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Mental Health & The NHS
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Just out of interest, how do you avoid everything that has been involved in animal testing in the past? As a previous poster pointed out common substances like aspartame have been LD50 tested (ie tested on animals [usually rats] to see what dosage would kill 50% of them) and this is a scenario that is common through ingredients virtually all processed foodstuffs, soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, medicines etc. I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm vegetarian myself and only take vegetarian medicines (pharmacists can advise on these), but can't see how you could use 'past animal testing' to avoid one product unless you apply that principal to your whole life.Quid quid latine dictum sit, altum videtur0
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Sugar_Coated_Owl wrote: »I would have thought you would struggle to get DLA if you aren't regularly seeing your GP, don't have a CPN/social worker and/or psychiatrist, are not prepared to take medication and are not having any kind of therapy.
*Sigh* I am trying to get help, it's just not available at the moment. I stopped going to all therapy with it being so unsuccessful in the past. I have seen my GPs only they don't make any notes on my files and just ignore me basically, so yeah it is hard to get supporting evidence. My previous GP was useless so no wonder it got turned down, but at the tribunal they got to ask me questions and make their own mind up but it seems they didn't listen either.0 -
There is help out there but you seem to be turning it all down.
GP's have to write notes when they see a patient.
Just because therapy was unsuccessful in the past are you not willing to give it a try this time?-->♥<-- Sugar Coated Owl -->♥<--
If you believe, you will survive - Katie Piper
Woohoo! I'm normal! Gotta go tell the cat.0 -
I wish i could offer advice but i am someone who takes medication, and it works for me so not much use unfortunetlyThis is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0
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But, if therapy doesn't work and you wont try meds, there isn't really anything else, even if you were a millionaire instead of reliant on the NHS.
I'm not sure I can find a way of saying this nicely, but if you've changed doctor 4 times and they're all saying the same thing, maybe it's not a problem with them but with your expectations?
If they're not updating your notes then you need to sort that out and make a complaint. But I'm not sure there's anything else they can do for you.Unless I say otherwise 'you' means the general you not you specifically.0 -
Just out of interest, how do you avoid everything that has been involved in animal testing in the past? As a previous poster pointed out common substances like aspartame have been LD50 tested (ie tested on animals [usually rats] to see what dosage would kill 50% of them) and this is a scenario that is common through ingredients virtually all processed foodstuffs, soaps, shampoos, cosmetics, medicines etc. I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm vegetarian myself and only take vegetarian medicines (pharmacists can advise on these), but can't see how you could use 'past animal testing' to avoid one product unless you apply that principal to your whole life.
Hey it's really difficult to start with lol but it gets a lot easier once you learn more about it. I use Faith in Nature shampoos, soaps and conditioners- they are the best I've ever used please please try them you will love them. The aloe vera shampoo is best and cheapest it's about £4.00 for 400ml. For moisturiser, I use BUAV approved Jergens. If you get a good toothbrush, like the Reach one, you don't actually need to use toothpaste which is one of the most dangerous chemical-packed products, containing Fluoride (a huge pollutant) and parabens (carcinogenic). Remember when everyone stopped using deodrans for fear of cancer? That was because of parabens. It's in your toothpaste- forget spraying it under your arms, you're eating it twice a day. Toothpaste also has Sodium Lauryl Sulphate in it, a foaming agent in all other (foaming) cleaning products like shampoo, hand wash, etc. You can buy a toothpaste from Green People which is paraben, SLS and fluoride free (and not tested on animals) but to be honest, keep the one you're using just only use it about once a week or more if you feel the need to. Brushing thoroughly with a medium firmness toothbrush has the same effect. Any bad breath smell is usually from foods caught in your mouth or tonsils, nothing toothpaste will remove any quicker.
As for medications, I stopped taking anything over 10 years back. Since then, I was in the USA and didn't have health insurance so while I was happy to rest off the flu, my cousin made me take a paracetamol. Then, the other time about 6 years ago I had tonsillitis and my dad made me take some antibiotics which made me throw up vigorously. You may ask why I took these meds at the time and how they 'made' me lol but when someone is looking after you they are adamant meds will make it easier. It didn't but I felt I had to try for them.
Since then I have not had a temperature or the flu or any serious illness when I used to get it once a year. I would say once you stop taking medication you realise how much you were taking in the first place- people pop pills for headaches all the time. It takes one hour for a pain killer to work. By then, any pain has usually dissipated or you have forgotten about it. For period pain, for example, just have a nap if you can or go to the loo (it actually helps a lot lol!).
