Drugs - No those good ones....

[smegballs]

I've heard that plenty of people these days are on prescription drugs often for long periods of time. Luckily I've always been in good health so the closest I come to prescription drugs is the rare course of simple anti-biotics to kill chest infections.

Some people I know though are on repeat meds and it has occured to me that plenty of people in the country will be popping pills without having the slightest clue of what they actually consist of.

My interest in recreational chemicals has branched out into the pharma world as well and it seems a scary place. A med student friend of mines says that thousands of people, often elderly, are on repeat prescriptions that they don't need simply because their doctor hasn't reviewed them and took them off the meds....

I've now taken the stance with prescribed drugs as the same with other ones: don't take it until some thorough reading has been done.

Comments on modern medicine anyone?

[Frost]

Pharmaceutical companies have a license to print money. They either take stupidly cheap to make drugs like hay fever medication and slap a load of branding on it, then sell it for a hundred times the production cost.
More concerning than that though is the latest trend towards extremely expensive AIDs and cancer drugs that almost certainly will have little effect on most people. As some people are dieing they will fight to get these drugs in the remote chance that they will help. If doctors or the government says no the patients and the public take it like a death sentence for an innocent person. Win and they sell millions of pound worth of something that probably doesn't work, lose and it gets the status of the forbidden wonder cure every rich fucker wants to buy. Either way they make a fuck load of cash out of some people who probably die anyway.

[neatbik]

I totally agree.
Doctor's hand out drugs like sweets these days, often because its an easier and quicker way to get you back out of the door.

[Charlie]

This video would have been of some interest, however it has been taken down now... Maybe find it on the YouTube? Basic jist was that pharmaceutical companies could never know the full side effects of drugs until they are tested on the general population.

Also an interesting point was how a company like GSK actually comes up with new drugs... Total luck!
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[colin1]

For drug companies, if they only sell drugs to sick people, it's a limited market.

In the same way that a lot of drugs people buy over the counter, don't treat the cause, just the symptoms, the mental health drugs largely just treat the symptoms of people being unhappy with their lives.

They create an artificial state, which in some ways is a bit like being drunk, numbing the pain, and artificially making you feel a bit happier. Most people don't spend their lives being drunk though, it's just a little holiday from reality.

Whereas, for people on meds, it becomes their reality. Because it numbs their emotions, they can become insensitive to other people's emotions. Creating more problems in their lives, which was the original cause of their unhappyness.

A lot depends on the dose. Someone who is overmedicated can become quite strange, while someone who just has enough to stop them feeling really shit, can still be fairly normal.

For doctors, it can be tempting to keep people a bit overmedicated to keep them 'stable'.

On some drugs, people can become quite zombified, like they have had a frontal lobotomy, like what makes them who they are has been removed. These are anti-psychotics, and are used if people have diificult behaviour that other people want to keep in check.

In care homes, this is referred to as a chemical cosh, and is used to keep unhappy people docile, so you can manage them, without problems.

The other thing to consider, is a sizeable proportion of the public are on prescription drugs, and are on the roads.

The ones over medicated on happy pills, can become quite manic, and no longer have any anxiety from risky behaviour.

I have a relative, who when like this, gleefully drove the wrong way round a roundabout, terrifying their passenger and probably the oncoming cars. There is no way they would have done this before being on meds.

Of course, they never told their doctor about this event, and neither did anyone else.

Mental health drugs are powerful things, and they are administered without supervision, just occasional repeat visits for new prescriptions.

Doctors often have little understanding of the negative aspects of the drugs, as the only point of information they use is the drug reps.

The other thing is drugs tested and authorised for one use, become used as a cure all snake oil, and get handed out by lazy doctors for anything.

I knew someone, who was put on anti-depressants, after going to their doctor, when it turned out later they had an un-diagnosed thyroid condition. For the doctor, it was a lot easier to just treat the symptoms of someone who seemed to be just a bit run down and stressed, with anti-depressants, rather than looking for an underlying condition.

Another thing is, because these mind and behavioural drugs are classed as medicine to treat a 'disease' people start to get the idea that they need these chemicals, because there is a problem with their brain chemistry, in the way that a diabetic cant regulate their own blood sugar and insulin levels.

This is a bit like an alcoholic saying they need to be treated for an alcohol deficiency.

The signs of the medicated society are all around us, the pensioner who drives the wrong way down the motorway, the mental health patient who comes off their meds, and flips and kills someone (not because of some underlying condition, but because of their withdrawal symptoms making them flip out).

Drug companies have loads of money to promote the positive effects of these drugs, and to brainwash doctors into thinking anyone who is bit unhappy would benefit. They even prescribe anti-depressants to people trying to give up smoking.

I think there is scope for creative uses of these drugs, like I think people addicted to other drugs to numb their emotional pain, would benefit from switching to alcohol to prescription drugs, as alcohol is quite poisonous, at the levels people consume it when they are drinking a lot.

However, I don't like the mission creep thing, where people who like the drugs they are on, start telling other people who they think are depressed that they should take them too, or drug companies getting doctors to prescribe, not just for serious depression, but for mild depression.

