[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

If you're an adult then I see no reason why you can't decide whether to take your meds or not. So long as it's an informed decision. You should at least talk to your doctor about it first. Present your case for thinking you don't need them and see what he / she says. Ultimately it's your decision (if you're an adult), but it helps to get another opinion in case there are long-term effects you don't know about.
 
Better safe than sorry.
 

Yes i'm an adult. I spoke with my doctor and they are weening me off. I can't afford to pay $60 a week. That's $240 a month. You know what i could buy with that money?
 

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

Yes i'm an adult. I spoke with my doctor and they are weening me off. I can't afford to pay $60 a week. That's $240 a month. You know what i could buy with that money?
 

Yes, I know what $240 could buy. I also know that just jumping off of medication without weening down can sometimes cause serious problems. As a human being, you are worth more than anything $240 could possibly buy. Just be careful please.
 

 

[kiteki]

Quote:

[/] If all we were wanting to do was CURE depression, for instance, then no better solution would exist than prescribing opiates like morphine.

but 1 week of morphine will only make a sad person happy for 1 week, and not for a whole year, right? or do you mean it will trigger happy thoughts and be long lasting?
 
Must study more, I thought opiates made humans lazy, blissfully happy and content in nothingness.
 

 

[kiteki]

Quote:

Yes i'm an adult. I spoke with my doctor and they are weening me off. I can't afford to pay $60 a week. That's $240 a month. You know what i could buy with that money?

Audio stuff?

 
 

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

Audio stuff?

 
 

I was thinking more along the lines of food.

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

but 1 week of morphine will only make a sad person happy for 1 week, and not for a whole year, right? or do you mean it will trigger happy thoughts and be long lasting?
 
Must study more, I thought opiates made humans lazy, blissfully happy and content in nothingness.
 

If you prescribe morphine to a depressed person, chances are they'll feel euphoric and quite elevated. Problems that once seemed insurmountable will become trivial and meaningless. Mundane things will seem extremely enjoyable.
 
But that's just treating depression as an isolated problem. For a human being who happens to be depressed, it's a terrible solution because tolerance builds up, and it will require more and more until the person becomes hopelessly addicted in the best case, and in the worst case dies from respiratory failure.
 
That's why as a health care provider you have to treat the whole patient, not the disease.

 

[MuppetFace]

It's actually what happened with cocaine at the turn of the century. You used to be able to get cocaine at the corner store as a "pick me up," but then people started to realize that yes, it was a pretty damn effective pick me up, but in the long run it was causing worse problems than what it solved in the short run.

 

[kiteki]

 
I don't like the lung-failure part, that sounds nasty.
 
 
I think more people are more depressed today than 100 years ago.
 
Hypothetically, if you went to a foreign country and people seemed more depressed than your hometown, would you think the solution is handing out pills to them? Lol.
 
Has there ever been a political agenda, to prescribe more pills? I don't think so.

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

 
I don't like the lung-failure part, that sounds nasty.
 
 
I think more people are more depressed today than 100 years ago.
 
Hypothetically, if you went to a foreign country and people seemed more depressed than your hometown, would you think the solution is handing out pills to them? Lol.
 
Has there ever been a political agenda, to prescribe more pills? I don't think so.

Just to clarify, I'm definitely not in favor of handing out pills. I think psychoactive medication is over-prescribed and used as a quick fix when a lot of people would be better served having the underlying causes of their problems targeted. I think there are some legitimate cases where medication is needed, as when people are psychotic or have debilitating symptoms that can't be controlled easily without it. Ultimately it comes down to what is optimal for the individual patient in providing the best possible quality of life for him or her.
 
As for a political agenda for pills, hell if I know. Some would argue that governments are buddy-buddy with pharmaceutical industries in keeping people on medication to give them profits. You know, the whole "curing diseases isn't profitable" thing. Apparently they want repeat customers, so there's no incentive to cure them. Or so the story goes. I'm not sure if I buy that though.
 
Honestly, you're talking to someone who teaches ancient philosophy and literature for a living. I definitely think the modern age has its fair share of problems, and that our concept of 'happiness' is a bit skewed now. Overmedication is only part of that materialistic bent.

 

[kiteki]

Quote:

Some would argue that governments are buddy-buddy with pharmaceutical industries in keeping people on medication to give them profits.

Possibly. Very corrupt ones.
 

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

Just to clarify, I'm definitely not in favor of handing out pills. I think psychoactive medication is over-prescribed and used as a quick fix when a lot of people would be better served having the underlying causes of their problems targeted. I think there are some legitimate cases where medication is needed, as when people are psychotic or have debilitating symptoms that can't be controlled easily without it. Ultimately it comes down to what is optimal for the individual patient in providing the best possible quality of life for him or her.
 
As for a political agenda for pills, hell if I know. Some would argue that governments are buddy-buddy with pharmaceutical industries in keeping people on medication to give them profits. You know, the whole "curing diseases isn't profitable" thing. Apparently they want repeat customers, so there's no incentive to cure them. Or so the story goes. I'm not sure if I buy that though.
 
Honestly, you're talking to someone who teaches ancient philosophy and literature for a living. I definitely think the modern age has its fair share of problems, and that our concept of 'happiness' is a bit skewed now. Overmedication is only part of that materialistic bent.

I don't buy it. In order for scientists around the world to keep that a secret it would require massive amounts of cover ups. Something which can't be done in our international world.

 

[kiteki]

Yeah well, doctors get free holidays and bonuses from the pharmaceutical companies if they reach certain targets.
 
They get to go on cruises and drink champagne if they subscribe 1000 of X during Q4 etc...

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

Yeah well, doctors get free holidays and bonuses from the pharmaceutical companies if they reach certain targets.
 
They get to go on cruises and drink champagne if they subscribe 1000 of X during Q4 etc...

And you probably also subscribe to the illuminati and new world order.
 
 
 

 

[kiteki]

No, I saw that on regular television news actually.
 
I might do some hunting on youtube.

 

[MuppetFace]

 
Quote:

I don't buy it. In order for scientists around the world to keep that a secret it would require massive amounts of cover ups. Something which can't be done in our international world.

 
There's a difference between keeping an existing cure a secret and directing the course of major research based on corporate interests through cash flow. I'm sure there are crackpot theories out there which posit the former, but the latter is the more commonly held belief, and isn't so much a conspiracy theory as it is extreme pessimism.
 
I don't personally believe it's quite so calculated and methodical as some do, but I do think corporate interests play some role. It's just a question of how much, and I certainly have no clue.