About 15 years ago I was going through a very difficult and agonizing family upheaval. I was angry, not depressed, and felt the need to talk to a psychologist. Unfortunately, my insurance didn’t cover the services of a psychologist (who can’t prescribe medications), but it did include visits to psychiatrists.
I am no expert, nor am I a medical professional, but I have learned how to research and discover much-needed information about harmful pharmaceuticals. In this article, I will be sharing my personal experience with NSRI Anti-depressants (Nor-Epinephrine, Serotonin, Re-uptake Inhibitors.) Since two brain chemicals are involved, NSRI’s are much more difficult to taper (reduce dosage) than the older SSRI anti-depressants like Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil.
WARNING: NEVER STOP TAKING THESE DRUGS WITHOUT A SLOW TAPER, IT CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS.
Unfortunately, most doctors either don’t know how dangerous these drugs can be, or they are willing dupes for the Pharmaceutical Industry. My doctor still insists that anti-depressants are not addictive. They may not be addictive in the same way as codeine or other narcotics, but because of their various “mechanisms of action” and the fact that they don’t allow your brain’s important neurotransmitters to flow naturally, your brain becomes accustomed to always having these neurotransmitters “at the ready.” When you decide that you may no longer need the medication and try to taper safely, you are hit with what is commonly known as “brain zaps.” These “brain zaps” are very disconcerting and can drive a person to distraction. I found myself quickly upping my dose to prevent this phenomenon. Follow-up research allowed me to more efficiently handle the “zaps” because I understood they were happening because my brain was starting to work normally again. The “zaps” are created because the brain is forced to once again “fire at the synapse” as a way of asking for the serotonin and nor-epinephrine that had been so readily available while on the drug.
An additional, important aspect of anti-depressants is their “mechanisms of action,” for reasons not completely understood they provide pain relief. A couple of months before my visit to the psychiatrist, I had injured the rotator cuff on my right arm, and the pain was excruciating. Shortly after starting the NSRI called Effexor XR, the pain subsided. I mentioned this to the doctor, and he told me that there can be pain relief from these drugs. That was indeed my experience, and it was another reason I was unable to successfully taper from them for so long.
This pain relief aspect has added an “off-label” general use of this harmful pharmaceutical which has enabled the drug companies to make even more money and create havoc for more people. The information below is quoted from https://www.mayoclinic.org/pain-medications/art-20045647
Antidepressants: Another Weapon against Chronic Pain
Although not specifically intended to treat chronic pain, antidepressants are a mainstay in the treatment of many chronic pain conditions, even when depression isn’t recognized as a factor.
Antidepressants seem to work best for pain caused by:
- Nerve damage from diabetes (diabetic neuropathy)
- Nerve damage from shingles (postherpetic neuralgia)
- Nerve pain from other causes (peripheral neuropathy, spinal cord injury, stroke, radiculopathy)
- A tension headache
- A migraine
- Facial pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Low back pain
- Pelvic pain
The painkilling mechanism of these drugs still isn’t fully understood. Antidepressants may increase neurotransmitters in the spinal cord that reduce pain signals, but they don’t work immediately.
You may feel some relief from an antidepressant after a week or so, but maximum relief may take several weeks. People generally experience moderate pain relief from antidepressants.
Medications from other drug classes with distinct mechanisms of pain relief (such as anticonvulsants) may be used in combination with antidepressant class medications if pain relief with antidepressants is incomplete.
END OF MAYO CLINIC QUOTE
Sure, let’s add another pharmaceutical to the mix.
Fortunately, my research led me to MIT Scientist, Dr. Stephanie Seneff. Much can be learned from her papers and research. Here is the link to her MIT homepage – https://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/
Dr. Seneff’s essential work focuses on the harmful effects of glyphosate and how it is depleting the soil of its vital nutrients and thus destroying our health. She has also studied the relationship between glyphosate and autism. The following video, less than 7 minutes in length, provides valuable insight into the cause of many diseases. In this video, she discusses the sulfur/sulfate connection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGJYtQa4SX4
Could This Be the Root Cause of Inflammation and Many Modern Diseases?
This video interview with Dr. Seneff changed my life. After viewing it, I was able to understand that our body will do whatever it can to keep our blood supplied with necessary cholesterol sulfate. Here is a quote from the video:
“I worked out a theory that cholesterol sulfate is synthesized in the skin in response to sunlight. This is a really important thing that happens. The way that animals have been able to capture sunlight and make use of it and hold on to that energy from the sun and make use of it through making this sulfate anion and sticking it onto the cholesterol and shipping it out. This ends up being a major source of the supply of both cholesterol and sulfate to all the tissues, but especially the blood and the blood really, really depends on cholesterol sulfate to be healthy, particularly the red blood cells.”
In another quote we learn:
“The blood always tries to maintain these charge issues (i.e., negative and positive) which is hard to do without enough sulfate. So I think there is a sulfate crisis going on that triggers all these diseases and the diseases can be explained very simply. Things like arthritis, Alzheimer’s, or various gut disorders. All of these can be explained by this inflammation going on in that tissue. The inflammation is causing the body to attack the extracellular matrix where there is lots of sulfate, and it actually breaks off those sulfated molecules around the knee joint (as an example) in order to get them into the blood to save the blood, but meanwhile, the knee is getting destroyed. So you are basically sacrificing some organ for the sake of the blood, and it is essential because if blood doesn’t flow you are dead.”
I feel this final quote is very important:
“Researchers are appreciating that inflammation is the cause of all diseases, it’s a sort of “mantra” these days. But, no one says, well, what is the cause of inflammation? The thing is you need the inflammation in order to get the superoxide to make the sulfate.”
Please forgive all the technical jargon. I added these quotes from the video to get to my “Aha!” moment. Because of the use of the glyphosate herbicide and genetically modified ingredients found in our food supply, our bodies require a supplement or amino acid (the building blocks of protein) to provide for the low or missing sulfur that it is unable to obtain naturally. Some of these supplements are Taurine, ALA – alpha lipoic acid, MSM – methyl sulfonyl methane. I take an amino acid called N-acetyl cysteine (NAC).
