Seventy-five percent to 90% of all doctor's office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints

[[WU...]]

Saw a YT channel talking about this today. According to WEBMD https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/effects-of-stress-on-your-body No wonder they've been throwing us benzos and SSRI's for so long !  What a farce the whole thing is.  

[[jo...]]

They turned health into a subscription service.

Edited January 28 by [jo...]

[[dj...]]

32 minutes ago, [[W...] said:

Saw a YT channel talking about this today. According to WEBMD https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/effects-of-stress-on-your-body No wonder they've been throwing us benzos and SSRI's for so long !  What a farce the whole thing is.  

That is a very misleading statistic.  Of all doctor’s visits?  So, we are to believe that visits for broken bones, viruses, infections, OBGYN related stuff, vision, skin diseases, cancer, and neurological age conditions, etc are stress related?  Because I just named about 50% of doctors visits right there. 

[[dj...]]

Stress is not good on the body no doubt.  But, you know what’s also not good on the body?  Foreign substances that significantly alter your natural chemistry.

[[WU...]]

"So, we are to believe that visits for broken bones, viruses, infections, OBGYN related stuff, vision, skin diseases, cancer, and neurological age conditions, etc are stress related? "

 

Yes and even broken bones could be down to stress if you are not paying attention and trip up somewhere due to poor concentration.   All our systems need a healthy nervous system to run them otherwise any part of our body can malfunction. 

[[kn...]]

It is true that big pharma is suspect in pushing an agenda to sell their products.  I've experienced cancer, radiation, internal bleeding, oxygen therapy to heal what radiation damaged, cataracts that resulted from the oxygen treatments, heart problems, and now this (BZ WD). But the largest number of appts., by far, have had to do with life long anxiety, and an obsessive disorder. So in my case, I'd have to say that Wu Wei is correct.  I know of many friends and family members who are suffering from similar behavior health problems in silence.  There's still a huge stigma out there about seeing therapists and taking psych drugs.  Every person has to be their own advocate and take responsibility for their own treatment.  I took benzos for years as they enabled me to live without fear, finish two graduate degrees, and work in two high stress careers for 46 years.  I don't regret it at all. Yes, WD is hell, but I really don't know if my life would have lasted this long if I hadn't gotten help, both therapeutically and medically.  Benzos were the best they had to offer at the time. And they worked far better that SSRI's, or god forbid, things like electro shock treatments. 

[[dj...]]

57 minutes ago, [[W...] said:

"So, we are to believe that visits for broken bones, viruses, infections, OBGYN related stuff, vision, skin diseases, cancer, and neurological age conditions, etc are stress related? "

Yes and even broken bones could be down to stress if you are not paying attention and trip up somewhere due to poor concentration.   All our systems need a healthy nervous system to run them otherwise any part of our body can malfunction. 

I think you need to define stress here. Emotional stress or just stress on the body?  
 

Eating contaminated food places stress on the body, yes.  Virus attacking healthy cells does too. If we want to loosely define stress, then I would say 100% of doctor visits are “stress related.”  The only ones that aren’t are wellness checkups.  

[[Hu...]]

 

I wanted to type a whole story about how western society makes us sick, with smartphone addicted generations, the kovid-pandemic farce, inflation, the wokeness, stupid wars, propaganda from all sides.

But we're all living it. Stressfull and polluted society makes people... sick. 

I know it's not me personally, because I was a very healthy and happy child.

Most of us are just not ment for this stress, humans in general are not. Some people thrive in this kind of society: Psychopats. For the rest of us it is stressfull in different capacity.

 

Edited January 28 by [Hu...]

[[dj...]]

Life in general puts stress on our bodies.  Age does too.  It’s impossible for humans, and most other animals, to avoid stress.  It’s what helps us survive.  Life is stress. 
 

Not to act like a smarta$$, but to me this is like saying 90% of visits to the auto shop are caused by people driving cars.  

[[Hu...]]

1 minute ago, [[d...] said:

Life in general puts stress on our bodies.  Age does too.  It’s impossible for humans, and most other animals, to avoid stress.  It’s what helps us survive.  Life is stress. 
 

Not to act like a smarta$$, but to me this is like saying 90% of visits to the auto shop are caused by people driving cars.  

Yes, you are sounding like a smartass because you don't take into account what happened the last 70 years and how it impacted society: secularization, birthcontrol, extreme individualism, internet, 'forever chemicals', pollution, consumerism, ultra processed food. 

