21 st June.

21/06/2007
11:54
Yesterday didn’t turn out to be too bad a day; I scored at teatime and was lucky enough to catch some half decent television.
The discovery program about super ships and the building of the Eric Red in particular was interesting as was the Tropical season prog about wild life in the desserts.
I later watched a load of comedy then finished off watching the Poker for a while.

Today looks like a decent day, blue skies with little cloud and stiff breeze.

I now sit, reasonably relaxed.
Neck moving with a particular thread of the sounds, slowly from side to side, almost floating like some unsure lover on a waterbed.

"You suck"/"You suck worse" kind of debate.
(Which seems to be the level of most online discourse, come to think of it.)

OK, so the Internet opens up the avenue of mass communication to everyone.
So you get the blogs, be they good, bad, or indifferent.
You also get sites like YouTube and MySpace that encourage your lame personal video contributions and pathetic searches for friendship.
They do that because they've built their business models on the premise that you're a total loser in complete denial of the fact. That, and you have this incredible need to share.
What is the internet, if not a narcissist's dream come true?

Prosaicadj
1. Unpoetic; unimaginative.2. Dull, ordinary and uninteresting.
Thesaurus: dull, routine, stale, trite, tame, everyday, flat, mundane, boring, commonplace, quotidian, banal, uninspiring, vapid, pedestrian, matter-of-fact; Antonym: interesting.

I’d been looking for keywords to describe the blog and here this guy delivered to the tee.

Antonymnoun
1. A word that in certain contexts is the opposite in meaning to another word,

Blogging is all about subjectivity



1
subjectivity, subjectiveness


judgment based on individual personal impressions and feelings and opinions rather than external facts


It might make blogs interesting and fun to read.

It might even make them informative. It does not make them journalism.

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/theluddite/2007/06/luddite_0621?currentPage=all

Good read; obviously about Blogging versus Journalism.
Are the big boys worried?

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/06/nicotine

This one, some surprising revelations about the use of Nicotine as the future cure all.

Give the masses the medicine they actually need?
In a form that will no longer kill them.

Personalized medicine technologies, which can predict when a patient might respond badly to a particular drug, have the potential to significantly reduce the 2 million hospitalizations and 1 million deaths caused by adverse drug reactions every year, according to the Pharmacogenomics Journal.
http://www.wired.com/medtech/drugs/news/2007/03/72860

Recent studies have found that antidepressants and antipsychotics are often ineffective. Many patients stop taking their drugs because they're ineffective or intolerable.

According to studies conducted in Finland in patients with epilepsy, valproate may increase testosterone levels in teenage girls and produce polycystic ovary syndrome in women who began taking the medication before age 20.8 Increased testosterone can lead to polycystic ovary syndrome with irregular or absent menses, obesity, and abnormal growth of hair. Therefore, young female patients taking valproate should be monitored carefully by a physician.
Could explain the amount of weird looking fat chicks!
Only joking ladies.
Frightening what fucking drugs they are prescribing for kids as young as three.


In some cases, the newer, atypical antipsychotic drugs such as clozapine or Olanzapine may help relieve severe or refractory symptoms of bipolar disorder and prevent recurrences of mania. More research is needed to establish the safety and efficacy of atypical antipsychotics as long-term treatments for this disorder.
Yes you have guessed which meds I was put on.
The statement of recognition of the fact that, indeed, “more research is needed before proof of efficaciousness can be found on which to base sounds decisions as to whether or not to continue prescription.

Efficacious, always loved that word since first hearing, “Lilly the pink.”
Fucking Scaffold!
Could never figure out why the “lads” or chapesses haven’t turned the song into a drinking game,
Wouldn’t burn too many grey cells to come up with instructional lyrics.

So far, I’ve made light of my experiences of the state mental health authority.

A thought crossed my mind,
Would any potential reader change their view of the ramblings if they, perhaps understood more?

