast, covered with fishpaste, and pepper, to mask the strong taste). Consider having your doctor test your vitamin D levels, using the 25 Hydroxyvitamin D test. Optimal levels are 50 - 55 ng/ml (115 - 125 nmol/l. It should be above 32 ng/ml. Those people who receive adequate exposure to sunlight, daily, won't need the vitamin D from cod liver oil, but many people, particularly those in latitudes far from the equator, find this difficult, to achieve. Drug Treatment For Depression Is Dead Wrong
By Nathaniel S. Lehrman, MD
Psychiatry And The Growth Of Depression
Depression has become very big. Feelings of "helplessness, loss of hope, sadness, crying, sleep or appetite disturbances, or difficulty concentrating, for at least two straight weeks" are sufficient for the very common diagnosis of "clinical depression." Over the past half- century, hospitalizations for depression have increased almost thirty times, from 9.8 per 100,000 in 1943 (in New York, which had more per capita than any other state) to an estimated 280 per 100,000 (nationally) in 1994.
And that's only the beginning. Scientists estimated in 1997 that 18 million Americans suffer severe depression each year, with one in five of us experiencing a depressive episode during his or her lifetime (that's 20,000 per 100,000).
Drugs For Depression
Ann Landers maintained that 80% of depressions "can be treated successfully with medication" (listed first), "psychotherapy, or a combination of both," and noted happily that on National Depression Screening Day in 1998, more than 85,000 people visited screening sites, with over 70% of them then "referred for a full evaluation."
Some experts, claiming that 50 percent of "clinically depressed" people will have another episode, note that a growing number of doctors are writing prescriptions for them for years on end. One expert even insists "there is a subgroup of people who will stay on medication for the rest of their lives." These views of depression, based on today's drug-oriented approach to treatment, conflict almost totally with the experience of many, including myself, who treated depression successfully before the drug era began.
It is estimated that 28 million Americans now take prescribed (doctor-controlled) anti-depressant medications.
Production of these drugs has consequently become a huge business, with "global sales estimated at $6 billion a year and rising."
Prozac sales alone amounted to more than $1.7 billion in 1999 - a third of the Eli Lilly and Company's total business - while prescriptions for its major current competitors, Zoloft and Paxil, also continue to rise rapidly.
Despite the side-effects experienced by a quarter of Prozac users, Lilly recently spent $15 million to advertise the drug directly to the public - to increase patients' demand for it from their physicians. And at a time that our churches, moral guides to the nation, face many grave financial problems, the major backer of the Public Broadcasting System's "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly" is the Lilly Foundation.
The Dangers Of Anti-Depressant Drugs
Although all the long-term side-effects of these central nervous system drugs are still not known, those which are known have evoked much less attention than they should. Anti-depressant drugs' greatest danger is their evocation of suicidal and/or homicidal feelings and behavior; both teenagers who attacked their fellow students at Columbine happened to be taking anti-depressants.
Another danger from "feel-good" drugs is the creation of dependency or addiction. Many who are hooked will turn to street drugs since they are cheaper, more available, often stronger - and under a user's own control, rather than under a doctor's.
We find ourselves in this increasingly difficult situation because psychiatry has badly mishandled depression in its all-consuming reliance on drugs as the first line of treatment.
Dr. Nathaniel S. Lehrman is the former Clinical Director of the Kingsboro Psychiatric Center in Brooklyn, NY
Red Flags Weekly August 15, 2002
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Dr. Mercola's Comment:
The numbers in this article are quite compelling. Treating depression with drugs is becoming quite common and the number of people treated with drug therapy over the last ten years has increased by over 300%.
I used to be one of those drug-prescribing doctors. In the late 80s I put several thousand patients on drug therapy and they outwardly seemed to work well for many patients. One important caveat, however, is that in NO case did the drugs solve the underlying foundation reason as to why the person was depressed.
I discovered a highly effective technique last year called EFT: Emotional Freedom Technique. EFT uses psychological acupressure techniques to treat depression, and I have found that my need to prescribe antidepressants has decreased to almost nothing. Since I discovered EFT, I can count the prescriptions I have written for drug therapy on one hand.
If you struggle with depression, one of the best things you could do would be to find a qualified EFT practitioner. Once you