Life expectancy declining for US women

[Mike]

I’m researching dementia for my next blog post, and it’s amazing to see the discussion forums where people are saying ‘don’t put your loved one with dementia on the psych meds that the doctors push on you – it will make them worse. Better to learn to manage the symptoms in other ways.’

Isn’t that something?!

I just listened to an old "This American Life" episode in which a woman was diagnosed as HIV positive, put on AZT and other meds. She developed AIDS related dementia. Three years into this she sought help from a maverick physician to help with her severe symptoms. As a part of his initial work-up he did a lot of tests, called her into the room and told her that she was not HIV positive. Most of her symptoms were from the meds.

Her initial diagnosis wasn't from a false positive but was from a religious counselor who lied about her results with the hope that she would repent from her "sins" of being gay and seek "treatment" to make her "not gay."

On the medication/longevity issue there is a study (paraphrasing from memory) that found that people taking neuroleptics lived on average 25 years less. This number seems high but I can't help but believe that that many medications shorten lives.

BTW, regarding dementia and meds. I took aricept very briefly for some wacky reason not related to cognition and it made me feel very dull. I understand that it's efficacy is pretty questionable and has horrendous side effects for some. Here are some reviews form "ask a patient."

http://www.askapatient.com/viewratin...0&name=ARICEPT

[Luc]

http://www.askapatient.com/viewratin...0&name=ARICEPT

Mind-blowing. It reads like a horror story.

[Junior]

Her initial diagnosis wasn't from a false positive but was from a religious counselor who lied about her results with the hope that she would repent from her "sins" of being gay and seek "treatment" to make her "not gay."

My first response to this was "oh my god" but that really doesn't sound right ...

What really annoys me, upon reflection, is that counsellors are not supposed to judge, nor are they to impose their values on their clients. Having done 1 undergrad unit on psych ethics, 1 "4th yr" unit on ethics, and another unit on ethics for the counselling cert I'm doing, this has been totally and utterly drummed into me. He might have been religious but ... oh yeah.. aren't religious people not supposed to judge? At least the Christian variety? Funny how so many do.

That poor woman. Did they say how she is doing now?

[Sheila]

Good anecdotes, Mike. I think there is a ton of undiagnosed drug-induced dementia going on. It's kind of overwhelming to me to contemplate how much it's happening all around us. And how horribly ironic that the aricept *caused* cognitive problems!

[Mike]

My first response to this was "oh my god" but that really doesn't sound right ...

What really annoys me, upon reflection, is that counsellors are not supposed to judge, nor are they to impose their values on their clients. Having done 1 undergrad unit on psych ethics, 1 "4th yr" unit on ethics, and another unit on ethics for the counselling cert I'm doing, this has been totally and utterly drummed into me. He might have been religious but ... oh yeah.. aren't religious people not supposed to judge? At least the Christian variety? Funny how so many do.

That poor woman. Did they say how she is doing now?

I chose the word "counsellor" because I assume someone who is giving out that information and making referrals was a social worker or counsellor, but I am not really sure what she was...

The piece ended quickly and they didn't spend a lot of time on her life after recovering (from the meds and the trauma of the experience) but she did say that it was hard for her to re-integrate with normal life. I am already forgetting a lot of it but here's the link if you are interested in checking it out.

It's Act 1

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radi...cost-of-living

[stan]

about AIDS
Some renowned specialists say that AIDS do not exist, there is only immune disease, and that all was created by big pharma, and when positiv people take the meds , then they are seriously sick, and people positiv who do not take meds live years without nothing; in France it is slowly disappearing; there was a conference in Belgium about(big pharma); i cannot show here all i have read, but it seems a scandal as psychotropics,
the founder of the virus was french Montagne(linked to america pharma) who said after a few years that we can live a good life with being positiv during years and years without meds
there is no proof that with a low immune system, you are sick, people live ok as these with high immune system
as low serotonin and high serotonin is no proof to be medicated

[Luc]

Absolutely so. And this info is (or rather was successfully suppressed until the Internet era) by the mainstream media.

[Junior]

I've heard something similar too. You have to wonder just how far Big Pharma is prepared to go. Actually, on reflection, I don't think I want to know *shivers*

[Sheila]

Very interesting, Stan!