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samboct -> RE: Generic Antidepressants (11/17/2010 6:43:31 AM)
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Lady Hib et al.
Yes, I meant well. I made a mistake in not realizing that my aggravation with the current state of mental health treatment in this country would be misconstrued as an attack on people taking meds. I know first hand that docs are only too happy to prescribe strong psychoactive drugs before investigating other alternatives. Since clearly you had investigated those alternatives, my assumption was in error.
Let me explain my thought process a bit- perhaps my reaction and posts will become clearer. In your initial posts, you commented that meds were expensive and were seeking alternatives. You also commented that your doc had said that your serotonin levels were a problem, and hence needed meds, but finding the correct drug was a crapshoot. (I'm paraphrasing here- please correct me if I've gotten the story wrong.)
I have issues with the methodology that would lead you to these statements.
First- did your doc measure your serotonin levels? If not- then it's guesswork on his/her part. An analogy may help here. Would you accept a doc's recommendation that you go on a statin based solely on getting on a scale? Or would you think that measuring things like blood pressure, lipoprotein levels, cholesterol levels etc would be a good idea first? So if your serotonin levels weren't measured- it's guesswork. If they were, well at least there's some method of tracking progress.
Second- the idea that strong drugs should be prescribed as a "crapshoot" is something of an anathema to me. There is finally some progress in this area in cancer meds, where before prescribing a particular chemotherapeutic for breast cancer- there is a genetic test that is done to make sure it's a cancer that may actually respond to the drug. From my perspective- these tests should be developed for psychopharmaceuticals as well. Patients should be demanding this of their docs.
Third- most of the well trained docs I know are appalled by the violation of the Hippocratic oath- "First- do no harm." that has gotten thrown out the window with widespread rapid fire prescribing of psychoactive drugs as noted by other posters. It's bad medicine- pure and simple. and yet it's become the de facto standard of care.
To other posters who seem to think that I've advocated throwing away their meds.... Please don't misinterpret my comments in this fashion. I do think that as a population we are using too many strong psychoactive drugs which have become the first choice in the treatment of depression. There are three legs to this problem: insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and the organizations of psychiatry. Given the side effects of these drugs, investigating a treatment option- talk therapy, prior to using them for the treatment of depression makes sense. However, talk therapy as has been noted by many posters, cannot cure all diseases, and is certainly inappropriate treatment for any number of ailments.
Sam
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