Messages By: hepzibah

Who says vitamins, proper diet and exercise won't work to relieve depression and/or other "mental disorders"? 

I'm recovering from several years of damage from a variety of SSRIs, benzos and a tricyclic. 

I had most of the listed side effects from each drug, plus horrific withdrawal effects from discontinuing the drugs too quickly. Doctors are taking patients off of these drugs too fast, causing withdrawal problems, sometimes severe. But that's another story. My two original diagnoses, depression and anxiety, are gone now because of vitamins, proper diet (whole foods, no artificial flavorings/colors, etc.) and gentle exercise. I'm left only with drug-induced problems, such as depersonalization, numbness and burning sensations in the extremities, weakness and insomnia. And even those problems are waning because I'm taking proper care of myself now. You might say that those symptoms are signs of mental illness, but I assure you they didn't show up until after I'd been on drugs for some time. Some were the result of discontinuing. 

I want to add that I'm not a fan of Tom Cruise, nor am I a scientologist. But he was definitely telling the truth. 

"I think Mr. Cruise was totally wrong for using his movie as a way to put down mental health. He is WRONG when he says there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance of the brain." 

  

When did he use the movie to put down mental health? 

I don't know where you get your information, but no one can check the levels of serotonin, norepinephrine or dopamine in the brain until an autopsy is done. Frankly, I'd rather not have to have an autopsy just to check my neurotransmitter levels.

You didn't say exactly how he used his movie "as a way to put down Brooke Shields...". 

Truth: He didn't use the movie as an opener to discuss the pseudo-science of psychiatry. 

  

The information you received about chemical imbalance is wrong. The website you saw was most likely sponsored by a pharmaceutical company. 

Truth: The "chemical imbalance" theory is just that, a theory. No test exists to support such a theory and there is no real conception of what a correct chemical balance would look like. 

  

Look for the money trail to determine who's telling the truth. There's no monetary benefit for people like Tom Cruise, Drs. Thomas Szasz, Peter Breggin, Joseph Glenmullen, Bob Whitaker and Anne Blake Tracy. They speak the truth. On the otherhand, all the pharmaceuticals giants have been making a killing from selling drugs that don't work for diseases that don't exist. And if the truth is known about the dangers of these drugs, these pharma giants could lose billions. 

There's no reason for anyone to imagine themselves a "bigger and better" person. And there's no reason to get defensive. Are you afraid of the facts? 

Did your doctor give you that spiel about the diabetes comparison? That's what we've all heard. But that's comparing apples to oranges. Diabetes is a pathological disease, mental illness is not. One can have a test to determine insulin problems. Again, there are no tests to determine mental illnesses. One simply has to meet certain criteria in the DSM to determine a mental disorder. This is unreliable and subjective. 

You said: 

"Probably not so why tell me not to medicate myself or my daughter?" 

  

If you'll read carefully my previous posts, at no time did I tell you or anyone not to medicate yourselves. 

Good day to you. 

  

And to the person who wrote that there is indeed a blood test for bipolar, I'd like to see this test. 

Patients taking drugs for the so-called bipolar, such as Depakote and Lithium, often times need to have blood work done regularly to make sure that they are metabolizing the drugs. Is this what you meant?