OT: Anthony Bourdain dead of suicide

[JPPT1974]

First Kate Spade now that of Tony Bourdian. Really know the feeling. As also had a cousin commit suicide in 2009. And in the process I myself had been hospitalized twice over on thoughts and attempts. Please get help. Right kind of help.

 

[Richard Camembert]

I am surprised this thread is still opened or not moved to a different forum, but whoever has made the call to keep it here is doing a good job. Condolence to Mr. Bourdain's family but a palpable feeling of what makes us human has been felt in this thread because of this sad and unfortunate event.
My workplace has a serious program about suicide prevention and train us on signs to watch out for, but I do wonder about a few things such as:
Can you really recover from such thoughts once you ever seriously get there? Once I get to know that you were seriously thinking about suicide, I don't know how I can threat you the same. I may probably treat someone like that with very soft gloves and shy away from ever issuing even constructive criticism. I have so many mind adjustment to do in life about so many issues, at times it is daunting.

Yes you can “come back” from suicidal thinking. The problem seems to be that for some people (like lots of actual depressed people) the desire, the thought, the compulsion to self-annhiliate NEVER stops and they deal with that issue often and intensely. Which, since they’re always thinking about it, they sometimes are okay and even relieved to talk about it in the right circumstances. But anyways when those thoughts fade they kind of become a different person and you don’t have to worry about them so much. Of course some people are suicidal from something that has happened or is happening, and they have to be made safe and/or helped to heal from whatever they experienced. And if they are saying they are suicidal to control some event chain in their lives that’s different too. Maybe use that EAP if you find someone in any of these categories?

 

[Tunescribe]

This is SO true. The entire category of antidepressant drugs is one huge experiment.

I asked a psychiatrist once about how they work. He gave me the usual answer. I asked, "OK, but what's actually going on that makes that happen? What's the chemical process, and why does it happen?" He tried again with a short hand answer. I persisted. Finally, he sighed and said, "Look, nobody really knows, OK?"

Maybe it's just that your 12 minutes were up and he was trying to get rid of you.

 

[Richard Camembert]

Psychologists are prescribing anti depressants
(Edit: I believe they technically may be recommending to the primary physician to write the prescription, but in reality thy are prescribing it)

What?! Why wouldn’t they just refer to a psychiatrist who spends all their time working with this specific type of medication, rather than practicing beyond their competence and involving a PCP who’s equally in over their head, to the probable detriment of the client? Anyways, psychologists absolutely can not prescribe in MA. In your scenario the PCP is the prescriber.

 

[edkk323]

By the time I was four I was in way, way deep. What was I supposed to do, run away from home? I was sick all the time.

Then, I was 10 and in fifth grade and it's like, "OK, now go out and have fun!! Forget about the past [the last decade, the entirety of my life]!! Go out, date girls, have fun, do what you want with your life!!"

Unfortunately, when I finally did take off when I was 17 I learned the hard way that even when you accomplish everything you wanted and expected and you've made your life what you want and need it to be, that childhood ain't going anywhere and you need to deal with it, because procrastinating will just negatively affect whatever you're doing now.

In my case, I have to take it one day at a time. Nothing gets done overnight.

You have to have faith. Which can be very hard, sometimes.

My brother! You are telling my life story through yours. I have accomplished quite a lot since then but all the sudden it hit me like a freight train last yr. (I was 28).

I am working through it. So far so good. I read the book
It Wasn't Your Fault: Freeing Yourself From the Shame of Childhood Abuse with the Power of Self-Compassion.
I started to practice self-compassion.

But the hurtful memory does not have to hurt you all the time. Generally memory serves as a alarm bell against threats and mistakes. You got burned by hot water once, memory warns you once you get close to hot water and you avoid the same mistake. For me, I need to work out how I was abused, why I was abused and how not to be abused ever again. I am working through it. Once I do, I can turn off the alarm bell which is ringing all the time.

 

[edkk323]

I contemplated suicide before. The closest I got is when I was 12. I walked up the stairs and stared through windows thinking about jumping. Not long before than, I had a uncle killed himself by jumping off a building. I wondered about his thoughts right before limping and his very last thought before he hit the ground. Did he regret jumping at all? This unknown kept me alive.

 

[Tunescribe]

I contemplated suicide before. The closest I got is when I was 12. I walked up the stairs and stared through windows thinking about jumping. Not long before than, I had a uncle killed himself by jumping off a building. I wondered about his thoughts right before limping and his very last thought before he hit the ground. Did he regret jumping at all? T his unknown kept me alive.

Supposedly the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is a popular "suicide" jump site. Most people don't survive but the few who have reportedly said they regretted their decision on the way down.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

This is SO true. The entire category of antidepressant drugs is one huge experiment.

