Anyone Here Mentally Ill?
Replies
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Let's look at another possible cause of mental illness.
http://today.duke.edu/2012/04/socialstatusaffectsgenes
A female's social status affects how her genes turn on and off, and those who rank higher tend to be healthier -- so long as their social status doesn't decline, according to a study of rhesus macaques published in the April 9 Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Maybe we just haven't evolved far enough away from our furry relatives. This study involves the immune system, but who knows what social stress is doing to our brain chemistry?
And thanks to this study, I'll never view a bully as anything but a walking AIDS virus ever again!0 -
bump0
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I never said I did some self-medication, but I agree on the fact that not being diagnosed rightfully by pros could be dangerous. I just wanted to say I gave up on hoping being different (eg fixed)I think medics are nothing but a crutch
Yes, medication is a crutch - one that has kept some of us alive. Without that crutch I likely would have turned my brain matter into a giant red Rorschach test on the wall behind me.
THANK YOU
its important that people know what they are talking about before spouting nonsense. people are so quick to jump on the antipsychiatry bandwagon without actually looking at how these drugs have saved people's lives.
You ask people if they are ill, now I speak nonsense. The medication didn't save me from trying to kill myself ; though I was quite convinced hard drugs would kill me before. (could be the alcohol also) - you just can't put your point of view on one Universal altar
But it's alright to generalize medication as a "crutch" because it didn't help YOU? Color me confused.
Because I didn't help me, neither lota people I know/ knew. But I think it could be interesting to go from the original question "how are you battling with it ?" to "let's review all the medications for ill people and see how every one of them acts on both serotonin, dopamin and noradrenaline neurotransmitters "
And it's not possible that you weren't helped by medication because your self-diagnosis was incorrect?
There's a reason that it takes *professionals* to properly diagnose and medicate. Let's not also forget that incorrectly self-diagnosing and self-medicating based on what you THINK you're suffering from can greatly exacerbate the symptoms of whatever disorder you actually have.0 -
You're right about that. Lazy practitioners tend to slap women with a depression diagnosis even when they're suffering from physical illness that has nothing to do with their brain chemistry.
The real problem is this: diagnosing a defect of brain chemistry requires HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED and expensive imaging technologies that are not covered by insurance in most cases. Because there is no REQUIREMENT to *prove* chemical imbalance in order to prescribe most psychiatric drugs, they often end up being prescribed to people that DO NOT have an imbalance at all. You can have anxiety or depression without having a chemical imbalance, but if you take a drug for a chemical imbalance when you don't have one...you probably won't see a benefit.
Nowadays we are using biomarkers to put a finer point of diagnosis, and prescribe medicines that are more effective given your personal genetic makeup. That's the future of medicine, and it has been answering a lot of questions about why certain people do better on some drugs as opposed to others.0 -
I am OCD and have been on medication for over a year now. I am in a better place.....but OCD can mess up every aspect of your life. It will never be fully under control even with medication and therapy. It comes along with major anxiety and can throw you into severe depression.0
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Tom Cruise would go apesh** reading this topic, maybe even jump on a few couches. :laugh:
OMG....too funny. Yes, he would have a field day on this topic.
OP: I'm not trying to have an argument with you, but insulin is a horrible example. I met a guy who wears a box on his hip that gives him insulin and he said he just puts in the food he wants to eat. He said, "If I want to eat a bowl of rice, I just put the number in the box." A BOWL OF RICE!?!
I'm not trying to de-legitimize your problems. Your visions of bugs on the wall. I was paranoid. I saw demons. The medication I was on for a few months helped me get balanced again. But they are not a long-term solution.0 -
Why for most people suffering from bipolar disorders, they an ad vitam eternam treatment ?
And why nowadays, with all the great progress we made, we still don't know how to cure it ?
i hate this "we should have cured everything by now" argument i hear people spouting when they want to disprove any aspect of healthcare.
do you know what goes in to the research studies and the hundreds of trial and errors done on creating pharmaceuticals? the time it takes to monitor the short and long term side effects? are you in those labs sweating blood trying to improve upon hundreds of years of failed experiments?
its so easy isn't it? go to MIT, engineer a robotic neurotransmitter regulator, presto! i cured bipolar disorder!0 -
I think medics are nothing but a crutch
Is chemotherapy a "crutch" for someone with breast cancer? The brain is an organ, and can be diseased like any other organ, after all...
THIS. I tell the patients I work with this all the time. We don't berate diabetics for having a weak pancreas and tell them to "think positive and you'll secrete insulin". There have been many studies about the physiological differences in brains of people with certain mental health diagnosis such as OCD, bipolar and schizophrenia. There is a spectrum of interventions needed for those people, just like diabetics. Some diabetics manage with proper diet and exercise, some need to take pills, some insulin, some an insulin pump. People with mental illness are no different.
Of course having proper diet and exercise is the foundation of any recovery, regardless of severity of illness.0 -
You're right about that. Lazy practitioners tend to slap women with a depression diagnosis even when they're suffering from physical illness that has nothing to do with their brain chemistry.
