Joanna, I sit on the fence when it comes to medications, and when I say that, it means I look at both sides from the middle out, not one far side with bias that cannot see the other side, ie. pure naturalists that can't see purpose in conventional medicines, and then pro conventional medicines that can't see purpose in natural alternatives. This is the best place to sit when talking medications, and let me explain why.
Some people use excuses, and this is as blunt as its going to get, being me and all. People will toy with conventional medications until they find the right combination, could be years of doing this, then they sit and say, "medications make me stable" and things like this, however; you will often find that those persons are not living life, instead they are just coping with it, don't do this, don't do that, limited all over the place, because if they expose themselves their symptoms rage, thus the medication no longer works, and it breaks their beliefs in those products. This goes for both conventional and natural medicines. People get on one side or the other, and they rave to the world about it, however; they look at it with bias and not provide the full facts. Both types of medicines ofter advantages and disadvantages in one form or another.
Factually speaking, conventional medicine is cheaper and more readily available than natural alternatives, however; conventional medicine often comes with addictive properties, withdrawal symptoms, man made chemical compositions going into your body, side effects both minor and major, etc etc. Facts are, if you have a very good prescribing doctor who knows what the hell they are doing (which equates to probably 0.1% of physicians in the world), then conventional medicines can help you for a short period, being a year, two or three even. The body will become immune to the drugs after a period of time, thus you would have to increase dosage or change drugs, which means withdrawals and huge side effects. Conventional medications if prescribed correctly, will take the edge of your symptoms for you, allowing you some needed room to breathe in order to begin therapy and hitting your trauma and PTSD head on. That is the idea. Conventional medication is not a cure, nor a long term viable solution to PTSD management. Never has been, never will.
Natural medicine is the far superior as such in regards to next to nil side effects, only natural products, herbs and extracts used, alternative therapies do actually work such as acupuncture, yoga, homeopathy, etc etc. Natural medicine has it all over conventional medicine, however; natural medicine comes at a significant higher price than conventional medicine, often more than the average person could afford for constant treatment in regard to PTSD.
For example:
Conventional medicine with therapy monthly:
- $100 a week for therapist = $400 a month
- $20 - $100 a month for prescription medication
End of story cost wise per month for conventional medicine with side effects, addiction and withdrawals.
Natural medicine with therapy monthly:
- $100 a week for therapist = $400 a month
- $200 - $400 to visit naturopath / homeopath for medication monthly
- $200 - $300 for acupuncture per month
- $50 - $200 for exercise classes, aerobic classes, etc etc
End of story cost wise per month for natural medicine, though without side effects, addiction and withdrawals.
The next huge issue with this, is that the majority of health care funds do not cover natural therapies, though will conventional medicine. Money is the biggest factor to achieve the same aim, it just depends on how your body is treated during it all.
The end result though is still the same, in that neither method will cure your PTSD, or hold your symptoms in control. The only way to effectively treat PTSD for longevity, is to deal with your trauma head on, no tip toeing around it, then learn how to manage PTSD by itself for the rest of your life, and lifes stressors that it will throw at you.
So both types of medicines can achieve the same thing, one is just more dangerous and unhealthy than the other, though the dangerous one comes cheap, the quality one costs far more. Neither will help you in the long term though, only you can help yourself for the longevity of PTSD.
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