Tuesday, March 18, 2014

The Ugly Truth Antidepressant Overuse

The ugly truth: Withdrawal from the antidepressant Paxil is real! There is a stigma on the phrase: mental health. The mere mention of mental health often is frightening to many people. The thought of seeing a mental health professional or a diagnosis of a mental health condition produces fear, prejudice and gossip to name a few. In the climate of current soc views, a few mental health conditions are considered to be common and acceptable.For instance, depression is a common ailment that most find to be common and acceptable. However less sociability acceptable illnesses such as schizophrenia, tend to be unacceptable. The common thread amongst minor and major mental health illnesses is the over prescribing of antidepressant medications. Be it depression or a fleating circumstance, physicians are throwing a bandaid over small and large problems alike. The use of antidepressant medications is widely overused. I'm a patient that a physician bandaged up with an antidepressant. I clearly was not depressed as the class of medication would suggest In years past, a doctor may have prescribed stress reduction,exercise or a variety of similar simple suggestions. Instead, the common practice of prescribing an antidepressant was the answer. I was under an incredible amount of stress and pressure: a widow and single parent, stressful job, in the middle of adopting two children,three and a half hours a day spent in the car just to commute to work and school, running a home, an ill child and city life all equaled big stress. I began to have a struggle dealing with the stress. I had a few panic attacks and found myself admitted to the hospital for testing and observation. Immediately, my doctor assured me that the temporary use of an antidepressant would calm the anxiety and all would be well. Fast forward five years and two doctors later and I'm still stuck with an antidepressant that I don't want. doctor actually refused to take me off of the medication. Long story short, I finally found a doctor that will. Although, I do not wish to take any antidepressant medication, at least the new doctor has agreed T to discontinue the Paxil and replace it with a " less harsh" medication. For now, it's a start. I certainly don't want to have an anxiety problem aka mental health condition. So, the withdrawal of the Paxil began approximately four weeks ago. I read a great deal on withdrawal and

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