OT - Swine flu in USA, New Zealand, Canada and France - Page 10

States have the power thru  Medicaid and Medicare , to tell a patient,,if you do not take your mental health medicine,,we don't have to provide you home care to cook or to go to grocery store, if you are home bound..Just happened in a southern state  last week..  

Patient was suspended because he quit his prosec and two others because of severe diahrea, suicidal tendicies, and dizziness and falling into the walls.
 
When he refused to take any others , because of his depression, anxieties ,etc, he was put on probation until he resumed taking his medication. No reason given just because he is under a waiver and has depression etc problems.
 

Phoebe:  Write your postings in notebook and them Ctrl v into the  box.  

 

St John’s Wort is an interesting example, an herb used widely in Europe for mild depression, but with no clinical data. There is one scientific report I found saying it helps depression, but a larger controlled study showed it has no more effect then placebo, at least for major depression. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/complete-index.shtml The extract from St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum), a bushy, wild-growing plant with yellow flowers, has been used for centuries in many folk and herbal remedies. Today in Europe, it is used extensively to treat mild to moderate depression. In the United States, it is one of the top-selling botanical products. To address increasing American interests in St. John's wort, the National Institutes of Health conducted a clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of the herb in treating adults who have major depression. Involving 340 patients diagnosed with major depression, the eight-week trial randomly assigned one-third of them to a uniform dose of St. John's wort, one-third to a commonly prescribed SSRI, and one-third to a placebo. The trial found that St. John's wort was no more effective than the placebo in treating major depression.29 Another study is looking at the effectiveness of St. John's wort for treating mild or minor depression. Other research has shown that St. John's wort can interact unfavorably with other medications, including those used to control HIV infection. On February 10, 2000, the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory letter stating that the herb appears to interfere with certain medications used to treat heart disease, depression, seizures, certain cancers, and organ transplant rejection. The herb also may interfere with the effectiveness of oral contraceptives. Because of these potential interactions, patients should always consult with their doctors before taking any herbal supplement. As far as suicide in people taking SSRIs, that is another example of the lay public following one report, in which a connection was claimed, and never reading, or probably even hearing about the follow-up reports showing no connection. Of course some severely depressed people kill themselves, and it is not always possible to know the risks in advance. But is a study of 48, 277 patients, no connection was seen. There were 77 suicides in that group, by the way, showing that suicide is a rare event (0.01% of these patients). http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/160/4/790 Abstract. OBJECTIVE: Previous reports suggesting that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) use is associated with increased suicidal risk have not assessed completed suicides. The authors analyzed reports from randomized controlled trials to compare suicide rates among depressed patients assigned to an SSRI, other antidepressants, or placebo. METHOD: Food and Drug Administration (FDA) summary reports of the controlled clinical trials for nine modern FDA-approved antidepressants provided data for comparing rates of suicide. RESULTS: Of 48,277 depressed patients participating in the trials, 77 committed suicide. Based on patient exposure years, similar suicide rates were seen among those randomly assigned to an SSRI (0.59%, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.31%–0.87%), a standard comparison antidepressant (0.76%, 95% CI=0.49%–1.03%), or placebo (0.45%, 95% CI=0.01%–0.89%). CONCLUSIONS: These findings fail to support either an overall difference in suicide risk between antidepressant- and placebo-treated depressed subjects in controlled trials or a difference between SSRIs and either other types of antidepressants or placebo. In my personal opinion, some depression is better treated with meds, some with talking therapy, some benefit from both. For individuals with a reactive depression, due to loss in the family, rape, war trauma, etc I think talk therapy is essential. Medication can also help, especially for anxiety. But for people with en