May 23, 2005
The War Against Legal Drugs
I usually don’t talk much about personal things on here, but in this case I feel it’s my responsibility to get this out. My husband and I have had severe problems with a class of drugs called SSRIs over the past few years. They are the reason that my husband was manically banging his head against the shower wall a year ago. They necessitated me going into the ER in the middle of the night because of an anxiety attack. They are the reason that life is hell for us right now. I believe they are a case of the cure being worse than the disease.
SSRIs are a class of antidepressant drugs that include paxil, prozac, effexor, cymbalta, celexa, zoloft, and many others. The abbreviation stands for “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.” Serotonin is one of the neurotransmitters that help to regulate mood. It is released by neurons and activates receptors on other neurons, then is reabsorbed, (a process which is called reuptake.) SSRIs work by preventing serotonin from being taken back up from the synapse, which increases serotonin levels in the brain and makes serotonin signals stronger. This helps people with depression because they generally have lower serotonin levels. (Some of the drugs also work on other neurotransmitters, such as Norepinephrine.) A similar thing happens when you take cocaine.
Over time, the brain chemistry adjusts as the body tries to go back to what it sees as “normal.” The neurons actually produce less serotonin than they did originally. This means that the body develops a tolerance to the drug: the same amount no longer works as well and more of the drug must be taken to have the original effect.
This also helps explain the effects of withdrawal. If the user all of a sudden stops taking the drug, reuptake will no longer be prevented but the brain will still be making less serotonin, meaning that the serotonin levels will actually be lower than they were before the user started taking the drugs. In some people this causes severe side effects, ranging from flu like symptoms to more “mental” problems such as nightmares, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, hallucinations, and just a general sense of being “f’d up.” This can often be worse than the depression was in the first place.
I can’t even begin to describe how scary it is to go through this. The first time it happened to me, it was because I had missed a few doses. I was having dreams about raining blood and I felt disconnected from reality. I had no idea that missing a few doses of your antidepressant could cause this, so I thought it was all me. I seriously thought I was going crazy.
The second time it happened, I had run out of my medication on a weekend and had no way to get any more. I knew what was happening and I thought I would be able to handle it, but after a few days I just couldn’t hold out anymore and had to go to the ER and pay them exorbitantly amounts of money just to get a few pills. This time I felt like a drug-seeking junkie.
The ER docs didn’t have the foggiest clue what I was talking about. They wanted to pump me full of all sorts of other interesting drugs for anxiety when I kept saying “all I need is one of my antidepressants.” In fact, for some asinine reason, doctors in general don’t really know much about the phenomena and most of the ones who do don’t really know how serious it can be in some people. They often prescribe the drugs much too easily for mild depression. They either don’t mention withdrawal at all, or mention “that you should be sure not to miss any doses” but don’t really stress the importance of why. This means that when people go off the drug (or miss a dose or two) and have a bad reaction, they or their doctor assume that their depression is worse and coming back full force and go back on the drug. This often results in people who really aren’t all that depressed taking expensive drugs and enduring their side effects for way too long, rather than just getting some good therapy in the first place.
The part of all this that really upsets me is the instance of the drug companies that SSRIs are not addictive. The addiction may be different than an addiction to cocaine, alcohol, or barbiturates; but it’s still an addiction and I think it’s very misleading for doctors to tell their patients that there is absolutely no risk of addiction or dependence. If some people have such a hard time stopping the drug, I don’t know what else it should be called!
After my two terrible experiences, I was determined to quit the drug. I did some research and decided to do it by tapering, which means taking successively smaller portions of the pill for at least several weeks. By reducing my dose by an 1/8th of a pill every 4 days or so, I was able to get off the medication with few problems.
My husband also had a bad reaction to one of these drugs last year, and so asked his psychiatrist to put him on a non-SSRI. She said “oh, ok” and gave him another drug. Turns out the drug isn’t an SSRI, it’s a SSNRI – which is like a SSRI times two. Now he’s quitting this drug because of all the other side effects and going through the withdrawal for it, all because we listened to his stupid psychiatrist.
Drug companies and doctors do wonderful things. They make it possible for us to live longer, healthier lives. But they are also human and are as prone to human foibles as the rest of us. Drug companies often downplay side effects and risks. Doctors often throw out prescriptions like candy without exploring milder but more time consuming options.
The best medical advice I can give is to know your body and research everything your doctor tells you before you choose a path of action. Weigh your options and seriously consider things like lifestyle changes before popping a pill. If your doctor won’t address your concerns, find another doctor. It’s hard work in the short term, but you could save yourself a lot of pain and suffering.