The real problem is this: diagnosing a defect of brain chemistry requires HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED and expensive imaging technologies that are not covered by insurance in most cases. Because there is no REQUIREMENT to *prove* chemical imbalance in order to prescribe most psychiatric drugs, they often end up being prescribed to people that DO NOT have an imbalance at all. You can have anxiety or depression without having a chemical imbalance, but if you take a drug for a chemical imbalance when you don't have one...you probably won't see a benefit.
Nowadays we are using biomarkers to put a finer point of diagnosis, and prescribe medicines that are more effective given your personal genetic makeup. That's the future of medicine, and it has been answering a lot of questions about why certain people do better on some drugs as opposed to others.
It might be the future of medicine, but we aren't there yet. And if the cost doesn't come down, or if society doesn't accept the cost as part of having a society worth living in, we will never see that future. I'm betting we're never going to see it, based on our history.
That said, epigenetics in particular (which is what the study I cited involves) is a fascinating area of research, if I were young and could do more than basic math, I'd go into it.0 -
I never said I did some self-medication, but I agree on the fact that not being diagnosed rightfully by pros could be dangerous.
i thought diagnoses didn't matter? its all a bunch of bunk anyway, right?0 -
Is breast cancer an mental illness ? Does a breast have 100 billions neurons ?
its made of masses of cells like every. other. organ.
Breast cancer is a tumor, mental illness not0 -
It might be the future of medicine, but we aren't there yet. And if the cost doesn't come down, or if society doesn't accept the cost as part of having a society worth living in, we will never see that future. I'm betting we're never going to see it, based on our history.
That said, epigenetics in particular (which is what the study I cited involves) is a fascinating area of research, if I were young and could do more than basic math, I'd go into it.
Well, we are there already in many cases, particularly Her2Neu breast cancer. I could go on and on about the personalized medicine that's already happening in this country, but it's a bit off topic. Costs are coming down, btw. Keep in mind that genome mapping used to cost MILLIONS and now there are agencies that can do it at less than $10k. It's only a small matter of time...0 -
Tom Cruise would go apesh** reading this topic, maybe even jump on a few couches. :laugh:
OMG....too funny. Yes, he would have a field day on this topic.
OP: I'm not trying to have an argument with you, but insulin is a horrible example. I met a guy who wears a box on his hip that gives him insulin and he said he just puts in the food he wants to eat. He said, "If I want to eat a bowl of rice, I just put the number in the box." A BOWL OF RICE!?!
I'm not trying to de-legitimize your problems. Your visions of bugs on the wall. I was paranoid. I saw demons. The medication I was on for a few months helped me get balanced again. But they are not a long-term solution.
of course not. whats important is that im not jumping into a lake with rocks in my pockets.0 -
The real problem is this: diagnosing a defect of brain chemistry requires HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED and expensive imaging technologies that are not covered by insurance in most cases. Because there is no REQUIREMENT to *prove* chemical imbalance in order to prescribe most psychiatric drugs, they often end up being prescribed to people that DO NOT have an imbalance at all. You can have anxiety or depression without having a chemical imbalance, but if you take a drug for a chemical imbalance when you don't have one...you probably won't see a benefit.
Nowadays we are using biomarkers to put a finer point of diagnosis, and prescribe medicines that are more effective given your personal genetic makeup. That's the future of medicine, and it has been answering a lot of questions about why certain people do better on some drugs as opposed to others.
That's really cool and I think adds a lot to this discussion, although I don't really have anything to respond to it.0 -
I have Anxiety, Depression, PTSD, as well as a host of physical health issues including fibromyalgia. I battle these issues with vitamins and exercise. Also, i refuse to take meds because a. they never helped much and b. the cons FAR outweighed any possible pros. Natural is the best way to treat your body, IMO...0
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@ raziq: aids is not a tumor.0
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I never said I did some self-medication, but I agree on the fact that not being diagnosed rightfully by pros could be dangerous.
i thought diagnoses didn't matter? its all a bunch of bunk anyway, right?
Nope, but opinions get forged by time and environment. One draws his conclusion on what he lives, experiments or sees. Where is the hope when you lose people, or see your friends struggling their whole Life, ending as vegetables because of these medications ?0 -
I never said I did some self-medication, but I agree on the fact that not being diagnosed rightfully by pros could be dangerous. I just wanted to say I gave up on hoping being different (eg fixed)I think medics are nothing but a crutch
Yes, medication is a crutch - one that has kept some of us alive. Without that crutch I likely would have turned my brain matter into a giant red Rorschach test on the wall behind me.
THANK YOU
its important that people know what they are talking about before spouting nonsense. people are so quick to jump on the antipsychiatry bandwagon without actually looking at how these drugs have saved people's lives.
You ask people if they are ill, now I speak nonsense. The medication didn't save me from trying to kill myself ; though I was quite convinced hard drugs would kill me before. (could be the alcohol also) - you just can't put your point of view on one Universal altar
But it's alright to generalize medication as a "crutch" because it didn't help YOU? Color me confused.
Because I didn't help me, neither lota people I know/ knew. But I think it could be interesting to go from the original question "how are you battling with it ?" to "let's review all the medications for ill people and see how every one of them acts on both serotonin, dopamin and noradrenaline neurotransmitters "
And it's not possible that you weren't helped by medication because your self-diagnosis was incorrect?
