Heartless Bastards

Whomever came up with the Pedigree adoption ads should be immediately deployed to Iraq; we'd eliminate the torture problem overnight. One look at this video and any enemy combatant wouldn't stop talking until they'd given up everything.

For depression sufferers, this is like handing candy to a diabetic baby. I saw this first today and I just wanted to sit down on the floor and cry.

Hopefully, since they stomped our hearts into the ground again this year, the Pedigree people will be kind enough to bring back the same happy ending videos they did last year.

Here's one to get you past the last weepfest

The Definition Of "Kick In The Teeth"

This news compilation caught my eye the other day. Initially I thought, 'eh, just another Sleeper type revelation or some tiny study blown all out of proportion', then I started reading the individual articles. Now I'm so...something...I can't put into words what I think but there's some frustration, definitely anger and a huge dose of raging hopelessness.

I mean, look at some of this crap:

"Nearly one-third of antidepressant drug studies are never published and nearly all happen to show that the drug being tested did not work" --Canada.com

"BREAKING NEWS: Pharmaceutical Companies Lie To Make More Money" --Synthesis, CA

"The effectiveness of some popular antidepressants was exaggerated by selective publication of trial results, according to a report of the Oregon Health" --China Internet Information Center

"Antidepressants are far less effective than doctors have been led to believe, a new study has found.

That's because 88 per cent of clinical trials that showed the drugs didn't work either weren't published in medical journals or were presented as positive findings, says the study in the New England Journal of Medicine." --London Free Press

This type of news only reinforces learned helplessness, or inevitability or whatever it's called. I take my medicine as prescribed, I endure the associated side effects, all because I've done research, I've read studies saying that they work. In the past, when a particular drug didn't work I battled with the 'why', tried to tweak what I ate, when I took it, then when all else failed, reported it to my pdoc who would switch me to another one.

Now I find that the whole thing is a fucking crapshoot; that how I took it, when I took it and with what probably didn't make a damn bit of difference because THE MEDICINE DIDN'T WORK IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!

Sociopath. Narcissistic. Those are the only two words I can think of that explain why those in charge at these pharmaceutical companies would knowingly screw with the brain chemistry of hundreds of thousands of people JUST to make a stinking buck.

That Old Liminal State Again...

It's going to drive me straight up a wall...and soon.

To complicate matters, I wrecked my knee about a month ago and have yet to return to working out...and not for lack of trying. Which means I can't work out any of the akathisia symptoms I experience which only makes said state worse. Multiple sets of bicep curls, wall push-ups, sit-ups and crunches helps...but it's not the same as a good old-fashioned cardio sweat out.

I need this knee to heal. And fast.

long time, no see...

It's been more than a little crazy over the past month, and not just because of the lack of daylight hours. I've been a walking poster child for Murphy's Law since December 17th until now so I'm functioning in full duck-and-cover survival mode.