Posted by bleauberry on January 23, 2010, at 13:38:24
In reply to Re: Thanks and Updates, posted by manic666 on January 17, 2010, at 4:58:54
Well, I started this thread on a very positive note and would like to end it that way as well.
I totally understand the "trigger" thing. I don't know what it is. A chemistry thing, the way someone words something, the phrases used, views that profounding challenge closely held views, jealousy, arrogance, ignorance, all of the above? I guess it varies from relationship to relationship and I'm just real glad it doesn't happen often.
There have been two or three people in my life that I just could not stand. I don't know why. Just a vibe about them. It didn't matter what they actually said or did, though it was that I would point my finger at, it was something else I couldn't really see that just irritated me. Ya know, we can't see magnetic fields. But they are there. We can't see electricity, but it's there. We can't see oxygen or the wind, but's they are there. We can't see spirits, but they are there (this comment intended only for Bible followers, not intended as a trigger for someone who is not :-)) My point is, I sometimes wonder if there is something we can't see, something about a person, even in long distance, that sets us off. I know I have encountered it.
Once I recognize that someone rubs me the wrong way, no matter what the reason is, I instantly and purposefully avoid that person. If it's a band member, I politely bow out of being in that band. If it's a co-worker, I politely sit somewhere else during break, take a break at a different time than them, and seek areas of work at the facility that do not put me in direct contact with that person. I have high tolerance and patience, but don't want to test it.
Over the years at pbabble there have been a few people that rubbed me wrong. That one is easy. I just don't ever click on their posts. Problem solved. The world is big enough for everybody to have a piece of the pie, without getting their hands in every piece of the pie. That's how I see it anyway.
So, triggers, yes, I understand. Can't explain it really, but yes, have experienced. Best option for me is to politely avoid the situation. Here it is easy, because it's just a click of a mouse. If someone does not agree with or finds offense with anything bleauberry says, the solution is super simple. It's all in the mouse.
Thankfully 99% of the people here I find amazing, so the whole trigger thing is a non-issue for me.
Moving onto some of the possible misperceptions.
9 out of 10 people with Lyme seem to have depression and a history of psych drugs. 9 out of 10 of those people were treated for depression for a long time before it was figured out they had Lyme. They didn't have just Lyme or just depression, they had both.
Rough numbers without statistical backup, but I would estimate 7 of those 10 Lyme treated patients regain 95% of their former selves and no longer need psychiatric meds. This was accomplished after a backpack full of psych meds were inadequate, but two or three antibiotics did the job instead. It happens. People need to know. Because the pharm rep and the ads on TV are not going to tell that side of the story. The other 3 of the 10 Lyme treated patients do need to continue meds. Depression with them was either a pre-existing compounded factor or organic damage from the infection.
To put it into perspective, the CDC estimates that only 1 in 10 Lyme cases is diagnosed. That is a lot of people walking around undiagnosed. With nearly all of them having longterm depression, it is purely logical and reasonable to have suspicion in the depression population.
The same scenario as described above holds true with the amalgam illness crowd. Most of them were told they had depression. They did. They also had mercury. It wasn't one or the other. It was both. For them, psychiatric meds or supplements are crucial to regain as much function as possible while chelating metals out of the nervous system. Estimated, no statistics, 70% of them no longer need psych meds after chelation. Their depression was cured with DMSA but not a suitcase full of antidepressants and antipsychotics.
It could also be lead. How in the world did I test so high for lead when I have no known lead exposure? Where the heck is lead coming from? The air? Produce? Water supply? It's not in my house or paint, so where? I doubt there is any significant lead in any identifiable source we can think of, but there is little debate we live in a toxic world quite different than it was 100 years ago. Accumulation over time of small amounts? Genetically deficient in detox? Whatever, I guarantee I am not the only one.
People need to know this stuff. There are literally thousands of people on the worldwide web sharing their horror stories of Lyme, MS, amalgams, and candida, along with their miraculous turnaround when the proper treatments were added to their psych meds.
People need to know this stuff. I am probably the person at pbabble who is most associated with spreading this kind of awareness, but I am but one of hundreds or thousands around the country doing the same thing at other forums, clinics, newspaper articles, TV documentaries, and magazine articles.
There are three things that several groups of ill people have in common:
1. Difficult to treat depression.
2. Undiagnosed illness for many years that is not being treated but has been given the name depression. Long history of unsuccessful psychiatrists, endocrinologists, neurologists, and dermatologists.
3. Their depression lessens or goes away with the proper diagnosis and treatment.So what does all this mean? Does it mean everyone at pbabble has either an infection of some kind or heavy metal toxicity? Absolutely not. If one were to make a list of things to rule in or rule out, would these be near the top of that list? Absolutely. Why? Because of the thousands of stories just like ours.
I would probably be more skeptical, as most people probably understandably are, if I had not experienced what I have. What was that? While on rounds of DMSA chelation, I felt good. I mean, good, almost completely well. Unfortunately I never felt that on Lyme treatment, so that chapter is still open. But candida...most doctors do not even recognize it, hard to test for...why is that after 3 days on Diflucan a lot of my bizarre "Lyme" symptoms start to go away, and why is it I have a remarkably good day like no antidepressant ever did for me?
Ya know, I can't ignore those things. Those experiences are what they are. Reality is what it is. Neither DMSA or Diflucan have any use in literature whatsoever in treating depression. But they did, and do. One cannot just ignore that. One cannot just attack that because it challenges their closely held views. Those drugs are screaming for someone to hear their message.
One cannot say, "Oh, that's just bleauberrry, he is a very rare case, that doesn't happen with hardly anyone else." Wrong. One cannot say, "Oh, that only happens to other people, not me." One cannot say, "My doctor gave me a physical and says I'm fine." Wrong.
Some of us have Lyme, I have no doubt. Some of us have candida, I have no doubt. Some of us have heavy metal accumulation, no doubt. How many, I don't know, but my totally off the cuff estimate would be around 30%. That's a lot of people. They need to know more than what the pharm reps and the pdocs are telling them.
Most of us will never know from where our depression came. Most of us will find the magic combination of meds to regain our lives back. In the meantime, it is my opinion that the more we know, the sooner that time will come.
In an undiagnosable scenario...someone's depression has nothing at all to do with infection or metals...but they change their diets and lifestyles as if those things were involved...the quality of their health and livespan has been greatly improved over what it was, so absolutely nothing was lost in the process, only gained.
I am very sorry to anyone who takes offense to ideas that are outside of the psychiatrist's toolbox. I am a huge fan of the psychiatrist's toolbox, so please don't throw it out. But please, don't limit the world to just that toolbox. Things are never that simple.
Medications I highly recommend as first line:
Prozac
Zypexa
Ritalin
Modafinil
Milnacipran
Buspar
Parnate
Zoloft+NortriptylineSo please, understand, regardless of any "outside the box" approaches, I am firmly in the psych med campl.
Thank you once again for the support from all of you who spoke up. You are all amazing and awesome! There is no better team on planet earth than the team at psychobabble!
poster:bleauberry
thread:933800
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100122/msgs/934787.html