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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by bleauberry on April 20, 2018, at 12:46:42
When I first came here I had no idea what depression was, except that it was a new dark thing in my life. I was a car mechanic. My first user name was JoeMechanic. I've had 3 user names.Below is one of my first posts, if not the first. I attempt to make the analogy back then that depression has an actual physical cause. Little did I know that some 2 decades later I would discover exactly what that was, and that my initial gut instincts were correct, that it was physical, mechanical, fixable.
The first responder to my post was also eye opening - they disagreed that antidepressants could fix the actual problems causing the symptoms.
This Thing Called DepressionPosted by Joe Mechanic on September 25, 1999, at 13:08:33
Your car engine is running rough (symbolically the same as depression). The cause is a crack in the outer layer of a sparkplug wire, allowing sparks to shoot out at random and never reach the sparkplug (symbolically the same as neurotransmitter malfunction in the brain). We can do many things to improve the car's performance. New spark plugs, adjust air/fuel mixture, adjust ignition timing (symbolically the same as counseling and psychotherapy). They help improve the rough-running engine, but they don't address the underlying deficiency. It is still below its "normal" potential. We can try a new paint job, shiney hubcaps, surround-sound CD player, plush seats, high-tech fuel additive (symbolically the same as improved lifestyle, improved coping abilities). But no matter how hard we push the gas pedal, the car is incapable of performing "normally". That damn wire.
To fix it we need to replace the wire with a new one. Symbolically we can't replace parts of the brain. But we can work with them to repair them. We could wrap the cracked sparkplug wire with lots of electrical tape (symbolically the same as an antidepressant). Now the engine runs smooth. It is "normal". It is firing on all cylinders. All the other stuff...paint job, CD player, etc...is icing on the cake.
Hi. My name is Joe Mechanic. I suffer from lifelong depression. I am amazed at how "normal" people think depression is just a matter of willpower, attitude, lifestyle, diet, pulling oneself together, getting a grip, coming to terms, getting over it. I use the malfunctioning auto example when needed to defend myself from the skeptical onslaught of psychotherapy proponents, pharmacology skeptics, disbelieving friends and family, and the "normal" who just don't, can't, get it. A typical response is dumbfounded silence. I can see in their faces that for the first time ever they can actually grasp an understanding of the physical nature of depression. The stigma and misunderstanding of the physical nature of depression is staggering.
Why do so many think the brain is immune from malfunction? Kidneys malfunction. As do livers, thyroids, stomachs, skin, bones, blood, eyes,...and...brains. Can someone fix their depressed liver function with willpower? Would coming to terms with childhood trauma mend an eye? Why is it that the brain can supposedly be fixed with talk, attitude, exercise, lifestyle? Can't fix a kidney that way. Can't fix leukemia that way. Can't willpower a cancer away. I submit that our best efforts can certainly improve our faulty conditions. But unless we can fix the condition,improvement is limited and potential will remain below normal.
Back to the car, we improved it greatly, but we didn't fix it. Till we mended the wire. Then it was "normal". What is normal? Not being chronically depressed is normal. Having a bad day when something bad happens is normal. Having a good day when something good happens is normal. Having endless bad days no matter what happens is not normal. When all the paint jobs and overhauls and new tires only marginally improve a car, we can restore it to normal by servicing the core problem. Fix the deficiency. A bad paint job didn't cause the engine to act depressed. It was just a slightly faulty electrical system. No matter what else we do, the car will always be less than it's normal potential till that damn faulty sparkplug wire is treated.
Credit is due all here who engage in good counsel, good lifestyle. These obvisouly bring improvement. A nice new paint job. But it doesn't repair that broken wire. Not in the eye, the bones, the kidneys, or....the brain. Credit is even more due those attempting to fix the core problem. Antidepressants. I applaud all here who recognize that the brain is an organ like any other, and when it malfunctions it manifests itself in behavior. I applaud the strength and determination of those who struggle with their drugs to eventually fix the real problem. Sometimes it's not as easy as trying the first roll of electrical tape we can find. But the right kind of tape does exist. The wire can be fixed.