Erm... what else? I stopped eating artificial products too and lost 3 stone in the first 2 months or so. I have since put all that weight back on because I'm less strict and also because now, they are realising people don't fancy killing themselves with these products so they are removing them from a lot of branded items- coke for instance is all natural I believe (I know, it's still not good for you).
The only thing I can't avoid (unless I carried my own around with me) is using soap in public bathrooms or at other people's houses. I don't know if the soap has or has not been tested on animals. I mean, at this stage soap has a few base ingredients which are mostly natural anyway (you blend lye- from wood ash- with a fat such as lard or olive oil to make soap and the lye 'cooks' out over 24 hours).
For their own health, people need to look at the ingredients in the things they are using and research that, it can be very dangerous. Lots of products use chemicals which in higher concentrations have been proven to be carcinogenic. However, we are combining these products with other products containing the same ingredients and probably reaching those levels. I know parabens have pretty much been blamed for breast cancer. Fluoride is an industrial waste product and the American steel and aluminium factories funded the research to show natural fluoride helps prevent tooth decay. However, this is in doubt as it highly depends on the amount- too much will rot your teeth. It also is FAR more reliant on diet- adding fluoride to toothpaste and water will not combat tooth decay in a high-sugar (particularly western) diet. It was shown that people in Africa had better dental health that anywhere in the west, despite not having fluoride pumped into their water, as they had a better diet (even though food was more sparse). That, in itself, is shocking.0 -
Sugar_Coated_Owl wrote: »There is help out there but you seem to be turning it all down.
GP's have to write notes when they see a patient.
Just because therapy was unsuccessful in the past are you not willing to give it a try this time?
I am willing to give it another try, hence why I went to my GP. They haven't offered me any help, they said they might consider putting me on meds. I have explained how that is not an option. Nothing else has been offered.0 -
Hey it's really difficult to start with lol but it gets a lot easier once you learn more about it. I use Faith in Nature shampoos, soaps and conditioners- they are the best I've ever used please please try them you will love them. The aloe vera shampoo is best and cheapest it's about £4.00 for 400ml. For moisturiser, I use BUAV approved Jergens. If you get a good toothbrush, like the Reach one, you don't actually need to use toothpaste which is one of the most dangerous chemical-packed products, containing Fluoride (a huge pollutant) and parabens (carcinogenic). Remember when everyone stopped using deodrans for fear of cancer? That was because of parabens. It's in your toothpaste- forget spraying it under your arms, you're eating it twice a day. Toothpaste also has Sodium Lauryl Sulphate in it, a foaming agent in all other (foaming) cleaning products like shampoo, hand wash, etc. You can buy a toothpaste from Green People which is paraben, SLS and fluoride free (and not tested on animals) but to be honest, keep the one you're using just only use it about once a week or more if you feel the need to. Brushing thoroughly with a medium firmness toothbrush has the same effect. Any bad breath smell is usually from foods caught in your mouth or tonsils, nothing toothpaste will remove any quicker.
As for medications, I stopped taking anything over 10 years back. Since then, I was in the USA and didn't have health insurance so while I was happy to rest off the flu, my cousin made me take a paracetamol. Then, the other time about 6 years ago I had tonsillitis and my dad made me take some antibiotics which made me throw up vigorously. You may ask why I took these meds at the time and how they 'made' me lol but when someone is looking after you they are adamant meds will make it easier. It didn't but I felt I had to try for them.
Since then I have not had a temperature or the flu or any serious illness when I used to get it once a year. I would say once you stop taking medication you realise how much you were taking in the first place- people pop pills for headaches all the time. It takes one hour for a pain killer to work. By then, any pain has usually dissipated or you have forgotten about it. For period pain, for example, just have a nap if you can or go to the loo (it actually helps a lot lol!).
Erm... what else? I stopped eating artificial products too and lost 3 stone in the first 2 months or so. I have since put all that weight back on because I'm less strict and also because now, they are realising people don't fancy killing themselves with these products so they are removing them from a lot of branded items- coke for instance is all natural I believe (I know, it's still not good for you).
The only thing I can't avoid (unless I carried my own around with me) is using soap in public bathrooms or at other people's houses. I don't know if the soap has or has not been tested on animals. I mean, at this stage soap has a few base ingredients which are mostly natural anyway (you blend lye- from wood ash- with a fat such as lard or olive oil to make soap and the lye 'cooks' out over 24 hours).
