Oh Lubby Who U Tryin to Fool

[tabs]

This weekend I asked 3 of the correspondents on this Board for updates on Threads that they had iniatiated in the past several months. I got responses from 2 of the correspondents.

However our Lubby chose to ignore my request, admitedly my set up was a bit pejorative, but the requested answer was not. Yet what I found to be sly on our Lubbys part was his response under the my Thread to Moses. Lubby responded about how well his children were getting along with their Gramps. That is all well and good, even heart touching. However my question wasn't about how well Lubbys children were getting along with their Gramps, but HOW WELL LUBBY IS GETTING ALONG.

Now the answer is obvious by Lubbys non response to the question. Hes just poppin the pills, and everythin is fine. Hes usin the excuse that he just doesn't have the time to pursue the other endevor. The question here is who is being cheated here, and it is Lubby who is cheating himself.

To be harsh here I could say that another Junkie has been created by the AMA and Pharmaceutical companies. But that is political polemic and I chose not to tread too far down that road at the moment. But to get right to the heart of the matter with Lubby he fills his days with activities and now a pill or two, instead of listening to his heart and himself.

[Joeaksa]

Hope that the Lubemeister has been able to slow down and spend more quality time working on several things than trying to do everything as he was last summer and fall. I know what its like to get overloaded and he was sure at that point.

I am a pill popper but alas its only Celebrex. Does not get me happy, only makes me able to move my neck... which does make me happy!

[red-beard]

Celebrex is da Bomb!

It sucks getting old!

[livi]

Yes, I hope Lube is feeling better. Wheels spinning in a more manageable fashion, as it where.

It is kind of sad, on a population basis, how frequently used that kind of pills are. But, for the right person at the right moment, they are a blessing (in chemical disguise).

[Moses]

Depression/anxiety is serious business. I know several professional high-power people whose lives and careers were sidetracked before "the meds".

Taking medication for depression/anxiety is not a cop out. It can be an invaluable strategy in dealing with a difficult problem.

The following is a short list of treatments/strategies that have been proven NOT to work;

1) Psychotherapy
2) "Suck it up"
3) Wait it out
4) Alcohol

No one should be discouraged from seeking help for these difficult problems.

[bigchillcar]

+1 moses

[tabs]

I view medication as being like a cast on a broken arm, it gives relief while the arm heals. However it is not an end all be all. Anxiety is a warning sign that something is amiss. To ignore that warning is to tread at your own peril. One needs to find out what the problem is in order to fix it. Pray tell Moses how does one fix or come to an understanding of such a subjective area of the human condition as your feelings or emotions?

[bigchillcar]

one doesn't..drugs or talk therapy notwithstanding.

[livi]

Coughing and high fever is a warning sign of pneumonia. In many cases the bodies immune system will overcome the bacteria and survive but some will succumb under the infection without antibiotics.

A somewhat inadequate reference, but the principal apply IMO.

[Aurel]

I have been on lexapro (same stuff as Lubby) for about a month now. I can only say goods things about it: I have had less anger bursts and frustations, less arguments with my wife, been more productive at work and able to focus for longer times. Only downsides: this stuff seems to make me wake up around 3-4 am with the desire of going directly to work. Also, I noticed that drinking more than two glasses of wine will make me fall asleep in the next hour. At new years eve, drinking half a bottle of champagne made me wake up in the middle of the night with nausea and a strange chemical taste which I swear I was feeling directly in my brain. So, just avoid alcohol and it is all good !

Aurel

[bigchillcar]

lexapro made me, my brother and my wife all anxious as hell..and we were taking for anxiety! (arkansas is a stressful state)..

[tabs]

Originally posted by livi
Coughing and high fever is a warning sign of pneumonia. In many cases the bodies immune system will overcome the bacteria and survive but some will succumb under the infection without antibiotics.

A somewhat inadequate reference, but the principal apply IMO.

Good Man Livi..If a person woke up every mornining with abdominal pain and STARTED taking pain medication to alleviate the symptoms and ignored going to the MD to find out what the cause of the pain was, wouldn't you consider that person to be foolish? The MD would probably schedule some tests which could save that persons life.

Second consider that U have a Flu Virus if U ride it out you immune system will eventually overcome it, and the next time your body is confronted with that same virus your immune system will know how to fight it. (this analogy maynot be the best...but it has to do with the growth of an indivdual and capacity to handle the ups and downs of life).