[[dj...]]

14 minutes ago, [[H...] said:

Yes, you are sounding like a smartass because you don't take into account what happened the last 70 years and how it impacted society: secularization, birthcontrol, extreme individualism, internet, 'forever chemicals', pollution, consumerism, ultra processed food. 

I have no doubt that there are lots of aspects of modern society that aren’t conducive to healthy living.  But stress has always existed.  1000 years ago there was stress just to put food on the table and protect yourself from enemies, or the cold, and disease.  
 

My simple point is that saying 75 to 90% of doctor visits are due to “stress,” whatever the definition of stress is, is incredibly misleading.  

[[WU...]]

"Emotional stress or just stress on the body"

The emotions and the body are inseparable. The state of the body is the state of our emotions.  Food poisoning is a stress on the body yes, but a healthy mind/body will soon see the poison off, unless it is cyanide in murder mysteries.

Does the average doctor ask about stress levels ? I can't remember anyone asking me. Muscle spasms, here take this valium. But why did I have the muscle spasms? why did I get that funny rash? Tinnitus, blurry vision, dizzy spells etc.. all signs of stress.  

[[WU...]]

Agree @[Hu...] and add the loss of community, no one rallying to help each other, everyone stuck in their nuclear families and/or singular dwellings. An overall lack of joy. I think more joy and fun would override the stress. I think that is what I needed all those years ago, not benzos! 

[[dj...]]

6 minutes ago, [[W...] said:

"Emotional stress or just stress on the body"

The emotions and the body are inseparable. The state of the body is the state of our emotions.  Food poisoning is a stress on the body yes, but a healthy mind/body will soon see the poison off, unless it is cyanide in murder mysteries.

Does the average doctor ask about stress levels ? I can't remember anyone asking me. Muscle spasms, here take this valium. But why did I have the muscle spasms? why did I get that funny rash? Tinnitus, blurry vision, dizzy spells etc.. all signs of stress.  

Ok I see your point.  Got it.  
 

Yes, modern society is terrible about accommodating stress, and modern medicine is nothing but a short-term fix advertised as a “chemical imbalance.”  With smartphones, we are constantly inundated with tons of tiny stressors, whether it’s a work email or peer pressure from a Facebook post.  Things just move so fast these days and the human mind hasn’t evolved enough in the past 30 years to handle it well.  Pills rarely fix the issues behind the stressors.  

[[dj...]]

9 minutes ago, [[W...] said:

Agree @[Hu...] and add the loss of community, no one rallying to help each other, everyone stuck in their nuclear families and/or singular dwellings. An overall lack of joy. I think more joy and fun would override the stress. I think that is what I needed all those years ago, not benzos! 

I was first prescribed benzos due to excessive partying.  Drug/alcohol induced panic attacks that were very long and scary.  Had three attacks and finally saw doc.  He told me to take two Xanax a day and I did.  Just couldn’t stop them without issues so I stayed on them forever and a hole slew of problems crept it over time.  My life was going off the rails long before I decided to get off.  
 

If a doctor had told me no drinking or drugs for three months until your system repairs, I would have absolutely done that.  And I would have never touched drugs again since I wasn’t that into them anyway.  Would have curbed my drinking.  But, I was told I had a chemical imbalance and needed to take pills.  
 

This was also 2000 and the height of the chemical imbalance theory.  

Edited January 28 by [dj...]

[[WU...]]

Oh dear @[dj...] its rotten seeing how we were all mislead. Their chemical imbalance theory sounded so plausible at the time.  Makes you think about all the other pills prescribed for other supposed ailments, all based on dodgy theories.

Anyway I've decided the answer is finding joy as a counterbalance to stress. I'd like to see a doctor write that on a prescription.

 

[[dj...]]

1 minute ago, [[W...] said:

Oh dear @[dj...] its rotten seeing how we were all mislead. Their chemical imbalance theory sounded so plausible at the time.  Makes you think about all the other pills prescribed for other supposed ailments, all based on dodgy theories.

Anyway I've decided the answer is finding joy as a counterbalance to stress. I'd like to see a doctor write that on a prescription.

The thing is they sold me on the chemical imbalance theory too and I believed it for a very, very long time…even while my health was deteriorating. Started taking benzos in 2001 and the first time a provider raised the question of benzos potentially being behind some issues was 2017.  
 

