To: K-list
Recieved: 2004/04/26 01:05
Subject: [K-list] med poll results
From: Druout
On 2004/04/26 01:05, Druout posted thus to the K-list:
Dear List,
Here are the results from the medication poll. If anyone else wishes to take
part, please write either to the list or privately to me.
Thanks all of you who took part in this poll!
Love, Hillary
1. Have you ever taken medication for "Kundalini related" symptoms?
2. What symptoms were involved?
3. Was the treatment "forced" on you?
4. What medication did you take?
5. How long did you take it/them?
6. How effective did you find them to be?
7. Would you recommend taking mediation to others.
Thirteen people responded to the meds poll
To the first question, eleven said Yes and two No
Symptoms varied from headache, bipolar, anxiety and moderate
obsessive/compusive, intense energy, delusional thinking and classic mania, deadening of the
senses.
One person said the medication was forced on him. One said no and yes. With
others it was voluntary
Medications taken:
2 from Class: Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents: Vioxx, Asprin
3 from Class: Tranquilizers: Abilify, haldol, Risperdal
2 from Class: Benzodiazepines: Valium, Clonazepan,
2 from Class: Anxiolytics--sedatives & Hypnotics: Buspar(2)
5 (9 uses) from Class: Antidepressants: Buproprion, Celexa, effexor,
elavil(2), prosac, serazone, zoloft or (seratonin) (2)
5 (8 uses) from Class: Misc anticonvulsants: topomax (4) depakote (2),
Trileptal, Lamictal
4 from Class: Antimanic agent: Lithium (4)
4 (5 uses) from Class: Antipsychotic: Seroquel, Zyprexa (4),
Other: Alchohol (3) loranzepan, marijuana (3),
Length of time taken ranged from 1 month to off and on for 20 years.
Effectiveness varied. Many said most were not helpful. The helpful drugs
mentioned were elavil, effexor, valium, alchohol (helpful and harmful), marijauna,
celexa, abilify and depakote (helpful and not helpful)
Two people recommended refraining from all drugs as it can interfer with the
process, but others had a more pragmatic view, feeling that they can be useful
to "ground," for when a break from the energy is needed, or to bring one down
to reality so as to become more functional.
Many thanks to you all!
***********
The posts:
... In december '99 I got really wierd but I knew it wasn't a psychose
because this felt different. But by that time I hadn't heard about the word
psychosis or even Kundalini. Unfortunatelly I was really hard to be handled in my
enviroment and during this time I couldn't sleep so I choose to sleep in a
department in the hospital but there I was treated with medication against my own
will. It took me some time to recover. I slowly started working after the
rest-period.
But I have a question for you all as well. I take medication against
psychosis in what way does it balance my Kundalini experience? It's only 3mg Haldol
but still.
**********
You have asked a great question, and one that hasn't really been dealt with
much on this list.
I'd like to do a poll/thread on the subject to see how other list members
have dealt with medication for K symptoms--either given voluntarily and
involuntarily.
1. Have you ever taken medication for "Kundalini related" symptoms?
2. What symptoms were involved?
3. Was the treatment "forced" on you?
4. What medication did you take?
5. How long did you take it/them?
6. How effective did you find them to be?
7. Would you recommend taking mediation to others.
Feel free to answer all or any of the questions and to respond on list or
off. All posts will remain anonymous if sent directly only to me.
******************
I was rear-ended by a lumber truck back in 1989 when i was pregnant and also
had a 150 lb. Giant Schnauzer dog named "Fate", plow into me at that time. I
have done yoga, and I have tried "mind over matter", but nothing works as good
as VIOXX. Adjusting to the psychological and spiritual side of being in
chronic pain has been a journey that I feel inadequate to positively relate. I can
only say that I've been there too.