Researchers are using advanced imaging techniques to examine brain function and structure in people with bipolar disorder.10,11

An important area of imaging research focuses on identifying and characterizing networks of interconnected nerve cells in the brain,
interactions among which form the basis for normal and abnormal behaviours.

Researchers hypothesize that abnormalities in the structure and/or function of certain brain circuits could underlie bipolar and other mood disorders.
Better understanding of the neural circuits involved in regulating mood states will influence the development of new and better treatments, and will ultimately aid in diagnosis.
They want to get into our minds and see how the wiring is.

I therefore provide a link to this page.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/manic.cfm - 10

Being pleasantly stoned, I take a break, step back and try to make sense of what has been written.
In deed very little has been written, most of content supplied by comments and suggested links.

I skin,
Sniff my fingers,
Spark.

You may read the above page and think to yourself, deservedly so,
“That guy is pretty well fucked up.”
I confirm the fact by informing you, that when I read it,
I see myself, 100%.

I admit I see myself and recognise a lot of the “trips” taken by the likes of me.
I eventually accepted your power and took required meds during hospitalisation.
I did one hell of a lot of research on the web when I got out.
Went on to various beeper sites, read how the meds were ruling their lives.
They talked openly about the undesirable side effects of being turned into a zombie and severely restricted to what you can do.

But, you’re a stoner,
You should like that kind of existence, because believe me being on meds is not living.

Judging by the sheer diversity of the treatments with or without drugs,
Yes, believe me there is a huge choice of treatments out there, theories abound everywhere.
But, I agree, until more research is carried out and you can convince me the cure is not worse than the condition.
I will decide which drugs I use to
Fuck up my own brain, thank you.

I base my decision on the past thirty years research and consequential use of a substance which in general, does what it says on the can.

I will choose to play Russian roulette with every day rather than exist in the land of the,
Long Day,
Because that is what life becomes when you are on the meds,
One day tumbles reluctantly into the path of the next and becomes one, snowballing.
You are often forced to lie down and succumb to its power.

The more I describe it the similar it becomes to gear.

Who knows? Perhaps I really should look at the healthier options available on the NHS as an alternative to damaging smoke ingestion of Cannabis.
Perhaps these kind people in white coats were merely acting as salespeople, offering to you their wares to try in a safe environment.

Anyone who has witnessed the anxiety among patients waiting for their meds before bedtime.
Will also have felt their joy, at receiving their perceived, personal elixir.
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/bipolar.html
This one I throw in, in case I missed it earlier.

White matter hyperintensities: small abnormal areas in the white matter of the brain (especially in the frontal lobe) as seen using magnetic resonance imaging. These abnormalities may be caused by the loss of myelin or axons.
Could that loss be due to over stimulation by an outside agent, i.e. drug?

What Does Sleep Do For Us?
Although scientists are still trying to learn exactly why people need sleep, animal studies show that sleep is necessary for survival.
For example, while rats normally live for two to three years,
Those deprived of REM sleep survive only about 5 weeks on average,
And rats deprived of all sleep stages live only about 3 weeks.

Sleep-deprived rats also develop abnormally low body temperatures and sores on their tail and paws.
The sores may develop because the rats' immune systems become impaired. Some studies suggest that sleep deprivation affects the immune system in detrimental ways

So if you want to stop the rats moving in, leave the stereo on.

Sleep also may give the brain a chance to exercise important neuronal connections that might otherwise deteriorate from lack of activity.
Does that mean, work on your memories?

Until the 1950s, most people thought of sleep as a passive, dormant part of our daily lives.
We now know that our brains are very active during sleep.
Moreover, sleep affects our daily functioning and our physical and mental health in many ways that we are just beginning to understand.

Another case of “more research needed.”

Research also suggests that a chemical called adenosine builds up in our blood while we are awake and causes drowsiness. This chemical gradually breaks down while we sleep.
New one on me.

