After 27 Years: No Deaths from Vitamins, 3 Million from Prescription Drugs

[thegodfather]

What a mixed bag you've opened with this thread.

1) Most suicides related to anti-depressants are due to the fact that those people are in such a depressed state, they lack the motivation to end their lives. The drugs in fact, bring them out of this depressive state, and it's during the period when the drugs are taking effect, but not to full capacity, that the danger of suicide is greatest. Giving them enough motivation to kill themselves, but not enough to be in a non-depressed state. With that said, I think these drugs are GROSSLY over prescribed, prescribed too often for things which are everyday life ills, and should be used as cautiously as we use any other dangerous drug. The real downfall for these drugs came during the late 90s early 2000s with the push for Family Medicine practitioners to be able to prescribe these powerful drugs, which they are certainly not qualified to do. Additionally, since no test exists to find our which specific neurotransmitter is causing the illness (Serotonin, Norepinephrine, etc), the doctor is forced to play a game of trial by fire with your brain. These drugs DO have a purpose, as there are cases that simply cannot be treated any other way, but these are not what you go hop on because your wife left you, your girlfriend cheated on you, or you lost your job. These drugs are for people with PHYSIOLOGICAL defects in the way their brain consumes neurotransmitters.

2) The two most prolific instances of drug over prescription in the last decade have been with regard to anti-depressant drugs and opoid pain killers. Both Eli Lily and PURDUE were extremely deceptive in marketing these drugs as safe. In the first instance, marketing anti-depressants directly to consumers, and encouraging them to ask their doctors about XYZ drug. Highly unethical behavior, and I'm glad its been banned. Your doctor prescribes you drugs, not the other way around. In the latter case, PURDUE marketed Oxycontin to doctors as a less addictive drug, that was 'SAFE' to prescribe for chronic pain. Prior to 1996-98, chronic pain had NEVER been treated with opoid painkillers, and they were reserved for ACUTE PAIN/POST-OPERATIVE PAIN/&END OF LIFE PALLIATIVE CARE. This is why there was a $500BN USD judgement against them.

With all of that being said, there is a legitimate place in medicine for both classes of drugs mentioned. The issue comes in how we are training our doctors to calculate RISK vs. REWARD, as there are always risks when you take ANY drug. I think both classes of drugs are going through what Barbituates went through in the 60s/70s, they are viewed as the drug to use for everything, are massively over prescribed, and we end up with swaths of people dependent on them. I think the issue will self-correct in a couple of years, or at least I hope it will.

[lovbyts]

What a mixed bag you've opened with this thread.

1) Most suicides related to anti-depressants are due to the fact that those people are in such a depressed state, they lack the motivation to end their lives. The drugs in fact, bring them out of this depressive state, and it's during the period when the drugs are taking effect, but not to full capacity, that the danger of suicide is greatest. Giving them enough motivation to kill themselves, but not enough to be in a non-depressed state. With that said, I think these drugs are GROSSLY over prescribed, prescribed too often for things which are everyday life ills, and should be used as cautiously as we use any other dangerous drug. The real downfall for these drugs came during the late 90s early 2000s with the push for Family Medicine practitioners to be able to prescribe these powerful drugs, which they are certainly not qualified to do. Additionally, since no test exists to find our which specific neurotransmitter is causing the illness (Serotonin, Norepinephrine, etc), the doctor is forced to play a game of trial by fire with your brain. These drugs DO have a purpose, as there are cases that simply cannot be treated any other way, but these are not what you go hop on because your wife left you, your girlfriend cheated on you, or you lost your job. These drugs are for people with PHYSIOLOGICAL defects in the way their brain consumes neurotransmitters.

2) The two most prolific instances of drug over prescription in the last decade have been with regard to anti-depressant drugs and opoid pain killers. Both Eli Lily and PURDUE were extremely deceptive in marketing these drugs as safe. In the first instance, marketing anti-depressants directly to consumers, and encouraging them to ask their doctors about XYZ drug. Highly unethical behavior, and I'm glad its been banned. Your doctor prescribes you drugs, not the other way around. In the latter case, PURDUE marketed Oxycontin to doctors as a less addictive drug, that was 'SAFE' to prescribe for chronic pain. Prior to 1996-98, chronic pain had NEVER been treated with opoid painkillers, and they were reserved for ACUTE PAIN/POST-OPERATIVE PAIN/&END OF LIFE PALLIATIVE CARE. This is why there was a $500BN USD judgement against them.

With all of that being said, there is a legitimate place in medicine for both classes of drugs mentioned. The issue comes in how we are training our doctors to calculate RISK vs. REWARD, as there are always risks when you take ANY drug. I think both classes of drugs are going through what Barbituates went through in the 60s/70s, they are viewed as the drug to use for everything, are massively over prescribed, and we end up with swaths of people dependent on them. I think the issue will self-correct in a couple of years, or at least I hope it will.

This is finally about to change.
A new test that identifies particular molecules in the blood could help doctors diagnose patients with clinical depression,

A Blood Test For Depression Shows The Illness Is Not A Matter Of Will