**************
I also have been on medication over the years
lithium when i was about 11. I've long been off of it though.
recently (3 or 4 months ago) I've been on zoloft , a mood stabilizer called
topomax and a beta blocker for my apparent heart palpitations. none of them did
anything at all so i have stopped taking them. unless i get prescribed to an
an anti anxiety like xanax then I'm really not gunna bother with medication
since none of it has shown the slightest bit of difference. i don't want to wake
up every morning and take pills. I'll take xanax though.
*********
>unless i get prescribed to an an anti anxiety like xanax then I'm really
>not gunna bother with medication since none of it has shown the slightest >bit
of difference. i don't want to wake up every morning and take pills. >I'll take
xanax though.
HEAVY caution here! Check out what http://www.breggin.com/ has to say about
this! And Chapter 12 of the El Collie book.
My own (anecdotal, but personally convincing) experience of people taking
xanax was that it zombied them out thoroughly. It is said to be strongly
addictive, and I suspect that withdrawals from it are what put a friend of ours into a
long, frightening episode of depression, which led to months of confinement
and electroshock, causing memory loss she's only recently returned from.
(Visiting us about a year ago, she walked up the street to a familiar Mexican
restaurant, took her meds, forgot where she'd been. When we got worried and
searched, she was talking to a couple of police who'd found her weeping on a
nearby corner. They wanted to help; she'd been trying to tell them where her
half-way house was, and couldn't remember that either.)
(I've known people who got pretty crazy without their meds, irrational enough
that I don't want to make a blanket condemnation of psychiatric medications.
But who can doubt that they are dangerous and much over-prescribed?)
*************
> I also have been on medication over the years
>lithium when i was about 11. I've long been off of it though.
>recently (3 or 4 months ago) I've been on zoloft
This sounds like anxiety to me. Some people find klonopin, valium, or xanax
helpful. Sometimes doctors prescribe woefully inadequate amounts of the
medication and this is why it is important to keep pestering your doctor about it.
Don't give up. I found that 50mg of Elavil helps me more than valium ever did
and it keeps me asleep for 8hrs which is great.
Sometimes the older medications aren't pushed since they are generic. No one
is actively marketing them. But, some of them really work well. They do tend
to have more side-effects than the newest meds though.
Then, there are other meds like zyprexa and neurotin. Of course, alcohol does
work. So does massage therapy.
All in all, it took me 5 years to find the right meds.
*********
I've taken zoloft (serotonin) , topomax (gaba) , and a beta blocker. all for
my apparent K symptoms , none of them did anything to stop it.
im not depressed anyway so i dont know why he put me on zoloft. im not
bipolar anymore i used to be as a kid so i dont know why he put me on topomax. and
my chest keeps pumping and rumbling which is why the beta blocker was used and
did nothing. i dont have any thyriod imbalence , they checked my blood.
I have also taken lithium at 11 years old i cant remember if it actually did
anything.
I dont want to take any drugs it just seems to complecate the process.
I wonder what he would put me on if i told him i heard voices and kept waking
up in other worlds. theres a blue fog in my house doc and theres swhirly
lights in the sky , 200mg zoloft a day isn't doing a damn thing. I dont want any
of this taken away no matter how much i sound like a frustrated child. i just
dont want to sweat anymore. i know that its anxiety and empathy , my friend
unconcsiously dumps his karma onto me reapidly so much that i hear his thoughts
after he leaves when i lay down to sleep.
alcohol works , its shame i dont have the oppurtunity to drink all day
everyday. marijuana combined with alcohol is a train reck but atleast i dont sweat.
the alcohol consciousness is really animalistic i consider it to be lowering
concsiousness while marijuana highteins it. combinding the two is a train reck.
i dont even like drinking. i dont have a choice. what a whinny little kid i
sound like.
********
>I've taken zoloft (serotonin) , topomax (gaba) , and a beta blocker.
> >all for my apparent K symptoms , none of them did anything to stop it.
