Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted
15 minutes ago, Doc Daneeka said:

I do things. I’m the one who does things. For her. For my daughters. For my parents. For her mom. For her brother. For our niece. For people who matter to me. It doesn’t matter if I feel hollow. Things need to be done and the universe doesn’t give a fuck if I want to do them or not. I do them because they need to be done. If that means sitting in the hospital where I got the worst news of my life, and on the one year anniversary of that news, so that my daughters knows that she’s loved and important to me, so be it. 

IMG_3840.jpeg

Fuckin A. With you as their daddy, how can your daughters not turn out to be incredible! Your openness and vulnerability inspired me.

  • Like 1
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I don’t want to contribute to anybody’s anxiety, and I mean that sincerely, but, well, shit.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/rfk-jr-goes-after-antidepressants-claiming-threat-to-americans?srsltid=AfmBOorIYHKbv1F9e8-gHAAY6l_0jR9I7Ul_WKNXPWHwfIlQDksnJ_bi

Quote

It didn’t take long for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the newly confirmed Department of Health and Human Services secretary, to challenge the efficacy of a slew of drugs that treat depression, anxiety, and mood disorders.

Within hours of officially getting the job, Kennedy released a statement detailing some of what he hopes to accomplish in his first few months in President Donald Trump’s administration—including looking into any “threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors,” or SSRIs.

Quote

This class of prescriptions, including drugs like Zoloft, Lexapro, and Prozac, is used by over 13% of American adults. While they can carry side effects and are not recommended for some patients, SSRIs are widely prescribed and have significantly decreased the prevalence of suicide, according to a study out of UCLA.

Kennedy has referred to people who take SSRIs as “addicts” and, during a 2023 livestream with his now colleague Elon Musk, falsely claimed that there is “tremendous circumstantial evidence” that individuals who take SSRIs are more likely to become school shooters.

Quote

The language in Kennedy’s plans, released Thursday in a White House statement titled “Establishing The President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission,” is vague. It’s unclear how the new health secretary would act regarding SSRIs and what avenues for restricting the medication he may pursue. When Kennedy was running for president, he proposed a plan to send people struggling with addiction to “wellness farms” in rural areas.

“I’m going to create these wellness farms where they can go to get off of illegal drugs, off of opiates, but also illegal drugs, other psychiatric drugs," he said, adding, "if they want to, to get off of SSRIs, to get off of benzos, to get off of Adderall, and to spend time as much time as they need—three or four years if they need it—to learn to get reparented, to reconnect with communities.” (Kennedy later said these farms should be available, but people wouldn’t be forced to attend.)

Quote

At his confirmation hearing, Kennedy—who has been open about being a heroin user for more than a decade in his youth—likened SSRIs to the drug, claiming that antidepressants can be even more addicting than heroin. “I know people, including members of my family, who’ve had a much worse time getting off of SSRIs than they have getting off of heroin,” Kennedy said in the hearing.

“Antidepressants and heroin are in different universes when it comes to addiction risk,” Keith Humphreys, who studies addiction at Stanford University, told NPR in an articledebunking Kennedy’s claims. “In my 35 years in the addiction field, I’ve met only two or three people who thought they were addicted to antidepressants versus thousands who were addicted to heroin and other opioids.”

Quote

During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy was asked about his past rebukes of SSRIs by Senator Tina Smith from Minnesota. Smith explained that, when she was younger, she took SSRIs to aid in her struggles with depression, adding that they “helped to clear my mind, get me back on track to being a mom and a wife and a productive, happy person.”

Quote

“These statements that you’ve made linking antidepressants to school shootings, they reinforce the stigma that people who experience mental health every day face every single day,” Smith told Kennedy. “And I’m very concerned that this is another example of your record of sharing false and misleading information that actually really hurts people.”

“Senator,” he responded, “you’re mischaracterizing my statements.” “I am only putting into the record what you have said, Mr. Kennedy,” Smith retorted.


Other reports are saying he’s going to make a run at banning as many antidepressants as he can.  Fucking dumbest timeline.
 

Posted (edited)

I'm very much in the "try everything before SSRIs" camp and just went through the whole gambit in the medical system over SSRIs. Doctors basically threw them at me during a short term health crisis. So yes, there needs to be reform. I think diet (including gut/brain axis health - and don't sleep on brain/dental axis health), exercise, vitamin D/sunlight, relationship quality, sleep quality, specific nutrient imbalances, redlight therapy, sauna therapy, and a whole host of other therapies that are not pharmaceutical should be considered first. In fact, I think traditional and alternative medicine (with at least some research support) should all be used first before pharmaceuticals. I'm not going to apologize about that view. I think it's the right view. 

As a side note, did you know most serotonin is produced in the gut? the brain and gut are deeply interconnected. there is little doubt now that diet plays a huge role in mental health.  similar symbiosis exists between the gut and brain with GABA and other neurotransmitters. This doesn't even begin to get into the HPA axis (with adrenal gland function outside the brain) and it's interconnection with mood regulation.

on these points, there is little doubt at all that when the human body is functioning optimally it is because we are doing the foundational things right like diet, exercise, relationships, sleep, etc.  Unfortunately, the medical establishment pays very little attention to these foundational elements of mood and optimal functioning.

