General Music Chat

I'm a lil anxious, & I'm losing a lot of sleep over this.

In about 5 hours, I'm off to speak with my wife's Dr about gettind her the hell off that Effexor anti-depressant med. I just hope I can keep my frikken cool with her.

I'm pissed that she just keeps prescribing these things, & has for the last 9 effin' years!

I've looked this drug up on the co's website, & on the fed sites, & have found nothing that indicates there's any problems with it.

My wife started complaining that when she misses a dose, things get all strange for her, about 6 months ago. She described that when she turns her head, things flash by like a series of snapshots or something. Sounds like an acid trip in some ways. She also just cries when she's alone for no apparent reason. She has moments of suicidal thought, too, but thankfully, they seem to last only 1/2 minute or so at this point. There's other stuff, too, but I can't remember it all right now. Her "depression" has remained unaltered throughout these 9 years, yet they just keep pumping her full of mind-altering sh*t at her own request. They warn us not to just drop the stuff, as it can cause serious mental illness & suicide.

So last week we found some sites that describe these very same experiences from other ppl. They call the symptoms "brain shivers," for want of a better term. The co & the feds have evidently chosen to ignore the reports from ppl. The site has ppl reporting that they STILL have symptoms after they were off the drug for 3 goddamn years. This sounds like permanent damage to me, & I am outraged & absolutely furious.

There have been talks of class action suits against the pharmaceutical co that go back to before my wife was put on this crap, but the lawsuits have been mysteriously dropped due to no one having enough $ to take on the co's lawyers, & doctors remained uninformed about the complaints. I'd bet that the victims' lawyers were bought off by the opposition, & just told the victims that there was nothing they can do.

How long are we as a ppl going to allow this to continue? Our own Dr's are poisoning us, mostly because they get these drugs without any real knowledge of what they do. I really doubt that her doc has heard of "brain shivers." She probably thinks she's actually helping ppl with this junk. There are simply too many drugs out on the market for any doc to keep abreast of it all.

Are you sad today? Take a pill! It's time we stopped trying for the instant fix. Don't allow this to happen to you & yours. I let it happen because I was told that this was the right thing to do, by ppl who are supposed to knpw about it all.

It obviously isn't, & it's really flooking up my wife's life, thanks to corporate greed, a lack of proper testing by our fair gov't, media misinformation, & doctor ignorance, not to mention what it's doing to me, as her husband, or our son, as we see her in her constantly drugged state.

There have been possibly successful ways of getting ppl of this stuff, but they include using a combination of other anti-depressants over a several month term. I'm gonna need some Valiums to get through this, I think.

Phameceutical manufacturers and the government agencies that monitor them used to have some integrity, but not any more. When it comes to health, the only thing you can trust is your gut instinct.

r

Hey Philby,

I feel for ya man becuase while I dont have a wife, or live with someone day in and out with this now, Ive seen first hand what Buspar, Prozac, Elavil,Zoloft, Paxil can do..Ive lived with women (longer than a yr) who've been on 1 or a combo of these and in EVERY CASE , these drugs IMO, did abosulutely no good ,BUT, couldnt ever really tell if they made things worse, I mean how could ya? How do you measure this kinda thing.?.WAY too many variables to monitor..You would have to eat thesame thing everyday, get the same amount of sleep, not take any other kinda drug, drink alcohol, etc to effectively monitor these drugs and what their doing.All I can do is share with what they did to get off this stuff. 2 of them were as bad as it can get I believe and had symptoms much like your describing...Doctors treat the brain like its neutral andjust reacts to the chemicals givin..IVE come to believe in witnessing these women and overcoming my own demons with drugs and alcohol that the BRAIN is one big drug and can be altered to heal itself with homopathic methods.Believe me , I was as bad as you can get....It would take too long to tell my story but I had physical and mental symtoms in 84 while on the road that mimiced ALL KINDS of other diseases and I about winded up in a Phsyc ward and all it ended up being about was detoxing and my brain NOT getting what it wanted...Hell, I didnt even know my name and where I lived,who my parents were? I lost 50 lbs, couldnt eat for days at a time..Anyway, I could go on...BUT, the little blue bag saved my live..I have a Nike sports bag I haul gig tools in now that Ive had to sew , epoxy, staple,to keep together..It once held vitamins , amino acids, and herbs that over a 6 month period totally straighten my brain and body out..After experiencing what this done for me , I was able to help 2 of these women yrs later..DOCTORS will discredit these things all day long and subscribe to a totally different science than what IVE COME TO BELIEVE THROUGH EXPERIENCE. THEY believe whethers its prostate, brain, heart etc , A DRUG is needed...I Believe that the brain, if fed the right combo, IT IS THE DRUG that will heal its self and the body...
Ive gotten rather long here but Im passonate about this..Once filled with sickness and anger , but through these exps., have been able to see healing and have hope..Would NOT have believed it with out living it and going through all the very painful changes..Even after 2 treatment centers,NO DOCTOR I know of has ever been responsible for anything like this that Ive ever heard of so my advice is to research nowdays whats available to treat her naturally ..I can tell what worked in the 80s and early 90's..Keep us posted on whats happening..