The results I’ve obtained from the use of NAC didn’t happen overnight, but after a couple of months of NAC usage, my arthritis no longer caused me pain. It was a revelation. So, I wondered if it could also be helping with my rotator cuff injury and decided to, once again, try to taper off the NSRI anti-depressant Efexxor XR. I had been taking three 37.5 mg extended-release capsules daily for a total of 112.5 mg. In the past reducing the dose below 100 mg a day caused my rotator cuff pain to return. This time, however, my reduction to 75 mg per day was a success, no rotator cuff pain. I stayed at this dosage for 4-6 weeks to allow my body to adjust to the change. After that, I reduced the dose from 75 mg per day to 37.5 mg per day. Again, success.
Then came the final phase which was the most difficult. After 4-6 weeks of taking only one 37.5 mg capsule, I tried an every-other-day dosage of 37.5 mg. This reduction caused terrible “brain zaps,” and I was forced to return to ingesting one capsule daily. I feared that I would not be able to taper from the drug entirely. This undesirable possibility led me to do a bit more research, and I discovered that people had found success during the final stage by removing some of the time-release beads contained in the capsule. I decided to try this approach. The 37.5 mg capsule contained approximately 38 beads, so I started by removing five beads and maintained that dose for a couple of weeks. After that, I removed ten beads and so on. After a couple of months, I was finally freed from this terrible drug. I still experienced some “brain zaps,” but they were a small price to pay. I have been anti-depressant free for close to 6 months now and the “brain zaps” are a thing of the past.
In closing I would like to ad
for this article was to show that there are natural supplements, amino acids, and vitamins that can improve our overall health. Harmful pharmaceuticals aren’t necessarily needed. The amino acid, N acetyl cysteine is working very well for me. I continue to take it because it continues to prevent pain from arthritis and my rotator cuff injury. As a caveat, there is a very small percentage of the population that could form kidney stones from taking NAC. Because of this, it should be taken with Vitamin C and a Vitamin B6 supplement. I purchase my NAC and B6 from a company called NutraBio. Their vitamins and amino acids are pharmaceutical grade and contain no excipients and they are very reasonably priced. Their website is: https://www.nutrabio.com/
Instead of Vitamin C, that is synthetic ascorbic acid, I prefer the organic, natural Vitamin C made from berries that is produced by a company called NutriGold. It is a bit more expensive than ascorbic acid Vitamin C, but in my opinion taking a natural, organic supplement is preferred. I purchase my NutriGold Vit C through Amazon, the Amazon product number is B00B0F6EAO. I have no connection to any of these companies nor do I receive any money for these recommendations
Please feel free to ask any questions. I am not a medical professional, but I’m confident that I can assist you in your search for additional information.
I am currently in the process of tapering from another pharmaceutical/anti-anxiety drug – Ativan, a Benzodiazepine. I plan to detail that journey in a follow-up article.
Piece of Mindful 
Annette, you and I both enjoyed the series Longmire. However, I almost lost interest when they introduced the character Donna Sue Monaghan, a psychiatrist who was supposed to be Walt’s new love interest. It wasn’t just that she wasn’t that good, but that they were using her to push these drugs. They made it seem as though psychiatrists know what they are doing. They do not. But her character supposedly had expertise in all these drugs and knew which ones were right for certain patients when in fact they are grabbaggers, trying this, trying that, not understanding what they do and more importantly, not understanding half lives and interactions.
Reading your words here, I come upon “it is not well understood”. Indeed. They do not know what these drugs do or why. These are quacks.
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yes, as Maarten so aptly noted in his article “Snake Oil” It is petroleum based medicine that was funded by Rockefeller. TPTB are playing dangerous games and we, the people, are human guinea pigs.
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Fascinating personal story. Look into a product developed by Dr. Zach Bush called Restore.
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I checked the website. I am always suspicious when I read statements such as the following:
“RESTORE is a new generation, soil-derived supplement that promotes an optimal gut environment. It is not a probiotic. It is not a prebiotic. Rather, it is a carbon-rich, alkaline liquid, comprised of Terrahydrite™, a proprietary formulation of Aqueous Humic Substances and trace mineral amino acid complexes”
“proprietary formulation”, I have to wonder what they are hiding!
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Annette. You may recall that I recently accompanied my sister to a farm co-op where she has a membership. The people there swear by this “Restore” concoction as a cure for seasonal allergies, so I bought a bottle for $40. My “season” hasn’t arrived so I haven’t used it yet. The only ingredient on the bottle is Terrahydrite which is described as “Aqueous Humic Substances.”
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Hi Kevin, I do remember your visit to your sisters, but I had forgotten about your mention of “Restore”. I checked out the website and saw the testimonials where people swear by it and have had good results…but I am always suspicious when ingredients aren’t completely listed because they are “proprietary”. KFC’s secret spices are proprietary because they add MSG to the mix. Companies can hide a multitude of unsafe ingredients by claiming this and at this point in my life, especially with medication, I want complete disclosure. Oh, another thing, the last name Bush. I checked to see if he was related to our “esteemed” former presidents but couldn’t determine if they were related.
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Annette, I am in awe of your determination! Most people would have given up after a try or two and stayed on the poison.
These psych drugs are the fulfillment of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World prophecy about “soma” being forced populace to keep them docile and tractable. Depression is awful, but like a fever, it can be a step in the process towards healing, if we work with the pain and not against it.
Thank you for this write-up. Please share more of what you have learned.
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Thank you Maarten, I have more to share…hopefully soon! As a side note, I am back and I feel better than I have felt in a very long time. This journey has been a lifesaver, literally!
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You may feel some relief from an antidepressant after a week or so, but maximum relief may take several weeks. People generally experience moderate pain relief from antidepressants.
Just long enough to get you hopelessly hooked. Thanks for showing fellow sufferers a NATURAL way out of this situation. You’ve obviously walked the walk, and done your research. Others would be wise to heed this advice.
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Thank you Kevin!
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Blood ph is 7.35. Our body will fight to keep it there. There is no higher priority, so if we do not consume what the blood needs, it will rob what it can to maintain 7.35 ph. Ignore this at your peril.
