A hundred years ago someone said that everything that we
ever needed had already been invented. Do you ever wonder what people in the
future will think when they look back at the world as it is today (in the event
that a clean alternative is found for fossil fuel, so that the world doesn’t
tear itself apart when supplies run low – oh and don’t forget someone
discovering how to undo climate change)?
One of the things that strikes me personally is
medication. I am taking the a-typical antipsychotic called Olanzapine. As far
as my understanding goes antipsychotics were discovered to be effective
treatments for psychosis by accident and it is not fully known why they work.
While taking it I have noticed significant changes in my
emotional spectrum AS well as a reduction in psychotic thinking. Now that the
dose has been lower slightly I am beginning to rediscover (sometimes
overwhelmingly) my original emotional range. Unfortunately the positive
symptoms appear to have grown slightly stronger too.
But is the medication a good thing? Does it treat the
condition or the symptoms?
Apparently advances in genetics will have a big part to
play in the future of how Schizophrenic disorders are treated and even cured.
Also, the medication - such as the one that I am on - whilst alleviating the
symptoms may be causing long term damage to the patient’s physiology.
Is it so difficult to picture a medical professor
lecturing his pupils in the future on the archaic medicines that used to be
prescribed so readily; in the same way that people now think about prefrontal
lobotomies? Of course a lot of people are finding they are better off on
medication as there is no alternative treatment at the moment beside
psycho-socio therapy……or is there?
You could call it a conspiracy theory (and don’t worry, I’m
keeping a close watch on this one) but I recently heard of a ruse by the pharmaceutical
companies in America to suppress information about natural medicines that are
equally effective as their counterparts – but without the unpleasant side
effects – simply because they aren’t patentable and so wouldn’t make any money
for their companies.
Is it true? Why would so many people testify that they
are getting better naturally? And what is in it for them? Is it just me or isn’t
it easier to believe that the pharmaceutical companies would choose to deny the
efficacy of natural treatment because they have such a high stake in the game?
I don’t know what damage the Olanzapine is doing to my
body. I read on the leaflet that comes in every box that tardive dyskinesia and
diabetes can await the long term user so I’m slightly worried and eager to get
my dose lowered as quickly as possible.
I’ve been on a dose of 17.5mg down from 20mg for over
four months now and things are definitely better but it was not an easy period.
It’s been four months of disruption and frustration and pain for me and my
loved ones. Finally though things seem to have levelled out and I can start wondering
how the months following the next drop will pan out?
