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Originally Posted by Luckbox Inc
Atak,
Could you talk about the use of lithium in treating manic depressives? You mentioned that it altered your iq test results which I find interesting.
Is the manic phase fun?
Lithium is such a cool drug.
First, it's an element, so one would think its method of action would be straightforward and simple to understand, but it isn't. In fact, it's not really clear how it works. We do know that it stabilizes the mood of some bipolars, in particular cutting out some or all of the mania, and that it has no effect at all on the moods of normal, healthy people.
Another thing: it was the very first drug used for a mood disorder, back in the fifties or something — I think it was tainting the food of some schizophrenic rats or something along those lines and somebody noticed that they do better.
Some, but not all, bipolars are helped by it (in fact, there's nothing that helps all or even most of us). As I said, it can dull or cut out the mania. It as to be taken all the time, which as I will explain later is relevant. As for adverse effects on the mood and the mind, I really know only what it did to me. In my case it made it very hard to focus, and made me feel mentally fuzzy. There were also times when it was if I had (literal) tunnel vision, not being able to focus visually on anything that wasn't right in front of me. (Fun when driving.) I felt like I was less analytical, too, and my shrink gave me an IQ test (I don't know which one it was), on which I scored something around 160, but I really didn't need the confirmation, I was sure I wasn't all there. the inability to concentrate made it hard to remember where I was in my lessons (I was teaching at the time), and my bridge play suffered greatly — in fact, it was bridge that convinced me I really and lost my mental edge.
Adding time-released Ritalin to the mix ameliorated a lot of the above, but it was pretty expensive (and a pain in the ass to get because it's schedule whatever-it-is controlled); heavy caffeine use was an imperfect but somewhat effective substitute. Hello, coffee addiction.
Lithium cost me about $15 or $20 a month. Depakote, the most commonly prescribed mood stabilizer at the time, cost me about ten times that. I had no insurance; i bought my drugs at Sam's Club pharmacy, which is as cheap as it gets.) The suicide rate of Depakote patients was 2.5 times that of bipolars. So why don't doctors prescribe more lithium?
There are two reasons. The one I believe is the most important is marketing. I learned to hate the drug companies. They are not in the business of making people healthy, they are in the business of making money; this doesn't in itself make them evil but it's worth keeping in mind. The problem is that they pay off doctors, not with straight up quid pro quos but with thousands of dollars per doctor of subtle and not so subtle promotions, ranging from note pads and pens to trips to "conferences". Also, the drug reps tend to be personable and charming and gorgeous (and almost always female). (I dated a couple of them before I decided I just couldn't be with someone who would do that; my Match profile actually said for a while that salespeople of any sort shouldn't bother, though initially itw as specific to drug reps.) Drug companies are not your friend, and doctors who listen to them, are selling out and doing their patients an enormous disservice.
The second reason, though, is legitimate in the case of lithium. It's nasty-dangerous. The therapeutic index — the ratio of the toxic dose to the minimum dose that does any good — is around 2 or 2.5. (By contrast, most drugs it's an order of magnitude higher.) If you get twice as much lithium as you're suppsoed to have in your system, you start getting adverse effects, and i the case of lithium those effects are, basically, the destruction of most of your organs. And this is a major issue because lithium excretion (by the kidneys — the liver, which metabolizes more chemically complex drugs, is not really involved) is very slow, and its rate varies greatly from person to person. Most doctors require occasional blood tests of lithium levels to ensure that they remain safe.
I don't take it any more, but it did me a lot of good in helping me get stable after a very nasty period. Now, I don't think I need it much — the depression part of my disorder is the really debilitating issue, and lithium can't touch that.
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Originally Posted by Andynan
what do you think there is after death?
sorry if this has been covered, I assume you think nothingness ensues and conscience ceases, just in case.
Correct. In my view this is all we get. Some people think that means I can't really have a moral compass, but I think it actually makes it stronger: I think each of us gets exactly one chance to get it right. No atonement for sins at the end, no reincarnation to try again — just one life, to make of what we can.
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Originally Posted by J.D.
Atak, please, for all of us, do this TODAY. Send an email. Make a call. Just do something about it...now!
Can't call him today — after class (I'm being bad — brought in my own computer to get around the blocking of 2p2) I head off to see my 98 year old grandmother. But I think I can have it done by Friday. (This is a very hard at of the process for some reason.)