Jeanski
Dayton,#2Consumer Comment
Fri, July 11, 2014
I'm with the OP on this one. My boyfriend and I reconnected after a 30 year separation. As we re-connected he discussed his liver cancer and so I became an expert on it. I'm fortunate to have the skills and knowledge to research and understand the medical literature.
As I reviewed his meds, I realized he was taking two different antipsychotics and something to sleep (among other drugs to alleviate the symptoms of the cancer). I asked his doctors about it (he had six different doctors because he was treated at the VA). He was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and "psychotic disorder not otherwise specified".
Turns out, advanced liver cancer like his can cause psychotic symptoms when the liver fails to de-toxify the body normally. If you fix the liver or treat the patient with a simple (but expensive) antibiotic all the psychiatric problems decrease or are elminated. His primary doc refused to do this because he didn't want to risk a secondary infection. The rest of his docs just deferred to him. I showed them the medical literautre I found which demonstrated that to be low risk; in addition, the benefits would FAR outweigh those small risks.
They still refused. I figured they were more concerned with the cost so I took him to a civilian oncologist who reviewed his records and spent considerable time with him. He got the antibiotic and we weaned him off the psych meds. The improvement was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, he died while waiting for a transplant, but that's a whole other rant against the incompetent VA.
Bottom line - be an informed consumer and stand your ground. If you can't, get someone to advocate for you. Psychiatric drugs are NOT always the answer.
still sober
California,#3Consumer Comment
Wed, May 14, 2014
I landed in a "dry out" facility after getting hooked on pills and screwed up by psychiatry in the first place ! Of course I rejected further chemical "help".
You are going to diagnose my complaint as "ironic" , a "rant" and a reason I should have started taking the kind of pills YOU are hooked on to function in life ? I feel sorry for you living life in that disabled chemical haze of psych meds with the health problems and sexual dysfunction ALL those pills cause. That has to be a real drag for YOU.
Philippe Martineau doesn't know a damb thing about alcoholism or addiction , if he did he would know the number one complaint of newly recovering people is "nothing seems fun sober" and wouldent push those "make you a flat zombie with no creativity" mood pills on his patients. What do I know ? I know I am one of the only 5-10 % that make it in recovery and those zombie all day pills just made sobriety suck and partying seem like a better option.
I see Philippe doesn't work for those clowns Recovery Resources Inc now called "Oceanside Detox" and "The Recovery Team" in Juno Beach anymore, maybe he does have a clue, just maybe. Maybe he quit cause he didn't like being Stephen Gumley's little b**** helping him practice medicine without a licence anymore.
Still sober
California,#4Consumer Comment
Tue, May 13, 2014
Typical defence of psychiatry: blame the victim and thier so called "lack of insight"... use some fancy words to blame people who decide against destroying their health and mind with psychiatries chemical straight jackets.
Psychiatry made me sick for years, got me started on addictive pills and never got me "sober", of course I rejected it.
I am one of the 5-10 % of people that actually recovered from alcoholism and addiction. The number one complaint of people recovering from alcholism and addictions is "Nothing is fun sober". Shame on me for rejecting this stupid idea that taking this make-U-a-Zombie "medication" that disables my brain and blocks my abilty to feel pleasure from life is the way to recover from alcoholism and addiction ? Are you kidding ?
I feel sorry for you still stuck on those pills that keep you sick. That has to suck.
Maybe this video will help you figure out how you fell for the scam. http://youtu.be/eOScYBwMyAA
StopPoliticsasUsual
Alabama,#5Consumer Comment
Thu, December 12, 2013
First off, I've been a lab rat for 20 plus years by less than competent physicians of all kinds. After 20 plus years of suffereing I, by mere chance, ended up in Dr. Martineau's office. That said, let's lay that aside for a moment and address your ignorance with regards to psychiatry, but before that, allow me to give credit where credit is due.
No, psychiatrists don't really udnerstand the mechanisms by which many diseases of the mind are driven, as unlike other parts of the body that have defective portions, it's easily viisble in an autopsy, ie a bad valve in the heart. Now, that said having been a suffering, and do to the stigma associated with the diagnosis of Bipolar type II,, I suffered FAR longer than necessary because of the ignorance of people like yourself. I too am an addict, but one only need look as far as your behavior and wonder why you chose to willfuly become an addict, and yes, some people certainly do, but here's the issue withour comments, and I'm no stranger to AA nor NA....they'll always ask you this: "Your way got you here, why don't you allow those with more knowledge to give you the guidance for a way that might just work".
Lobomatmy pills...great....and Bipolar, major depressive disorder amoint a great many other diseases of the mind simply don't exist. Your ignorance, when coupled with what at the BARE minimum woudl be considered legitimate OCD in excessive drinking, is laughable.
Now, back to Dr. Martinueau. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but when you go on rants like you did in this post, coming out of an alcohol treatment program, that sure seems like traditional mania to me, and as for your "lobotomy pills", that's another sure sign of mania because you are flying like a kit and believe yourself to be God or better.
Fortunately, I'm not afflicted with Type 1, but Type II is no cakewalk and it's f**ked up my life for 2 plus decades, so dogging out a Dr. because you refused their treatment regimen, is irresponisble at best, and libelous at worst. You have an issue, and dual diagnosis seems probable....at the end of the day, I take your so called "lobotomy pills", and I'd be more than willing to go head to head with you in any intellectual pursuit, every bit as much as a physcial pusuit and let's see if my lobotomy pills show me to be inferior.
You are a afraid and your fear is apparent, and in truth, there's NOTHING wrong with being afraid. The problems arise when you refuse to face your fears and deny your struggles and blame the psychiatric practics as a whole as charletans, and where many are, and where many medication action aren't fully understood, 6 months ago I didn't go a single day without tears and an obsession with killing myself. Today, my career is blossoming after a 20 plus year downturn because of my illness. Yes, overprescribing is an issue, but your issue is yourself, just as mine was prior to meeting Dr. Martinueu.
What's most ironic, is your rant, is validation of his apparent request to put you on mood stablalizers though your points about withdrawal aren't invalid, but where youv'e failed is to understand how you ended up in a dry out facility in the first place. If you had such a grand and successful plan you'd never have found yourself there, so since your method has worked so well, keep making decisions that destroy your life and body and blaming everyone but yourself.
Dr. Martineau, I'm grateful for having met you, and while things aren't perfect, they are a hell of a lot better because I was fortunate enough to find a Dr. that actually gave a s***.