I read this story and… I’m actually terrified that our government has just signed-off on drugs like this. Between that, and the FDA not catching Theranos, it does make me afraid of the FDA’s competence or judgement for allowing such things so loosely.
The Degradation Drug
51–60 of 79 posts
Re: The Degradation Drug
#52Slightly off-topic (though related). I think I experience a mild form of the craziness described in the article if I don't get enough sleep the night before. I'm not trying to compare the two in any way, or make it "all about me" - but it's a definite pattern I've observed, and I wondered if anyone else had experienced anything similar.
Re: The Degradation Drug
#53The article describes its first subject as having been diagnosed with simply "depression", but describes their medication regime as including lithium and lamotrigine which in combination is strongly suggestive of treatment for bipolar depression in particular. Given that the described behavior sounds very much like a manic episode, the article should have explained this connection before attempting to focus the blame…
Agree. Even if the behavior was induced by drugs, it's a textbook description of a manic episode. If her psychiatrist had an accurate description of her behavior and praised it (as the article asserts) he was off his rocker.
Re: The Degradation Drug
#54[deleted]
Re: The Degradation Drug
#55It seems to me that issues like this one expose a fundamental flaw with how criminal justice is generally practiced - one that's evident in the term itself. The focus is on assigning blame and just (fair) punishment. ISTM a better framing might be to determine the desired outcome and how best to achieve it. How likely is someone to re-offend, and what is the best intervention to reduce that likelihood? In the most ex…
I think you dramatically underestimate the harshness of a “rational” system. According to one study 63% of violent crimes are committed by 1% of the population (your mileage may vary but the order of magnitudes will be about the same).
This implies that a person that commits any violent crime should be imprisoned for an extremely long time, because the odds are very good that they’ll assault, rape, rob or murder someone else.
Said another way, with the policy of locking people up for a very very long time on a first (violent) offense, you would eliminate nearly half of all violent crime- and that’s not even counting the deterrent effect.
Re: The Degradation Drug
#56The article describes its first subject as having been diagnosed with simply "depression", but describes their medication regime as including lithium and lamotrigine which in combination is strongly suggestive of treatment for bipolar depression in particular. Given that the described behavior sounds very much like a manic episode, the article should have explained this connection before attempting to focus the blame…
These drugs are sometimes prescribed in cases of extreme medication-resistant Anxiety and Depression. My significant other is prescribed lamotrigine precisely for this reason.
Just throwing it out there. I don't disagree with your perception of the article, but there's always edge cases.
Re: The Degradation Drug
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree about it sounding like a manic episode a lot. If I were to put up an opposing opinion -- some caveats here: cluster B disorders and autism both can include lithium (and symptoms not too dissimilar from mania), lamotrigine too on the BPD front. Mood stabilizers are prescribed in combination for a variety of conditions, I feel like it's a rather large jump to make. Also, Moda and a Benzodiazepine are going to d…
I've been tried on lithium and lamotrigine for treatment-resistant depression in the past. It doesn't necessarily indicate bipolar disorder. I'm floored by the combo of modafinil and xanax. Adding pramipexole to the mix seems insane to me. I'm prescribed modafinil for narcolepsy and depending in the dose, it can sure make you look hypomanic just taken by itself. I had a very productive month after having to go off ar…
Amphetamine and Modafinil have also caused these types of behavior in myself but none moreso than Methylphenidate.
Everyone responds to drugs differently, for me cocaine was relatively mild in its compulsive/forced behaviors compared to methylphenidate.
Compulsion from methylphenidate nearly ruined my life, I’m lucky to have rebuilt somewhat unscathed. I still take Vyvanse every day though, and for the most part the compulsive behaviors aren’t too destructive.
It’s difficult for me to moralize about these because they really do transform so many peoples lives to allow them to function and achieve, but they can be very hazardous in a particularly sinister way.