(Note: I’m not suggesting that no one should ever use SSRIs, just that fewer people should and those who do should be aware of potential problems.)
Linked at Outside the Beltway.
Posted by illuminaria at 03:12 PM | Comments (2)
May 19, 2005
911 For Cell Phones
Web phones ordered to provide full 911Regulators Thursday ordered Internet telephone carriers to provide full 911 emergency calling services to customers later this year, after hearing from people who were unable to get through during life-threatening crises.
The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to require carriers to ensure that 911 calls from Internet phones will reach live emergency dispatchers instead of being connected to administrative lines. In addition, the carriers will have to provide callers' numbers and addresses.
The FCC approved the order at an open meeting attended by families who had trouble reaching 911 operators when they dialed for help with Internet phones.
This is good news. Of course I'm sure this will mean one more random charge on my cell phone bill that helps to practically double the contract price...
Posted by illuminaria at 06:02 PM | Comments (1)
April 19, 2005
As If Healthy Eating Wasn’t Hard Enough…
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government on Tuesday discarded its one-size-fits-all food pyramid in favor of 12 different triangle-shaped guides, each geared to people's differing lifestyles and nutritional needs. Inside the familiar pyramid shape, rainbow-colored bands representing different food groups run vertically from the tip to the base. The old pyramid's sections ran horizontally. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns called it "a system of information to help consumers understand how to put nutrition recommendations into action."
When I first read this, my impression was that they were going to have several pyramids based on what kind of a diet you want to follow (low carb, low fat, etc.) Apparently, though, the pyramids all follow the same basic structure, but are different according to age, gender, lifestyle etc. So instead of telling you that you need 6-11 servings of breads, it will tell you that you need exactly 7 servings. Apparently that range thing was a little too complicated for some people. I’m not hopeful that this will fix that problem though, the whole thing looks horribly complicated to me and it’s no longer one single image. The simple pyramid was something people could stick in their head and use to always remember the general gist of things. Now there’s a useless symbol and a webpage where you can go to get everything customized for you. Obese people either won’t be bothering to check a government webpage to see what they should be eating, or they will have already tried so many things that one more addition to the pile of advice isn’t going to make that much of a difference.
You can look at it at mypyramid.gov. (The website must be bogged down today, because I can’t get much of anything.)
People have steadily grown fatter since the food pyramid debuted in 1992. A report last month in The New England Journal of Medicine contended that obesity, particularly in children, was causing a reversal in life expectancy, shaving four to nine months off the average life span. Johanns said the 1992 pyramid had "become quite familiar, but few Americans follow the recommendations." He said that knowledge about nutrition and food consumption patterns has grown significantly in the past dozen years and is reflected in the new food guidance symbols.
Sounds like the old pyramid wasn’t doing much of anything either, I doubt complicating things will help. Anyone who wants dietary complications can buy a 200 page diet book.
Posted by illuminaria at 03:15 PM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2005
I Desperately Need This
Just think, I might be able to get to work on time with this.
A scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has invented the clever device, which will defy even the most determined alarm clock "snoozers."Research associate Gauri Nanda's two-wheeled "Clocky" automatically rolls off the bedside table when the alarm goes off and the snooze button is pressed.
It travels around the room and its carpet-covered surface bumps into objects that come into its path, until it finds a resting place.
"Minutes later, when the alarm sounds again, the sleeper must get up out of bed and search for Clocky," says the 25-year-old scientist.
"This ensures that the person is fully awake before turning it off."
Posted by illuminaria at 08:07 PM | Comments (1)
Who Said Religion and Science Were Contradictory?
Check out this story.
Students re-enact Red Sea crossing -- with wineStudent engineers sent their gadgets whirring, spinning and buzzing across a pool of water Wednesday in a competition to re-enact the biblical Jewish crossing of the Red Sea and pour a ceremonial glass of wine -- all without anyone touching anything.
The Technion, Israel's leading technical university, hosted the tongue-in-cheek competition with real prizes, a way of tickling the imaginations of budding engineers while providing a laugh or two along the way.
Sounds like fun. Goodness knows engineering like to do quirky things, like the concrete canoe contest and such.
The special contraptions had to cross a three-meter (10-foot) distance with pool of water representing the Red Sea in the middle, pour wine into a glass and place it on the far side.
But come on guys! I’m pretty sure the Red Sea was wider than 10 feet.
Posted by illuminaria at 07:54 PM | Comments (0)