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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

I Didn't Know Mindy's Music, But I Hear Her Now!


I did not know her music but I hear her now, loud and clear, and I shall do my best to make sure her voice, her spoken voice, is not forgotten. Read on, and please if you do nothing else, click on the link to watch the compelling and brief video below in which she describes how she never had a suicidal thought until AFTER she was prescribed antidepressant medication...and that guy who calls himself "doctor" Drew used her agony to increase his ratings on that dreadful show of his that really began the whole practice of celebrity addict exploitation.




To find the video clip: After selecting "related videos" from the video that automatically runs, please click upper right        small image of Mindy as she looks above...unless you want to hear Drew Pinski make excuses for himself and smarm up your experience. I could not get the vid to embed properly. I hope the link works! It's from Examiner.com/Hot Videos for 2/18/13.

Of course the pharmaceutical industry was quick to follow, replacing inexpensive Methadone with Suboxone which was rushed through the approval process even though NO research has been done on what happens to people who take Buprenorphine or Naloxone long term.  


This is a deadly serious issue, so none of my usual antics this time 'round, and it hits as close to home as my own heart and soul. The issue is suicide, not only that of Mindy McCready, may she finally rest in peace, but those of countless others who find themselves "hooked" on the most deadly drugs on the planet, antidepressants. I know of these drugs professionally as a former member of the outrageous "health care for profit industry" in America (but soothe my conscience with the knowledge that even as a professional I received precious little of the profit). I am also the surviving sibling of my "baby" brother who committed suicide while being inadequately monitored while being prescribed antidepressants. That is not so easily soothed. He, too, shot himself in the head. Impulse control goes out the window with these vile chemicals, and self loathing soars. That is a LETHAL combination, especially when the ability to sleep (which is when we restore our sanity and work through issues via dream work) is also lost, as is almost always the case. Then sleep aides are added to the mix, and they, too, increase risk of suicide...but the IMPORTANT thing is that they increase the profit margin for Big Pharma, right? ...and THAT, ladies and gents is the bottom line, until enough famous and beautiful people, like Ms. McCready, die and beautiful young tots like her boys are left parentless. If American Big Pharma has a motto, I am quite positive it is "Anything for a dollar!"



I have read several articles now on this tragic...these tragic...suicides. SOMEONE has to STOP the Pharmaceutical Industry from shoving dangerous pills down the throats of every grieving person, every person going through a rough spot in life, every person not happy every single day. A former colleague, another professional in the health care field, went to a conference during which a pharmacy rep got up in front of the audience at the meet and greet as sponsor of the event, as they so often are. It was her job to take notes and pass on the information shared there because we were too busy for all who has signed up to attend. He said the following in complete seriousness [paraphrased]:

  




"If patients are not responding to the dose [of antidepressant] they're on, keep throwing higher and higher doses at them until they're snowed [medical terminology for NOT clear-headed, in this context]. You can prescribe well beyond the recommended daily milligrams per day, but the patient will have to eat the cost of what their insurance won't pay. If you make it sound like life or death, they'll do it." 

                                                    
                                                                                                                                                               




Mindy was aware that the antidepressant medication she was taking was responsible for her suicidal ideology. She was pressed by professionals and by the celebrity exploiter and smart artist extraordinaire, Drew Pinski, to continue taking these drugs, even after voicing concerns about having suicidal thoughts for the first time in her life, which were increasing the longer she was on the drugs. He kept her on the drugs. THAT is criminal negligence. Of course the [long list of expletives deleted] pharmaceutical industry makes its money by keeping people as sick as possible for as long as possible and preventing cures at all costs, and most of that cost is lobbying, which costs them PLENTY ... more, in fact, than research and development and the wages and benefits of all their staff combined and a lot of their give-aways would tempt a saint! 

                                                                                                                
While no longer able to give the lavish gifts they once did to doctors who push their drugs, they can still reward doctors in very imaginative ways ...with "extended continuing education opportunities/conferences" in some of the world's most desirable vacation destinations being a big favorite, since wives/girlfriends/favorite nurses can be included if you push enough of their product down your patient's throats. Family Doctors, who spend an average of 5-7 minutes of "face time" per patient and RARELY if EVER provide adequate follow-up for their allegedly clinically depressed patients, who should be referred out for PSYCHIATRIST consults if they're so sure they need medication! Instead they're just "thrown" on the "miracle drug du jour" (even though that "new miracle drug" is just a slightly tweaked version of the same old drug with the same dangerous side effect--that being DEATH BY SUICIDE! 




