FAIL

[nilchance]

Robin Hobb says "hey kids, that medication is killing your ~*~muse~*~ and so pull yourself up by your bootstraps!"

ignipes has a concise and true reply here.

Okay, so here's the thing. I can be functional on my meds, or I can be wrecked without them. In only one of these states can I write. If you don't need medication, that's awesome for you. It does not mean that medication = invalid. It means that you don't need medication.

Also, some people take anti-depressants so they're not in too much pain to type, or work, or walk. Kindly remove thy head from thine ass and do some thinking before you spew self-righteous all over the internet. kthnx.

Comments

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

"You have to be who you genetically are"?

Who I genetically am is someone who had low-level depression for years without recognizing it, or rather, wanting to recognize it, largely because of the "oh, you can deal with it on your own! Meds are for weaklings!" crowd. Who I genetically am is someone whose low-level depression amped up into really bad post-partum depression after the birth of my daughter. Who I genetically am is someone who would have committed suicide without the help of some meds and a thankfully understanding husband and mother. Even with that help, it was a near thing sometimes.

So to hell with who I genetically am. If the PPD comes back this time around, I am heading right for the medicine cabinet because I would rather, y'know, be there for my family and finish up all the things I want to accomplish than reach a breaking point trying to prove that I'm 'strong' to idiots like that.

[thornsilver]

I am one of the people who admits that meds killed my poetry producing capabilities. And you know what? I can live with that. At least I don't spend ALL my free time in bed, huddled under the covers wishing I stopped existing.

For fucks sake.

[rocketchick99.livejournal.com]

At the rate authors are pissing me off, my library will be empty!

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

Thank the interwebz for fanfic, huh? ;)

[rocketchick99.livejournal.com]

It's true, I love me some of that evil fanfic. :D

[katzb101.livejournal.com]

OFFS. *rollseyes*

I get so fed up of this bullsh!t. People who don't have clue should learn not to open their mouths. Or for that matter sit in front of a computer.

Ugh.

[barbarianwinter.livejournal.com]

Robin Hobb is great at being a jerk, I guess. Just recalling her "fanfic is EEEVIL and horrible and you suck if you write it" rant; it was pretty batshit, pretty much killed reading her books for me. But saying this--ugh, so much worse. :( I hope people ignore her and do what's best for themselves.

Kindly remove thy head from thine ass and do some thinking before you spew self-righteous all over the internet.
WORD.

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

I guess I missed the anti-fanfiction thing with her. Seems I've now got two good reasons to avoid her stuff.

(speaking of that whole argument, though, have you seen this (http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1044495.html)? I'm basically in love with it. :-))

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

The only problem with this is that so many of the good posts are on dreamwidth and I can't remember my password because my brain is trying to explode (yay, migraines - but I shouldn't take medication for them because they're genetic, and NATURAL) so all I can do is sit here and go RAGE!!!

Bah.

[rocketchick99.livejournal.com]

I remember life before migraine medication was available, and it was *not* a happy place... Having to be completely still in a quiet dark room for HOURS didn't feel natural at all!

Hope you feel better soon.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Luckily this one seems to be responding well enough. Sometimes I get the odd one that's just damn stubborn and all I can do is lie around in the dark and remind myself that my brain is not ACTUALLY exploding. Probably. Blech. (After those, I always have to thank my mom for the stellar genes, since she used to get migraines, too. I impatiently await the day when I grow out of the damn things like she did.)

[tobemeagain.livejournal.com]

*crosses fingers for you*

You have my heartfelt best wishes on outgrowing migraines. I'm also very jealous, but that's beside the point.

I'm one of those with constant migraines. I get at least five different kinds. My grandmother's (mom's side) didn't stop until she had double stroke(47) - she said not getting them was almost worth being paralyzed on one side. My other Gram still gets optical migraines, she is 85. I don't foresee that I'll ever not have them. I'm just happy if I can make it more then a month without going to the hospital.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

I fell down the stairs a few months ago - didn't hit my head or anything but I think I must've jarred my spine and maybe set off arthritis in my neck or something (I have arthritis EVERYWHERE, as near as I can tell) because after that, the next migraine I got, I seriously had effectively for a WEEK. (Either the same one, or just one after the other.) It was HORRIBLE.

