16 Comments
Jul 21, 2022Liked by The Vigilant Fox

"I am proud to announce that I have left my day job to become an independent reporter! If you want to help keep this operation afloat, consider becoming a paid subscriber."

Done, my Fox Friend :)!

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You are amazing! Thank you! 🦊

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Jul 21, 2022Liked by The Vigilant Fox

This was not a "like" but <3 :)...

Best of luck!

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Jul 26, 2022Liked by The Vigilant Fox

Happy to support those fighting the good fight. Subscribed. Godspeed, 🦊 !! 🙏

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Thank you so much! The subscription is truly appreciated.

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Jul 21, 2022Liked by The Vigilant Fox

Sunlight is good but one of the best things for treating depression IMHO is exercise, both cardio and weights. It's very hard to feel depressed when you feel physically strong.

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Absolutely, exercise helps so much. And for those who have problematic joints, even a simple walk every day in a green setting does wonders for one's mood.

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Jul 21, 2022Liked by The Vigilant Fox

If the last 2 yrs of pharma shenanigans hasn't made everyone stop and reevaluate the meds you're on, heaven help you.

Probably 30 yrs ago, my mother the nurse told me "don't take any of the drugs they prescribe!! They will make you crazy", she said to take "B-complex" and "bee pollen" capsules if I "had the blues".

Idk if I just believed in her or what, but it's always worked for me.

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Wise mother you have.

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Especially coming from a nurse! She was a smart woman.

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Jul 21, 2022·edited Jul 21, 2022

Go off psych meds very, very slowly. SSRI, SNRI, Anxiolytic, Antipsychotic etc Protracted Withdrawl Syndrome. Post Acute Withdrawl Syndrome ~ PAWS. Antidepressant Withdrawl Syndrome. Search terms to use. Online group "Surviving Antidepressants." Film "Medicating Normal." There are resources available if you look pretty hard for them. Most likely no one is going to believe you (docs, shrinks, councelors, etc) when you state you were never like this before the meds (severe emotional disregulation) when your trying to go off the meds. They more than likely will say that's why you should stay on them. It's probably not true in most cases.Get healthy in advance to prepare to go off and possibly look into vitamins, nutriceuticals, and supplements to help alleviate mood swings. It can take a significantly substantial amount of time to to heal the brain. Months to years. Thank goodness for neuroplasticity.

Also, I've been thinking that perhaps these meds are why so many people are having a hard time waking up. You know "Flat Effect . . . la,la,la, everying is fine" or "psych med induced cognitive dissonance" maybe. Just a thought.

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Excellent comment and very important. Everyone should take heed. I have a disabled adult daughter with special needs, who spent her first 3.5 years in an orphanage. From the time we adopted her onward, she was extremely violent and out-of-control. This is not a problem love alone can solve. Naively, I had imagined that patience and playing the long game - plus, I protected her from meds while her brain was developing, perhaps foolishly - would yield a resolution. Really, it wasn't until she started taking meds that life with my daughter was actually livable. She was always entertaining, charming and loving, but she turned our home into a war zone. Now, at 25, she takes two - unfortunately - antipsychotics, plus a very low dose of lithium (we are trying to lose the lithium), Luvox (an SSRI) and Klonipin, a benzo. The reason for all the drugs is that we came to this solution piecemeal, one drug at a time. Life was hell. She would wake up in the morning, and by then was a functioning adult (late teens), and start physically attacking me, often grabbing me by the hair and pulling me to the ground. No, she was not provoked into behaving this way. She simply couldn't help herself. Anyway, she is now overweight because of the meds, but most of the time she is a sweet and only normally oppositional young adult. We went through pure hell to bring her to this point. Yes, I think it was worth it. Saving a life is always worth it. She is from Ukraine. Imagine where she might be right now, as a cognitively disabled person with serious psychiatric problems living in the middle of a war zone. I don't think it was a mistake, but I also believe it is a mistake for people to paint with too broad a brush in their crusade against psych meds. For some people, they are essential, life-giving.

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Jul 21, 2022Liked by The Vigilant Fox

Uplifting article.....thank you.

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Common-sense advice that everyone should implement since it’s so easy!

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Jul 21, 2022·edited Jul 21, 2022

Well, after 30 years of increasing depression, having done a lot to manage it I was saved from a lot of its worse effects when Prozac came along. Presently Effexor XR - an SSRI - allows me to devote my energies to something other than handling my depression and suffering. I do not appreciate people telling me they do not work, when they obviously do for me and many others. Are they over prescribed? YES. Should they be carefully prescribed only after careful assessments and with counseling to manage depression, exercise and other techniques? Well, duh.

I keep seeing these pieces about how they are ineffective, but I don't see them talking about real patients.

Yes, they can be very dangerous - I am aware of the problems especially in the young. There are other factors and dynamics - Dysfunctional families, absolute ignorance, expectations by family or others that "a pill" is all that is needed so get over it already, stereotyping, too little too late and not dealing with your kids and being a parent.

Medicine suffers just as much as from the "It's not in the book" or "That's not supposed to happen," or as is too common, applying algorithms instead of listening to your patient and exercising proper clinical skills. Patients' bodies and brains don't read those books.

Be very careful what is claimed not to exist. I saw a study once that claimed pain does not exist, it is merely a construct.

It is NOT just "that easy."

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Off topic, but whenever I try to "heart" someone's comment, I get a pop-up that says something went wrong and it reverts back to white. Am I doing something incorrectly?

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