With the recent death of yet another celebrity addict, people on many news sites are making some very ignorant comments.
No one chooses to become an addict.
Today's world is one of great stress and the pharmaceutical companies have conditioned us to believe that we do not need to feel "sad", "depressed" or not "ourselves". They have a medication for it.
The problem is that many of these medications act as band-aids; they cover up the symptoms but never force us to explore the root of the problem.
In this case of anti-anxiety drugs and sleep aids, the danger is the addictive nature of them.
The other danger is how so many people who take these medications do not consider the fact that having a cocktail is mixing drugs.
ALCOHOL may be legal but it is a DRUG!
In my life it never ceases to amaze me how ignorant people are about drinking alcoholic beverages when they also have been prescribed an anti-depressant.
Alcohol messes with your brain chemistry and ruins the affect the pharmaceutical drug has on you. The two do NOT mix.
It is not okay to have a drink every now and again and take anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication or sleeping aids.
I don't believe that Whitney Houston intended to die. Whitney's usage of prescription drugs for anxiety, sleeping pills and alcohol put her at a higher risk for "accidents" to happen.
An accident did happen. Toxicology reports (although not complete yet) will most likely show that the combination of Xanax, Valium and alcohol led to her tragic death.
No one said life was easy. Stress can overpower us and sometimes we go to our doctor in desparation for help. We are prescribed help in the form of a pill which does come with a warning but no one fully can understand the addictive nature of these drugs until it is too late.
You may think that you can handle it; perhaps cut yourself off when you recognize there may be a problem but often that is not the case.
As your body gets used to Xanax or Valium, you need more of it to create the same affect. If you enjoy your wine along with your prescription you are living dangerously. Maybe you think that you have it all under control.
All you are doing is gambling with your life.
It is best not to even start taking these anti-anxiety drugs. I don't even think that prescription sleep aids are a good idea even though I myself suffer horrible bouts of insomnia.
There are much better ways to deal with the stresses in our lives. If you feel like you just cannot take it anymore (the stress), schedule an appointment with a therapist. Don't fill that prescription for a pharmaceutical fix.
It is far too easy to have it become a crutch that you cannot easily get rid of. It also can be deadly.
BiPolar - Over or Under Diagnosed?
Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that seems to have become much more commonly diagnosed in recent years. It is also a disorder that can go undiagnosed because of the nature of the symptoms.
There are several different kinds of bipolar disorder but what defines bipolar is the extremes in moods from high highs (mania) to low lows (depression).
The truth is that mania feels good. The person is on top of the world and the behaviors that go along with this feeling of euphoria often cause reckless behavior. People do not usually seek medical help when they are feeling manic.
The other side of bipolar is the lows. The depressive symptoms can make a person feel suicidal and this is what often brings them to seek medical help. The psychiatrist only sees the person in a severely depressed mood and treats them with an anti-depressant. This will help them at first to cope with the depression symptoms, but as time goes by, the anti-depressant will actually make their manic episodes worsen. The depression will not be "fixed" either. A doctor who doesn't recognize that there are mood swings will increase the dosage of anti-depressant and the person will often continue the cycle of mood swings.
Diagnosing bipolar is difficult. It involves many visits to the psychiatrist and unfortunately, if those visits do not coincide with your mood swings and you do not verbalize these feelings, a doctor can easily miss that you have a form of bipolar.
This is most evident in children and teenagers. A psychiatrist who allows the parent to "speak" for the child is trusting that the parent's observations are correct and not biased or overly exaggerrated.
As a parent of a now-teenager, I have sat in psychiatrists' offices for years listening to my daughter either not verbalize her symptoms or seemingly forgetting how severe her moods often can be.
Over the years she has been diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, anxiety, depression, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, and now mild Bipolar II.
As a parent who has 20 years experience with psychiatrists, I am frustrated.
I have been paid to research, cite sources and write about mental illness and treatments. I do not have a degree in any medical field (aside from a certification in massage therapy) but I feel that I have enough knowledge to guide my daughter's treatment.
What disturbs me greatly is that my research and personal experience has shown me that often symptoms can be affected by a person's lifestyle. In my daughter's case, I know that she needs a structured schedule to stick to. If allowed to just do as she wants, during depressive episodes she will withdraw and literally spend most of her time sleeping or laying around.
Her diet is also an issue. Always a picky eater, her bloodwork shows that she has a Vitamin D deficiency. People with a deficiency can suffer from depression symptoms. Like many teens, her diet is deficient in many areas. There is a direct connection to her mental health.
Psychiatrists often poo-poo the idea that a vitamin deficiency can affect your mental well-being. Many instead will increase your medication instead of referring you to a nutritionist.
I call this the zombie affect. It is also putting a band-aid on a wound that needs stitches.
To sum it all up, bipolar disorder is not always easy to see and even when it is, the journey can be one full of frustration.
Patients need to educate themselves in order to ensure that they receive the correct diagnosis and treatment that is best for them.
There are several different kinds of bipolar disorder but what defines bipolar is the extremes in moods from high highs (mania) to low lows (depression).
The truth is that mania feels good. The person is on top of the world and the behaviors that go along with this feeling of euphoria often cause reckless behavior. People do not usually seek medical help when they are feeling manic.
The other side of bipolar is the lows. The depressive symptoms can make a person feel suicidal and this is what often brings them to seek medical help. The psychiatrist only sees the person in a severely depressed mood and treats them with an anti-depressant. This will help them at first to cope with the depression symptoms, but as time goes by, the anti-depressant will actually make their manic episodes worsen. The depression will not be "fixed" either. A doctor who doesn't recognize that there are mood swings will increase the dosage of anti-depressant and the person will often continue the cycle of mood swings.
Diagnosing bipolar is difficult. It involves many visits to the psychiatrist and unfortunately, if those visits do not coincide with your mood swings and you do not verbalize these feelings, a doctor can easily miss that you have a form of bipolar.
This is most evident in children and teenagers. A psychiatrist who allows the parent to "speak" for the child is trusting that the parent's observations are correct and not biased or overly exaggerrated.
As a parent of a now-teenager, I have sat in psychiatrists' offices for years listening to my daughter either not verbalize her symptoms or seemingly forgetting how severe her moods often can be.
Over the years she has been diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, anxiety, depression, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, and now mild Bipolar II.
As a parent who has 20 years experience with psychiatrists, I am frustrated.
I have been paid to research, cite sources and write about mental illness and treatments. I do not have a degree in any medical field (aside from a certification in massage therapy) but I feel that I have enough knowledge to guide my daughter's treatment.
What disturbs me greatly is that my research and personal experience has shown me that often symptoms can be affected by a person's lifestyle. In my daughter's case, I know that she needs a structured schedule to stick to. If allowed to just do as she wants, during depressive episodes she will withdraw and literally spend most of her time sleeping or laying around.
Her diet is also an issue. Always a picky eater, her bloodwork shows that she has a Vitamin D deficiency. People with a deficiency can suffer from depression symptoms. Like many teens, her diet is deficient in many areas. There is a direct connection to her mental health.
Psychiatrists often poo-poo the idea that a vitamin deficiency can affect your mental well-being. Many instead will increase your medication instead of referring you to a nutritionist.
I call this the zombie affect. It is also putting a band-aid on a wound that needs stitches.
To sum it all up, bipolar disorder is not always easy to see and even when it is, the journey can be one full of frustration.
Patients need to educate themselves in order to ensure that they receive the correct diagnosis and treatment that is best for them.
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