Many people who suffer from insomnia try to solve the problem with alcohol – the so-called nightcap. While alcohol does help people fall into light sleep, it also robs them of REM and the deeper, more restorative stages of sleep.
Instead, it keeps them in the lighter stages of sleep, from which they can be awakened easily.

You tried waking a drunk up?

Shift workers have an increased risk of heart problems, digestive disturbances, and emotional and mental problems,
all of which may be related to their sleeping problems.

The number and severity of workplace accidents also tend to increase during the night shift.
Major industrial accidents attributed partly to errors made by fatigued night-shift workers include the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear power plant accidents.
One study also found that medical interns working on the night shift are twice as likely as others to misinterpret hospital test records,
Which could endanger their patients.
It may be possible to reduce shift-related fatigue by using bright lights in the workplace,
Minimizing shift changes,
And taking scheduled naps.

Because the potential side effects of melatonin supplements are still largely unknown, most experts discourage melatonin use by the general public.

Sleeping problems occur in almost all people with mental disorders,
including those with depression and schizophrenia.
People with depression, for example, often awaken in the early hours of the morning and find themselves unable to get back to sleep.
The amount of sleep a person gets also strongly influences the symptoms of mental disorders.
Sleep deprivation is an effective therapy for people with certain types of depression, while it can actually cause depression in other people.
Extreme sleep deprivation can lead to a seemingly psychotic state of paranoia and hallucinations in otherwise healthy people, and disrupted sleep can trigger episodes of mania (agitation and hyperactivity) in people with manic depression.

Sleep apnea is a disorder of interrupted breathing during sleep. It usually occurs in association with fat build-up or loss of muscle tone with aging.
These changes allow the windpipe to collapse during breathing when muscles relax during sleep (see figure 3 ).
This problem, called obstructive sleep apnea, is usually associated with loud snoring (though not everyone who snores has this disorder).

Sleep apnea also can occur if the neurons that control breathing malfunction during sleep.
During an episode of obstructive apnea, the person's effort to inhale air creates suction that collapses the windpipe.
This blocks the air flow for 10 seconds to a minute while the sleeping person struggles to breathe.
When the person's blood oxygen level falls, the brain responds by awakening the person enough to tighten the upper airway muscles and open the windpipe.
The person may snort or gasp, then resume snoring.
This cycle may be repeated hundreds of times a night.
The frequent awakenings that sleep apnea patients experience leave them continually sleepy and may lead to personality changes such as irritability or depression.
Sleep apnea also deprives the person of oxygen, which can lead to morning headaches, a loss of interest in sex, or a decline in mental functioning.
It also is linked to high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats, and an increased risk of heart attacks and stroke.
Patients with severe, untreated sleep apnea are two to three times more likely to have automobile accidents than the general population. In some high-risk individuals, sleep apnea may even lead to sudden death from respiratory arrest during sleep.

Thinking, starting to get a little risky, this sleeping lark.

Insomnia is big business.” Public fervour for melatonin runs far ahead of the scientific evidence to support it," states an article about the NIH workshop in the Journal of the American Medical Association, referring to the reported $200 million to $350 million U.S. market for the hormone.

People are taking melatonin and we are trying to figure out what it does," said one researcher who attended the NIH meeting.
"We are going about it backward."
NIH sleep expert James Kiley, M.D., agrees that many questions about the supplement remain unanswered:
"We need some research to address the concerns about melatonin and its safety and efficacy."

More research again.
The manual classifies manic-depressive illness as a "mood disorder," a designation that also includes altered mood due to a medical condition or taking a mood-altering substance.
Yale University professor of psychiatry Joel Gelernter, M.D., describes the causes of manic-depressive illness as "utterly unknown"
But in some cases, the condition, or susceptibility to it, appears to be inherited

Drug treatment for manic-depressive illness has a long and fascinating history. Lithium's effects on manic-depressive illness were discovered by chance in 1949 by an Australian physician named John Cade.
He used lithium to treat gout in hamsters, and they calmed down.
"They would sit and be quiet instead of running around their cages,"

Probably, just taking a breather.