I don't get auras, either, so doctors haven't been that helpful with decent medications for me - they keep giving me stuff that you have to take right at the onset of the migraine and I don't really have any 'warning signs' that I've noticed before it kicks into a full blown headache. It's just la-la-la-HEADEXPLODE. Blah.

[tobemeagain.livejournal.com]

On a "normal" migraine I get auras, I get flashes, I get nausea, I get pressure, I get vision blackouts (all of those go to my optical migraines only however.)

The "HEADEXPLODE" migraines for me are always at the back of my skull. I swear I can't move without seeing double and vomiting. I did find a small indicator. Okay *honesty compels me* really my friends did. The only precursor I get is extreme bitchiness; I mean acute PMS levels of aggravation. And this is like three days before. Then nothing until the pain hits.

I've been on Imitrex, Axert, Relpax, Maxalt and host of others. In 2008 they tried me on no less then 25 different meds for mine. Nada. I'm either allergic or have bad reactions. So it's full on pain meds alternated with stadol nasal spray for me. I despise taking narcotics, I don't want to become dependent. When I land in the hospital (just about every month) they always want to know what I should be given. The last few times its been DHE-45 (completely none narcotic thank you very much). It seems to break the pattern of most of my migraines.

Have you ever tried Tegretol? It's a seizure medication - generic is carbamazepine; it so far, is the best thing at controlling explosive headaches. Oh I still get them, but not as often.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

Mine always start at the base of my skull on the right side and just kind of sweep up in a lovely wave of throbbing extreme pain. Sometimes with nausea, sometimes not. (The nausea times are actually better, since at least some percent of the time I feel BETTER if I throw up. Not while throwing up, admittedly, since it's bad enough without feeling like your head is trying to explode, but after.)

I'll have to ask my parents if they've noticed any mood changes. (I'm beginning to think that my dog is picking up on SOMETHING; the last few times I've had a migraine I've realized he was being extra-special clingy but not bugging me right before.)

I'll have to see about the medications; my GP put me on anti-depressants partially for depression, but wanted to also see if they'd help the migraines, but my mom is pushing for me to go see a neurologist at this point and just get something sorted out properly. (The problem is it is entirely possible I have arthritis in my neck or something which is contributing to triggering them by pinching nerves or blood vessels or something, since I have psoriatic arthritis pretty badly AND I messed up my neck/shoulder on the right side years ago in a car accident. So who the heck knows.)

Speaking of genetics, I am also lucky enough to be related to people (my mom and aunt) who seem to have every possible weird reaction under the sun to medications, so I have to be pretty conservative with stuff. (Most recently, an NSAID that normally has a side effect, if it has any at all, of making your blood pressure go up, on me made it drop. So I kept feeling like I was going to faint. That was fun!)

Frankly, with all my health issues, even ignoring the mental health stuff, without modern medication helping even a little bit to make things tolerable I quite possibly would've thrown myself off a bridge or something by now just on the basis of being dead couldn't possibly feel WORSE.

Anyway, right now I'm just taking Excedrin Migraine (which works sometimes, when I'm lucky) topped off with valium as necessary to try to get the muscles in my neck to relax, plus tramadol which I take pretty regularly for the arthritis pain anyway. It is not ideal. (But at the same time, what with taking tramadol regularly and frequently being on methotrexate for the arthritis, I don't really want to start taking a daily medication for migraines unless I absolutely HAVE to. So I'm hoping a neurologist will have some brilliant idea that doesn't require taking it at JUST THE RIGHT SECOND unless he can help me figure out when that is, because sometimes my neck ache is just a neck ache, and sometimes it is a prelude to misery.)

(Also, anyone who says migraines are "just a headache" needs to have a fork stabbed into their brain and twisted, slowly. Possibly while some extremely trippy 60s movie is playing in an otherwise dark room.)

(And I totally understand about narcotics. It freaks me out moderately that I take tramadol as often as I do, because of course you build up a tolerance, and, well, I don't really want to have to switch to any of the harder hitting drugs, y'know?)

[cream-fudge.livejournal.com]

Well said!

[cream-fudge.livejournal.com]

Jesus Christ, what is wrong with her?
If it weren't for antidepressants I might have offed myself a few years back. In the least I would never have been able to graduate.

[beanside.livejournal.com]

Fuck her. Fuck her right in the eye. With a splintery stick.