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speaking of glyphosate…Bayer and Monsanto have merged so Monsanto can rid themselves of a much-hated name. Here is a video link and audio link to a Corbett Report entitled -Bayer + Monsanto = A Match Made in Hell
quote from Corbett “It is hardly surprising that the first thing Bayer did after completing their takeover of Monsanto earlier this month was to announce that they were dropping the Monsanto name, merging the two companies’ agrichemical divisions under the Bayer Crop Science name. After all, as everyone knows, Monsanto is one of the most hated corporations in the world. But Bayer itself has an equally atrocious history of death and destruction. Together they are a match made in hell.”
Here are the links – 24-minute video along with the MP3 audio for those that prefer just to listen
[audio src="https://www.corbettreport.com/mp3/episode340_bayersanto.mp3" /]
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The audio didn’t paste properly as a “sticky link” I tried again but it still didn’t paste properly…sorry about that, but you can go the video and click on the audio link there…it appears in the text.
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Thank you, Steve, absolutely correct. The body is very smart and is doing what it can to keep us alive. Glyphosate is very destructive, and it is even found in a young mother’s breast milk. It is a pervasive enemy but the body does it’s best to find “workarounds”. I urge everyone to check out the link to Dr. Stephanie Seneff’s work, there are dozens of papers that explain so much.
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you people should simply stop doing all this drugs. Doesn’t matter if soil-derived or oil derived. Derivatives can’t be good for anything. Just eat enough and various natural food and you will be fine. Arthritis comes with age. There is no cure for that. When you get old, the pain will increase and you have to live with that. If you’ll take drugs, there will be more pain. And more side effects. Just don’t do drugs. It’s not helping.
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I am 68 and drug free. I am continually amazed at the drug regimens that people my age take, cocktails. The antipsychotics are bad enough, but there are also statins which are handed out like candy too by regular doctors. PhRMA’s idea behind each if them is NOT to cure anything but rather to create a lifelong daily need. Generally it appears they want $10 per pill. If they do come up with a drug that actually cures anything, it will not see light of day. There’s no annuity, or ongoing cash flow for them. That’s all they care about.
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Absolutely, statins are a huge money maker for the pharmaceutical companies. Statins work, but their side effects can destroy the liver, cause irreversible muscle damage and much more. I have a friend that is on statins, I have tried to tell her how harmful they are, she won’t listen…but she wonders why she can only walk with the use of leg braces because her leg muscles are so damaged. We have been lied to so BigPharma can make big money from the #2 most prescribed drug on the market today. The “meme” of using poly-unsaturated oils to reduce cholesterol, don’t eat butter, throw out that egg yolk and only eat the egg white…lies. If we eat a diet rich in butter, egg yolks etc, our cholesterol will actually go down because we are providing the body with what it needs. 25% of our cholesterol is stored in the brain.
I am adding another Seneff video, less than 7 minutes in length. It is very eye-opening and I urge everyone to watch. It is titled “This Doctor Hates Statins, Wait Until You Hear Why”
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Yes, “we people” should stop taking drugs…they can be very harmful. But, if you read my article in full, I was able to stop my arthritis pain by taking an amino acid – N-acetyl cysteine. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, not drugs. Watch the Stephanie Seneff video linked in my article. Arthritis is not caused just because we are aging and we can reverse the effects.
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Here is a story about statins I read years ago: It is said that they reduce the chance of heart attack by 33%. Here is where they got that number: Take a random sample room of 100 people like me, long in the tooth. Of that 100, the likelihood is that 3 will die of a heart attack some time. If all 100 take daily statin doses, that number will indeed drop to 2, a 33% reduction. But they have NO IDEA which person in the 100 will be the one that benefits. No idea.
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A close relative recently had a heart attack. Her cholesterol levels are in the normal range….but hospital “protocol” incites doctors to automatically put a heart attack victim on statins….absolutely crazy.
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This is a long video, but very well worth watching called The Oiling of America.
Everyone who is on a statin or has a family member on a statin needs to watch it. Cholesterol is a critical element in the body, and artificially reducing it does much more harm than good. Statins are a huge scam. Sally Fallon has some good books as well, and is active in the Weston A. Price Foundation, which I believe was mentioned in the video Ann posted.
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Thank you, Sadie, unfortunately when I add what I consider important information via article links or video links, no one seems to check them out, or if they do they don’t indicate it via a comment. I am very well versed on the dangers of statins and that they are a BigPharma, money making scam. Thanks for sharing the video, I will take a look and provide feedback.
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That’s what I’m always saying. Doctors make money when you get sick.They want you to need them as long as possible. The doctor will never say to you: you’re fine, don’t waste my time, go home. He will say: I can’t find anything, but to be sure I’ll prescribe you something. If it gets worse come to me or I will send you to my colleague. And guess what: it usually gets worse. We have mass production technology for everything. It makes things cheap and available. If antidepressants were good for anything, they would be cheap. The more expensive a medicament, the worse it is. Your statin story is just a story. There is no paper describing such test in reality. They never test medication if it really helps. They only test if the damage it causes is not big enough to bring them to court. And there always is some damage. No medication without leaflet with side effects.
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Muller, take a look at this article, dated Aug 3rd 2018 you should find it very interesting.
https://www.wddty.com/news/2018/08/mind-tactics-on-doctors-are-tripling-opioid-prescribing.html?utm_source=Boomtrain&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=enews_06082018&bt_ee=Rzb2ekmcTiHyCi8B0qpxpPfT6hS1unyu6WteWsIiGJv5ZK4zLwK7hhAQ7dLXt7uK&bt_ts=1533549905117
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We are living in a “Medical Manhattan Project”! The pharmaceutical companies know exactly what they are doing to our health, doctors get “kickbacks” for prescribing the latest drug because the newer the drug, the more it costs….it is part of the agenda. All they care about are profits and to hell with the people harmed.
People should read those leaflet’s, in fact, before having a prescription filled people should search the internet for the side effects of the drug. If more people understood that these Big Pharma companies care nothing about what harm a drug might cause and do a bit of research before taking the drug, they would see the side effects and possibly realize the cost in side effects is too great a risk.