> > imo, proper diet, controlled breathing, and exercise are equally, if not
more important than meds. i always found yoga helpful - non-competitive and
gentle stretching, but some people are addicted to running, jogging, and/or
power walking. heck - even golfing is better than being a couch potato!
if you are that disconnected to reality, maybe you do need some sort of
medication,other than what you are taking. Sounds like schizophrenia, and isn't
Zoloft an anti-depressant? shine the light on your friend, and don't let him dump
on you! none of us are a trash can!
involving alcohol in your condition will seriously unbalance your metabolism
and actually perpetuate the symptoms that you are experiencing. maybe you can
just cut down to maryjane, and pay attention to your diet, your breathing, and
your exercising. I bet you'd see some results from cutting the alcohol out of
your body's equation! don't worry about mere whininess; i know that i
sometimes sound like a ranting madwoman but the mood passes! Sometimes we all just
need a little support... best regards,
*********
Here it goes, I hope it helps someone:
1 - yes
2 - anxiety and moderate obsessive compulsive
3 - nope, I was in agony and sought help
4 - prozac, serazone, buspar - not helpful elavil, effexor, valium - helpful
5 - Took the ones that didn't work too long before pestering my doctor. Don't
take the valium anymore since it drags me down (makes you depressed in the
long run I think). I take 25-50mg elavil at night and 75mg of effexor in the
morning. One is sedating, the other is perky. Both help anxiety.
6 - see 4
7 - only if you get a good doctor
I bet someone you know has anxiety or depression too. Maybe someone in your
family. Ask around or whatever. When I moved to a new town, I just cold called
the offices asking if they felt confident to treat my symptoms. Some said no.
One said yes. This doctor is now my general practitioner.
I certainly think that my symptoms relate to the workings of Kundalini. But,
after my Kundalini entered my consciousness, everything smothed out
considerably. I have the utmost in confidence these days and a new lust for life that I
cannot explain.
I dare not mention it to my doctor without translating everything Kundalini
into concrete doctor terms such as nervous system stimulation etc. I will
probably never utter the work Kundalini in his presence.
Also, I see Kundalini at work in my father. Both father and mother take some
medication for anxiety but only my father has the signs...
***********
Kundalini awakening disengages one from the body The vital_energy_mind
complex becomes an element pervading the body The aura becomes one's consciousness
and body becomes the occasion for its manifestation
And, the awakening may flood the body with energy
Devotion to God, discrimination between the real and unreal,
investigating into the source of joy from sense-objects,
self-enquiry, taking up all ordinary life activities as offering to God, etc
completely and permanently transform and stabilise the awakened K energy
This is the real medicine, K recovers the true meaning of religion for us
> Feel free to answer all or any of the questions and to respond on list or >
off. All posts will remain anonymous if sent directly only to me. anon
***********
I took seratonin for quite a while when my K symtoms were at their worst.
Anyone else tried this???
7)Would you recommend taking medications to others...
although i understand that meds are sometimes a necessary coping mechanism
when it all gets to be a little to much to do by ones self, i can't help but
feeling (in my gut) that medications can't be good for our body, mind or soul.
just my two cents peace
************
1. Yes..that is if I suffer from "Kundalini". I simply could be a "basket
case", but the theory that my pain could be psycho/spiritual gives me hope and a
love for life.
2. The energy was so intense when "it" developed that I went nuts...found
myself believing that I had to learn to dance in order to channel what was going
through me...that's when the men in the white coats showed up.
3. Yes (those bastards).
4. Don't know what they gave me initially, but I wish they would have shot me
instead...it hurt incredibly. Was discharged after three weeks in the psych
ward on Zyprexa, Loranzepan and Celexa...was told that it was not
schizophrenia, but manic/depression and given Lithium, Buspar, Clonazepan...when they
wanted to give me some other things, I called upon myself for a diagnosis. Been off
the drugs for more than a year now...have found the gym very helpful in
addition to tasks such as cooking and playing the clarinet.
5. About 10 months.
6. They brought me down to reality, so I guess they did their thing. However,
I wish the psychiatric community were more sensitive to one's spirituality. I
received a "take down" in the ward because I continued to stretch and do yoga
postures in the hallway..when a nurse asked me what I was doing, I replied
"Jesus is real and I'm enlightened", the next thing you know...I was in
restraints, etc....very frightening.
