Is Depression on the rise?

GP's tend to deal with a lot of depression and anxiety (and I'm not talking about our own... who tends to us? Another question. Another post).

Is there more depression and anxiety in the 21st century or are we just getting better at recognising it?

The middle of the 20th century saw the rise in early recognition and treatment of psychiatric illnesses. In fact, most of the stigmas surrounding psychiatry, psychologists and psychological drugs were put to bed in the late 70's and early 80's. The rise of Freud and Mommy-consoling. They were heady days.

Back to the present – something is definitely up. It feels like at least 1 out of every 3 patients I see is on some type of an antidepressant or mood stabiliser. I used to have a professor who joked that lithium should be put into the water. Quick, painless alleviation of most of our problems. Imagine a world where the traffic driver is too stoned to cut you off. Wait. They are stoned. And still cut us off? Well, I did say “most” of our problems.

I see at least 3 people per week who arrive complaining of stress, an inability to cope – and of the opinion that medication (not psychological treatment) will help.

Has life really become more stressful in the 21st century? Dual incomes? Pressure for women to succeed and men to become more nuturing? Or have our parents not prepared us properly for the big bad world. Are we, as modern human beings, getting less and less capable of dealing with situations and just getting in with life?

Why do more and more people feel that they have to take medication (and/or drugs) to deal with the everyday stuff? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that everytime you pick up a YOU magazine, you're confronted with pretty looking people advising you seek out your doctor for the latest in smiley medication.

A lot of questions – and not too many answers I'm afraid.

Perhaps we should spend more time teaching stress management in schools? Or organisational skills... teach our children to be more efficient, manage money better, be more emotionally available?

Then maybe our next generation won't have to be permanently medicated to be happy and functional...

Major drug companies turn a blind eye to fake malaria medication!

Now here's a scary story...

The world's major drug companies have been accused of turning a blind eye to the multibillion-dollar trade in fake medicine that has resulted in an explosion of child malaria deaths in developing countries.

According to the British Independent newspaper, the problem has been particularly acute in Africa, with anti-malarial drugs faked on an industrial scale. One of the world's leading experts on malaria, Prof Nick White of Oxford University, estimates that malaria causes more than one million deaths each year of which 90% are children.

He said that counterfeit medicine was a major reason why malaria had become, over the past 30 years, Africa's biggest child killer, 'from an illness that used to be easily treated with medicines'.

Some of the fake drugs contain no medicine at all, but others have tiny traces of the real ingredients - which leads to another, potentially bigger problem as it allows the malaria parasite to build up resistance to the drug.

Read further here.

Hell's Teeth! What a catastrophe... especially in developing societies where there isn't enough money to correct the "mistakes" or alternatively sue the pants off the companies making these counterfeits. Me, I would kick them out of Africa - but there's no money for that even.

I can only begin to imagine what would happen if some idiot company started making counterfeit ARV's. We already have enough of a resistance problem.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 10% of medicines available in developing countries is fake with prevalence higher where regulatory control is weakest.

All of a sudden, I'm grateful that our Medicines Control Council (MCC) are such painful, pedantic regulators! What the hell is going on north of the border?

Myprodol is NOT some wonder drug

People. Myprodol is NOT some wonder drug. It is Panado, Brufen and a bit of codeine. Those are garden variety meds. It's. Not. Pethidine.

Ooh. Pethidine.

(Read more about Myprodol here)