The Anti-Depressant Med. Debate
Richard Gull
catl...@aol.com (Catlin77) wrote:
>Subject: The Anti-Depressant Med. Debate
>Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 20:10:00 -0400
>>Tim wrote:
>>As a casual observer to this newsgroup I have read with great interest
>>the debate regarding anti-depressant meds. There seem to be many that
>>are violently opposed to anti-depressant meds, and those that are
>>defending it.
>What is interesting, in this whole debate, is that it wasn't 'about'
>opposing/defending anti-depressant meds, per se...to begin with. The
>'opposition' had to do with the fact that using anti-depressant/not using
>anti-depressant was an "outside" issue in AA. And, not to get this thread
>started again, but...since this ng does carry the AA name it is the hopes
>of some that what is disussed here should be related to AA and not
>BB...The AA program of recovery is the Twelve Steps which, "are a group of
>principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of
>life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become
>happily and usefully whole."
>The above is the AA message, the AA program. What members do, above and
>beyond the outline of the AA program is an outside issue..."Bill grew
>wildly enthusiastic about his friend's *niacin* work. He read the
>literature, studied the statistics, pored over the studies they had done,
>took the substance himself, and professed a great benefit from it....soon,
>niacin advocates began voicing their enthusiasm in AA meetings and those
>opposed to it were using AA meetings as forum for their opinions.
>...Almost everyone agreed on one thing: Bill was in direct violation of
>two of his own Traditions. Tradition Six says, "An AA group ought never
>endorse, finance, or lend the AA name to any related facility or outside
>enterprise, let problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from
>our primary purpose:; Tradition Ten says, "Alcoholics Anonymous has no
>opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought never be drawn into
>publicv controversy." ("Pass It On")...Sound familar? Whether it is
>Niacin or anti-depressant, it is/was an outside issue...
>To those that will now claim this *isn't* AA...look back at Tradition Six.
> Don't argue with me, argue with the Traditions.
>Catlin
after recovery, prozac has been a godsend to me. whether you like if,
choose it or desire it, it may be what you need. The "higher power
just may not be enough or even be! Sorry. I love my sobriety, but
some things in the program just don't jell. If it works for you don"t
mess with it. If Itworks for someone else, don"t mess with it either.
IMHO Dick
Claudia
The anti-depressent med controversy was solved for me very easily. I was
first given Prozac while I was in treatment and left treatment with a
prescription for the drug in my pocket. The treatment center doctor
explained it this way. Depression is an illness juat like diabetes.
Anti-depressants are a successful methtod of treatment. You would not
stop taking insulin when you entered recovery and niether should you not
treat your depression. I am 7+ yrs sober and still to this day take the
meds.
I have tried at different times to stop taking them and have suffered no
withdrawals. But after a few weeks when they have worked their way out
of my system I start to cry at the drop of a hat. I begin to feel
worthless and I enter a darlk space where no one would want to be. While
in the space meetings, assistance of sponsor and well-wishing AA friends
does nothing to alleviate my inner pain. I have tried for to tough it
out, once for an entire year working my program to the best of my
abililty, but because of the dark space I am in the chance of slipping is
very high.
No one can understand what depression is like unless they have been
there. It's like everyone else has a roadmap to a happy, serene life but
you and no matter how hard you try and what avenues you go down you can
not find the path and while you are struggling to find that path you
keep falling down and hurting yourself, you are exausted but can't sleep
and all you want is for it to end. I can not believe that anyone,
experiencing this would ever say that a recovering drunk should not take
anti-deressnt drugs if prescribed by their doctor. If you were unable to
have a bowl movement for several weeks would you not take a laxative?
Well, it's the same way with anti-depressant drugs. For me there is no
recovery with out these meds. If I loose my desire to live, what reason
is there to recover, and what good has sobriety brought my life?
Claudia
Yes Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore
Claudia
The anti-de[ressant med controversy was solved for me very easily. I was
prescription for the drug in my pocket. The treatment center doctor
explained it this way. Depression is an illness juat like diabetes.
Anti-depressants are a successful methtod of treatment. You would not
stop taking insulin when you entered recovery and niether should you not
meds.
I have tried at different times to stop taking them and have suffered no
withdrawals. But after a few weeks when they have worked there way out
of my system I start to cry at the drop of a hat, I begin to feel
worthless and I enter a darlk space where no one would want to be. While
in the space meetings, assistance of sponsor and well-wishing AA friends
does nothing to alleviate my inner pain. I have tried for to tough it
out, once for an entire year working my program to the best of my
abililty, but because of the space I am in the chance of slipping is very
high.