We're pullin for ya..
John

I agree with John, the pharmaceutical companies are feeding people drugs (can you say 'chemicals'?) and they are only concerned about your money, not your health. Doctors are uninformed, the only information they get about these drugs is what they are told by a salesman who of course tells them only what is necessary to get them to write more prescriptions. The drugs get no follow up testing after being released to the public, and in most cases they are kept on the shelves even after the company knows people are dying. (Vioxx is a perfect example, Merck (sp?) knew Vioxx was killing people for 5 years before it was pulled.

MONEY is the reason. Merck made millions before Vioxx was pulled. While they and the AMA and FDA as well knew people were dying...over 10,000 of them. Money determines whether it stays on the market, not side effects or deaths. Then they give you more drugs to counteract the side effects, then it repeats itself...

That's what killed my father, along with is complete refusal to stop eating greasy food. He was partially responsible himself though, to be fair, he threw screaming fits to get greasy food, then lied to his doctor and said he was a little angel and never touched any grease or starch. (serious diabetic) The whole time screaming and cursing me because I wouldn't cook greasy food or take him out for fried chicken. His exact words: "Fried chicken ain't got no f%#ckin' grease in it", screamed as loud as possible. He was dead 8 months later. He was taking 12-14 pills every morning, 7 or 8 every evening, his blood sugar was a roller coaster ride, blood pressure not exactly stable, no feeling in his lower legs, gaining weight constantly and already 5' 10" and 220lbs, (fat) and would have fried Jello if he could have figured out how. Blood thinners made it difficult to stop bleeding of even a small nick, and I'm pretty sure his mental state the last 6 months was mostly due to his daily chemical cocktail.

Definitely check into natural methods, it's difficult these days since the good old pharmaceutical companies pressured congress until they got legislation passed that stipulates ONLY drugs can prevent or cure disease, so now natural/herbal medicine is illegal. You'll have to sign a foot high stack of releases, basically stating the "doctor" is not "practicing medicine" and you are doing this of your own free will.

I don't believe in drugs, haven't taken an aspirin in over 25 years, pain killers only when I'm in intense pain, no other drugs at all, period. (No, weed IS NOT a drug, it's called a drug by the government and classified as an herb). The only thing I take at all is cough syrup when I get the flu. I don't get colds, haven't had one in 30 years, red pepper keeps colds away but won't completely stop the flu.

If you want her well, get her away from doctors...

Good luck, I've followed what you're dealing with ever since your last thread about this, I know how bad it's bothering you, I really hope you pull through it. I have a friend who is bipolar, it sucks to see someone like that completely out in left field sometimes due to a constant diet of more drugs...and you can't do anything about it, thing is he loves taking Xanax every day till it puts his lights out...then something like speed every morning to get awake, more Xanax, more speed...it's criminal what the drug companies do to people...