Couldn’t make this fucking stuff up? Could you?
A hamster getting treated for gout,
No wonder can never get to see your doctor.
Giving them Lithium,

Tests on humans in Australia in the 1960s showed that lithium alleviated symptoms of mania.
I did at first question the use of those two words in the same sentence, but then thought, “this is beginning to make sense,”
They choose a fairly well isolated population to test mind-altering drugs on.

FDA approved lithium in 1971 for treating manic episodes of manic-depressive illness.

Treatment can radically improve the life of a person suffering from manic-depressive illness.
One of the most frustrating aspects of this disorder, patients say, is the delay until they are diagnosed.
Sometimes young people endure years of punishment for bad behaviour, followed by misdiagnoses, before discovering that their mood swings are part of a chronic but on-again off-again illness.
Finding an effective treatment is an enormous relief, to them and their families.

This is what happened for Melissa Kluth, who says, "I'm 18, and I think I've had manic-depression all my life.
When I was younger, an allergist said it was attention deficit disorder, so I was put on Ritalin to treat that.
But when I became a teenager, in the eighth grade, I became suicidal.
This past February, I just couldn't deal with it. I just wasn't myself."
Since her psychiatrist put her on Depakote, Kluth says, she feels more like a "normal" person on the brink of adulthood--and looks forward to a much brighter future.

"Throw away your eyeglasses," and unsubstantiated claims about success rates could be misleading to consumers considering,
Laser eye surgery.
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1998/498_eye.html

Ultimate freedom from the everyday hassles of contact lenses, and a second chance at having normal eyesight. But can everyone expect such dramatic results?
"The answer is no," says Rosenthal. "It's not a foolproof procedure and people need to know that some can end up with worse eyesight than before they went in."

Regression: In some patients the effect of refractive surgery is gradually lost over several months. This is like an undercorrection, and a re-treatment is often feasible.

Problems with a Perfect Procedure: Even when everything goes perfectly, there are effects that might cause some dissatisfaction.
Older patients should be aware that they can't have both good distance vision and good near vision in the same eye without corrective lenses.
Some myopic patients rely on their myopia (by taking off their glasses, or by wearing a weaker prescription) to allow them to read.
Such a patient may need reading glasses after the myopia is surgically corrected. Another consideration is the delay between eye treatments.
If one eye is being done at a time, then the eyes may not work well together during the time between treatments.
If a contact lens is not tolerated on the unoperated eye, work and driving may be awkward or impossible until the second eye has been treated.

PRODUCT: Raisins, at Porterville, Calif. (E.D. Calif.); Civil Action No. CV-F-94-5724-REC.CHARGED 7-18-94: While held for sale after shipment in interstate commerce at Stephen Pavich & Sons, in Porterville, Calif., the articles were adulterated in that they consisted in part of a filthy substance, specifically insects, insect casts, insect eggs, insect fragments, rat or mouse hair, feather fragments, and cat or dog hair--402(a)(3).DISPOSITION: The articles were reconditioned. (F.D.C. No. 67001; S. No. 94-705-726; S.J. No. 4)

?reconditioned?

A year and a half after an estimated $1 million worth of insect-infested food products were seized, an Elk Grove, Ill., firm received permission from FDA to sell approximately 880,000 pounds of reconditioned products. Another 33,000 pounds of food, valued at about $1 per pound, could not be salvaged and was destroyed.
House of Spices finished reconditioning its rice, lentils, mung beans, spices, and other foods last May 5. The firm paid $10,400 for FDA's supervision of the reconditioning.
FDA Chicago district investigators inspected the firm's warehouse Oct. 13 to 19, 1993, after the State of Illinois embargoed 916,000 pounds of foods packed in cloth, paper and cardboard containers.


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0846/is_5_21/ai_82333620