I think there should be group motivational sessions for people who have lost control of their lives, in the mould of self-help books and motivational speakers. I think this would be much better at getting people to turn their lives around rather than going on meds.

The benefits of this kind of motivational stuff, at places like weight watchers, or exercise classes, is far better that getting people to take anti-fat drugs.

If our NHS, is going to treat people's lives, and levels of happiness, I think it would be far more effective to have motivationally led self help groups, if done right.

Most people would be resistant, but for the ones that werent, a kind of life coach thing, which was group rather than one to one, could be quite cost effective, and a good alternative, to one to one counselling type stuff, which is quite expensive, and infrequent and not much contact time.

I also think there needs to be more effort into educating doctors about best practise when it comes to these drugs that werent around when they qualified. We shouldnt leave the education to drug companies.
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colin1 is officially faster than god

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[GhostRider]

[Ste]

Drug companies give bribes/gifts to doctors who're in a position to prescribe their drugs. Doctors then abuse their position by prescribing drugs made by the company that has been 'nice' to them.

Writing a prescription is the easiest, quickest and cheapest way for a doctor to be seen to be doing something to help patients.

Don't worry, it's worse in America. https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8618424.stm

[smegballs]

[GhostRider]

[Kickstart]

[G]

It’s in pharma companies interests to make as much money as they can. We could blame this on capitalism, but I think it’s a general failing of people regardless of the system, rather than the system it’s self. This includes lying about the affects, how useful they are and the like – so as well as trying to ‘buy off’ doctors, also trying to make them really believe the drugs are the best option.

I did basic research before taking the set of drugs I was given after breaking my leg.
When it turned out I had got addicted to the Opiod (synthetic opiate) I did more in depth research which suggested that in fact it could be pretty addictive and a lot of people were quite seriously addicted to it – as opposed to initial details I found which suggested that it pretty much wasn’t addictive at all – presumably the line put forward by the drug companies.

[Paulington]

I rarely take prescription drugs, for things like tonsillitis or chest infections.

I'd rather let my body sort it out itself, it's strong enough. .
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[smegballs]

[colin1]

[Ichy]

I profess to know nothing about all of this but I do wonder who actually started the Swine Flu epidemic and what actually happened to the millions of vaccines that the UK brought?

Certainly, as twisted as I am at times, if I owned a drug company I would be seriously tempted to release a few bugs out into the big wide world once I had developed the only antidote. It wouldn't have to be a major disease, just annoying enough to give a nice steady income.

[Robby]

Colin, that's a very long post full of a lot of bollocks, so I'll sum some key points:

If someone is taking enough anti-psychotics to be zombified, they are either taking too high a dose or seriously mentally ill without the pills.

If some is driving the wrong way around a roundabout on anti depressants, they're on the wrong meds, too much meds, or in the inital couple of days of taking them, when they can mess your head up a bit.

Antidepressants or other anti-anxiety pills don't totally remove anxiety. They reduce it to a level deemed comfortable by the patient.

Some drugs numb emotions, some increase them.

How often do people go on a killing spree when they come off their meds? And how many would be on a killing spree if they weren't on their meds?

Doctors have an awful lot of information apart from the drug company reps. Whether you buy their drugs or not, they still visit and you still get free pens, hence them littering the waiting room. Every doctor I've ever been to has tried to push the generic to reduce their costs.

Generic drugs can be much lower quality. The threshold is +/- 30% of the stated dose. That's particularly significant in psych drugs.

What works for you, or what is your opinion, is not the same as that of everyone else. This is why, thankfully, people like you are never in charge.

The doctors have a duty of care within acceptable limits. Your GP is not house, and so will treat in the safest way based on the most likely condition from the symptoms presented. Thyroid trouble is rare compared to depression. Doctors and pharmacists do invite patients on repeat meds to medicine use reviews, but a lot of people aren't interested.
The responsibility lies with the person taking the drugs, it takes an extremely high dose to remove all logic and reason. I would suggest that your relative, possibly a blood relative, is an idiot. A rational person can tell that they're thinking differently from normal before driving the wrong way around a roundabout.

[colin1]

If they are high on prescription drugs, they really dont think its a big deal. Thats kinda the point.

I'm not the only one in the world to think doctors tend to overmedicate just to be on the safe side, when actually more isnt necessarily better.
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[Clanger]

I have to check at the pharmacy before accepting anything the doctor has prescribed, because there are so many things harmful to the liver. Plus I have to look out for lactose, whey powder and artificial sweetners which they add to these things. Why they can't just have talc like in the olden days I don't know!!!

There are so many tablets I can't have because of the above avoidances, and then it's not known if my taking drugs orally will work anyway, because the way my liver doesn't work!!

Therefore I don't really bother...if I have a headache, I lay in a dark room with a wet flannel on my head (if possible), staying away from artificial light, the laptop, tv etc. Or rub a bit of tiger balm around my temples.

If my muscles ache/hurt I use Neurofen gel rub, or biofreeze.

I often use lavendar rub on my temples to help me sleep.

Any other aches and pains I just put up with, as there is sod all I can do about them really.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

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[J0Al1]