For their own health, people need to look at the ingredients in the things they are using and research that, it can be very dangerous. Lots of products use chemicals which in higher concentrations have been proven to be carcinogenic. However, we are combining these products with other products containing the same ingredients and probably reaching those levels. I know parabens have pretty much been blamed for breast cancer. Fluoride is an industrial waste product and the American steel and aluminium factories funded the research to show natural fluoride helps prevent tooth decay. However, this is in doubt as it highly depends on the amount- too much will rot your teeth. It also is FAR more reliant on diet- adding fluoride to toothpaste and water will not combat tooth decay in a high-sugar (particularly western) diet. It was shown that people in Africa had better dental health that anywhere in the west, despite not having fluoride pumped into their water, as they had a better diet (even though food was more sparse). That, in itself, is shocking.
Caela-Thank you. For spending time to explain your beliefs. Thank you. I am concerned for you though.
Much of what you have said is factual.
Beware though of information touted as fact, which has in fact been bought by its owners into the public arena-i.e. a chemical company buys an 'ethical' expert, in the same way a quarry company buys an ecologist to advise that all the biodiversity on a 'quarriable'-i.e.virgin- site will benefit from moving to replica habitats next door, and it is co-incidental that a quarry owner may benefit.
It takes a good IQ to attain and retain this information. With great intelligence comes great choice and then, much later, great responsibility.
In my attempt to be decisive, I would use all the information I had, promptly make a decision, then move on to the rest of life.
BIG MISTAKE.
A quick informed decision is just that. People accept it. DON'T
Review some of your decisions. Good, bad, indifferent. Outcomes. What you didn't consider. Now think about your own influence. Your opnions, already pre-set. Think about the parallel lives you may have been leading. Think about each major decision affecting your life as the start of a branch (of a road or tree) You cannot explore each one.
The information which has led you to make the decisions you have made and are making is currently NOT working for you. You are confused and upset because in your mind, this is an educated and logical process you have used. It has been studiously made. The process is a standard process, taught to you through school. So why is it not working?
Caela, may I kindly and gently ask-
WHY IS/ARE YOUR CURRENT DECISION(s) BEING COMPLETELY INCOMPATABLE WITH YOUR NEEDS?"To exercise power costs effort and demands courage." Oscar Wilde
"There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste" Jean de La Bruyère
"Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation." Henry Ward Beecher0 -
Look on the MIND site for local services - it should tell you how to access them or if a specific referral is needed. If you're up for it local self help/support groups are worth a punt. Hey you can try em to see what they're like.
Also find your local IAPT service http://www.iapt.nhs.uk/
Some allow self referral others are GP so check and get it done.
One thing about NHS primary access point services is they're now running on a tick box diagnosis ,only looking at treatment options based on a set of assumptions about the rest of your day to day life.
They are failing to do any sort of proper or thorough 'risk assessment'. These are vital for anybody who has any issues non treatment related which may influence or be influence by any form of treatment.
If you do not explain to them that you have housing/benefit/family or any other chaos in your day to day life they'll assume you don't!
There's also it seams a growing acceptance and realisation in the NHS that so called alternative and more holistic approaches should be tried in conjunction with clinical stuff.
OP have a go with herbal teas, aromatherapy and relaxation/exercise stuff. If it works or helps a little great if it doesn't it's no real loss. I got a great herbal tea mix for anxiety (that actually works for me) off an NHS PCT website. So maybe there's something in all this mumbo jumbo?0 -
Hey all,
Well after my fourth GP it seems there is no other option than medication. I literally got a lecture about how they can't help me if I wasn't prepared to help myself and got told my sleep disorder was pretty much my fault and that despite a lifetime of not being able to regulate my sleep all I need to do is go to bed and get up at normal times, doesn't matter if I don't sleep or I'm tired or start hallucinating which usually happens.
They said they weren't going to do anything until I took the medication basically, sounded like she wouldn't even have me on the practice list. Since I've given up on life and no longer care about anything I'm taking them because apparently I get no choice. I'll take the thyroxine they give me as well and the sleeping pills they will inevitably prescribe and the anti-anxiety and the beta blockers I'll need because she gave me a medication without checking whether or not I have a heart problem which I do so great. I'll take all their medications and then they'll change it to something else and then I'll take that and if I live 6 years down the line and it still hasn't worked, I'm sure it will still be my fault for just not being depressed.
Either way, it will have some effect.0
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