21st Century Teetotaler

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Photo(s) of the Week: Mudbath

Maria to Maria Vishnyakova---

Livadia. 30 August 1913

My dear Mary,
How are you? Thank you very much for the postcard with the picture of the Caucasus. Aunt Olga is leaving us today and Papa with the suite have gone in motors to Bakchisarai to see her off. She greets you very much. I didn't go because yesterday when I got up I had ear-ache. Alexei is well. He has already had 4 mud baths. I took a photo of him when he was being treated with the mud and will glue in an album for you. Alexei's leg stretched 175 degrees and the leg is almost straight.
Goodbye for now. Kissing you firmly,

Maria

Sunday, July 31, 2022

"Little evidence that chemical imbalance causes depression"

"A recent study calling into question the long-held theory that depression results from a chemical imbalance in the brain is gaining traction on the far right, with some using it to argue that pharmaceutical companies are plying millions of people with useless antidepressants."

That's the opening paragraph from HuffPo's piece on the study. Political seething aside, it reads like a pharma shill mad that their income is about to be cut. As for the study itself the lead author had this to say

“Thousands of people suffer from side-effects of antidepressants, including the severe withdrawal effects that can occur when people try to stop them, yet prescription rates continue to rise. We believe this situation has been driven partly by the false belief that depression is due to a chemical imbalance. It is high time to inform the public that this belief is not grounded in science.”

"Prescription rates continue to rise". That is the primary issue. With antidepressants Pharma sees dollar signs, human cost be damned. The HuffPo article evens mentions the "frightening side effects for teens, including increased suicidal ideation and violence". But Pharma doesn't care. It just sees another opportunity to make more money. More drugs to treat the side effects of antidepressants. More drugs to treat the side effects of those drugs and so on.

The HuffPo article quotes Mehmet Oz in 2012 as saying "that antidepressants are used like painkillers when they shouldn’t be" and they treat this statement like some grave sin. From the Guardian:

“We do not understand what antidepressants are doing to the brain exactly, and giving people this sort of misinformation prevents them from making an informed decision about whether to take antidepressants or not.”

Questioning whether even short term prescription drug use, especially when you admit you have no idea how that drug supposedly works, could have unforeseen long term or permanent consequences should not be controversial. The Guardian article hits on another point:

"Other studies looked at the effects of stressful life events and found that the more stressful life events a person had experienced, the more likely they were to be depressed, showing the importance of external events."

From my own personal experience the stress of college drove me to the point of suicidal ideation. Graduating and being removed from that situation went a long way in solving my issues. The modern lifestyle is a crime against nature. So many people only consume water in the form of soda and energy drinks. The only vegetables they eat are in the form of tomato sauce on a pizza or seasoning on fried chicken. They no longer get fresh air and sunshine. I've mentioned before how my former dermatologist tried for years to get me hooked on Accutane, never once telling to lose weight, change my diet, or anything else that didn't involve a prescription, just switching between antibiotics and topical creams. It's no surprise that people this far removed from their natural environment should be depressed. The cure can't be purchased. It must be learned and it must come from within.