I know so much more than I did 15 years ago. Today the knowledge is at our fingertips. Don’t let anyone tell you to listen to your doctor because you can’t obtain good information on the internet, that is complete nonsense. The internet is full of scholarly articles…some may be a bit technical, but you will be surprised by what your brain can absorb by just scanning some of these documents.
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Could you please be more specific on the “kickbacks” physicians receive? “All they care about are profits and to hell with people harmed.” Most MDs are employees now and no longer share profits. The doctor/business owner model is long gone. MDs follow the standard of care and receive a salary for doing so. They do as they are told and it’s unfair to vilify the doctor you see face to face in clinic when the root cause of the problem is much deeper. I’m very interested in hearing what the kickbacks are that physicians receive from prescriptions. To me it seems that you are suggesting physicians are unethical.
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There are many unethical physicians. I chose my physicians very carefully.
I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have lumped all physicians together. In fact, I had a wonderful Ear Nose and Throat surgeon that is the kindest most gentle doctor I have ever encountered. His practice is in the San Francisco Bay area and his services are no longer covered under my insurance plan because I currently live in Sacramento. I recently saw an ENT in Sacramento that treated me very rudely and marginalized my current issue. I so admire my former ENT, I wrote to him and told him how rudely I was treated and how much I missed his excellent care. He is aware that I am on a fixed income. He emailed me on Sunday night and offered to see me for free. I will be away most of tomorrow because of the long drive there and back. That level of kindness is almost unheard of these days.
My reference was mainly toward psychiatrists. I base that opinion on the recent revelations from Gwen Olsen, an Ex Big Pharma Sales Rep. Here is a link to an article that includes an interview. She wrote a book in 2015 titled “Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher.
https://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/03/18/we-are-trained-to-misinform-ex-big-pharma-sales-rep-speaks-out-about-the-deception-in-the-pharmaceutical-industry/
You might also want to take a look at the following website. It appears to be a spoof, but browse around and see the corruption between BigPharma and their need to have psychiatrists write prescriptions for very harmful drugs.
http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/
The psychiatrist that wrote my prescription for Effexor XR would actually talk about the wonderful dinners of steak and lobster and weekend retreats that he and his wife received from various pharmaceutical companies…this was 15 years ago, long before I was awake and aware of how harmful these drugs are.
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The statement that there “are many unethical physicians’” is still a broad and unfair generalization. You may believe some physicians are personally unethical, but today there are severe professional consequences for receiving what you call kickbacks. 15 years ago physicians would be invited to informational dinners, but since then the Anti Kickback Statute has been enacted. Now any sort of gift must be reported. I bet the psychiatrist you saw doesn’t even have a pen with the name Effexor on it anymore.
Let’s not leave lawyers out of the discussion…any physician who deviates from the strict standard of care established by their specialty opens themself up to malpractice claims. If you see a psychiatrist for depression, the standard of care is therapy and/or medication. If you don’t like what allopathic healthcare has to offer, then you have every right to seek out a holistic approach. But to vilify “many” physicians as a whole based on outdated stories of steak dinners is unfair. Ask any medical student today why they are going into medicine, it’s to help people. The fact that their hands are tied to the standard of care is the fault of the government, pharmaceutical companies and lawyers. I’m very sorry to hear of the harm done by the pharmaceutical you took, and I wish you the best in your recovery.
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Both of these replies are me. I changed my profile name after posting the first time but I guess it was too late. Sorry for the confusion!
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Most physicians I meet are caught up in groupthink, and that is their great failing, not dishonesty. I just had my annual physical yesterday, and got the usual hard sell on vaccinations. They wanted me to endure shingles and pneumonia (new and improved versions!), and I chose simply to say that I am done with vaccinations, and not argue with them, as they are obviously schooled in germ theory and I am deeply troubled by it and even with the existence of viruses.
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I wouldn’t necessarily call it groupthink, but rather what they are taught in tested on in medical school. They are taught about the Germ theory and herd immunity (also false,) and that the standard of care is vaccinations. The thing with vaccinations is that many healthcare employers will withhold a small percentage of the physicians salary every year in order for the physician to qualify with some set standard “excellence of care,” as defined by the administration. So if a pediatrician has a salary of $100,000, they will withhold $10,000 until certain criteria are met every year. For pediatricians, one of those is a minimum vaccination rates of their patients. That’s why you’ll hear of some pediatricians dropping patients who choose not to vaccinate. I’m not sure if this is true for internists and shingles vaccines. Physicians are no longer allowed to think and make decisions. They just follow flow charts on the standard of care and do as they are told.
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Sadie, I don’t sleep as well as I used to. I woke up at 4:30 am Pacific daylight time and was not able to fall back to sleep. Your comment was on my mind and I wanted to add a bit more to my previous reply.
My primary care physician is a member of the Sutter Health Care System in Sacramento. She is a very caring physician, but her hands are tied by Sutter “protocols”. Back in 2002, while still living in the Bay Area (Silicon Valley in the San Jose) I was diagnosed with an autoimmune thyroid condition called Thyroid Eye Disease. Actually, the thyroid is the victim of this disease via the pituitary gland. The immune system attacks the muscles behind the eyes and causes extreme damage to the eyes. The eyes are pushed forward, the sclera becomes extremely red, watery and painful. My condition continued progressing and I used to scare small children in grocery stores. My eyes were destroyed. In hopes of calming this disease, my thyroid was removed and I also had a short series of radiation treatments aimed behind the eyes in hope that the progression of the disease would stop…it didn’t help. It took an additional 7 years before my eyes had calmed enough to have a surgical procedure called an “orbital decompression”. I received excellent care from the surgeons that performed this surgery, one of them is the doctor I will be seeing today. Thanks to them the damage to my eyes has been fixed and my eyes are normal again.
Sorry for the long story, but I no longer have a thyroid and will have to take thyroid medication for the remainder of my life. My thyroid levels normalized with a Synthroid dosage of .125 mg of mediation. About a year ago my TSH values changed and my doctor HAD to reduce my dose. I tried my best to provide her with information that the TSH test was no longer the “gold standard” for determining the level of thyroid hormone needed. I was doing well at .125 mg and did not want my dosage reduced. She thanked me for the paperwork I provided, but Sutter Medical “protocols” would not allow her to continue providing me with a prescription for the dosage that I felt best on…she had to reduce my Synthroid to .100 mg. So, even though the doctor understood my dilemma her hands were tied.