I asked a psychiatrist once about how they work. He gave me the usual answer. I asked, "OK, but what's actually going on that makes that happen? What's the chemical process, and why does it happen?" He tried again with a short hand answer. I persisted. Finally, he sighed and said, "Look, nobody really knows, OK?"

Another scary bit is that the same is true about general anesthesia. They don't know why it works and more scarily, they don't know why you even come back as you when you wake up.

What they do see when you're under is that a strong rhythmic brainwave floods the entire brain and swamps communication between the areas of the brain. Then as it wears off and the brainwave fades they can see parts of the brain begin to fire up again and start to get communications going with other parts of the brain. One researcher says it's like seeing the brain trying to hunt through phase space to try to re-establish a working configuration. That's not a particularly reassuring image!

 

[supafly]

Another scary bit is that the same is true about general anesthesia. They don't know why it works and more scarily, they don't know why you even come back as you when you wake up.

What they do see when you're under is that a strong rhythmic brainwave floods the entire brain and swamps communication between the areas of the brain. Then as it wears off and the brainwave fades they can see parts of the brain begin to fire up again and start to get communications going with other parts of the brain. One researcher says it's like seeing the brain trying to hunt through phase space to try to re-establish a working configuration. That's not a particularly reassuring image!

I refuse it, except for major surgeries. I’ve now had two endoscopy procedures and a Bravo capsule placement inside of my stomach (to measure acidic Ph levels) where I refused any anesthesia, and they told me that if I can make it through that, I can easily do it for a colonoscopy, too, as there’s no gag reflex and less pain.

The doctors always go on and on about how no one chooses to get these procedures without going under, but I think the US is too used to taking the easy way out and relies on anesthesia way too much. They’re throwing around Versed and Fentanyl like they’re candy.

 

[fnordcircle]

I refuse it, except for major surgeries. I’ve now had two endoscopy procedures and a Bravo capsule placement inside of my stomach (to measure acidic Ph levels) where I refused any anesthesia, and they told me that if I can make it through that, I can easily do it for a colonoscopy, too, as there’s no gag reflex and less pain.

The doctors always go on and on about how no one chooses to get these procedures without going under, but I think the US is too used to taking the easy way out and relies on anesthesia way too much. They’re throwing around Versed and Fentanyl like they’re candy.

I had a colonoscopy when I was 18 and I was awake for it. Contrary to what my posts might convey my hiney is a pristine, virgin area that has only ever had doctor fingers (and one obsessed ex girlfriend's finger) up there. The discomfort of something being slid up inside of you is real but the worst part for me was that one of the nurses was the mother of a different ex girlfriend.

At first I was mortified. Then once it got really going I was so happy to have a friendly hand to hold cause...yeah. I mean it's just ****ing weird and uncomfortable so I'm still surprised they put people under for it now.

I've read about a woman who was put under but they screwed up the co.cktail so she had eye surgery while awake but unable to move and that **** terrifies me. I don't know if I'll ever be voluntarily put under for anything after reading that.

 

[supafly]

I had a colonoscopy when I was 18 and I was awake for it. Contrary to what my posts might convey my hiney is a pristine, virgin area that has only ever had doctor fingers (and one obsessed ex girlfriend's finger) up there. The discomfort of something being slid up inside of you is real but the worst part for me was that one of the nurses was the mother of a different ex girlfriend.

At first I was mortified. Then once it got really going I was so happy to have a friendly hand to hold cause...yeah. I mean it's just ****ing weird and uncomfortable so I'm still surprised they put people under for it now.

I've read about a woman who was put under but they screwed up the co.cktail so she had eye surgery while awake but unable to move and that **** terrifies me. I don't know if I'll ever be voluntarily put under for anything after reading that.

Yeah, I’m due for my next one at 45, and there’s no way that I’m going under. The endoscopy is kind of screwed, because they’re jamming a thick cable down your throat and scoping out your stomach. Obviously, you dry heave like a madman the whole time to where it’s pretty painful, a few days later. Tears stream down your face the whole time due to some crazy involuntary action. You sweat like a freak. At one point, I heard them talking about how my blood pressure was up around 180-185 (obviously the top number—systolic, I think), so that made it even worse because I got freaked out, but in the end it made me realize that I’m tougher than I realize and that there’s no reason for anesthesia for a simple colonoscopy, let alone an endoscopy.

I think people are just freaked out at the thought of something being jammed up their backside, and while I totally get that point and fully respect it, I think the concern for actual pain is overstated. The real pain of a colonoscopy is the prep that you have to go through the night before. That stuff was ridiculous.

 

[Joker]

midazolam and fentanyl...in combination. I've had three colonoscopies. Watched the last one completely aware.Piece of cake.

