There’s A Pill For That

by Cookie

Good morning, kids.  Guess what day it is today?  Hot on the Titties Friday!  The best day of the week!

I have been reading and listening to a lot of programs about over-prescription of drugs.  One of my fellow bloggers started it off with a post about antibiotics, which you can read about at mythoughtsonapage.com.

Then I watched a Dr.Oz episode about the exact same thing.  The conversation led to a place that scared me a little.  It was about how we have no new front line antibiotics coming out right now.  If bugs continue to gain resistance against what we have, we are looking at putting medicine backwards almost 90 years.

Then,  I listened to a CBC radio program last night about the overuse and misuse of antidepressants.  And I thought “well alright then”.  Here is the debate I’m offering to you:

Have we become a society of “There must be a pill for that”?

You know, I think we have.  Now having said that, hear me out.  There are always times when prescriptions are necessary.  Some people suffer from debilitating depression, or anxiety.  Sometimes you actually have a bacterial infection such as strep throat that requires a course of antibiotics.  Some people are in chronic or severely acute pain.  Sometimes my kid has a fever or teething pain.

Of course you use medication when you have to.  But I think the medical community should take a step back and re-evaluate what “have to” means.  Because in the case of antibiotics and antidepressants, the ramifications of over use are severe.  The problem with the antidepressants is that while they think they help to regulate serotonin in your body, that in turn fucks with the rest of your system.  Like causing symptoms of Irritable Bowl Syndrome or messing with your reproductive health.  Is it worth it?  In some cases, yes.

In other cases, you are probably better off with therapy and cognitive counselling.

I think it has become inconvenient to be sick.  We want to feel better immediately, obviously.  God forbid we take a couple of days off work to catch up on our health.  No.  The employer wants you there, spreading your disease around til everyone feels like shit.  Super.

Anyway, I am no expert.  I can only speak from personal experience, and you can think about your opinion on the topic.

Firstly, I have severe allergies to many 1st and 2nd generation antibiotics.  So if you all keep fucking with the ones we have left, I’m in real trouble.  Which makes this one is especially scary to me.  When I had the Destroyer, I was GBS positive, which means I “needed” an iv antibiotic to prevent passing this bug on to her during delivery.  (And no, its not an STD, asshole.  Women either have it or not.)  Because of the 1% chance I could pass it to her.  Due to of my allergies, they had to give me Clindimycin, a drug that the deadly c.difficile is resistant to.  An bug that is known for being in hospitals.

So they pump me full of this drug, and meanwhile the kid is already delivered.  The only thing it got me was a nice staph infection.  Thanks for the exposure, hospital.  Fuck you very much.

My point is, there was a 1% risk of a potentially serious infection being passed on to my child, so I took what they recommended.  But was it necessary?  I still don’t know.  If I labour as quickly this time, I will refuse it.  He’ll deliver too quickly to get any anyway.

About 10 years ago, I was going through some major changes in my life and started having panic attacks and loads of anxiety.  So my doctor gave me an antidepressant.  It took awhile, but I eventually started to feel better.  But you know what?  I often wonder if it was just time, and training myself to cope in better ways that brought me back to full health.  I certainly still have anxiety from time to time now, but possess the necessary skills to manage it without drugs.  For myself, the cognitive approach seemed to work better than any drug ever could.  Cause drugs wear off, and knowledge is lasting and powerful.

I even think about intervention in labour.  The pain is so temporary, can we not bear that in light of what you’re about to accomplish?  I guess that’s a whole other post.  Maybe next Friday.

Did you also know that 80% of ear infections are viral and do not require antibiotics?  That’s a lot of useless drugs floating around.

Honestly, I think it’s just more convenient to write a prescription.    Doctor offices are overflowing, the health care system is inefficient and bursting at the seams.  So  “treat ’em and street ’em”  right?

I guess my thought is that just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.  I think we need to start doing more healing, and less prescribing.  The drugs should be the last resort.

And with that, I’ll turn the floor over to you.  Opinions?  Expert opinions?

Remember to be nice.   Happy Friday!