Prescription medication (some profanity, long too.)

The BBQ Pit
#1

Sorry folks, but this is just a rant inspired from another thread in IMHO regarding Zoloft, and I didn’t want to hijack that thread with my rant. Here goes:

Who in their right minds would ever recommend giving potentially addictive, mind altering prescription drugs to children? I’m talking about the Ritalins and the Zolofts and the Zybans and the Efexors out there. Sure, there must be kids out there who’s chemicals are so imbalanced that they need a swift seritonin kick one way or another from time to time, but folks, we are grinding out a generation of people who have NO coping skills whatsoever beyond the chemical ones that drug companies and quack shrinks have given them. THIS IS FUCKING CHILD ABUSE.

We have, as a society, become so self absorbed that we don’t have time for children, so we make them addicted little drones who won’t have the same giant dreams, the same desire to challenge authority, and therefore the same potential that we swear we want to give them and that each one of us had. WE ARE SELLING OUR CHILDRENS IMAGINATIONS OUT FROM UNDER THEM. Again, THIS IS CHILD ABUSE.

Drug companies are far more evil than Big Tobacco, far more evil than the Miller Brewing Company, far more evil than…Look, every time I see a commercial for prescription drugs that DO NOT TELL YOU WHAT CONDITION THEY ARE USED FOR I want to scream. Hell, I do scream. How can this be legal? How can we urge people to “Ask your doctor if Myxlplik is right for you”? This is just drug companies saying “Hey, dickhead, go to your doctor and see if he thinks you could give us some money”.

Bob: “Hiya Doc”
Doc: “Well hello there Bob”
Bob: “Doc, is Myxlplik right for me?”
Doc: “Why Bob, I didn’t know you suffered from Guinea Worms!”
Bob: “Me neither, but I guess maybe I do!”
Doc: “Well we had better get you some Myxlplik right away, here take this to Walgreens”
Bob: “Whew, thanks Doc, that was a close one”

Drug companies are destroying our children and abusing the ignorant and uninformed in this country and before long around the world. You would be goddamn right if you said we had a drug problem in this country, but it’s not coming from where you think it is. I promise you that in the next 20 years we will see RECREATIONAL DRUGS FROM MAJOR PHARM COMPANIES. We’re already headed that way!

Ok, ok. I’m better now. Sorry about all that.

#2

Off to the Pit with the rest of the rants.

#3

You know what? You don’t know jackshit about ADHD or medications, do you fishdick?

#4

I responded rather nicely to your completely uninformed opinion in the other thread, Ryan. I’ll leave it at that for now because I’m just too fucking angry to waste any more time with you.

May you never know the heartbreak of a child with an anxiety disorder. You know not of what you speak.

#5

I’ve taken zoloft and ritalin. I’m not addicted to either of them. Also, I have experienced anxiety attacks. I don’t think Zoloft is given to children too often anyway. The commercials say 18 or older, but I did take it myself when I was like 15. Ritalin can be addictive to someone who doesn’t have adhd, and it won’t be addictive if taken as directed.

I’ve seen other threats in these forums that regarded ADHD, and other mental disorders. They surprised me and upsetted me a little, but to no great degree. I expect people to doubt the existence of several of these disorders. I’m just someone who knows that ADHD truely exists, as well as other disorders.

#6

Addicted? Wait a minute, I was under the impression that zoloft and ritalin were non-addictive. (Although I see a post above me says ritalin can be under the right circumstances…) Now clonazepam, that’s some nice addictive stuff, and I did have a doctor subscribe that to me for a brief time and (in retrospect) with little justification. Mmm, clonazepam. I still kinda miss it.

I’ve been on all three of these… Clonazepam, addictive. Zoloft and Ritalin? Not even close. Misuse of the word addictive.

#7

Yea! Let the little bastards suffer! They just don’t have any social skills, gawddammit! And if they can’t sit still in class, why, they can have a taste of Daddy’s belt!