Re: The Degradation Drug
#58> It is a rare case of restless legs syndrome that is severe enough to make the risk of prison time or the sex-offender registry look like a reasonable tradeoff. While I understand the rest of the article, as someone who has been through opioid-withdrawal induced RLS a few times in my life, this is really downplaying how horrible it is. The RLS alone would stop me from sleeping for a week or more. You lose your mind.…
I’m not an addict but I have suffered from restless leg syndrome in the past, to the severity you describe. Every time you’re on the cusp of sleep, there’s this tickle that travels up your leg to your lower back. But it’s this weird, disembodied tickle. There’s nothing to scratch or press or wrap or anything to alleviate. So you’re now wide awake because of this tickling sensation.
This was ~2016 for me. I read somewhere that restless leg is related to signals in your nervous system, which needs electrolytes to work optimally, and that taking a magnesium supplement would help. I bought some magnesium at Walgreens and took them for about a month. I think I’ve only experienced restless leg once or twice since 2016.
FYI, I hope this helps.
Re: The Degradation Drug
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree about it sounding like a manic episode a lot. If I were to put up an opposing opinion -- some caveats here: cluster B disorders and autism both can include lithium (and symptoms not too dissimilar from mania), lamotrigine too on the BPD front. Mood stabilizers are prescribed in combination for a variety of conditions, I feel like it's a rather large jump to make. Also, Moda and a Benzodiazepine are going to d…
I omitted the Xanax entirely from my previous post because the polypharmacy here is such a mess, but I agree that it probably factors into disinhibition. I don't personally attribute much relevance to modafinil in this instance; while the wakefulness effects are often described mechanistically through dopamine, I have never seen anyone experience any traditional stimulant or dopamine agonist effects from modafinil. M…
Modafinil felt far more mild than amphetamine, methylphenidate, or cocaine for me. However, it uniquely (and dramatically) impaired my inhibition for libido compared to the others.
It was a very narrow side effect but also particularly destructive. It was very hard to tell it was the modafinil because it was so mild otherwise, just seemed to “front-load” all my energy and focus for the day into the first six hours of my work day, which worked quite well, and then left me feeling rather normal for the rest of the day (difficulty committing to tasks after it wore off but that is typical after a 6 hour of solid focused work).
I just had extra motivation and capability to flirt with coworkers and strangers and visiting sundry places. I was well-received, but it wasn’t the life choices I would have wanted to make and the workplace romance was self-destructive.
Amphetamine might make me masturbate more but only modafinil caused an impulse to flirt, court, and follow through.
Re: The Degradation Drug
#60It seems to me that issues like this one expose a fundamental flaw with how criminal justice is generally practiced - one that's evident in the term itself. The focus is on assigning blame and just (fair) punishment. ISTM a better framing might be to determine the desired outcome and how best to achieve it. How likely is someone to re-offend, and what is the best intervention to reduce that likelihood? In the most ex…
I think you dramatically underestimate the harshness of a “rational” system. According to one study 63% of violent crimes are committed by 1% of the population (your mileage may vary but the order of magnitudes will be about the same). This implies that a person that commits any violent crime should be imprisoned for an extremely long time, because the odds are very good that they’ll assault, rape, rob or murder some…
First, to get it out of the way, there are some (serial killers come to mind) that modern psychology is unable to much about.
However, of the 1% you mention, I imagine (without looking at any data to verify) many offenders may suffer from mental health issues or live in harsh socio-economic environment. It seems to me the best thing to do is address these two factors. Then no one need be locked up, and public resources can be put toward things positive for society rather than negative.
As for the serial killer psychopath types.. I’m generally against capital punishment; hate the idea. But like, next to nothing can be done for these people today (I am not an expert, could be way off), and thus they pose a permanent threat to the people they’re around. I can’t think of a solution beyond some kind of exile, which seems silly or difficult to enforce. We could lock them up, but it seems like a waste of resources and overall a miserable way to live. So.. and I reserve the right to change my mind with the availability of more information, but perhaps it makes more sense to simply execute (in the most humane way possible) this very minuscule portion of the population when the offenses occur (specifically more than one near lethal assault or one or more lethal assault) and they are found guilty beyond reasonable doubt?