Are people taking too many drugs

I have been considering taking that stuff that is made from marijuana. It comes in edibles. That would be my choice. My son is supportive of this. Right now I am taking a steroid because my scalp is inflamed and is causing scarring. I was supposed to take two pills a day but could not handle it. So now I take one. See the specialist next month. I may just stop taking them because they are interfering with my life. As for my life, I left my abusive mother and came to this country alone. I had to be functional in order to survive and I was. I found a job and a place to live. I met my husband a year later. The only time I was suicidal was after he died. Then I didn't want to live. I called the suicide hot line and talked with someone. Needless to say I did not do it and never will. I promised my son I would never harm myself. Enough harm was done to me by my mother. My therapist helped me with some things, but other things will be forever. I have to be on guard with what I say and how I react. Now that I know this it is easier. As far as I know I have no major illnesses so may live another few years yet. Still, at 89 I am coming to the end. Or maybe like Norman Lear I will live to be 102. I'm not sure I want to live that long. Right now I can look after myself, but at that age? Who knows. I wish you the best also. Yes, I am depressed but not as bad as you seem to be. I can function but it sucks being alone. Grief hangs on me like a wet blanket.

Excellent question. I tried therapy a long time ago for my "bipolar" (think a misdiagnosis) and found it a waste of time. So are the drugs. And they're dangerous. Since I stopped working and lost the attendant stress, started exercizing routinely, quit the truly evil drug, Zyprexa, and cut way back on the moderately evil drug, Lamictal, I'm not depressed at all and am gradually recovering from the nasty side effects: massive weight gain and associated metabolic disorder, zombieism, paranoia, coordination problems, uncontrolled movements, vision problems. The drugs are overprescribed by, in my opinion, overworked and underinformed docs and APNPs.

Excellent reply. I am old enough to remember that when you went to see a doctor you got a real examination. Nowadays they look at the computer. You are lucky if they even listen to your heart. The medical profession has gone downhill. A lot of the problem is due to the insurance industry which is not interested in health but only money. Bottom line is that the majority of the doctors you see do not really know what is wrong with you and they don't have the time and inclination to find out. So they just throw a bunch of drugs at you and hope something sticks.

Those side-effects are scary.
Thankfully I had a psychiatrist who was "old school" who prescribed the old and simple generics with few side-effects.
That psychiatrist warned me that new anti-psychotic drugs with effects of insomnia, obesity, diabeties and literal premature death are being pushed by goverment governing authorities onto psychs to prescribe as much as possible. Yes, the medical system is rotting.

Yep.

Three words sum up the source of the problem:

Private equity companies.

I blame the MBAs and their bean-counting underlings who are really diagnosing me more than the medical professionals, whose hands are tied by their corporate overlords.

The problems are intractable as long as the pernicious influence of big money in D.C. continues ... which is probably forever.