Ok, I will be heading out shortly to the bay area and will be unavailable to answer any followup comments until later this evening.
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Ann, very sorry to hear of all your health struggles. I did not mean to suggest in my previous posts that any and all medical conditions can be treated holistically. I hate how with medicine, we as patients are asked to take all sorts of risks for health’s sake. I am told “it’s just a little bit of radiation in my baby’s body for a CT scan.” “It’s just a little bit of thimerosal in every vaccine we are injecting into your child’s muscle.” “It’s just a little bit of fluoride in the tap water.” Death by a thousand cuts and no one’s to blame when a person develops a chronic disease or two.
I was thinking some more about the use of the word kickbacks and the general tone of doctor blaming on this page. Perhaps it is all intentional, to set doctors up and later throw them under the bus for the broken healthcare system. I’ll never forget when Obama suggested that physicians perform elective tonsillectomies purely for profit.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/07/22/obama_doctors_taking_tonsils_out_for_money_instead_of_diagnosing_it_as_allergies.html
Easy enough to build doctors up as these rich, unethical a-holes that need to be cut down to size with healthcare reform. That’s why you read outdated stories of elaborate steak dinners funded by pharmaceutical companies. Those don’t happen anymore, but I bet it pissed you off. Mission accomplished.
Also FYI, I am not a healthcare provider (they hate being called that BTW.) That’s why I wanted to change my user name, so it wouldn’t be misleading.
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Drug companies cannot sell their drugs without a doctor’s prescription. The power of prescription is one of the most powerful there is. This is a legal term, the opposite of what is common.
“1. The act of prescribing or directing by rules; or that which is prescribed; particularly, a medical direction of remedies for a disease and the manner of using them; a recipe.
In law, prescribing for title; the claim of title to a thing by virtue of immemorial use and enjoyment; or the right to a thing derived from such use. Prescription differs from custom, which is a local usage. Prescription is a personal usage, usage annexed to the person. Nothing but incorporeal hereditaments can be claimed by prescription.”
To hold this power is to make or break a drug company. Without any other knowledge, the obvious conflict of interest issues here are quite apparent. It should be absolutely illegal for doctors of any type to have any formal or personal relationship at all with any representative of any drug company. Period. End of story. But it’s not.
I have many friends that are in the medical field. I see first hand the gaff and gifts and wining and dining these pharma reps do. Don’t fool yourself that because a doctor works for a hospital he has nothing going on on the side. My good friend holds many patents on medical instruments and owns a hospital and practices, and he speaks of this gaff all the time. A neighbor doctor even has the nerve to wear a t-shirt and hat given him by one of the pharma reps with its name on it.
If you question the ethical nature of physicians, then I invite you to read my research on the subject here: https://realitybloger.wordpress.com/2018/06/28/doctors-good-actors-and-spokesmodels-for-very-bad-drugs-and-vaccines/
Look at all those pictures and come back here and tell me about what perceived ethics you think these people have. Doctors in the past have promoted and advertised for adults and children all of these: cigarettes, alcohol, amphetamine, methamphetamine, laudanum, lithium, heroin, cocaine, arsenic, etc., Before they were made illegal, doctors prescribed all of these, and yes, even advertised them to children. They do the same with antidepressants and now with marijuanna.
There is a very active symbiotic relationship between these pharma companies and doctors and hospital admins. Intimate relationships. Do not fool yourself. And hospitals even arrange to have their doctors prescribe certain drugs so as to make an eve bigger profit. We are talking profit levels of over 600,000% in some cases.
Wake up and smell the GMO coffee man.
-Clint
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Right on target, my friend, thanks for the thoughtful reply. I tried to add a comment to this effect and was met with resistance via a reply from another commenter. BigPharma would fail very quickly without doctors to write prescriptions for their poison.
And people need to understand that the legalization of marijuana is just another trick to make a profit from a genetically modified marijuana that has no resemblance to the marijuana of yesteryear.
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Clint, what is the name and state your neighbor is licensed to practice medicine in? We can look up the gifts he has received in the registry.
You say that hospitals arrange to have doctors prescribe only certain medications for higher profits. It is true that not every hospital carries every single prescription drug available. To blame that on the physicians is unfair. Hospitals are almost entirely corporate owned these days, not physician owned, therefore the physicians don’t have any profit motive for choosing one prescription over another.
The truth is that the pharmaceutical companies foresaw a backlash by the public against their practices. Physicians are generally seen to be good people, and pharmaceutical companies figured that the physicians could take a small hit to hide the real reasons for peoples’ suffering from their products. I’m not arguing that there isn’t a huge issue at hand here with pharmaceuticals. It’s just unfair and misinformed to blame physicians. Still today, some of the best and brightest young people choose to go into medicine. If you’re not careful, that may change in the future. I tell my kids all the time to not go into medicine.
And may I please add that no one is in this country is forced to take any prescription medication. We as adults seek out the healthcare system, and willingly take prescription medication. Exceptions I guess would be children and the critically injured whose family members would have to speak for them. I’d also like to mention that when entering medical school, every student takes the Hippocratic oath which pledges to do no harm. I’m not sure anyone in the pharmaceutical industry does the same. But yes, let’s blame the doctor we see in the office, whose name and face we can recognize. How many pharmaceutical executives would you recognize in a crowd?
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I changed my screen name back because I like it better and frankly, I don’t give a damn what people think. Again, sorry for any confusion.
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Sadie, this was Clints 1st time commenting here and I’m not sure he clicked “follow comments” I have emailed him the link to your comment and asked him to reply. He is extremely busy so he may not reply immediately, but he will reply.
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Allow my imaginary friend Adam to Ruin Everything you promote and squash your defense…
Link–> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeDOQpfaUc8
Hospitals are non-profit by default when they have emergency rooms. They are required to treat everyone that walks through their doors and cannot lawfully charge anyone for their services. Legally, through trickery and contract, on the other hand, they do just that. My doctor friend talks about this all the time, and he is required to a lot a certain part of his practice to the homeless and indigent knowing he won’t get paid. In this way, he can be a multi millionaire and still be acting lawfully. It’s patently ridiculous, and the wages that doctors receive are outrageous in the first place.