And the PATIENT is left with the responsibility to call and make regular follow-up appointments...the patient who is SO psychologically unstable that life threatening medication is absolutely necessary! That person is left with that HUGE responsibility of arranging and showing up for incredibly important follow-up and for recognizing signs of intolerance and side effects that NO doctor, I don't care HOW good s/he is, can possibly explain in 5-7 minutes of face time. In exactly WHAT world does that make ANY sense...AT ALL?                                                                                                                                           

"Some people, especially depressed people are at higher risk for suicide," you might be thinking, and while that's a valid thought, the LEGITIMATE studies NOT sponsored by Big Pharma, show a SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED RISK OF SUICIDE IN PATIENTS ON ANTIDEPRESSANTS, especially SSRIs. So while that is how the Drug Industry has gotten away with pushing these drugs on nearly everyone who walks into a doctor's office for so long, their hold on the FDA is weakening in the face of study after study (and a steadily growing pile of dead bodies with only antidepressants in common). 

My own doctor tried to push antidepressants on me for DECADES simply because he once put depression down as a diagnosis on my chart when he prescribed one off-label for another use! That is EXACTLY how closely most Family Doctors monitor their patients--even the otherwise good ones, like mine, who are just SO pressed for time ALL the time, that they go through their day at a dead run. At least he washes his HANDS, which is rare, very rare. Many docs seem to think they are too godly for germs to grow on them...honestly.                                                                                                                                                                  

What is clear in Mindy's case is that she had NO thoughts of suicide BEFORE she took the pills. She says so very clearly and soberly, and AFTER the death of her boyfriend. Sadly it takes the deaths of celebrities to get people THINKING in this world. I hope it does in this case before more people die needless deaths...then maybe those poor little boys of hers will not have lost their beautiful mother for nothing...or nothing more important than a higher profit margin for Big Pharma. 



I just don't understand how so many people get sucked in to this. Yes, feeling bad is terrible, but isn't feeling GOOD worth it? Some of the greatest musical,  literary and fine artists of all time suffered and survived the full range of emotions. That ability to feel so deeply is often what creates art. We don't all need to be flat of affect or falsely happy little Stepfords all the time. I truly do NOT understand where this happiness industry sprang from, aside from perhaps the same place conservative republicans come from--that place where people went down some kind of rabbit hole and dreamed that once upon a time there was a perfect utopia when everyone was happy because men were men and women knew their place and no minorities or gay people existed, and they don't realize the dream was just a dream and they've re-awakened into the real world. I don't think there's a cure for that though, aside from a few heavy doses of ECT perhaps...  I VOLUNTEER to deliver them!  (Okay, even on this sad day, I had to indulge in some antics.)

                                                             


Maybe at some point the Insurance industry will figure out they'll actually SAVE money by paying for people to get REAL psychological care (which means more than 6 visits per lifetime) rather than just forcing them to live on deadly pills that destroy their judgment and impulse control--pills that make men impotent and women unable to achieve orgasm (as if being depressed isn't miserable enough!) pills that make people walking time bombs. Maybe they'll learn that therapy once or twice a month is cheaper than pills for decades, pills that lead to more pills to help the first ones work better, then more pills to deal with the side effects of all that medication, then eventually maybe even a liver or kidney transplant (after dialysis of course) if enough pills are accidentally or intentionally taken by a person who suffers enough dementia as a result! The list of possible physiological issues as well as psychological ones is nearly endless. 


                                                                                               

In Europe ALL antidepressants carry warning labels clearly stating that suicide is a risk factor for ALL ages  which is ACCURATE. SUICIDE DOES NOT HAPPEN NEARLY AS OFTEN IN TRULY CIVILIZED NATIONS WHERE MEDICINE IS A CALLING TO HEAL AND PREVENT ILLNESS, NOT A CAPITALIST INDUSTRY WHERE MONEY, NOT HUMAN LIFE IS THE BOTTOM LINE!