choco_frosh | (no subject)

I am, as of yesterday, back on antidepressants. Whether for that reason or something else,* I am feeling markedly better, emotionally; whereas the couple of days before that were...rough. So I definitely think it was the right decision.

It feels weird when I think about it, though. Some of you will applaud my decision to go back on meds. But if I told you, "I've been feeling kinda crummy lately, so I think I'm gonna start drinking again"...you would probably point me toward a twelve-step program. Despite the fact that both budeprion and ethanol are drugs, both can make you feel better, both are things that you will come to depend on if you use them regularly, and both will likely make you feel like hell if you try to kick them.**

Sooo... I guess I feel - irrationally - like we're a bit hypocritical on this point, as a society.
But also feeling better.

* Relevant here is that, with the end of Lent, I have been consuming beer and chocolate pretty much non-stop. I suspect that some part of the depression may, in fact, have been mild malnutrition; and it is a sad commentary on the general state of my otherwise healthy diet that the presence or absence of dessert and booze pretty much make the difference between gaining weight and losing it...and as some of you know, I don't have much to lose!

** Yes, I *know* Welbutrin and its ilk are supposedly nonaddictive. It's technically true, I guess; but the exact details of semiotics (and medical background) are something I would have to look up in order to understand. And yes, I know what alcohol does to your brain, liver, waistline, and mental health. But my point stands. Both are drugs. And alcohol is a lot more fun.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Despite the fact that both budeprion and ethanol are drugs, both can make you feel better, both are things that you will come to depend on if you use them regularly, and both will likely make you feel like hell if you try to kick them.

I think the difference is that your brain does not naturally produce alcohol if left to itself, whereas most of the antidepressants/antipsychotics are designed to supplement chemistry your brain has fallen down on.

Well, there's such a thing as naturally-occuring alcohol (see e.g. http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/content/36/6/608). But yeah, not in concentrations high enough to make much difference.

OTOH, I'm fairly certain 3-Chloro-N-tert-butylcathinone is NOT naturally present in the bloodstream--even if all it does is make the brain do the job it's supposed to be doing in the first place.

I think feeling better is key, and if antidepressants or chocolate or whatever is what works for you, then -- if it's not a thing that's hurting anyone -- you should absolutely go for it. Alcohol in excess would admittedly be murkier as it has a tendency both to negatively affect those around you and your future self. But a reasonable amount of alcohol -- say, a can of beer with dinner every night, as opposed to a full bottle of vodka -- if that makes you happier and more functional along with the chocolate, I'd support it 100%.

If alcohol is a drug, then like antidepressants, it's a problem just when people overdose. The problem is just that the typical usage of alcohol is probably overdose a large percentage of the time, whereas probably not too many people are getting blotto on taking thrice the recommended dose of Wellbutrin.