- "Dave, I'm serious, what can I do? I think he might
get a gun..."
-
- A few years ago my good friend's wife called me up in
a panic because her husband was feeling strangely about life and she thought
he might do something to harm himself. She actually worried he might shoot
himself.
-
- Now I have known both these friends for a long time and
known most everything imaginable about them, so I immediately and incredulously
called him and asked what in the heck was going on. He told me that he
had just been started on an antidepressant and that it wasn't really working,
in fact it was seemingly making matters worse. I was shocked: here was
a good friend, someone whom I had laughed and joked with for so many years
over so many things telling me that he was "depressed." Worse,
he was telling me that the solution his doctor recommended was a quick-fix
pill.
-
- I've read that 30 million plus people are depressed in
the U.S. (and 120 million worldwide?) and that twice as many women as men
have the "disease." What is troublesome to me is that there is
no known bug or virus that is easily identifiable as the culprit. Because
there are seemingly so many people with the disease I am starting to worry
if it is contagious. Could it have a long incubation period? Worst of all...
this disease is so poorly understood that it doesn't fit into our current
model of medicine: it can allegedly be triggered and caused by so many
things, and yet it has no known etiology.
-
- The cause remains unknown and even the mechanisms of
action studied for many years without much good science. I often wonder
what role the lack of self-control and discipline plays in this disease
and suspect its role will remain concealed because people who treat depression
often feel so strongly about other causes. Many think it is absurd to suggest
that simple civilities taught by schools and parents would reduce levels
of depression. I suspect this blast will generate many heated emails to
me about my naivete.
-
- What bothers me the most is that the first line of defense
for the disease is often touted to be a drug; common names like Prozac
and Zoloft are the usual choices and are often handed out like candy. It
seems almost a badge of honor among my friends from larger cities. Lines
like "oh hey, who's your shrink? Mine gives me that small white pill
called "zac" or something. I just love how I feel now that I'm
taking that stuff!"
-
- There's even a genre of music called "Emo"
(from the words emote and emotions) where artists and listeners alike were
cool if they were expressing their feelings and emotions most of the time...
very popular among wealthy kids in the 90s.
-
- What is depression? Is there a lab test for it? NO! Scientists
have been looking for genes for years to explain behaviors like mania and
depression... there's even a disease called bipolar disorder where people
go back and forth between mania and depression that was once thought to
have genetic components. Yet-to-date... no gene.
-
- Primates, like chimpanzees, don't get depression. Why
do humans get it?
-
- Supposedly, depression costs us $31 billion dollars a
year in lost productivity. One study made calculations and assumptions
about costs that seem impossible to measure without a twin sibling to control
and measure the other half of the study. One assumption was that people
come to work depressed and have to work through the fog in their brain
making them less attentive and productive. "Most people with the illness
show up at work, but they're not performing at the level that they would
without depression." Guess who sponsored the study? ...Eli Lilly,
the maker of Prozac.
-
- Can you tell that I am a bit cynical? And yet there I
was with this good friend (and his worried-to-death wife) who was likely
not "faking it." As it turned out, he feels perfectly fine today,
but is reluctant and truly frightened to stop his medications... I can't
even convince him to slowly taper them? ...Not even in the name of a scientific
experiment!
-
- Even if we could experiment on my friend, the jargon
and criteria are quite liberal and generalized. When I read and look at
the "criteria" for depression, I am confused because nowhere
in medicine is there a diagnosis that includes polar opposites as a positive
symptom. Does it make sense that one of the criteria for a "depressive
episode" is either insomnia (can't sleep) or hypersomnia (sleeping
too much)? It makes no sense to me that a disease can lead to exactly opposite
things.
-
- Yet, I have seen people who truly seem to look and act
"depressed." How do we know what caused it? I suspect that we
might eventually answer these questions in medicine with good scientific
evidence. Moreover my "gut" tells me that with new scanning techniques
such as PET (which identifies and localizes areas of metabolism in the
brain) and the genome project (a map of the genes in humans almost completed)
we will find out more of the truth about mental illness and diseases such
as depression. There is in fact some evidence for chemicals in the brain
called dopamine, seratonin, and norepinephrine, but the actual mechanisms
are poorly (and I mean poorly) understood. Anyone who tells you otherwise...
well... have them send me the published peer reviewed papers.
-
- Right now, I remain wary of diagnosis of diseases where
there is little proof of the etiology and such obvious lack of common sense
science .
-
- What do I do to keep away this debilitating disease people
call depression?
-
- 1. I make sure to EXERCISE at least twice a week -- a
proven and strong antidepressant.
-
- 2. I regularly read and listen to things that are "upbeat."
I feed my mind with positive (non-depressing) "mental food."
-
- 3. The corollary to #2 -- I avoid giving much attention
to things that are "depressing."
-
- 4. I consume limited amounts of alcohol... alcohol is
considered to be a strong and well-known depressant.
-
- 5. I try to solve and usually fix any and all problems
that I have control over.
-
- 6. The corollary to #5 -- I avoid worrying or spending
time on things I can't control.
-
- 7. I try and stay away from people who complain a lot...
-
- 8. I don't go to bed mad... thus, when I wake up, I have
forgotten about yesterday and move on toward my next day goals.
-
- 9. Most importantly, during the winter I remember to
get SUN on my face, arms, and body whenever I can.
-
- 10. The number one thing I do is to SMILE --try it--
imagine yourself in the worst mood ever --then smile and keep smiling--
look in a mirror (if you need to) and keep smiling until you laugh... and
now your mood has changed. GUARANTEED.
-
-
- Here's to our health,
-
- Dr. David Eifrig Jr.
-
- P.S. If by chance you are starting on an anti-depressant
drug remember that there is a possibility that during the first few weeks
the drug can actually make you MORE LIKELY to attempt suicide... make sure
your doctor explains this risk to you and that you have a support system
in place to watch for this. And normal grief (which can last at least a
year) does not require medication (in fact it is supposed to be avoided
during that time!
-
- http://www.stansberryresearch.com
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