Yes, those evil companies holding a gun to our heads saying "take this sh*t or I'll blow you away"
I don't want to come off being unsympathetic, but we are each responsable for what we choose to swallow. Mislead or not.
Recovery from antidepressant / antipsychotic meds is slow and dangerous.
Even being a Nurse and having handed out millions of those myself, I have often educated my patients about the dangers and the fact that they really dont help, you are still depressed and now you have a drug problem. They dont want to hear it, pretty much %100 of the time.
Have almost lost my job on several occasions, due to patient and family complaints. Yet all I did was tell the truth.
Philby: I truly have compassion for you and your wife. Please dont be upset by my seemingly flipant tone.
And its my duty to say "God can handle it" He will not give you more load than you can bear. My thoughts and prayers are with you and her.
George

My advice is get off the drugs ASAP and go visit a naturopathic doctor (holistic doctor) and CHANGE your diet. Our lousy diets (most of us eat the wrong foods) are the principal reason we have chronic health problems. The hardest part of wholesale change in your diet is NOT eating some of your favorte foods and eating a lot of things you never ate before. It takes discipline but the results are well worth it. Whenever I have a health problem the first doctors I go to are the chiropractor and naturopath. Our medical establishment knows three things, and three things only: drugs, surgery, and $$$. Psychiatric medication is basically guinea pig technology. Doctors really have no for sure idea if the drugs will help you and sadly really have no idea of long term side effects and how severe they'll be. For example it recently came to light that viagra is causig permanent vision loss in some people. That presents a dilemma. Is it better to have an erection and not see where to put it, or is it better not to have an erection and see where it can't go? Later...

I guarantee that if a pill came out tomorrow that cured cancer, diabetes, or any other widespread diseases, they would bury it and deny it was even possible. The corporations want a pill that you need to take for the rest of your life, prolonging both your life and your ailments. It's all about $$$.

Well, the 1st thing the doc did was argue that her symptoms are a medical impossibility, since the drug "only works on the (insert med-speak) receptors in the brain." She then proceeded to say that since we found our evidence o/l, that there is no monitoring of the things said there, so that was junk, too.

I then stepped in. I told her that the effects were reported to me at least 5 months prior to our seeing them o/l, & I think it's quite possible that the medical community doesn't know jack sh*t about the norepenepherin receptors or how they work or how they may affect other areas of the brain in some ppl. Isn't it funny how these symptoms reported by other ppl are exactly what my wife told me?

She had nothing to counter that with, so she's reducing the dose by 1/2, & the plan is to get my wife off them completely in 1 month. From what I have read, this may be a little fast, but at least there's a plan, now, & I can monitor her myself for more weirdness. She also pushed for psychoanalysis as this goes on, but my wife refused it, saying that the last time she went, the frikken psycho told her that she should hate her husband. (?!?!?!? Ok, I know I'm far far far from perfect as a hubby, but she should HATE me? Sheesh!)

She then had the effing nerve to ask her what drug she should replace the Effexor with!!!! We told her that from what we've read, depression usually only lasts about 1 year. There is nothing to suggest that her present depression isn't just a result from the very drugs that she's prescribing, so no thank you very much, we'll go drug-free for awhile.

One good thing may have come from all of this, anyway. I've convinced her that these dr's are all wrong for her physical & mental well-being.

That's just crazy philby...

My wife has mild-moderate general anxiety disorder, and at times, it can be extremely trying. I've learned over the years how to deal with it, we both don't believe in these newer designer drugs, so I'm thankful I'm not in the same boat as you, no offense intended.

Yeah, depression should be short term, and it's probably the drugs creating a symptom thats much worse than the cause.

For those who don't know, my daughter is autistic. We refuse to put her on any medications that will most likely turn her into a zombie and inhibit her learning even more. Most of those drugs should be reserved for the most extreme of cases, and not be the status-quo.

For the first time in history, more than half the population in America is on prescription drugs. Including children.