[ceruleanblue312.livejournal.com]

This really did make me laugh (and sums up what I thought exactly too).

Seriously, were it not for meds I would be dead and long gone.

And my 'muse' is just fine thank you very much.

[robanybody.livejournal.com]

What is it with authors and total fail every time they hit the internet? Do they just not understand how this new technology works? And I have heard many things about Robin Hobbbs' batshittery, so this just makes me glad I never read anything by her, but Jesus Christ, what a failbot.

Fuck you and your muse, lady. She's probably one of those assholes who thinks that you literally have to suffer for your art.

[frightened.livejournal.com]

That bloody Kay Redfield Jamison book, innit? Hint: if a manic-depressive tells you being manic is wonderful and artistic, she's probably bleeding manic when she says it. Don't believe her.

Aargh aargh aargh. Undertreated mental illness makes you so very smart and creative? I must have dropped out of my MPhil for a different reason, then.

[spazzer-mctwich.livejournal.com]

you know what else would kill my muse? me not taking my meds and killing myself....

[belleweather.livejournal.com]

What beanside said. Especially since her main bitch is re: ADHD. That shit is personal in our house.

And you know what? Her kids are NOT going to grow up and thank her for treating them like special snowflakes if they really have ADHD. They're going to go to college and be unable to cope with the work and fail classes. Or get tickets and get arrested because they didn't pay that ticket or have insurance. Or mismanage their finances and nearly get evicted. Or be unable to properly care for their children because they physically cannot pay attention because the dopamine synthesis in their brains is broken. And they're going to get to about age 30 and get diagnosed and want to fucking MURDER their parents, because now they've got years of cognitive-behavioral therapy and relationship repair and learning new habits in front of them and an asston of wasted opportunities behind them, all because their parents couldn't be arsed to actually be PARENTS.

Not, you know, like I've lived through that shit or anything. Seriously. She can die in a fire any time now.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

Man, it's like you know people I know.

(Although in one of those cases, the problem was undiagnosed manic depression, not ADHD. But same basic issues.)

[tobemeagain.livejournal.com]

My Genetics:
Via Mom - My great gram had migraines until she hit menopause(63); my gram had them until she had a massive stroke(47); my mother has never had a migraine but instead is a epileptic (crappy trade).

Via Dad - My Gram(85), 3 granduncles and 4 grandaunts all got optical migraines; my uncle used to pass out in school from them (lucky twerp grew out them after puberty); my dad(59)is starting to get optical migraines; my half sister(28) and my niece(9) both get migraines.

End result = I'm going blind due to migraines. One of the only things that helps control the constant pain in around my eyes and the back of my skull is a very low dose antidepressant. But I guess I should just "pull myself up" and deal with that? I don't think so. I'd like to have some life. Migraines have already stolen my ability to work, my ability to drive and I refuse to let them steal my life if there is any hope at all.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

Exactly. While I still get migraines, the antidepressant has definitely reduced the severity.

And taking methotrexate for my arthritis not only makes me more physically functional, it makes me mentally more functional also. (Because chronic pain and being unable to do things is depressing and TIRING. And there's some thought now that chronic pain actually may somehow chemically make you more prone to depression, even apart from the psychological aspect of just dealing with being in pain.)

Basically, to have a mostly-functioning me, it takes a fair few number of medications of various types, and I am far more creative with them than without them. Plus, I don't really find anything particularly inspiring about my knees aching so badly it feels like hitting them with a hammer would HELP, or shooting nerve pains in my legs because the arthritis in my spine is pinching major nerves. Unless wanting to vomit is some form of inspiration I've missed out on.

[deadlychameleon.livejournal.com]

Of course psychiatric medication is over prescribed. That doesn't mean it's *never* needed. It's not always an easy line to judge, but there a heck of a lot of clear cut cases where people do not function well or at all without it.

The author here has a point, but forgot to supply the caveat that some people really DO need medication.

Ritalin, frankly, is a performance enhancing drug. Most people will perform better on standardized tests while taking it. This creates an interesting ethical dilemma.

For more information:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v456/n7223/edsumm/e081211-02.html

[bkm5191.livejournal.com]

Robin strikes me as the kind of person who believes in the hollywwod view of illness that it can be turned on and off.