Ironic that folks who work in CNS drug discovery spend much of their time worrying about how to get our molecules /into/ the brain... and less energy thinking about keeping non-CNS meds out. For what it's worth, though, these 'off-target' CNS effects have also prompted a lot of enthusiasm for repurposing existing FDA-approved drugs for new indications, since their safety is already established.
Medications that change who we are
101–110 of 289 posts
Re: Medications that change who we are
#102>"It turns out many ordinary medications don’t just affect our bodies – they affect our brains." I feel like perpetuating this mindset is the ultimate sin of modern psychiatry and the entire industry of psychiatric pharmaceuticals - your brain is your body. It's not some special thing that sits apart from it. It is an integral part of the whole, no different than your kidneys or liver. People think they can take an a…
> It's not some special thing that sits apart from it. It is an integral part of the whole, no different than your kidneys or liver. Except it is. The brain is a part of your body and the two are tightly integrated. Yet the brain is also not simply another organ. If you lose half of your liver, your personality might change due to the trauma, but you will still be you. If you lose a kidney, you’ll live on as if littl…
do you mean the brain as in what's contained in our skull or also the central nervous system which would include controlling (both automatically and consciously) everything else, as well as sensing all of what we define as reality?
Re: Medications that change who we are
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
The tests are done to look for such things. To deny them when presented is indefensible.
i believe we are talking about different things. my point is certain markers are easier to test for and more objective than others.
Fair enough. This was the bit that caught my attention:
Alarmed, the couple turned to the study’s organisers. “They were very hostile. They said that the two couldn’t possibly be related, that he needed to keep taking the medication, and that he should stay in the study,” says Golomb.
Re: Medications that change who we are
#104I’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?
First of all, not the same level of problems and not sure what I took. Could just be a fantasy.
Anyways, circa 1998, battling a serious fungal infection, an alternative treatments doctor (not homeopathy or something, this was in Seattle) put me on some kind of medication. I realized on my 3rd or 4th rage incident that the medicine triggered something which put me on the edge that even a small discomfort would trigger me. It was not the skin issues, it was just my mind on high. I have never been on (recreational) drugs before or after and barely drink alcohol, so not sure if any drugs cause similar behavior. I did not stop the medication once I realized it but I did try to be conscious of the effect and was able to control the rage better (but still not 100%).
[ Add: As I think more, the doctor was in sports medicine, so maybe he used somethings that he usually tried on athletes. ]
Re: Medications that change who we are
#105I 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…
> 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. Many traditional herbal medications also…
You make some good points. However that is not what i meant when i said "holistic".
As an example, in Ayurveda/TCM, "prophylaxis" is given greater importance than symptomatic treatment.
We are what we eat and how we live.
The beauty of Western Medicine is that it is highly targeted and therefore provides immediate relief. However, people go overboard with no thought to other factors, consequences and ramifications. They look at it in isolation. Whereas in Eastern Medicine; controlled diet (with emphasis on stomach/gut cleansing), massage therapy (affecting the circulatory, lymphatic and nervous systems), change in environment(Summer/Winter) etc. are given more prominence. The organism and the environment in which it is embedded are looked at together.
With what we know today, both these approaches need to be harmoniously blended together for the best effect.
Re: Medications that change who we are
#106>"It turns out many ordinary medications don’t just affect our bodies – they affect our brains." I feel like perpetuating this mindset is the ultimate sin of modern psychiatry and the entire industry of psychiatric pharmaceuticals - your brain is your body. It's not some special thing that sits apart from it. It is an integral part of the whole, no different than your kidneys or liver. People think they can take an a…
> It's not some special thing that sits apart from it. It is an integral part of the whole, no different than your kidneys or liver. Except it is. The brain is a part of your body and the two are tightly integrated. Yet the brain is also not simply another organ. If you lose half of your liver, your personality might change due to the trauma, but you will still be you. If you lose a kidney, you’ll live on as if littl…
> If you lose half your brain, you’re probably dead, and if not, you’ll be drastically impaired the rest of your life. You’ll also likely experience drastic personality changes.
That's...not at all what the actual results of a hemispherectomy, in which you literally lose half of your brain, show.
Re: Medications that change who we are
#107Let's also consider the other direction -- how fresh vegetables and fruit, plus whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and herbs improve mood, behavior, resilience. Throw in some vigorous exercise, and for most people, drugs can't do better, without the drugs' side effects and cost. For many people, switching from a standard American diet to largely those ingredients would register as changing who they are. I just finishe…
This sounds more like diet marketing. People have such varying success with different diets that one set of foods simply cannot fit all.
Exercise is a different story. The most likely to bring about the improvements you describe.
Re: Medications that change who we are
#108I had never heard of this link between statins and aggression and Tylenol and lack of empathy before. Interesting. Maybe this is why Boomers act so strange now. “Former flower children lost their empathy and caring for the world and the next generation when their doctors put them all on statins and they started gobbling Tylenol” would be quite an interesting story. Both my parents are on statins, it seems every perso…
I take statins and my best self-analysis is that it gives me nightmares. I can't count the number of times I have woken up with bad dreams. However, I think it is my brain trying to regulate heart by causing it to beat harder. When I exercise, I usually do not have these nightmares, or maybe I am too tired to notice them.
Re: Medications that change who we are
#109>"It turns out many ordinary medications don’t just affect our bodies – they affect our brains." I feel like perpetuating this mindset is the ultimate sin of modern psychiatry and the entire industry of psychiatric pharmaceuticals - your brain is your body. It's not some special thing that sits apart from it. It is an integral part of the whole, no different than your kidneys or liver. People think they can take an a…
> It's not some special thing that sits apart from it. It is an integral part of the whole, no different than your kidneys or liver. Except it is. The brain is a part of your body and the two are tightly integrated. Yet the brain is also not simply another organ. If you lose half of your liver, your personality might change due to the trauma, but you will still be you. If you lose a kidney, you’ll live on as if littl…
“If you lose half your brain, you’re probably dead, and if not, you’ll be drastically impaired the rest of your life.”
Depends.
Patients who undergo hemispherectomy at a very young age can recover remarkably well; a testament to the incredible plasticity of the developing brain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemispherectomy
In adult brains, yeah, it’s a very different story. See also: stroke.
Honestly, you’re both right. It is only one of a multitude of highly interconnected interdependent organs; but it can (and usually does) do some truly incredible stuff while running within that system.†
--
† Assuming, of course, that Descartes/Wachowskis aren’t right after all.
Re: Medications that change who we are
#110I 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…
There might be side effects to modern medicine, but there's no reason to assume that traditional beliefs re: health and medicine are more correct; The arguments behind them are usually epistemologically unsound, and they are often out-and-out superstitions.
Somewhat True, but "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater".
Much of "traditional medicine" is empirically based. The models they came up with to explain the mechanisms may not be valid in light of today's Scientific Knowledge but they are instructive nevertheless (rungs in a ladder leading to better understanding etc.) As an example we still don't know how exactly Acupuncture works but do know that it works for many cases.