I have no problem with chemical imbalances, but if you use that as a reason but you don't measure it you are not doing science.
It's like diagnosing someone as a diabetic without measuring glucose levels directly or indirectly.
Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
71–80 of 396 posts
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#72>She told me she welcomed the diagnosis of a neurobiological disorder, which confirmed her problem was ‘real’ – brought on by a physiological force external to her volition – and that it showed she’s not ‘just a slacker’. That is such an arbitrary distinction. As if being "just a slacker" doesn't have a number of deeper reasons behind it as well. Brains are just machines at the end of the day, every behavior is a res…
Just shows that most people are not hard materialists.
I think many are if you ask them, they just conveniently forget about it in their daily lives.
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
I started having disturbing, invasive thoughts a few months before the pandemic hit. I’d be watching a movie with my family after dinner then boom, I’d feel insane. It wasn’t suicidal just things like “soon you will be DEAD!” kind of stuff. Turned out it was me reacting to some of the food we were eating at home. The GP I saw suggested Lexapro which I’ve taken before and it’s not for me. I told him the problem had a…
Many neurological disorders are at least linked to gut bacteria, including autism and schizophrenia. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/gut-bacteria-may-con... https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/balanced/201903/schi...
Initially I suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, because it correlated to when I’d come home. The symptoms were that bad. Turns out it was the dinner I was cooking every night for the family, I’d sit down to relax and eat and just a few minutes after eating asparagus feel completely bonkers. I went to the emergency room, they gave me a few Xanax; then the GP who wanted to prescribe me Lexapro and referred me to a Gastroenterologist. It wasn’t until I got to the specialist that I felt like he “believed” me.
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#74they struggled against the dehumanising notion that their thoughts, feelings or behaviour were mechanistically caused. Finally, a thread where I can point out my own experiences. Around four years ago, it would be fair to call me slightly crazy. It was a harmless sort of crazy, but it was quite self-destructive. I used to wake up wishing to die, genuinely, and not knowing why. All of that changed after going on Proza…
> When you have a broken leg, everyone notices and can relate; when you have a broken mind, no one can see it, and so no one can feel sympathy, let alone empathy.
This hits home and almost moved me to tears. I went through a trauma about 3 years ago, I was Kidnapped/abducted from a gas station at gun point and was forced to drive my attacker for nearly 30 minutes at gun point under threat of death before opening the door and diving out of my moving vehicle to escape. During that experience I considered purposely crashing my car believing it would kill both me and my attacker, but I wanted to live and ultimately took my chances diving onto the street from the moving car knowing I might get run over.
I can’t explain it other than I know I should have been thankful/grateful/happy I escaped with my life, but I knew immediately the trauma was real and sure enough it has been a downward spiral of cutting off every single relationship in my life and extreme isolation/avoidance. I’ve sought help/treatment (both therapy and meds) to no real benefit.
Even 3 years later I have to relieve the trauma because I’m suing the gas station for negligent security (turns out the guy had been loitering at the gas station for 2 hours prior to targeting me, even hanging out in the store talking to employees without ever making a purchase). The insurance attorneys are victimizing next worse than my kidnapper, they have destroyed the surveillance video, Claimed the kidnapping didn’t happen on their property (when I was literally approached while at the gas pumps), and telling me my damages aren’t real. This goes directly to your point, if I were shot they would have settled the policy limit ($2M) but because it’s not visible damages they are doing everything to claim it didn’t happen on their property, if it did they aren’t liable, and if they are liable the damages aren’t real but self inflicted. They either have no clue what kind of additional trauma they are causing or they actually do and are trying to cause me self harm so this goes away for them.
I humbly admit while I always felt for people who went through traumas (soldiers, child abuse, sexual abuse) I realize now I was incapable of actually empathizing...I won’t say I have suicidal ideations, but I often feel I’d have been better off not surviving.
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#75they struggled against the dehumanising notion that their thoughts, feelings or behaviour were mechanistically caused. Finally, a thread where I can point out my own experiences. Around four years ago, it would be fair to call me slightly crazy. It was a harmless sort of crazy, but it was quite self-destructive. I used to wake up wishing to die, genuinely, and not knowing why. All of that changed after going on Proza…
> All of that changed after going on Prozac. I don't know why, and I've heard from many others that Prozac was harmful to them. SSRIs are some of the most widely-used medications. Tens of millions of people in the United States alone use SSRIs regularly with good results. No medication is perfect, obviously, and at scale we're bound to see a percentage of people have negative experiences. The problem is that when ten…
When a patient's symptoms are treated instead of the cause, most people will have subpar results.
The SSRI Lexapro [0] helped my girlfriend relapse on cocaine, before i met her. Cocaine is a much stronger anti-depressant than the SSRI's due to its effects as a Mono-Amine Oxidase Inhibitor [2] (1st generation anti-depressants).
Eventually the professionals figured out she is a poor methylator, and can't convert folic acid into Folate. Folate (Vitamin B9) is important for DNA synthesis. Food companies fortify with folic acid because it's more stable than other forms of Vitamin B9, even though we now know that some people are harmed by this fortification [1]. On the whole, fortification seems to be beneficial (fewer deformed babies), but poor methylators and old people seem to have negative side effects from getting their vitamin B9 from folic acid.
