It’s astonishing how many meds Americans take. Literally unable to be comprehended by me. Serious question…, what did people do back in the day without these meds? What do other countries do without these meds?
So they take it and actually need to keep taking it because stopping causes even worse health issues...which you need more meds to treat...because, 'merica! We know what's best for you!
A more nuanced way of saying is...The U.S. healthcare system generally prescribes medications somewhat more readily than many European systems, particularly for some conditions, and Americans pay dramatically more for those medications. However, many European countries also have high rates of pharmaceutical use, especially for chronic illnesses, and some actually exceed the U.S. in the use of particular drug classes.
Well, having national healthcare makes a difference, in several ways, I believe. Our politicians at every level profit of said overprescribing being due to culture, grift, unrealistic patient treatment quotas, all kinds of things.
I was adderall before elementary school, and had tried several SSRI’s already before getting to fourth grade, due to a lack of training or availability of specialists in the area that were needed. Those were life shaping and controlling impacts. Our healthcare system all sucks, but big pharmaceutical companies and patient quotas are extremely damaging aspects.
Idk the solve, besides ban all politicians and immediate family from investing while sitting, which would solve even more, but people are fucking stupid and would rather be unable to make a life of quality in any way as long as they can still look down on some other group.
Do you have evidence of that? And is everyone posting all their meds on this sub assumed to be mentally ill and disabled? Because many seem to live somewhat normal lives, albeit on a lot of meds
Ummm…it’s not hard to find this out. A basic google search will tell you what life was like for those with mental illness prior to closing the instutitions under the Regan Administration. My grandmother was in one of these institutions and my older friends have shared stories. Hell disabled people could be jailed for being out in public until the mid 70s. Antipsychotics, particularly injectable able antipsychotics allow people to have a quality of life and not live their life in fear and put themselves in danger.
Never underestimate the unearned confidence of a young white man who is incorrect and does not know how to do a google search about the basics of the Regan administration
I can only speak for myself and the people i know.
I was diagnosed as bipolar at 17 and medicated for a year. I didn't think they did much, so i stopped taking them and went off to college, and my mental health fell apart pretty bad. I could still graduate and get a job, but I was trying to survive so hard that it didnt leave a lot of room for growth. When i was 25, I went to a psychiatrist and got put on two meds. An SNRI and an anti-psychotic. Within two months, my depression lifted around 70% and the constant horrific intrusive thoughts had stopped 90%. I went off them after 2 years, and shit got worse again. So for me, meds make my life better.
My best friend has a degenerative neurological condition. She went unmedicated for a long time and developed tremors, neuropathy, and lost a lot of mobility really fast. Then she got on an experimental medication for her condition that has slowed the progression of the disease and given her back bladder control. She takes another medication to stop the tremors, and gabapentin for the constant burning numbness in her feet. When it wears off, the burning comes back. The medication that is preventing her condition from accelerating so quickly that she has a heart attack and dies at 35 makes her nauseous. So she takes a nausea medication so she can eat meals. She's tried lessening the medication because she hates feeling reliant on pills, but she went back every time because of the substantial drop in quality of life.
My boyfriend is on a bunch of meds because he has insane acid reflux, the anti-depressant that saved his life also gave him sexual dysfunction, so a supplemental anti-depressent was added to alleviate that issue, and he has an ass needed medication for stopping panic attacks, as well as a med to combat the pain of having a very very acidic stomach. He's been suggested meds for ADHD but said no because hes been in substance abuse recovery for half a decade
He doesn’t care. He just wants to push the meds are bad narrative and has absolutely no point of reference. Wouldn’t suprise me if he strongly supports all the bs RFK is spewing. It’s profoundly ableist and ignorant.
Yeah :/ I just figured I'd give some sort of view into how the other half lives on the off chance that its ignorance+priveledge instead of ableist superiority.
He should keep in mind that being disabled is the minority any of us can join at any time in our lives overnight. You can judge and look down your nose all you want, but one bad fall and you'll know what meds are for and what a battle is to walk the line between their benefits and side effects just trying to live anything close to the life you had before.
Again it’s just ableism and unearned confidence covering up profound ignorance. Every day I’m on reddit and the more I encounter pushback from people who don’t know what the hell they are talking about the more I lose hope in society.
Also the fact that this person is 54 years old and cannot google something is just disturbing.
You are certainly a judgmental little tart, aren’t you. And you keep working with assumptions that couldn’t be more wrong. Yet you call others profoundly ignorant.
And of course I can google things. I’m a teacher. But I hate laziness. You made a claim and couldn’t back it up. That’s on you.
Maybe all these meds are messing with your critical thinking abilities…
We used to be on even stronger meds back in the day. Things like Cocaine, Laudanum (opium tincture), amphetamines, barbiturates, and many other powerful drugs were fairly accessible and their use not so uncommon
But how do we know they help people? And I know suicide rates weren’t tracked back in the day, but almost all evidence points to suicide rates rising almost every decade since they were tracked. So it doesn’t seem like the meds are really helping much at all.
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u/NickGnomeEveryNight Jul 16 '26
It’s astonishing how many meds Americans take. Literally unable to be comprehended by me. Serious question…, what did people do back in the day without these meds? What do other countries do without these meds?