Treat it, then when it's fixed, quit the treatment.

[azurelunatic]

The thing I had the most problem with, ever, with a doctor of mine, was when I was given a nightguard by my dentist to correct the misalignment of my jaw.

When I went back a year later, and told him I wasn't wearing the nightguard because its time was over, my jaw was fixed, and the thing was an implement of torture, he told me that it had been given to me originally to protect my teeth from my grinding them at night, and since I hadn't been wearing it, a new one that fit my mouth would have to be made.

I told him absolutely not. He was not happy with me.

It is my opinion that when a medication or treatment is given to solve a specific problem, after the problem has been fixed, the treatment should be discontinued. In the case of antibiotics, often the infection subsides before all the antibiotics have been taken; in this case, continuing the treatment is vital, to make sure that not just most, but as near to all of the wee beasties have been eliminated, so it won't flare up again. There is a difference, however, between continuing to take the medicine until day 14 as prescribed, and continuing to take those antibiotics every day for the rest of your life because of one bout with pnemonia that was cured four years ago.

I wonder how many people have had bad situations crop up in their lives, have gotten on antidepressants for a depression caused by a specific incident or set of incidents, and then never gotten off the medication? n3m3sis42 has mentioned that she has seen too much of this.

Antidepressants are powerful drugs that can pull someone's mind out of a deep dark pit of despair and make them functional again, and they are very good for that purpose. However, once the person has recovered enough to have sanity and coherency, there should be a pursuit of the root cause of the problem. Is it some deep monster memory from the past? Is it a chemical imbalance inherent in the brain from birth?

All permanent prescriptions, especially of drugs with a profound impact on the mind, should be periodically reviewed. Have there been medical advances that make putting up with any side effects of a current prescription unnecessary? Is the situation that made the prescription necessary still in place? Is it likely to have changed? What are the long-term effects of staying on this drug? What are the effects of getting off it? It may not be necessary or wise to change, but it is vital to take a look at what's happening inside and outside of the body, every now and then.

Comments

[metaphorge.livejournal.com]

Very very well said.

[azurelunatic]

Thank you.

I thought that this was a better forum for this rant than that.

[tyrantmouth.livejournal.com]

That's why I'm confident about having been recently put on such medication. I was seen by two mental health professionals before getting a prescription, and was also immediately hooked up with therapy and cognitive therapy and other things, to get at what lies beneath. As it's explained to me, the meds are to get me stable short-term, to give me a solid base from which to work on getting stable long-term, through other means. These aren't magic happy pills that will solve all my problems forever; nor are these anything I should be taking for the rest of my life.

You summed it all up very well.

[azurelunatic]

I guess my just-plain-rants are getting more coherent.

Thanks.

[azurelunatic]

I know that the only way I would ever be able to consent to be put on meds to help me with some of my mental housekeeping issues is if there were other things going along with that.

Holistic, baby.

Zoloft/Celexa

[aratina.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean! When I went in to the doctor in a derranged state, he put me on Zoloft. It worked WONDERS for about 2 months, but then I started becoming tolerant, and up went the doses, and up and up and down went the affect and down and down... until I finally said "I need help!" again. Then I got switched to Celexa, but it only made me feel really intensley bothered by everything. So I began lowering the dosage, and eventually got off of it. Unfortunately, I couldn't wake up in the morning right at the peak of my college, and became so bogged down with homework and missed classes that I failed big time! And I thought that anti-depressants were supposed to help make me feel better. They obviously worked, but they peaked out too quickly, and I wasn't able to seek psychological help during that initial period.

So, BE CAREFUL, and get a combination of treatments for depression.

Re: Zoloft/Celexa

[azurelunatic]

It's stuff like that that I'm talking about.

Fortunately, I'm not on anything, nor, I think, do I really need to be.