One further....consider ones emotions to be like a radio wave, by taking medication one is cutting off both the tops and bottoms of the wave..the peaks and valleys as it were. Life does have its peaks and valleys..the valley maybe the death of a loved one and by not experiencing the valley one may never come to resolution of that valley.

[stevepaa]

Yeah, and when the valley is suicide attempt, I am all in favor of medication to stabilize people to normal wavelength amplitudes rather than have them ride out their six sigma events.

[tabs]

Originally posted by Aurel
I have had less anger bursts and frustations

Aurel

If U could figure out and untangle that ball of string that causes U to be fustrated and angry. U could avoid the situation or change its conditions and just by understanding what makes you angry, just by naming it tends to allow you not to be angry at it anymore. It sets U free, so the anger doesn't control you.

However with the meds your just maintaining and not discovering.

With discovery you can say, "Ahh yah, so thats what it is that pisses me off...Then Daddy when you can thread that eye of the needle with your lifes situations you are on your way to taking control of your life.

Now there is the paradox of control. Its like a tree bending in the wind, the more you are able to sway with the wind the less like to break. Conversley the more you want to control your actions the less you are able to bend and when stress is applied it breaks more readily.

[tabs]

Originally posted by stevepaa
Yeah, and when the valley is suicide attempt, I am all in favor of medication to stabilize people to normal wavelength amplitudes rather than have them ride out their six sigma events.

Suicide is the ultimate attempt ot avoid the pain of the valley, in that case medication can give U time to figure out why you want to avoid the valley or build the support mechanisms which will help you deal with the valley.

There really is no such thing as a normal wavelength, everybody has there own parameteres. However there are certain things or events in which humans generally act in the same way...With a death sadness or depression is normal. Somebody insulting U anger...etc. so in that sense there is a normality.

[artplumber]

Tabs,
Stick to the buffet buddy. Your concern is admirable, however, it's prob not appropriate to press Mike on this issue.

The lubemeister was seeing a prof who prescribed the drug. We don't know if there was other therapy planned. He doesn't want to answer (at least right now). Respect his right to privacy, please.

[tabs]

Therein lies a dilemma for me. I more or less knew this would be brought up sooner or later, I am more or less hard pressed for an answer.

All Mike would have to say is some VARIATION of "its none of your business, butt out."

That would really define the space I have with him.

On the other hand, I see Mike as a pretty healthy guy, if I thought the situation were really touchy, I wouldn't be speaking as freely as I am.

Let me say one thing about myself, I was once asked to help deal with a person who was having a full blown psychotic episode. The people who asked were very surprised at how successfull I was with that person.

[Moses]

Originally posted by tabs
I view medication as being like a cast on a broken arm, it gives relief while the arm heals.

Sometimes depression/anxiety/bipolar disorder is more like insulin dependent diabetes. When is it a good time to go off the meds?

Every catastrophic meltdown is described like this; "Well, I stopped my meds last week. I was feeling OK, so I thought I didn't need them anymore". I'm not sure if this describes Mike or anyone else specifically, but the point is, neither do you. Best not to offer advice from afar.

[tabs]

I didn't say stop taking the Meds, but my premise with allmost anyone is to do the DISCOVERY in conjunction with them.

I almost wana say to you, do you know how much the Thearpy helps?

I've known a gal for about 10 years, who takes a handfull of Meds everyday for depression. At one point before she made a change in them was completely suicidal. She recently reentered thearpy and I could tell an immediate difference without being told. Now I know that she will never be off the Meds, but Thearpy helps so much.

[Moneyguy1]

I have mentioned itbefore. For years I was married to a bipolar individual. (She has passed away...brain aneurism). When I think back to that time in my life, I still shudder. Psychotherapy was her treatment of choice, along with (the only one I remember) lithium and some other meds. (four therapists....one committed suicide later on, one was jailed for prescribing psychotropic drugs to himself, one was a recovering alcoholic....)This was twenty years ago and I am sure things have improved over the ensuing years, but the damage done to the kids is still visible. I look at medicines, properly administered and used as extremely valuable adjuncts to making life better. If an individual has, for example, hypertension, it is not "macho" to tough it out. The medication can prevent serious conditions from cropping up and enable the individual to lead a normal life. If we take meds for physical ailments and they help, why is there, to so many people, some kind of bad connotation with drugs that help those with emotional problems?