No one can understand what depression is like unless they have been
there. It's like everyone else has a roadmap to a happy, serene life but
me and no matter how hard I try and what avenues I go down I can not find
the path. I can not believe that anyway, experiencing this would ever say
that a recovering drunk should not take anti-deressnt drugs if prescribed
by there doctor. If you were unable to have a bowl movement for several
weeks would you not take a laxative? Well, it's the same way with
anti-depressant drugs. For me there is no recovery with out these meds.
If ZI loose my desire to live, what reason is there to recover, and what
Paul
Well stated, Claudia. I have been wonderfully sober for 13 years. Three
different times I have had to be treated for depression by a qualified
physician (who also has close to 30 years in A.A.). My sponsor pointed me to
Page 133 in the big book. It was his love and guidance that allowed me to
live to enjoy the gift God gave me - sobriety.
I try as best as I can to ignore all the opinionated, uninformed, perhaps
well-intentioned self-appointed "doctors" who insist on trying to kill people
who are clinically depressed by telling them to throw away their medication.
Once again, I was saved by the PROGRAM of AA in the liturature, and not
someone's own opinion of what the A.A. program is.
God Bless you, Claudia
Paul
In article <3245D5...@netreach.net>, Claudia <cla...@netreach.net> wrote:
>The anti-depressent med controversy was solved for me very easily. I was
>first given Prozac while I was in treatment and left treatment with a
>prescription for the drug in my pocket. The treatment center doctor
>explained it this way. Depression is an illness juat like diabetes.
>Anti-depressants are a successful methtod of treatment. You would not
>stop taking insulin when you entered recovery and niether should you not
>treat your depression. I am 7+ yrs sober and still to this day take the
>meds.
>
>I have tried at different times to stop taking them and have suffered no
>withdrawals. But after a few weeks when they have worked their way out
>of my system I start to cry at the drop of a hat. I begin to feel
>worthless and I enter a darlk space where no one would want to be. While
>in the space meetings, assistance of sponsor and well-wishing AA friends
>does nothing to alleviate my inner pain. I have tried for to tough it
>out, once for an entire year working my program to the best of my
>abililty, but because of the dark space I am in the chance of slipping is
>very high.
>
>No one can understand what depression is like unless they have been
>there. It's like everyone else has a roadmap to a happy, serene life but
>you and no matter how hard you try and what avenues you go down you can
>not find the path and while you are struggling to find that path you
>keep falling down and hurting yourself, you are exausted but can't sleep
>and all you want is for it to end. I can not believe that anyone,
>experiencing this would ever say that a recovering drunk should not take
>anti-deressnt drugs if prescribed by their doctor. If you were unable to
>have a bowl movement for several weeks would you not take a laxative?
>Well, it's the same way with anti-depressant drugs. For me there is no
>recovery with out these meds. If I loose my desire to live, what reason
>is there to recover, and what good has sobriety brought my life?
>
phil rupp
>No one can understand what depression is like unless they have been
>there.
I think part of the problem with anti-depressants/AA is semantic. If
I said "I'm on anti psychotic medication" or "I have Tourettes
Syndromee so I take XXXXXX", I doubt any one would raise an eyebrow.
The depression anti-depressants treat is not the same as the
depression one goes through when a job is lost or a loved one dumps
you, or you realize your friends all earn more money have better
lives, etc etc. I go through THAT and I am on anti-d's.
The depression Prozac, Zoloft, Effexor, Elavil, Paxil and a hosr of
other medications treat is a chronic chemical imbalance in the brain,
that may well be the result of physical trauma, mental trauma,
genetics, diet, allergy, IE an organic, chemical event .
The symtoms are (my spelling blows) aphasia (the inability to
experience pleasure) and a few other cool words thatbasically mean the
absence of emotion, response to stimuli and a flat affect (dull
lethargic behavior). And it doesn't go away when you get a new girl
or job. Its cyclical, seems to strike some people in the winter, some
in the spring, it could be related to the sun, who knows. There's
lots of research going on (my money is on diet+exposure to sunlight)
I guess my point is the depression anti depresants treat is mistaken
for the blues, feeling down, being upset over some loss or whatever.
I was in a depression when my Dad died and my reaction was--oh, ok.
Funeral. I would get laid and be like "oh, sex, goody." Just a flat
line, empty, nothing, dead battery.
On Meds, I react--I have nad some really deep depressions on meds,
that AA and therapy etc have helped me through. Anti D's are not
Happy Pills--not likeValium. They restore my ability to feel stuff,
good and bad. Sometimes deep depression seems like a luxury--the
really bad stuff didn't effect me.
blah blah balh