thanks to Colin, Andrea and Catherine for coming forward with this discussion. To do drugs or not to do drugs, that is a big question. The whole thing about "mental illness" comes down to, as Catherine mentioned, the stigma, the godawful stigma of needing support/help..I wonder where that all stems from? If you had a broken leg, no one would flinch..but say you are having emotional struggles and they look the other way. And if there is a chemical imbalance, what are you supposed to do about that on your own? And if you are impeded by overwhelming feelings or lack of money, the reality is, sometimes you feel so stuck in the mire of your situation and cannot for the life of you see a way out. >From the people that I know who are on meds, some people do benefit from them and I >know people who feel that they can now live a full life with that help. It's a tough >call. Yes there are side effects sometimes when taking them, and then there are the >effects of not taking them, as Catherine mentioned. And yea, Catherine, some people think that just because someone isnt doing it all on their own, then that means weakness...or as you said, they are not trying hard enough or are giving up. Sometimes the fight is just too goddamned hard to do alone so thats why people end up going for help via meds and counselling. I agree with Bob, that exercise does help as does meditation and just taking good care of yourself through good nutrition and sleeping and all kinds of good ways to take care of yourself. It all helps. But what if you are just too tired to try. What if . And Rose, as Bob said,a support group helps because you can then touch base in person when you need to. And I acknowledge that it is very difficult to pull it together and find the appropriate support or to even gather the energy to go on that walk because you are feeling so overwhelmed as Rose is now. It's a long and winding road they say, and there is help out there, it's just so hard to find it. And then there's the issue of cutbacks in funding for programmes and such..and on and on it goes. I appreciate this discussion and I think it's so important to reach out, even if all you can do in the moment is to tell all of us Rose. So thanks for that, because now we are more aware and can at least offer an ear and an idea or two. Networking is a good way to go. People go through rough times alone far too often, which is sad too.And if you cant reach out to your jmdl community, then that's really sad. Mags, rambling on a sunny sunday. Catherine McKay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:--- colin wrote: > > The really sad part is that Jaco Pastorius was > >bipolar (manic depressive). It is not uncommon for > untreated manics to spiral > >into addiction as self medication. > > > I think the main reason being that the 'treatment' > is often worse than > the complaint. Certainly all the drugs that I know > of have unacceptable > side effects, sudden and early death being two of > them. Apart from that, > the drugs don't actually do a lot except make other > people feel better > and like they are doing something. They make the > taker feel dreadful and > often far worse than when they were unmedicated.
Colin, I'm happy for you that you are able to take care of yourself without medication. Many people can - Patti Duke is one of them. If you haven't read her autobiography, I'd recommend it. She had a very weird childhood. However, medication does work very well for some people and I'm sure you're not implying that no one needs medication. Not all doctors and shrinks are out to get everyone on drugs - some of them actually do seem to know what they're doing and do care about their patients' welfare. My brother-in-law is bipolar and, without his medication, becomes paranoid and delusional and unable to function. (He usually thinks he's in the CIA, which being Canadian, is pretty unlikely in any case!; except that being in the CIA or being a spy, or else being watched by the CIA or some other spy group is pretty common with delusional people for some reason.)Fortunately he does not become violent (not usually, although being violent - getting into a bad fight with someone when he was in his late teens or early twenties - was what led to his being diagnosed, and having a psych evaluation was what kept him out of jail.) As long as he takes his medication (it was lithium, but now he's on something else, I'm not sure what), he can be successful at his work and be there for my sister and their kids. He is a wonderful and caring person. When he's not on medication, he makes not just his life, but their lives, and the lives of his parents, complete hell. These medications work very well for some people. It is true that there are side effects and that they can cause damage and possibly premature death (it's either the kidneys or the liver that has to be monitored); however, the alternative for many people is an even earlier death - by their own hand. People who recognize their illness and take responsibility for it themselves (that is, not leaving it up to others to make them get help), by taking care of their bodies, eating properly, getting enough sleep and so on, are in a better position to deal with it without medication. Unfortunately many people go into denial about it and there's still a huge stigma attached to it - after all, mental illness is a "weakness" and not a *real* illness in the minds of many people, so, maybe if you ignore it, it will just go away. Or maybe you're just not trying hard enough. Still others use alcohol as a form of self-medication, although they may not be aware that's what they're doing. If people looked at these things the same way as they do something like diabetes, the whole thing makes much more sense. It's a chemical imbalance, so you need to get your body back into balance. Some diabetes (the late-onset/lifestyle-induced kind) can be controlled strictly through healthy lifestyles and diet. Other people need to take insulin. Once again, I'm happy for you that you can do it without medication. That's always the preferred choice, IMO; unfortunately it's not the answer for everyone. ===== Catherine Toronto ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca You open my heart, you do. Yes you do. - JM Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