Once I found this place and started reading of people having so many issues with benzos, even after very short term use, things started making so much sense. 

[[jo...]]

After being prescribed benzos without being told what it was, for a small sleep issue, and after the past 4 years of 'The Science' my trust in the health care system has never been higher.  ;)

 

Edited January 29 by [jo...]

[[Pi...]]

My experience I'm 68 is that the system is great if they can fix your problem mechanically. Set a broken bone or a heart ablation to fix a rhythm issue etc. They also excel at keeping you alive from a serious auto accident or work related accident. Beyond that you're probably going to end up with multiple added problems and side effects if you let the doc write you any prescription. Now obviously there are times when a drug is beneficial. But only when everything else exercise, diet, meditation etc has been tried. In most cases the drug is the first remedy offered and you are usually put on it for life. I don't view that as a diagnosis or a cure especially when most doctors see you for 10 minutes.

[[dj...]]

5 minutes ago, [[P...] said:

My experience I'm 68 is that the system is great if they can fix your problem mechanically. Set a broken bone or a heart ablation to fix a rhythm issue etc. They also excel at keeping you alive from a serious auto accident or work related accident. Beyond that you're probably going to end up with multiple added problems and side effects if you let the doc write you any prescription. Now obviously there are times when a drug is beneficial. But only when everything else exercise, diet, meditation etc has been tried. In most cases the drug is the first remedy offered and you are usually put on it for life. I don't view that as a diagnosis or a cure especially when most doctors see you for 10 minutes.

These are my thoughts as well…for the most part.  A lot of people get trapped on medications for life, and often with side effects that don’t go away.  Many lose their effectiveness over time.  Short term most medicines are very helpful.  
 

Western medicine simply has a strong belief in the available science and that it’s infallible.  My ex-wife is a nurse practitioner and absolutely hated that I questioned what my doctors were doing.  I remember finding BenzoBuddies for the first time and being excited to show her because things finally made sense.  Her reply? “I don’t like how people bash doctors on there.  I’m not reading anymore of this.”  
 

I also remember back in 2010 or something I had some very mild acne on my back, and, working in dermatology, my wife wanted to see my back clear.  She brought me home some medication and a few days after I started it, my back started breaking out like never before.  I said what the hell and she told me it can do that sometimes when you start the medicine.  I took it for a month and my back was just riddled with acne the entire time.  I finally said screw it and stopped taking it.  Within three days my back had completely cleared up.  While I was getting ready for work one day, I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth or something, she noticed my clear back and remarked, “wow, that medicine really started working.”  When I told her how it finally cleared up after I stopped the medicine, she said “That’s impossible.”  I asked what her explanation was and she had none.  
 

Point is…the medical professional shouldn’t be surprised when things go wrong.  When they go right, they credit the science or the medicine, and when they go wrong, they believe there has to be something else wrong. 

[[Pi...]]

Most drugs suppress symptoms. That's not a cure. I had irritable bowel so bad in my mid 30's I used to drive home some days with my chin on the steering wheel because I had so much abdominal pain. Went to see the gastro doc and he scared me to death. Did a colonoscopy and found nothing which I knew he wouldn't because I had the problem for too long and anything serious would have killed me by now. The doctor started pushing all kinds of ant spasmodic drugs. I had already taken one of these drugs in my 20's with disastrous consequences very similar to the withdraws from the benzo's I'm having now but not near as intense. This is way worse. I left his office, joined a gym, started lifting weights, running on a treadmill and increasing fiber. Problem solved. No drugs or negative side effects but also no money for big Pharma or the doc. Hard to believe I got suckered into this situation again but I've had sleeping issues all my life. Xanax seemed like a God sent on vacations. I assumed using very small amounts very intermittently would not be an issue like an occasional drink. Like Gomer Pyle used to say. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!!

[[WU...]]

Skin issues, insomnia, stomach problems, ear pain, back aches, you name it, its all in Louise Hay's book "You can Heal Your Life" where she lists the emotional side of each of our physical problems. She may not have been accurate about all of them but it is a good guide and helps you connect your emotions to the body

"I assumed using very small amounts very intermittently would not be an issue like an occasional drink."  That is exactly what I thought, that the pill left the system until the next time. The doctor did not contradict me either which shows they have absolutely no clue