Gibberings CLXII - Animal Facts Fun Time

[Chatative]

Obviously. But what's the alternative? Therapy? Maybe, but it's intensive and expensive.

Lifestyle / diet changes which the patient may or may not adhere to?

So in reality, what exactly is the GP meant to do? They usually offer all this advice anyway.

It seems you want them to basically do nothing and tell the patient to (in not so many words) get on their bike. Yet at the same time they don't do enough?

If you get referred on the NHS in the UK (this is EADD we are posting in) ... then your therapy is free.

I know that GPs do give that advice to a small extent... mine did but I didn't find out about things like Magnesium or Vitamin D until I browsed Anxiety Forums as well as lots of other things.

It's not just the GPs. People tend not to know that many conditions can be managed without medication. They just know they have a problem, perhaps serious & believe they need the medication when it's not true. Medication is just viewed as a "miracle cure" when alone, it is not. So what I'm saying really is, Doctors don't always make it clear that medication isn't necessary, albeit with hard work & where it is used, should back it up with therapy or lifestyle changes to try & get to the root of the problem.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I am quite passionate about Mental Health & the alternatives to medication. It stems from my own experiences which were similar to Sandy.

I'm not suggestion people who need medication to lead a normal quality of life should come off it but rather that people who have only mild-moderate problems should know of the alternatives.

 

[Nicklazz]

I put it in here allso just to be sure people see.

FG have send me and email sayin if I could say how it goes to ya all and why he haven't answered emails and not loggin on writing on here.

He have had sum bad times and will lay low for sum weeks, he is ok and is getting treatment and will hopefully be back soon he says.

 

[Sammy G]

If you get referred on the NHS in the UK (this is EADD we are posting in) ... then your therapy is free.

I'm fully aware this is EADD, thanks! :D

When I refer to the cost of therapy, I'm talking about the cost to the NHS, not the individual. Doctors are bound to be more cautious about more expensive treatments.

It's not just the GPs. People tend not to know that many conditions can be managed without medication. They just know they have a problem, perhaps serious & believe they need the medication when it's not true. Medication is just viewed as a "miracle cure" when alone, it is not. So what I'm saying really is, Doctors don't always make it clear that medication isn't necessary,

Again, what do you expect the doctors to do? Tell depressed / anxious people to go home?

We are talking about depressed / anxious people, right?

 

[Chatative]

I'm fully aware this is EADD, thanks! :D

When I refer to the cost of therapy, I'm talking about the cost to the NHS, not the individual. Doctors are bound to be more cautious about more expensive treatments.

Again, what do you expect the doctors to do? Tell depressed / anxious people to go home?

Of course things like therapy shouldn't be used unless the person has a moderate-severe problem... the vast majority of people have quite mild problems. I know that to the people who have anxiety & depression, it often seems worse than it is.

My Doctor was great & booked a double appointment with me to discuss my anxiety. Even though it was quite serious in the short-term, he assured me it would resolve with small changes given time. Sure enough, it did. It hasn't gone away but I keep my anxiety levels quite low & know how to cope when they get higher again. Vitamin D was the thing that helped me most... I got that from forums not the GP though.

No they shouldn't "turn them away", they should try to educate them about what can be done & exhaust all avenues before resorting to medication. Preferably they should give them information to take away or point them in the right direction of where to find it. My GP has directed me to the Patient.co.uk website for things like Sleep Hygiene. Surely there must be similar pages, probably even on that site with regards to Anxiety or Depression. That's hardly turning them away.

 

[parttime crackhead]

It's not just the GPs. People tend not to know that many conditions can be managed without medication. They just know they have a problem, perhaps serious & believe they need the medication when it's not true. Medication is just viewed as a "miracle cure" when alone, it is not. So what I'm saying really is, Doctors don't always make it clear that medication isn't necessary, albeit with hard work & where it is used, should back it up with therapy or lifestyle changes to try & get to the root of the problem.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I am quite passionate about Mental Health & the alternatives to medication. It stems from my own experiences which were similar to Sandy.

I'm not suggestion people who need medication to lead a normal quality of life should come off it but rather that people who have only mild-moderate problems should know of the alternatives.

Round here if you go to the GP with signs anxiety or depression you're getting an SSRI script handed to you almost immediately. The quickest and easiest way for the GP to get rid of you. I've never been to see a GP and felt they gave a fuck about me getting better over how much they cared about getting me to leave within 7 minutes and not request another appointment.

 

[Sammy G]

No they shouldn't "turn them away", they should try to educate them about what can be done & exhaust all avenues before resorting to medication. Preferably they should give them information to take away or point them in the right direction of where to find it. My GP has directed me to the Patient.co.uk website for things like Sleep Hygiene. Surely there must be similar pages, probably even on that site with regards to Anxiety or Depression. That's hardly turning them away.

As far as I'm aware, that's what most half-decent GPs (yours for example) do this already, but the fact is that medication is (pragmatically speaking) often the most efficacious means at their disposal. However inappropriate it may be for some.

 

[Chatative]

As far as I'm aware, that's what most half-decent GPs (yours for example) do this already, but the fact is that medication is (pragmatically speaking) often the most efficacious means at their disposal. However inappropriate it may be for some.

See below.

Round here if you go to the GP with signs anxiety or depression you're getting an SSRI script handed to you almost immediately. The quickest and easiest way for the GP to get rid of you.

^^ highlighted the key words.

The quality of care on the NHS with regards to both GPs & Mental Health Professionals varies a lot depending on where you live. It can be very hit & miss finding a Doctor who is understanding or will take the right course of action.