And I totally agree, the drug companies never, ever done anything good. Medications have done nothing to make our lives better. Cancer drugs are terrible. AIDS cocktails are terrible. Antibiotics are horrible. We’d be so much better off without them.

#8

Zoloft’s not addictive by itself (for me)… been taking it since I was 18. I was able to skip a few doses if I forgot. Now, though, I’m on two other meds (one of which is hell on earth if I skip it) so if I skip ANY of the three (including zoloft) I am up the creek because of the way each reacts with the others. YMMV.

shrug… I do find the commericals that don’t even tell you what they are for very annoying. What is it… “little purple pill”? something or other.

/Shadez

#9

Oooooooh yeah! It’s much better to leave a kid to deal with severe anxiety than to actually treat it so that they can function. I’d rather have a kid with OCD, GAD, ADHD and agoraphobia because, golly gee, those were the best fucking years of our lives! It’s really cool fun when you can’t take the kid out of the house because they are too scared to go out in public. That’s a great childhood that is.

#10

fishdick?

#11

Zoloft is NOT addictive. It is an SSRI but it can have side-effects if you go cold turkey off the drug. It has nothing to do with any addictive properties of it. You have to taper off most SSRI’s or you can experience some problems. Yes Ritalin(methylphenidate) is addictive as are Benzodiazepines like Clonazepam, Alprazolam, Diazepam et all.

Yes, drugs are over-prescribed for Depression and ADD/ADHD but both are LEGITIMATE medical conditions. If you don’t know what the hell you are talking about then just stuff it. Learn some pharmacology and get back to us.

#12

I don’t agree with the first sentence in your last paragraph completely. I mean, I know that ADHD is often misdiagnosed because schools are doing it for every hyper kid. Schools can’t diagnose. They have no medical training. What I’m not sure of is the over-presription of drugs for depression. Depression is the most common, but probably the most dangerous mental illness there is. Luckily, it is curable.

I know that I posted earlier that ritalin could be addictive if used the wrong way. I’m sorry, but I shouldn’t have passed that off as fact. I was just thinking of the speed abuse that is going on around the world. I just think it was addictive, but not if it is used in the right way.

#13

Depression is the common cold of mental illness, goes the axiom. If a drug to help with the common cold came out, would you post complaining about it?

I’m not defending Big Pharm as guardians of all that’s good and true by any means. And I think Ritalin is overprescribed and I think a lot of it is due to administrators and teachers pressuring parents, who pressure doctors. But then, antibiotics are overprescribed. Should we stop using them?

#14

Computer Guru- I wasn’t really aiming at you specifically. Only the first sentence was really for you and the rest was aimed at the OP. He obviously doesn’t know what the hell he is talking about. The reason I say medicines for depression is over-prescribed is that not all depression is due to imbalance of chemicals such as serotonin.

If you want an interesting read check up on Neurontin and how the drug companies have marketed it. Prepare to be shocked as the company ignored peer reviewed studies and bought doctors. It happens.

#15

Ok, I’m 17 and I take Celexa and Effexor. Personally, I think it would be abuse if I was not allowed to be medicated.

Do you think I enjoyed the constant muscle spasms? Crying myself to sleep every single night? The weird sleeping patterns and the complete lack of appetite? Feeling worthless no matter what I did?

Hell no. Medication has been a lifesaver for me–probably literally. Several of my friends are also depressed, and I’m the only one who’s on medication. How do the other ones cope? One smokes pot all day long. Another cuts her arms. Yet another does all kinds of illegal things and has been arrested several times.

Somehow, I think I’m faring the best.

In any case, I would not describe myself as “having no coping skills.” I do have big dreams, and I challenge authority so much that I get kicked out of the counselor’s office on a regular basis.

Too bad that I have no potential because I’m on medication. Thanks for telling me. I’ll just stop doing my work in school, quit looking for colleges, and abandon all my goals.

#16

I used to take Neurontin. I think I might check out stuff about it.