Damned If You Do...
...damned if you don't.
After what I went through without bipolar meds I've decided to find a way to take them no matter the cost. They can be very expensive but the real cost is in what they can do to you. Thanks, Henry for steering me to Crazy Meds, a great site for information on psychiatric medicines. They say that "Nobody on this site is a doctor, therapist, or a pharmacist." but I think they may be more knowledgeable than most psychs in many ways because they actually use the stuff. Their anecdotal evidence makes it a lot easier to understand what to expect, For example, "As for our experience with it, Geodon eliminated Mouse's short-term memory. The real short-term memory of the previous seven seconds. She couldn't remember what she had said, what she had put in her pocket, anything like that. Plus it made her manic as hell, and mania is a fairly common thing to watch out for amongst the bipolar, most likely due to the serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibition. She was living in a fantasy world of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Pfizer over Geodon, and spent the money she would be winning. Anecdotal evidence is piling up that Geodon can aggravate, or even induce mania in bipolar, especially when combined with an antidepressant or the more antidepressing of the mood stabilizers like lithium or Lamictal, so use with caution in bipolar where mania is a problem." That sticks with me a lot more than a long list of side effects, I read those, too but there are usually so many that I can't remember them.
During the scheduled 6 minute visit with my psych all he told me was that Geodon, which I'm taking now, has fewer side-effects. What he didn't tell me is this, "Its side effect profile is pretty low and it's generally weight neutral. Reads like a winner, right? Well, if you really want to play it safe you should get an EKG before taking Geodon, because there's a nice sudden death warning for prolonged QT intervals. We don't know what the hell a QT interval is, as that's cardiac language. All we do know is that Geodon can mess with your heart and if you have a history of heart troubles, Geodon may not be for you. This is where you'd need your cardiologist and psychiatrist talking to each other..." I found that heart risk warning at several sites, including Pfizer.com, the makers of Geodon. When I read that I was extremely angry at my doctor for leaving that out (I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't know, after all, I doubt the drug salesgeeks point that out) and then I started getting scared. I see my doc in two months and by then I hope to have enough money to move to something that isn't going to kill me but in the meantime I'm going to keep taking it, I prefer death over the alternative.
After what I went through without bipolar meds I've decided to find a way to take them no matter the cost. They can be very expensive but the real cost is in what they can do to you. Thanks, Henry for steering me to Crazy Meds, a great site for information on psychiatric medicines. They say that "Nobody on this site is a doctor, therapist, or a pharmacist." but I think they may be more knowledgeable than most psychs in many ways because they actually use the stuff. Their anecdotal evidence makes it a lot easier to understand what to expect, For example, "As for our experience with it, Geodon eliminated Mouse's short-term memory. The real short-term memory of the previous seven seconds. She couldn't remember what she had said, what she had put in her pocket, anything like that. Plus it made her manic as hell, and mania is a fairly common thing to watch out for amongst the bipolar, most likely due to the serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibition. She was living in a fantasy world of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Pfizer over Geodon, and spent the money she would be winning. Anecdotal evidence is piling up that Geodon can aggravate, or even induce mania in bipolar, especially when combined with an antidepressant or the more antidepressing of the mood stabilizers like lithium or Lamictal, so use with caution in bipolar where mania is a problem." That sticks with me a lot more than a long list of side effects, I read those, too but there are usually so many that I can't remember them.
During the scheduled 6 minute visit with my psych all he told me was that Geodon, which I'm taking now, has fewer side-effects. What he didn't tell me is this, "Its side effect profile is pretty low and it's generally weight neutral. Reads like a winner, right? Well, if you really want to play it safe you should get an EKG before taking Geodon, because there's a nice sudden death warning for prolonged QT intervals. We don't know what the hell a QT interval is, as that's cardiac language. All we do know is that Geodon can mess with your heart and if you have a history of heart troubles, Geodon may not be for you. This is where you'd need your cardiologist and psychiatrist talking to each other..." I found that heart risk warning at several sites, including Pfizer.com, the makers of Geodon. When I read that I was extremely angry at my doctor for leaving that out (I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't know, after all, I doubt the drug salesgeeks point that out) and then I started getting scared. I see my doc in two months and by then I hope to have enough money to move to something that isn't going to kill me but in the meantime I'm going to keep taking it, I prefer death over the alternative.
Posted by RevrendZ - 11/07/2005 02:33:00 PM
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1 Comments:
I can relate to this, since I take psych meds, of course. One thing I think I read awhile back is that the "rise" in bipolar disorder might be drug-induced--i.e. you take an antidepressant which pushes you into mania. Not to say that the disorder doesn't exist, but it is possible that some people would never develop the mania without the antidepressant.
Drugs are still very crude, esp psych meds. Our brains and bodies are so complex and interconnected that there may never be a drug with no side effects. But as you say, for me there's no question about taking the meds.
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