Many “doctors’ end up in the administrative side of legal “medicine” as it is so profitable. And for the most part, you are required to be a nurse or doctor to fill those positions. So to pretend that hospitals are to blame is like blaming guns instead of their users, or banks instead of Congress that makes all banking laws and prints and regulates all money. Its a cute little logical fallacy.
What kind of f&%*#D up spokesmodel are you for these organized criminals? Your statistics are like listening to old folks talk about better days, ween you didn’t have to lock your hospital door. Give us all a break. I’ve suffered greatly at the hands of doctors, from unnecessary surgeries to very bad prescriptions. I was experimented on as a very young child and have nightmares from it still. And let us not forget the real statistics you seem to want yo ignore…
In the year 2000, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported these amazing statistics, which have increased over the last 14 years as an average, stating:
“If the higher estimates are used, the deaths due to iatrogenic causes would range from 230,000 to 284,000. In any case, 225,000 deaths per year constitutes the third leading cause of death in the United States, after deaths from heart disease and cancer.”
Iatrogenic, as if you don’t know, means doctor-caused deaths. Third leading cause. Except that we in the real world have researched and shown that heart attack and cancer are of course well-known and reported “side-effects” of injectable drugs and vaccines. Just watch late night or daytime television programming and you’ll see 10 different pharmaceutical warnings… I mean, commercials, or are the disclosures (?) telling you these injectable drugs may cause anything from heart attack to death to increased risk of and specific cancers to every modern disease syndrome known to man.
Again, pharmaceuticals have no business without a doctor’s prescription, so the doctor has, in fact, all the power and all the choice. If you are justifying a doctor prescribing because a hospital tells him to, then your own ethics are completely gone, so no use even discussing this. The doctor is the lifeblood of the big pharma.
That’s right, no doctor is America is required to prescribe bad drugs… yet they do. So blaming patients for a doctors bad practice is again a sign of your absolute unabashed lack of reality. How dare you equate 250,000 unsuspecting patients a year for voluntarily dying because they trusted a doctor. A curse on you!
I bet you even think its ok because doctors have malpractice insurance — protection against harm and “accidental” murder?
You think doctors don’t know they are the reported third leading cause of death in the world? You think they don’t read their own journals? You think they don’t know the word iatrogenic? Give me a break lady.
Go to some other forum where fools love you and will suffer your protagonist lies and protectionism for licensed killers. You’re in the wrong place.
–Clint
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Brain zaps are the worst. Like an electrical discharge across the brain everytime you move your head. As your trying to get off benzos, if you haven’t come across the Ashton Method, you should check it out. Once you see what the Brits have done with benzo tapering, you’ll understand how brutal american health care is, which tries to withdraw people off the pills in less than a month or immediately, to the great detriment of the nervous system.
https://benzo.org.uk/manual/
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Wally, I am currently in the process of weaning from benzo’s, that will be the topic of a future article. Discovering The Ashton Method saved my life!! I never abused the drug, I was taking Ativan only in the evenings to help me sleep. Because of their short half-life, I had unknowingly thrown my body into withdrawal. The effects were devastating. I was fortunate to have a primary care doctor that was willing to work with me so I could follow the taper method described. The information found at benzo.org is worth its weight in gold and diamonds.
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Sadie, regarding your 12:41 pm comment today, 8/3….
Thank you! You summed it up very well. The reason I called it a “Medical Manhattan Project” is because I am convinced that it is being done on purpose. The vaccine situation is completely out of control. There are diseases that did not exist during my grandparent’s lifetimes. We are being gravely harmed by vaccines…laws are passed that won’t allow a child to attend school unless all scheduled vaccinations are up-to-date. The Powers That Be have an agenda and I sincerely believe that the agenda includes genocide.
No one, anywhere in the world, should have to live in poverty without clean water, decent food and shelter. There is plenty for everyone, but these power hungry asshats care only for power and profits.
Before I was awake and aware, I heard about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and how much money they provided for the poor and disenfranchised in 3rd world countries. They don’t help people, they give women vaccines that make them sterile and give children vaccines that make them sick. They want depopulation and it makes me sick.
I have shared this video in several comments, but, since you are a new commenter I will share once again. I am personal friends with Clint Richardson. He has written many fine articles on his blog at https://realitybloger.wordpress.com/
He had a podcast on the RBN network for several years.
In 2011 he made an anti-vaccine documentary called Lethal Injection: The Story of Vaccination. In my opinion, it is the best anti-vax documentary available. It is very eye-opening. Around the one hour mark, his commentary includes old polio vaccine “documentary” footage. The last 30 minutes turn Roe vs Wade on its head and you will understand that Roe vs Wade had nothing to do with a woman’s right to choose. It is 2 1/2 hours long. I just re-watched it for the 3rd time….it is that good and that informative. Here is the link. Watch it in 30-minute chunks if necessary, but please watch it. Clint always uses source material, so there is no conjecture.
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Greetings Annette. I was disappointed that we could not meet up during Christmas time in Sac town because of all this pharma mess in your life, but I can certainly forgive you standing me up with all this going on. Maybe this year? I will not take the mark of “Real ID,” so I will not be able to fly anymore unless I figure out the bypass in 2020.
I’m proud of you for taking this into your own hands, the only way to really do it right, though do I sense a tad bit of Patrick Jordan rhetoric mixed in your article. Hope you are able to help others at least in trusting themselves to get off these drugs. I told you about my own experience, and from just 1/4 of a single pill I am still feeling the effects. Nurses hand out anti-psychotics as if they are sleeping pills with no idea what they are doing to people, wondering why 10-20% of them died in their sleep, again not knowing that many people cannot metabolize these deadly poisons they call medicine.
