Medications that change who we are
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Re: Medications that change who we are
#2I’d be curious to hear the experiences of people who take/have taken some of these drugs such as L-dopa. With alcohol, I feel different but I don’t feel like a different person. Is it like that, or is there a larger feeing of difference?
Re: Medications that change who we are
#3Everything that happens to us changes who we are. Every conversation we make. Everything we think. We are not the same person in any given moment.
Also, because we are shaped by the things that happen to us, we are literally actually not ourselves but rather "everything else".
Re: Medications that change who we are
#4I have long wondered about this. In the Asian world, traditional Systems of Medicine focus on "holistic" treatment and the general public often calls Western Medicine, "Allopathy with side-effects". I had intuitively felt that these medicines must have an overall effect on behaviour which may always not be obvious to the observer unless the difference between the before and after were stark and noticeable.
We really need a lot more research on this aspect of all commonly used medicines. A lot of our mood-swings, irritability, anger, anti-social behaviour etc. might be explained by this.
Re: Medications that change who we are
#5Intra-system communication and control isn't limited to the brain. The gut for example, plays a part.
What's concerning about this article is that the researchers (?) we're not open to the possibility.
Re: Medications that change who we are
#6everything else
Re: Medications that change who we are
#7I’d be curious to hear the experiences of people who take/have taken some of these drugs such as L-dopa. With alcohol, I feel different but I don’t feel like a different person. Is it like that, or is there a larger feeing of difference?
I've took various antidepressant (SSRI/SNRI/SARI) medications over the course of my life and some minor & major tranquilizers. Some alone, some in combination. Heck, during some time I even mixed them with psychoactive instances like LSD/amphetamines.
I doubt that it changed who I am, but it changed on how I act. Well, of course it depends on definition of who we are to start with. They certainly affect on how do you feel and how do you think, but when effects wear off, you typically return to your former ways. Maybe with new thoughts or new look at your life. But that's it.
I continue to see those kind of meds as a mere tools, which you can use to alter your thinking for a period of time to get yourself a fresh look at ordinary things. I think that therapeutic effect exists here only if you get some realization about your former ways.
Some meds made me worry less about my life when I've realized that worrying doesn't actual solve anything, it just makes you feel worse.
Some made me more emphatic towards people when I've realized that everyone is exactly as same as me, just with different life story.
Re: Medications that change who we are
#8Probably all that's going through the stomach has one effect or another...
Ever watched kids behaviour before and after sugary and non-sugary meals?
Re: Medications that change who we are
#9Everything that happens to us changes who we are. Every conversation we make. Everything we think. We are not the same person in any given moment. Also, because we are shaped by the things that happen to us, we are literally actually not ourselves but rather "everything else".
yes and this would not be contested. the same way we are not surprised when the drugs we take have the intended effect. this goes wrong is when the side effects are unexpected or undesirable. as a society we are conditioned to be entitled and to believe everything has an easy/quick fix.
Re: Medications that change who we are
#10As the article mentions, this is a complicated, not-simple type of thing to filter out.
If it were anything other than the BBC reporting it, I would probably have a raised eyebrow.
One of the things that makes it difficult to develop a causative link, is things like someone may suddenly develop symptoms of heart disease or high blood pressure, but they are also going through a personally stressful time, and have taken to exercising less, worrying, and sitting around eating popcorn.
It may seem as if some medication or practice is the cause, but exercising less, and munching salt can throw the curve. Being worried about the future (or our own health -the reason we’re on the meds) can also have a fairly profound effect on things.
Animal testing will usually control for stuff, but real life is messy.
For example, alcohol is known to interact with all kinds of compounds. Rats don’t drink, so, unless the researchers deliberately introduce alcohol (in realistic dosage) in their regimen, they can be quite surprised, when unanticipated things start happening in human trials.
I’ve heard of unanticipated results manifesting, because a symptom only appeared within a certain dosage window, and testing had used extreme dosages.