What if we wrap electrical tape around a good sparkplug wire? Nothing. Nothing was wrong in the first place. What happens if someone "normal" takes an antidepressant? Nothing. Nothing was wrong in the first place. (Well, they would get some side effects probably) That antidepressants actually work is proof positive that a physical organic malfunction was at fault. Again, other things improved the condition, but didn't fix it.
So no matter what we do...paint job, tires, CD player, willpower, gasoline, yoga, climbing mountains, standing on our heads, whatever... any improvement will always be less than normal potential till the underlying malfuction is treated. Now, let's assume we've repaired that wire. We've found an AD that works and we can tolerate. The wire no longer misfires. Ok. Keep that electrical tape applied. Dont' want the same problem to return.
Now, let's take our nice normal car with its nice normal sparkplug wire and its nice new normal paint job for a nice normal drive on a nice normal country road and have a nice normal day
Posted by dj on September 25, 1999, at 14:34:20
In reply to This Thing Called Depression, posted by Joe Mechanic on September 25, 1999, at 13:08:33
Interesing analogy JM. However I don't buy the arguement that ADs are the main answer and that once one has the proper tape/AD affixed that's the end of that task. Other possibilites exist which may not be so cleancut and clinical and widely accepted and I'll be dammed if I'm going to settle for a life of being held together by duct tape...I applaud those who look beyond ADs, while using them to get from point A to B in the interim...
Posted by ed_uk2010 on April 22, 2018, at 13:35:41
In reply to My First Post? 1999 Here It Is, posted by bleauberry on April 20, 2018, at 12:46:42
It's really good that you've made so much progress since those days Blue.
Posted by bleauberry on April 24, 2018, at 12:05:38
In reply to Re: My First Post? 1999 Here It Is, posted by ed_uk2010 on April 22, 2018, at 13:35:41
> It's really good that you've made so much progress since those days Blue.
>
>THANK YOU! I wish the same for everyone here.
I just want everyone to know that as we skim the babble posts and we see all sorts of technical discussions on agonism, antagonism, dopamine, serotonin, sodium channels, receptors, on and on, well, that used to be me. I did that. I was obsessed with it. I was up at 2am typing on babble about some novel drug and its novel mechanism. I lived babble more than I lived anything else. It was sort of my rock. I did that for months, for years. It was the main thing I did each day, not a side thing.
It took a really long time. But at some point I realized none of these technical discussions were actually getting anyone better. Remissions were not happening hardly ever. The same problems with partial effectiveness, sexual side effects, poop-out, and numbing, keep coming up over and over and over and over again. And nobody gets better.
So I came back to share what I learned. My journey was guided by divine force. Not my own doing. I cannot claim any credit, except for perseverance and persistence. But what I learned is absolutely profound, bizarre, and totally true - that an estimated 9 out 10 - ok let's just say 'most' - chronic psychiatric patients have an undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, stealth, unsuspected tick born disease at the root cause of ALL of their symptoms in their entire body, including the subset of symptoms we call psychiatric.
It is THE reason we have unsatisfactory treatment in the field of psychiatry. The drugs are good. The doctors are good. But they are using the wrong information for diagnosis, and the wrong drugs for treatment. imo
Posted by ed_uk2010 on April 28, 2018, at 10:07:54
In reply to Re: My First Post? 1999 Here It Is, posted by bleauberry on April 24, 2018, at 12:05:38
>let's just say 'most' - chronic psychiatric patients have an undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, stealth, unsuspected tick born disease at the root cause of ALL of their symptoms in their entire body, including the subset of symptoms we call psychiatric.
Now here is a thought for you...
There has been a lot of talk of Lyme disease, and also the difficulties with diagnosis.
The theme seems to be that some people feel better when they have been seen by a new doctor and prescribed antibiotics.
Many of the antibiotics used are very broad-spectrum, and most of the patients treated receive multiple antibiotics.
It sounds to me that many of them may not have Lyme disease, but might potentially have some other condition which responds to antibiotics. Not necessarily anything from ticks either. The treatments being used are not specific to Lyme disease.
There are many concerns about long-term use of antibiotics though. In particular, concerns about bacterial resistance and disruption of the normal flora of the body.
This is the end of the thread.
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