Now, however, you are going to have to do some very deep self-actualization. You will need to figure out what has changed, and you will need to attempt to overcome that side-effect. My side effect is now a more common one, called “disorganization syndrome.” Not quite what it sounds like. It causes my body not to respond to my mind, my reason, and so I will not do a chore or task that by all rights I know I should. I can’t explain it, and it causes others to think I’m an asshole or just “unorganized.” At least with my writing I can stay in my mind and hope the body feels like responding, typing, etc. This type of detachment though, from things you might not even realize, may be effecting you without realization. It’s almost like you have to self-monitor yourself, observe your own behavior, to figure out how you were harmed. By all means this is not easy, but you’ve already conquered the really hard part. So congrats. I have been pharma free for over a decade, with the exception of antibiotics in emergencies. Unfortunately, drugs like Adderol and similar ones, MDMA derivatives, and all kinds of mind-altering chemical concoctions are flowing freely not only in the party/dance club scene but in colleges and high schools, where people take these like candy and stay high so they can cope with all the work. They are even comparing it to the drug from “Limitless” which is the worst kind of propaganda. Documentaries about these drugs are more pro than con, though they are labeled as con.
We live in very bad times, and we are going into the marijuanna revolution, which I’m sure many pharma addicts will turn to to replace these substances. This will be a very dangerous time as well, different, but very dangerous. Of course cannabis is no longer natural, but is quickly becoming big pharmas new GMO compounded “drug.” I think we are on a wild ride that will not be ending anytime soon.
Anyway, congrats on getting out of that circular trap. You’re ahead of the curve, and sometimes that’s a lonely place, and certainly very disappointing to watch others where you once were.
Be well…
-Clint
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Clint, I certainly missed our yearly visit during the Christmas season last year. Where I am today is many miles from where I was just a few months ago. I am back and feel better than I knew was possible. My taper from benzo’s is going extremely well and I feel like a new person. I’m up with the sun instead of needing to sleep until 10 or 11 am….this is my new normal. I have an abounding amount of energy….this is a me that I didn’t know existed. I had no idea of the fog I was living in.
I’m so sorry that you are still suffering the effects of a 1/4 dosage of a very harmful drug. I hope your “disorganization syndrome” will eventually subside. I certainly understand what you are going through. I lost all motivation and became almost agoraphobic, life became an extreme chore. I woke up each morning praying for nightfall so I could sleep and not endure an endless day of “nothingness”
You may note a bit of Patrick Jordan rhetoric, but the article is all mine…he didn’t write any of it, he only provided support by reading it and encouraging me to publish it.
Be well my friend, I look forward to talking to you as soon as your new phone is set up!
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Hi Ann, thank you for this information of the natural supplementation that you found helpful, I am sharing it with my mother in hopes of reducing her arthritis pain now that she can no longer take her arthritis medicine due to its negative side effect on her eyes. I will also share with other people in the future as I meet people suffering with arthritis. I’m very happy to hear you are in a better health situation now, your persistence paid off, I wish you the best continued progress.
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Thank you so much for the kind words. My hope while writing this article was to inform people that there are natural methods to deal with debilitating pain. I hope your mom has a similar experience. Remember, it doesn’t happen overnight, but after a month or two the pain-relieving effects will, hopefully, be noted, that was certainly my experience. I purchase 600 mg capsules and take 2 a day. For the sake of safety, and depending on your mom’s age, you may want her to start with one capsule daily to ensure she tolerates the supplement…and don’t forget the caveat regarding the addition of Vitamin C and Vitamin B6.
Regards,
Annette
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Thanks for your response and the more detailed info about your dosage, very helpful. You also have inspired me as I have a goal of putting my thyroid based autoimmune disease (Hashimoto’s) into remission, meaning I want to be free of the inflammation of this disease. I have been gluten free since the diagnosis in 2010 which helped bring down the inflammation down some but not entirely, I recently went lactose free as I now understand that the proteins in gluten/wheat and lactose are very similar & if you have a problem with one of them you will have a problem with the other. My nurse practitioner recently recommended L-glutamine to help reduce leaky gut which I assume I have. I already was taking the Vitamin C with the MSM but am interested in implementing the Taurine, ALA, & NAC in my supplementation since reading your post.
I also wanted to share with you that I was impressed with the results that I got from Dr. Wallach’s vitamin powder. His products are strong as the multivitamin powders has all 90 essential nutrients in them, whereas other multi’s simply fall short. He stresses if you are lacking in just one nutrient that it can cause a disease in your body. And that the cause of all disease is nutritional deficiency as our soils are not as rich as they used to be and our food doesn’t offer us as much nutrition as we need. He says we need to start thinking about getting our essential nutrients from supplements as it is impossible to get our 90 nutrients in the amount needed from food anymore. Once you start taking his products your appetite may decrease as you are not as hungry anymore because you are getting the nutrients from the supplements. I am no longer on these products due to my new vegan values but feel a loss as I see the value in his 90 essential nutrients products and worry now I may be deficient in something despite the many supplements I take. Here is where I formerly ordered Dr. Wallach’s products in case you are interested in viewing, note I gave my extra Dr. Wallach products to a co-worker who remarked on the changes she saw in her own health and that she wanted to continue these products:
https://www.buyygy.com/90forlifestore/en/beyond-tangy-tangerine-420-g-canister ($55)
https://www.buyygy.com/90forlifestore/en/beyond-osteo-fx-powder-357g-canister ($42)
Best wishes.
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You mentioned inflammation from Hashimoto’s. Are you referring to eye inflammation? I also had Hashimoto’s (low thyroid) but mine turned into what is now called Thyroid Eye Disease. It used to be called Grave’s Eye Disease because the eye inflammation usually occurred in patients with an overactive thyroid, or Grave’s disease. The name was changed because the eye inflammation is auto-immune and can happen even if the thyroid blood values are normal or “euthyroid”. Here is a link to a site with additional information regarding this condition, in case this is the inflammation to which you were referring. I can provide more information about my journey once I know that you are experiencing similar symptoms.
https://www.umkelloggeye.org/conditions-treatments/thyroid-eye-disease
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Marsinvirgo11, I will take a look at the Dr Wallach site, the name rings a bell and I believe I have heard good things about his supplements in the past.