OK..now for ol' Unca Joe Kerr to give you his advice..for all of you facing your first procedure...suck it up and get the hell in there, ya freakin' pansies.

 

[JetFan79]

They recently discovered an MRI is a very reliable way to discover clogged arteries. 90% success vs 60% for a typical stress test.

Why the hell can't an MRI scan your colon? Damn it. Not looking forward to the probing in the decades ahead.

 

[supafly]

They recently discovered an MRI is a very reliable way to discover clogged arteries. 90% success vs 60% for a typical stress test.

Why the hell can't an MRI scan your colon? Damn it. Not looking forward to the probing in the decades ahead.

Really not that big of a deal, man. Of all the things in life to worry about, this is most certainly not one of them.

You’re supposed to get one at 50, but I had one at 40 due to some health issues. They usually recommend one every 5 yrs just to stay on top of it, but if you don’t have any issues, you probably won’t even need to do it in your 40s.

 

[JetFan79]

Really not that big of a deal, man. Of all the things in life to worry about, this is most certainly not one of them.

You’re supposed to get one at 50, but I had one at 40 due to some health issues. They usually recommend one every 5 yrs just to stay on top of it, but if you don’t have any issues, you probably won’t even need to do it in your 40s.

Good to know and thanks, but I'd still prefer to keep it as "exit only".

Hopefully it's a thing of the past soon.

That Cologuard test on TV commercials is an even better home test than FIT. Only required every 3 years.

Plus CT scans and MRIs are making progress supposedly.

 

[Joker]

Here's exactly what happened at my first procedure.....

I lie down sideways on the gurney...my eyes are wide open. The doctor tells me to sit up. I ask him why and he says, "you're all done". Huh????????????? WTF??? All done??? I just laid down! what the hell happened? The next two times he asked me if I wanted to watch and I did. That first time they used propofol. They don't use it as a primary anymore.

 

[DarrylS]

I am not denigrating people who suffer from depression. I am denigrating doctors who mishandle their patients. It happens. A lot.

How do you quantify "a lot", absent empirical data there is no way of knowing how many..

Conversely, we do not know how many doctors recommend therapeutic intervention to go along with the antidepressants and patients do not follow through for one reason or another.. therapeutic intervention can be scary. There are lot of people out there who claim to be "clinical practitioners" who are frauds..

Gov't counts lots of things, but sometimes they miss the most important things for the sake of political expediency, it is not in the interest of big pharma to closely examine this phenomena...

 

[DarrylS]

My wife was bipolar. Many of you know that she took her life in 2012. She left a wake of destruction behind her. I don’t blame her any more than if she had cancer, but it’s something that the survivors can never fully recover from.

Two of my three kids have been suffering from suicidality these past few years as well. It is obviously genetic (or a result of being close to me). They have been institutionalized on and off but are fairly stable now. It is the scariest thing. It’s very complex to try to keep them safe and also to try to motivate them live a normal healthy.

The best piece of advice I can give for people in my boat is to be supportive, offer help, be patient, and not feel too bad when you lose your **** now and then.

I am such an idiot that I am optimistic that everything will work out well. But I really think it will.

I do not think you are an idiot, you have the courage and strength to believe that somehow things will be better and different..

One of our best friends has a 45 year old bi-polar daughter who essentially lives on their couch, and she is in and out of medical and psychiatric hospitals often.. she knows all the games that need to be played.. They are both 75 years old and exhausted physically and mentally, there is no respite for them.

Psychiatric Illness is a bytch.. and overall as a society we do not respond well to it..

 

[DarrylS]

Here's exactly what happened at my first procedure.....

I lie down sideways on the gurney...my eyes are wide open. The doctor tells me to sit up. I ask him why and he says, "you're all done". Huh????????????? WTF??? All done??? I just laid down! what the hell happened? The next two times he asked me if I wanted to watch and I did. That first time they used propofol. They don't use it as a primary anymore.

For some reason I have to have it done with general anesthesia, so I go in they start an IV and then I wake up and they tell me the news..

 

[Ring 6]

[

This isn’t quite right for a variety of reasons, Andy. First, psychologists aren’t giving you medicine. Those are the psychiatrists. Second, psychologists spend a lot of time trying to figure out if the depression is mostly situational, something deeper, or mostly biological. That’s because many of treatments for actual clinical depression don’t really work too well the people who are having situational problems, while treatments for the non depressed people don’t reall work on people who are actually depressed. Psychiatrists and psychologists spend a lot of time and effort trying to differentiate. Third, psychologists aren’t interested in patients getting stuck and not progressing, which is an inevitable outcome of the scheme you’re proposing. I’m guessing you’re working with court-related psychologists who have different foci and underlying theories?

I’m sure that is how it is supposed to happen but what I described had really happened to people I know.