Posted by gracey on September 26, 2001, at 11:04:18
In reply to Re: overmedicated, posted by petey on September 25, 2001, at 12:44:54
> > Sorry if I offend anyone here, but prescription drug use in this country is of epidemic proportions. Pharmacutical companies seem to have a pill to squelch every human emotion,with the implication that what we feel is somehow not normal, and must be "cured" with medication. In reality, we are not being cured, but "chemically subdued". What follows next is that the meds will start to work against the body, creating a whole new host of behaviours or oddities, which must be treated with even more meds. A vicious circle created, meds to come up, meds to come down, meds to treat the aggression caused by one drug, another to treat the drowsiness caused by the one to treat the aggression, and so on and so on. We all know how it works. Now if you are an adult, and you feel that this route has helped to improve your life, I commend you for getting the help that you needed. NOW, try to put yourself in a child's place. A basically normal child, but Dx with ADD/ADHD. Placed on stimulants....Soon the meds are working against the body and there are new behaviours; aggression, anxiety, compulsiveness or impulsiveness....Drs. diagnose these new behaviours with fancy labels, OCD and ODD, and new meds are added to the mix. Nothing is taken away, so now the kid is on 3-4 diff meds, and is convinced that he/she is not normal and cannot be normal without these pills. The kid lives with nausea, constipation, ect...every day. He does not know that this is NOT normal, because his awareness of his body has been clouded by drugs for as long as he can remember. Finally, the combination of all of the meds wreak havoc on the poor kid and his bodily functions until the kid finally has a breakdown. His 3 week stay in the psych ward earns him some new labels, intermittent explosive disorder or bipolar, and some fancy new meds to try, with an admonishment to the parents for letting the kid get the upper hand...And so it begins again.....
> > This was my child, and 3 weeks after that hospital stay, I finally realized that she had been suffering for years with the damage caused by those drugs, and by what is referred to as drug-induced dementia. She was not crazy or psychotic, but the drugs made her seem that way. Not a single Dr. ever told me, or would admit it today, that they and their drugs did this to my kid. For those of you who say I should have known, my child was already developmentally handicapped, something I had no previous experience with. I trusted the docs and shrinks to have her best interests in mind. Never again......She had been on Mellaril, Risperdal, Tenex, Zoloft, Depakote, Pamelor, and others.All along, I thought SHE was getting worse, when it was the meds doing this to her. I was never told that this could happen, BUT THEY KNEW.
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> Gracey,
> How could you have known? When we take our children to the doctor, we trust that they know what they are doing! This is nothing for you to feel guilty about, you were just trying to help your child. I have found so many times that doctors make mistakes and they don't want to admit it. This certainly happened in your case. You thought that your child was being helped and it ends up that they were harming her more. I'm so very sorry that you and your family had to go through this. It must have been really horrible! My daughter was also diagnosed with a.d.d. and was put on Ritalin. It made her anxiuos and she did'nt feel well, so we took her off it. After reading your post, I'm relieved that she reacted adversly to it or who knows where we'd be today!I do have to say though, some people really do need these meds. to help them them live a "normal" life. (Whatever that is!) I know sometimes I wonder if these drugs are helping me or making me worse! Before I started taking them, I would cry alot. Now that I'm on them it seems I have more symptoms to deal with. I feel NO emotions now! I feel "foggy", anxiuos and get alot of headaches. So, I don't know. They help in some ways, but there are side-effects to deal with. I just wanted you to know that I feel bad that you and your family had to go through this. How is your child doing now? I hope better! I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Take care!
> PeteyThanks for your reply, Petey...Its nice to know that there are people who care about theses issues as I do. Its important for all of our children
poster:gracey
thread:79542
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010917/msgs/79632.html