Posted by 49er on September 7, 2009, at 10:19:42
In reply to Re: Suggestions re: Someone Who Refuses Medications, posted by SLS on September 7, 2009, at 9:14:54
Scott,
I wanted to try a different approach in our discussion.
Do you feel anyone with schizophrenia can recover without meds? If you don't, then it really is pointless for us to be having this discussion.
Sorry, I should have asked that alot earlier so I am not putting the blame on you.
I did want to discuss the medication issue. Not to do a "you too" but I have found your advice for tapering medication disturbing also. So the feeling is mutual.
Medical professionals I have spoken to on the Internet have said psych meds need to be tapered at a very slow rate. Come on Scott, you know that due to them making neurochemical changes throughout the body, you can't just stop taking the med as doing so, is like putting the car in reverse at 60 miles per hour. This isn't like stopping Tylenol.
I didn't say that tapering slowly off of meds means the person won't relapse in the future. But since withdrawal symptoms produce many rebound symptoms that are quite similar to the original illness, it is common sense that you would taper more slowly and lessen the chance of a relapse.
Why is tapering slowly such a hard concept for you to understand? You seem like a very bright person so I don't understand why you're resisting this concept.
I know it is hard to change entrenched beliefs but this is important. Even if one doesn't want to go off medication, I have seen so many posts on this board of people suffering needlessly transitioning between meds because the taper is too quick. I don't even bother responding because I feel what I say falls on deaf ears.
You won't see studies of this because many medical professionals have the same entrenched beliefs. Not because their intentions are bad or because they are drug whores. It is because of the attitude that we have done it this way for a million years and we're not changing..
If you think I am crazy, when I discussed tapering my psych meds slowly with my psychiatrist, his response was, "it just isn't done that way". Nothing about what I was doing was unsafe.
A compound pharmacist also tried to tell me I was tapering too slowly. Again, I asked him if what I was doing was unsafe and the answer was no. It was because I was bucking medical establishment routines.
My psychiatrist too his credit has cooperated so I don't want to leave you with a total negative impression.
Anyway, back on topic - I will be interested in your response about whether you feel anyone can recover from schizophrenia without meds.
49er
poster:49er
thread:915268
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090902/msgs/915992.html