She said adding the L-Methyl-Folate was like flipping a switch between "depressed" and "normal". Her involuntary medical professionals didn't say, "hey sorry we made a mistake, you're not actually broken", and continue to ignore the actual causes of her condition.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escitalopram
[1] https://now.tufts.edu/articles/folic-acid-too-much-good-thin... / https://www.futurity.org/folic-acid-too-much-of-a-good-thing...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamine_oxidase_inhibitor
(edit - added bit about cocaine being an MAOI)
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#76Many depressed people are very resistant to accepting treatment. In a perfect world, people would have no hangups about scheduling an appointment with a therapist and/or trialing antidepressant medication as an adjunct to their recovery. However, in the real world many people are resistant to the idea of therapy and/or medication as it feels like admitting defeat. Or perhaps they've read cherry-picked horror stories…
The mental health stigma is systemic as well. Did you know that one of the things asked on an application for a CHL in Texas, as an example, is a list of every single time you've received psychiatric treatment and it's a disqualifier. Similarly the Form 4473 has mental health questions required prior to purchasing firearms. If you've ever been admitted for treatment, you're disqualified.
My purpose isn't to re-litigate gun control as an issue, but to point out that our policies and laws reflect our attitudes about mental health directly on access to things which are enshrined as fundamental rights in the US, already. It's a perfectly reasonable supposition to say: "I don't want truly crazy people to have guns.", it's another to say "I think it's acceptable to strip Constitutional rights from millions of Americans because they once had in-patient treatment as a child for their anxiety."
The latter is a matter of policy (regardless of how well it's actually enforced) simply due to the fact we don't understand the human mind or psychology enough to actually draw an objective distinction between those two types of people. Laws and systems work poorly with things which require subjective determination. "I'll know it when I see it" might be an acceptable type of thing to adjudicate, but it's a terrible type of thing to build bureaucratic processes around that are faceless, soulless, with no recourse.
This is just one of many examples where having any history of seeking treatment for mental health can be a disqualifier, or worse strip you of your rights. It's an effective disqualifier for many types of jobs as well in the US, especially government jobs which require a clearance or working at any company which accepts government contracts which would require a clearance.
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#77they struggled against the dehumanising notion that their thoughts, feelings or behaviour were mechanistically caused. Finally, a thread where I can point out my own experiences. Around four years ago, it would be fair to call me slightly crazy. It was a harmless sort of crazy, but it was quite self-destructive. I used to wake up wishing to die, genuinely, and not knowing why. All of that changed after going on Proza…
I started having disturbing, invasive thoughts a few months before the pandemic hit. I’d be watching a movie with my family after dinner then boom, I’d feel insane. It wasn’t suicidal just things like “soon you will be DEAD!” kind of stuff. Turned out it was me reacting to some of the food we were eating at home. The GP I saw suggested Lexapro which I’ve taken before and it’s not for me. I told him the problem had a…
> So crazy how much our gut can affect our mood and psychological profile.
This is anything but crazy. It has been well known for a very long time and is very well supported.
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#78Magnesium is used by the body to cope with stress. I've noticed in the past, that when I've been under a ton of stress, I drink coffee, soda, ruminate a ton, and things get worse, much worse. I've started taking magnesium l-threonate the past few months and it's literally made me a better person. Thoughts come and go. The rumination, the "voices" are much less. One scoop, three times a day during stressful periods (1…
If you're drinking lots of caffeine I'd also recommend taking l-theanine. It's a compound found in some teas and has a very calming effect that counteracts the anxiety and jitters of caffeine. It's really amazing at allowing me to have the concentration boost of caffeine while avoiding many of the negative side effects.
You should do your own research on it first of course, but it's been shown to be very safe.
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#79they struggled against the dehumanising notion that their thoughts, feelings or behaviour were mechanistically caused. Finally, a thread where I can point out my own experiences. Around four years ago, it would be fair to call me slightly crazy. It was a harmless sort of crazy, but it was quite self-destructive. I used to wake up wishing to die, genuinely, and not knowing why. All of that changed after going on Proza…
I had a similar experience with Prozac, albeit less extreme. I was depressed and very anxious about anything and everything. Started Prozac + CBT therapy, it had no side-effects and I was feeling really much better in a matter of weeks.
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#80they struggled against the dehumanising notion that their thoughts, feelings or behaviour were mechanistically caused. Finally, a thread where I can point out my own experiences. Around four years ago, it would be fair to call me slightly crazy. It was a harmless sort of crazy, but it was quite self-destructive. I used to wake up wishing to die, genuinely, and not knowing why. All of that changed after going on Proza…
I started having disturbing, invasive thoughts a few months before the pandemic hit. I’d be watching a movie with my family after dinner then boom, I’d feel insane. It wasn’t suicidal just things like “soon you will be DEAD!” kind of stuff. Turned out it was me reacting to some of the food we were eating at home. The GP I saw suggested Lexapro which I’ve taken before and it’s not for me. I told him the problem had a…
I started taking Prozac a few months ago. It might just be a coincidence but I checked myself into drug addiction treatment a couple months later. I’ve stopped taking almost everything but the Prozac and my life is immeasurably better and my depression is gone. I’m happy for the first time in many years.
This to me hints at the effect of Prozac possibly being far more complex than “chemical imbalance”. I’ve never found that terminology that useful. Fixing my depression required a lot of chemical changes yes, but also major changes in my voluntary behavior. All of it was connected in an intricate tapestry and Prozac only plays one part. If I tapered off Prozac, I suspect I would still be happy, but I don’t know that my depression would have ever resolved properly without Prozac. The side effects are mild so I am in no rush to discontinue.