The pharmaceutical companies have the doctors snowed. Next time you're in a doctor's office waiting room for any length of time, count the pharmaceutical reps that come in. Watch how they chat up the receptionist. Listen to what they say about the samples they leave. Listen to how they say goodbye. These guys work on comission. It's to their advantage (and the companies') to push as much drugs as the public can consume. Next time you get a prescription, read the contraindications and see what the doctor didn't bother to tell you.

r

sans, I'm not upset with you. You have tried to educate ppl about the drugs they're being prescribed, unlike the Dr's (who don't know what's happening) & the pharmaceutical co's (that DO).

That's what gets me about it all. Yeah, you can say we all have a free choice in the matter, but when you're down, & that commercial comes on, & you check with your Dr & get the stuff, I find it hard to blame you when you get the nasty side effects. That, my friend, is a classic example of a big corporation taking unfair advantage of us all, doctors & patients alike.

These doc's have become super busy through all of this advertising, as if they weren't busy enough before. As they rush through the cases trying to help everyone they can, it's no wonder that they improperly prescribe these things. I can certainly understand it.

And when you add in the fact that the side effects aren't even acknowledged by the feds & the corporations, then you begin to realize that something needs to be done to regulate it all much better than we have been lately.

our "leaders" have done nothing but slowly deregulate it for the last 20 years. Along with every other check and balance in the government. Just look at the latest escapades on wall street.

sans - a question - did you nearly lose your job for being a "chicken little," i.e. for blowing things out of proportion, or were they actually trying to downplay the side effects to get the patients on the drugs?

I don't see how you could be unsympathetic if your bosses were actually considering firing you for "telling the truth." That tells me that there is indeed a cover up involved, even at the Dr's level.

What does it say to you?

Since this subject has become so near & dear to me, I thought I'd add these lil tidbits, if it interests anyone else. WV is the most medicated state in the union.

see http://health.msn.com/health-topics/art ... &GT1=31036

Here's an article about "8 drugs that doctors would never take," 3 of which my wife has pretty regularly, maybe even 4, & I'll be putting a stop to that, too.

see http://health.msn.com/health-topics/art ... 363&page=1

My dentists has often encouraged me to take Chantix to help me to stop smoking. She also said that one of the side effects is quite nice, too, in the form of "erotic dreams." Now, of course, I've read that the side effects include nightmares (erotic for some?), & I'm glad that I haven't taken the stuff.

Here's a list of drugs & the strange side effects that may accompany them. Yeah, there's the risk of sleepwalking & driving, compulsive eating, back aches, hallucination, paranoia, behavioral changes, the compulsion to take risks & gamble, heart attack, overdosage if you drink grapefruit juice, etc etc etc. What the hell are they doing to us?

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/art ... 583&page=2

Think OTC is safe? Over the counter stuff is no better. For example, Visine may take the red out, but it also shrinks the blood vessels in your eyes. My wife uses the stuff a lot, I guess cuz she likes looking chipper. It can cause trouble for your eyesight, of course. My wife has had to change her eyeglass 'scrip twice in the last two years, but then the doc has only asked about her eyes in reference to her diabetes & meds. Now I hafta get her off that stuff, too.

Ibuprofin causes internal bleeding, yet she pops that junk like candy cuz of her neck pain.

I think my wife's a frikken junky, when I think of all the pills she takes. Her parents are the same way. They all walk around on trips with big freezer zip-lock baggies chock-full of pills that they pop every day, & sometimes twice a day.

They've all bought into the new American dream - "better living through chemistry."

This has got to stop.

Philby, The main focus in medical care is the $, end of story.
We are told these days that our patients are not patients but "customers"
We can no longer tell our patients the truth if it upsets their little world.
The last time I almost got canned I had this little rich bitch call all upset because her mom was being overmedicated (was not even my patient but I was "In Charge") Well I checked the record, she was not being given any narcs, when I told the daughter that her mother was withdrawing from alcohol addiction ( which she was) The daughter went ballistic. The husband the very next weekend caught me in the hall, he thanked me, appologized for the stepdaughters behavior and said "that little bitch is an alcoholic too. I guess we all are."

Sorry I ramble.
Look into TCM, Traditional Chinese Medicine to include accupressure and accupuncture. One should not ignore thousands of years of pharmfree heathcare. That works!