As another side note, it's shocking that the incoming head of HHS doesn't understand the difference between addiction and dependency and for those reading a long - "addiction" is the intense craving that you want something, where "dependency" is where your body (in this case your brain) has adapted to the presence of a substance and uses it to establish homeostasis such that when you take that substance away, your body (in this case your brain) is thrown out of equilibrium and suffers certain effects until it can regain its balance.  The other factor is "tolerance", where the body (in this case the brain) requires more of the substance in order to produce the same effects (or in some cases it simply stops working). The most wicked substances in this discussion - heroin, narcotics, benzos, alcohol, nicotine/tobacco, etc. generally cause dependency, tolerance and addiction. In addition, these substances cause active harm to the brain during use other than short term use.  They are by definition extremely dangerous. In fact, you can die from trying to quit using most of them unless you are extremely careful. So the idea of going to a "farm" to detox from most of these substances is not only idiotic, it's also highly dangerous.

SSRIs are not addictive and they generally do not create a tolerance nor do they do active harm. They are however, extremely likely to create dependency in those patients that take them.  It is solely because of the dependency issue that I am so adverse to taking them.  However, if after trying other remedies it's clear SSRIs need to be tried, then they need to be considered. And there is virtually no risk of addiction or tolerance in these medications.

But back to the issue at hand, what this all underscores to me is the lack of innovation and discovery in the field of managing anxiety and depression, and that to me is inexcusable and something that must change.

I think RFK is an absolute nut job and he needs to be ousted as soon as possible (I realize that isn't happening). I just hope we don't lose access to what we currently have available and the knowledge we currently have gained, and maybe, just maybe we can have a silver lining with a focus on other remedies in addition to and not in lieu of those remedies already available to us.

I have family that uses these meds, if they are outlawed, I will have to help them get their scripts somehow because in many cases after decades of being on them - with effective results and no other issues other than dependency - there is no route to permanent cessation of these drugs.

I am not cautiously optimistic though.  It could be a bumpy ride.

 

Edited by troph
  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Like 1
Posted
On 2/15/2025 at 9:32 PM, atomheartbevo said:

Hint: they’ve already decided on what they plan on doing, this is just to pretend like there is a process to reach that point.

IMG_4045.thumb.jpeg.7e3b765182bacc8a5a0d2ff137cbdc2e.jpeg

What's the beef with weight loss drugs?  Cutting into McDonald's profits?  Everything that I've read show them as a positive over invasive surgery, etc, for the morbidly obese.  Just one more bizarre take, I suppose.

Posted
3 hours ago, tigol said:

What's the beef with weight loss drugs?  Cutting into McDonald's profits?  Everything that I've read show them as a positive over invasive surgery, etc, for the morbidly obese.  Just one more bizarre take, I suppose.

It helps your mental state when you lose weight, so it’s a bad class of drugs?  Can’t have any drugs that help with positive self-image. 

Posted

Got diagnosed with shingles one week ago. I just finished all of the medication, and the sores are doing well. However, I am in such pain. My skin is so sensitive, the nerves are all fucked up. I've read everything I can find, things seem normal, I guess. But I'm so tired of this. My stomach isn't great most times but now it feels all fucked up. I don't know if its from the meds or the shingles or something else. I stopped taking my omeprezole when I started the shingles meds, just because I wasn't sure how they'd interact. Maybe that's why my gut is fucked up? I hope that's all it is.

Then to top things off, my cologuard test results came back and I need to have the colonoscopy anyway. I'm just not in a good place. My wife is my rock and is doing her best but I know I am difficult in these situations. I've caught myself having mini breakdowns all day. I'm supposed to go to work tomorrow and I don't know if I can do it, physically. I want off this fucking ride.

  • Like 4
  • Rage+1 1
Posted (edited)

Hey man I don’t know a lot about shingles but from what I’ve read and what you describe it can really jack with your CNS… the good news is generally speaking you can get better but no telling how long it takes. The main thing is to avoid long term complications and problems that can arise in your CNS.
 

I’m not an either / or approach but more of a both / and so whatever isn’t a harsh, dependency inducing solution from your doctors and the natural remedies is my approach. The pharmaceutical options are likely well known with your doctor - gabapentin, low dose naltrexone possibly for longer term issues. You don’t seem like you’re there yet. Both of those are hard to come off of and are likely for severe problems.  I had severe CNS reactions and symptoms from covid and while not the same as shingles I turned down those treatments for nerve pain and basically shot nerves (mental stress etc).
 

So I made sure my vitamin and supplement game was strong. All of the B vitamins, vitamin C, zinc, magnesium (probably glycinate), vitamin D / sunlight, certain herbs like kava, valerian root, ashwaganda, skull cap, and even minor ones like passion flower, chamomile all helped my mind.  I also focused specifically on brain health, berberine, lysine, alpha lipoic acid, glutathione (liposomal)… some of those are merely anti inflammatory some are anti viral, but there is no doubt post viral symptoms are inflammatory responses. There’s more out there and look up each one, find more. I fought like a fucking dog for months but combined with a perfect anti inflammatory diet (get on it now) and lots of fluids (add trace minerals), you really can give your body space to heal. But you have to feed it well, ensure there are zero deficiencies, and reduce stress like a mother fucker. Walk, get sun light. Listen to relaxing music. Red light therapy can help, acupuncture, there are some nerve stimulation therapies that can help too - often for lasting nerve pain. You don’t have to wait it out, your body is amazing and has healing capabilities you aren’t too old to let it do these things but you have to help it help you.  I’m a witness to that power and the sooner you get on it the better your recovery will be. Whether that’s a week or a month, there’s no doubt you will benefit from the natural help. 

on the colonoscopy thing, yeah get on that. 😕

as for being in the trenches …. FUCK it sucks. HOLY SHIT it sucks. I thought I lost my joy and optimism for good, it came back when my body healed. 

you can get through this. There’s plenty of easy noninvasive things you can do to help make it better and ensure it doesn’t spiral away from you into a chronic situation.

hang in there 

Edited by troph

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...