Please remember, I am not a medical professional. Please check with your doctor or naturopath regarding taking all of the supplements that provide a sulfur group. I take Taurine 3 times a week and the NAC twice daily. If you already take MSM, that provides a sulfur group and the ALA does as well. I just want to caution you that it may not be advisable to take all of these supplements together….please consult a medical professional.
Annette
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Thank you Ann, I appreciate your warning about the sulfur group, your details about your dosage & I will be sure to not jump in blindfolded. I am getting a job with good health insurance that starts in 2 days so reaching out to doctors/naturopaths is actually an option now.
I went two years no health insurance when I had my private business. The private insurance rates & deductibles were outrageous and I am glad I went without for as long as I could so I wasn’t just throwing my money into the wind. Paying out of pocket & paying the fee when filing for taxes was a better option then, but now looking forward to taking advantage of new insurance.
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Wonderful news, being without insurance can be scary and the cost prohibitive if you aren’t covered under a plan that is provided by the company you work for. I know so many people that have found themselves without insurance these days. It has become difficult for many to find full-time employment with benefits. Best of luck in your new job!
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Great post! I often worry I am now addicted to SSRIs after so many years of being on them. I have tried to taper back or quit at times and it didn’t go well.
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I just wrote out a long reply but there was a system glitch and the reply didn’t post. I will try to recreate it later today.
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No problem! By the way, if you get a chance to check out my blog, please do! If you follow, I try to follow back everyone that blogs about similar subjects 🙂
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Since my earlier reply did not post due to a WordPress glitch, I will do my best to recreate what I wrote:
There are other possible amino acids that can assist with reducing your dosage of anti-depressants and eventually be drug-free.
Another amino acids – L-Tryptophan is a precursor to the creation of serotonin. Here is some info found on WebMD at this link: https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-326/l-tryptophan
“L-tryptophan is naturally found in animal and plant proteins. L-tryptophan is considered an essential amino acid because our bodies can’t make it. It is important for the development and functioning of many organs in the body. After absorbing L-tryptophan from food, our bodies convert it to 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan), and then to serotonin, melatonin, and vitamin B6 (nicotinamide). Serotonin is a hormone that transmits signals between nerve cells. It also causes blood vessels to narrow. Changes in the level of serotonin in the brain can alter mood. Melatonin is important for sleep and vitamin B6 is essential for energy metabolism.”
Basically, L-tryptophan converts to the “calming” neurotransmitter Serotonin. From this website – https://www.brainmdhealth.com/blog/brain-neurotransmitters-affect-mood/ we learn the following:
Serotonin is another inhibitory (or calming) neurotransmitter tied to appetite, pain, and digestion; and. Melatonin is a neurotransmitter-like property involved in many body functions such as sleep and depression.Jan 31, 2017
Dr.Joan Matthews Larson has a website with a great deal of information about becoming drug-free naturally. She wrote the book “Depression Free Naturally” Most of the information in the book can be found at her website. Here is a link that will take you directly to the portion of the book called “Dissolving Biochemical Depression Naturally”
http://www.joanmathewslarson.com/HRC_2006/Depression_06/D_sadness_inside_you.htm
She is a doctor, she runs a clinic, has written books, but also sells her amino acids in what is commonly referred to as “stacks”. Some of her formulas contain many different natural ingredients and amino acids. That is fine for some people, but I prefer to buy one amino acid at a time and see how that works for me. I prefer to err on the side of caution.
I sincerely hope this will assist you in your quest to discontinue the use of anti-depressants.
Regards,
Annette
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Thanks so much for the info. I’ll have to check into it.
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Thank you I will. I have been dealing with new health problems and just received a diagnosis today…a bit devastating. More about that later, but I am not in a good place today.
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Since this article is about a Pharmaceutical Nightmare, I have to add this video link. This video is very truthful, but the information contained within is told as a “parody”…enjoy
If Drug Companies Were Honest – Honest Ads
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Hi Ann! Thank you so much for sharing your story, it hits very close to home for me. I also had a nightmare of a journey with anti depressants and mood stabilizers and am happy to say that I have been drug free for about 3 years now.
I still struggle daily with depression and after ‘waking up’ two years ago, I find my depression has only gotten worse. I am happy to be aware of the reality of this world, but find it harder than ever to relate to others and find meaning or purpose. I am 28 years old and it feels my demographic has some of the most passionately indoctrinated and I struggle more than ever to connect or bond with my peers. It seems we just have nothing to talk about anymore because we come from such radically different world views.
I was wondering if you, or anybody on this blog, has any advice or words of wisdom for socializing amongst the ‘un-awakened’? How to feel at peace in a world of deception and lies and how to maintain relationships with those that are still sleeping? I fear I am becoming more and more isolated and bitter, but I notice the posters of this blog keep a very healthy and positive attitude despite having swallowed the red pill. I was hoping someone here could maybe rub off some of their wisdom on me, a word of encouragement perhaps on how to stay sane and content knowing what we know?
I know you guys aren’t therapists, LOL, I just figure you all have gone through similar disillusionments and wonder if you have any advice for staying positive and social?
Thank you so much in advance – any response is truly and greatly appreciated!
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Sarah, I certainly understand your struggle with family and friends. Once you become awake and aware you want to share your new found knowledge with friends/family that are still wearing rose-colored glasses. They tend to relegate you to “tin-foil hat” status and it is heartbreaking. I have had to learn to keep my mouth shut. For some reason, many can not make the breakthrough that we have. I am 67 years old and have been “awake” for 7 years. I can’t understand why I was able to see through the BS and others can’t.
I am sure Mark and other writers and commenters can provide more insight for you.
As for your continued depression so brain amino acids night assist. Please check out the following link for more info.
http://www.joanmathewslarson.com/HRC_2006/Depression_06/D_sadness_inside_you.htm
L-Tryptophan is an amino acid that eventually converts to serotonin, the calming neurotransmitter. Here is a short preview from WebMD regarding L-Tryptophan
May 12, 2017 – L-tryptophan is an essential amino acid that helps the body make proteins and certain brain-signaling chemicals. Your body changes L-tryptophan into a brain chemical called serotonin. Serotonin helps control your mood and sleep.
the above is from this link..
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/l-tryptophan-uses-and-risks#1
Regards and best wishes,
Annette
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