There's a reason that it takes *professionals* to properly diagnose and medicate. Let's not also forget that incorrectly self-diagnosing and self-medicating based on what you THINK you're suffering from can greatly exacerbate the symptoms of whatever disorder you actually have.
It's absolutely within the realm of possibility that you'll never be "fixed". Many mental illnesses are lifelong battles with no known cure. But with proper diagnosis, help and understanding of what's truly going on, it's quite possible that you'll be more "balanced" and able to live a relatively normal life.
As with anything, there's no guarantee. Mental illness is as individualized as fingerprints. I can assure you, though, that you will not be fixed, or even balanced, without understanding the true root of the issue.0 -
With mental illness it is difficult to get the right "label"...there are literally hundreds of them. I think that may be what folks are saying when they say "don't worry about the label." It is much more difficult with mental illnesses to say "You are bi-polar or you are depressed" Unlike other body systems, there is still very little known about the brain and how it's processes work. We are much farther than we've ever been, but are leaps and bounds away from "real" knowledge of the brain and it's processes. Mental Illnesses, much more than other illnesses, are very individualized, based on your body's personal chemical balance, and finding the right "cocktail" for one person versus the other is, in many circumstances, a lot of trial and error until the person "feels normal".0
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Breast cancer is a tumor, mental illness not
If you want to believe that your problems are too complicated and "special" to have any humanly imaginable solution, that is completely up to you. For the millions of patients that are benefiting from medication on a daily basis, I will apologize on your behalf for insulting their attempts to better their lives.0 -
Me either.
I was thinking of a funny reply, no way to top this.
^^this0 -
I have found that exercise and diet changes have improved my mood and my anxiety issues :-)0
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@ raziq: aids is not a tumor.
Why are you still drawing the parallel between infections, tumours, and the brain ?
The brain is the most complex organ, and today the science doesn' even now what determines mental illness0 -
It might be the future of medicine, but we aren't there yet. And if the cost doesn't come down, or if society doesn't accept the cost as part of having a society worth living in, we will never see that future. I'm betting we're never going to see it, based on our history.
That said, epigenetics in particular (which is what the study I cited involves) is a fascinating area of research, if I were young and could do more than basic math, I'd go into it.
Well, we are there already in many cases, particularly Her2Neu breast cancer. I could go on and on about the personalized medicine that's already happening in this country, but it's a bit off topic. Costs are coming down, btw. Keep in mind that genome mapping used to cost MILLIONS and now there are agencies that can do it at less than $10k. It's only a small matter of time...
not off topic at all. this is really interesting, i actually never even knew ther were people out there getting personalized healthcare. hopefully the stuff will become widely available. is her2neu like nanotechnology?0 -
It might be the future of medicine, but we aren't there yet. And if the cost doesn't come down, or if society doesn't accept the cost as part of having a society worth living in, we will never see that future. I'm betting we're never going to see it, based on our history.
That said, epigenetics in particular (which is what the study I cited involves) is a fascinating area of research, if I were young and could do more than basic math, I'd go into it.
Well, we are there already in many cases, particularly Her2Neu breast cancer. I could go on and on about the personalized medicine that's already happening in this country, but it's a bit off topic. Costs are coming down, btw. Keep in mind that genome mapping used to cost MILLIONS and now there are agencies that can do it at less than $10k. It's only a small matter of time...
That's good, because if there's one thing history has taught me, it's that societies and individual lives don't become better because our species becomes kinder, wiser, and gentler, it's all about technology.0 -
Thank you for posting this. I struggle with Bipolar Disorder. So far it has not interferred with my weight loss.0
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I use to get panic attacks and would take paxil and clonazepam! for about 2 1/2 years then i went cold turkey and im fine now i just get anxiety once in a while!0
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I have had some major depressive episodes, or I have suffered with depression brought on by horrible events. I fall back into it from time to time, meds never work for me. Working out has been the only thing that has pulled me out of depression even though some days I don't feel like going to the gym.0
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i just wanted to say that I think exercise is really helpful for a lot of mental issues....increases endorphins which lessens depression. It also lowers anxiety. I realize there is more to life than just depression and anxiety, but I just wanted to put it out there that people with mental health issues might benefit from thinking of exercise and healthy eating as a tool to help manage mental health stuff, rather than something extra to throw on your plate.
Food choices can also impact mental health- some foods can make it harder to deal with mental health stuff, and some foods make it easier. This may sound nutso, but hey- I'm speaking from experience. Clean eating is good for your mentals and physicals. As is the exercise.
and good rest.
plenty of water.
and cutting out the booze.0 -
Why are you still drawing the parallel between infections, tumours, and the brain ?
The brain is the most complex organ, and today the science doesn' even now what determines mental illness
We don't know the mechanism of action of MANY drugs that are highly effective, either...but what works, works. We don't understand the disease process behind all kinds of illnesses, and yet we have developed effective remedies.
I'm sorry you've had bad experiences with medication. Hopefully you'll find another way to improve your quality of life. Please don't express your own limited experience as blanket truth for everyone else, though.0
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