What It’s Like to Quit Drugs By Blocking the Highs

If you could take the high out of drugs, what would be the point in taking them? Sujata Gupta meets the unorthodox doctor who thinks he can block some of the world’s most addictive pills.

Source: What It’s Like to Quit Drugs By Blocking the Highs

People rarely get addicted to these things because they want to get high – they get addicted because it’s the only thing that allows them to cope with their issues. Removing the reward certainly allows them to come off the meds but you need to be sure that the illness can be dealt with without those meds.

This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones’ Song “Mother’s Little Helper”

When The Rolling Stones sang “Mother’s Little Helper” back in 1966, they weren’t talking about drugs. They were talking about a specific drug that was prescribed for everything from severely ill mental patients to recovering alcoholics to comfortable middle class people who sometimes felt anxious. It was called “Miltown.”

Source: This Is The Drug In The Rolling Stones’ Song “Mother’s Little Helper”

There’s some thought that the article isn’t correct, that the song is about Valium/Diazapam because the song lyrics mention a yellow pill.  Valium comes in a yellow pill, while Miltown was only ever white.

Either way, in those days the alternative treatment was a lobotomy.  We wince about historical treatments, but consider that this snippet is about 50 years old.

The withdrawal symptoms describes most anti-depressants on the market today.  To the point that there’s a name for the condition: Antidepressant Discontinuation Syndrome.  If a doctor tries to prescribe you any of these drugs: citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram (Lexapro), fluoxetine (Prozac and others), fluvoxamine (Luvox), paroxetine (Paxil), and sertraline (Zoloft) or chlompramine (Anafranil), venlafaxine (Effexor) and desvenlafaxine (Pristiq), be very wary and quiz him/her on a discontinuation plan before you ever start taking them.  I’m not saying you should not take the medication, just that you have a strategy for discontinuation of the medication.