When Ken gets home, I'll see if he'll fill ya in on some horror stories from the pharmacy. ;)

One of my faves was the woman who called in, saying that her husband had a fever of 105 and wanted to know if it would help to give him some Valium that they had sitting in their cabinet for a couple years... :eek:

Sometimes, people just don't know better. :(

There is the other option. Mutiple doctors perscribing, and no one stopping to think about them all together. Including the patient.

But why would he have been going to multiple doctors in the first place? Look at that list of meds. That's far beyond, "Well, I went to this doctor for one thing, and this other doctor for another thing ailment, never thought to mention the other presrciption." It takes a concerted effort, either by a single unscrupulous doctor, or by a patient doing end-runs around the system, to pick up such an extensive cocktail.

You'll note, by the way, that the report explicitly calls it "abuse of prescription medication". I'm having a hard time believing that he was just ill informed.

Plus, weren't the prescriptions from two different countries (US and UK)? I don't know if there are many safeguards that would have caught that beyond Ledger self reporting.

I'll definitely have Ken pop in tonight and fill us in on the pharmacy requirements. Should be interesting.

It'll be interesting just to have Ken post. ;)

<giggle>

Also, Lashbear... I will have to use the word "shonky" more often :) :) Is it a portmanteau of "shady" and "wonky"?

And I know this probably goes without saying, but we also shouldn't be too quick to judge people just because they are medicated. I fought going on to anti-depressants - fought it big time. But after a while, I came to realize that I could not function without them. I spent a lot of time in therapy and after a while, it just became apparent that the issues were not emotional ones (though some might argue otherwise, but I digress), but simply chemical imbalance issues in my brain.

It actually took a couple of years to find the right balance of meds and strengths, but I have been on the same combination for a couple of years now.

What I came to realize is that anti-depressants are to me like insulin is to a diabetic. It sucks that I have to take them, but there are just a part of my life. I can choose to accept it and move on, or dwell on it and allow the situation to ruin my life. I chose the former.

Most certainly. I do feel they are necessary for some, but prescribed far too quickly without trying to overcome the initial issue(s) first. Ken said something like over 50% of the meds they fill are anti-depressants. It says a lot about the system as a whole, because I have a very hard time believing that many people actually need 'em.

I feel that doctors give up/give in too quickly, so instead of treating the problem, they're only covering up the symptoms as soon as possible. And, that goes for pain meds as well.

Back hurts? Here's a pill. Can't sleep? Here's a pill. Sad? Here's a pill.

I think, as a society, we're all looking for that "quick fix", thus doing more damage to our bodies and minds in the long run.

Some anti-depressant commercials suggest seeing a doctor and asking for their happy pill if the viewer's been depressed for a week. IMHO, that's WAY too short a time, unless it's repeated on a regular basis. If someone is stuck in the cycle of depression, then by all means, they should get whatever help they need.

And I absolutely agree on this as well, though there is a small part of me that feels that since I am on meds, I cannot comment this. It's just a weird quirk of mine.