We have clearly highlighted that it goes from exemplary to poor... I think the standard of care is rising but it is still somewhere in the middle. You would think in something called the "National" Health Service, that these standards would be the same across the country but unfortunately not. It really depends on not only the individual who is treating you but where you live.

 

[Sammy G]

Yeah - I imagine that GPs in Glasgow are more than used to dodgy-looking blokes pitching up at their surgeries complaining of insomnia and anxiety in the hope they'll get tossed a few strips of blues.

Which is actually pretty sad for those who want to be taken seriously, but there you go.

 

[Chatative]

F*ck... I'm doing my hyperfocus thing again... I've been posting here all day. I've literally sat reading & mostly replying in this thread for the past 2 hours being completely oblivious to everything around me... I had no idea it was 16:30!! Where's my day gone!

I'm going to go & re-string my guitar & play that for a while...

As an aside, I'm glad to see folks here who are clued up with regards to Mental Health... being as many people who use drugs either suffer from or as a consequence of using drugs may be prone to problems occurring.

 

[SandyFrank]

I know my experiences were in the US, where you have to pay a lot more unless you get lucky with insurance, but regardless I think it is largely money oriented. My husband also worked with Doctors and to get to that level, I think not only do you need a certain amount of ambition but a certain ability to block out emotional residue from the job. Every psychiatrist I have seen has been smug/had issues of is own at worst or indifferent at best. They all have tie ins with pharm companies and don't understand from the patients perspective - certain components you can't learn academically. It's almost as if it's frustration to some I've met when you don't fit into a particular box, so pathologizing people by perhaps simplifying or complicating their case makes things easier.

It's a flawed system. It saves some lives, it doesn't affect others much, and some it flat out can alter significantly to the point of harm. People need to be empowered to do their research and not just trust that b/c someone has a title or is in a lab coat, they KNOW you or what they are doing. Or care. Some do, but some truly don't or are just as flawed themselves. I don't even know if what I'm posting is worth it. I got personal b/c I hoped it would help but we need to get beyond bickering and see all sides of this issue. From people who have clearly had experience with it.

There is no right answer. There is no wrong answer. There is just what works BEST (not perfectly, but best) for you as an individual. And I was hoping that could be delved into. I don't just air my business for no reason. If no one relates, that's one thing, but if there is no desire to discuss this compassionately and communally, than I think this, by extension, is detrimental to harm reduction ultimately. All of these things are related, whether we want to see it as such or not. That's all.

 

[StoneHappyMonday]

It really depends on not only the individual who is treating you but where you live.

Often the same thing. There is a world of difference between a surgery in posh Maida Vale and one in Southwark off the Old Kent Road. A world of difference in the doctors employed there. You might love the one in Maida Vale. You might want to brick the windows of the one in Southwark.

Maybe its me. Or maybe thats the way forward for a proper egalitarian at the point of delivery health service.

 

[maxalfie]

Didn't see any of you at Ninja Class today. Good job, guys.

 

[Chatative]

There is no right answer. There is no wrong answer. There is just what works BEST (not perfectly, but best) for you as an individual. And I was hoping that could be delved into. I don't just air my business for no reason. If no one relates, that's one thing, but if there is no desire to discuss this compassionately and communally, than I think this, by extension, is detrimental to harm reduction ultimately. All of these things are related, whether we want to see it as such or not. That's all.

^^ This, this, this, this, this ^^

It's more apparent with things like Anti-Psychotics where what works for person won't for another, or the same with regards to side effects, but each person is an individual & is not only affected by their illness in their own way but they also might have a differing cause for the illness too.

I guess the uniqueness of each persons illness coupled with the individual they end up treating them will mean outcomes vary a lot.

It is too much to expect each person to have perfect treatment & care... in an ideal world that would happen but I still think the standards of treatment & care need to go up in this country. We've come a long way over the past few decades but we are not there yet. Hit & miss is not acceptable.

I also agree with the relation of mental health to harm reduction when using drugs, for better or worse the two are quite closely connected.

 

[Septonn]

Didn't see any of you at Ninja Class today. Good job, guys.

Nice one. Took me way longer than it should though

 

[mydrugbuddy]

Fucking bank are being a pain on the arse, been on a bit of a mini spending spree, bought a new hoover today and just tried to order a sopranos box set, they declined the transaction for fraud protection reasons. Had to go through a load of automated confirmation shit on the phone. I spose its better safe than sorry, but it was most inconvient to have to waste 5 minutes having to go through all that though.

 

[maxalfie]

Look on the bright side MDB,if someone had been going on a spending spree with your bank card at least their intervention would have put a stop to it.

 

[Albion]

Everyone knows that the first thing card frauds buy is a hoover and a Soprano's box set. You should have known better.

 

[ColtDan]

Just made this

 

[mydrugbuddy]

Everyone knows that the first thing card frauds buy is a hoover and a Soprano's box set. You should have known better.

lol yes of course, i did get defrauded once someone bought £100s of pounds of BT credits with my card details. The bank did refund that. Yeah you're right max, i was trying to be sarcastic but obviously failed. Never mind.

 

[maxalfie]

lol yes of course, i did get defrauded once someone bought £100s of pounds of BT credits with my card details. The bank did refund that. Yeah you're right max, i was trying to be sarcastic but obviously failed. Never mind.

One bloke at my old workplace went to the cashpoint on his lunch break to get some housekeeping money out for his wife and £300 had been withdrawn from his account.
Somehow his card had been cloned but the bank did give him the cash back.
Our local Tesco has 3 Atms and they seem to be a favourite of criminals for their different cashpoint scams.No surprise though as on a Friday they must get used by hundreds of people.