7. Yes (as silly as that sounds), but not the types I was given. Celexa was
kinda cool (that's an anti-depressant). However, for a bipolar patient, it can
initiate hypomania. Lithium will keep you in your place and help to confirm on
a daily basis that I am not God. The only problem is that while on that drug,
I don't always remember how to spell my name. Pot works wonders...it helps
the pain tremendously but my mind tends to race when I smoke that. All those
drugs, including the pot, are addictive. That little flame inside me lets me know
that this energy is the cross that I must take up. During the height of my
mania and while in a delusional state, an angel told me..."You have to go
through the fire to come out like gold".
************
I have had experience with various psychotropic medications for various
symptoms which in the end I only attribute to PTSD and a touch or 2 of
manic/depression. Or so I was told...
I took lithium for years, because it was a natural mineral, and I didn't feel
any different.
Then i lost my first born son to a fluke "diaphragmatic hernia", and blamed
it on lithium and I quit it. ..
I took Topamax for a couple years, and it helped chronic pain and I didn't
feel much different from myself. But suddenly I started being too tired all the
time, and shuffling in my gait, and people said I looked over-medicated, so i
quit. What musta happened was my metabolism changed and reacted to Topama xx
Now all I take is a small amount of Effexor - an anti-depressant - and Vioxx
for pain, and Seroquel to sleep (you can see that it does me a fat lot of
good).
Nothing has ever worked on my naturally-acquired over-sensitivity,
skittishness, and woo woo unpredictable attitudes, except time and processing and a
sense of humor.
I have always been a loner, over-sensitive (or "just sensitive enough"),
moody, a smart-alek, a cynic, highly imaginative, and a general pain in the ass to
left-brained type nine to five people. I have "fit in" before with artists,
writers, poets, theatre people, spiritual people, and musicians. It's just not
a world which is conducive to such types.
As a child I was "gifted and talented", it is only as an adult that suddenly
I am suddenly encountering the term "mentally ill". I *hate* that
nomenclature! I prefer to think of my state of mind as a "pedigree"...
I have finally figured out, that I am the same soul and person that I was as
a child. -And that knowledge makes me stronger.
But this isn't about "me"...
I think "1984" - the George Orwell novel - is coming true in the concept of
"soma" - a drug(s) which makes everyone lethargic, euphoric, and/or able to be
manipulated .. I think these times - when suddenly everybody has a
"fashionable disorder", or some kind of "syndrome" , and is on medication of some sort,
is NOT a coincidence.
I can just imagine how the current mass "spiritual awakening" of people must
strike the fear in the hearts of rich and greedy men. "Old Money" feels
threatened by the possibility of change for the better, preferring to remain elitist
from the "common good". As we can observe from considering Dubya - "the rich
get richer, and the poor get poorer"
And in the face of careening out of control overpopulation, I think the Oil
Baron "elitists" - who have the ear of all the other big $ elitists, wish to
exert control over the common plebians. Suddenly on TV we have big buck ads for
Zoloft, and Paxil - addressing zillions of TV viewers to consider their
typical and very realistic bad attitudes as "depression", and a symptom which can be
treated with modern pharmaceuticals. Bullsh*t! if we are depressed, we just
need to work it out in real life, not drugged into the next century...
We have read recently about the kundalini symptoms which seem so much in
common with "mental illness". Since when have we legally been required to mix
"church and state"? The damned government is mixing up the same guaranteed
"constitutional rights", by imposing right-winged christian coalition "moral majority
(which is neither)" standards on people in general. If you find THAT so
scary, what's to keep anyone from turning the tide to include the fact that -
spiritually awakening people are NOT "mentally ill", and any suggestion to the
otherwise is an infringement of their personal and guaranteed constitutional
freedoms'??
F*ck their propaganda and subterfuge!
LOLOL! Hahaha Hillary! Does this rant answer your questions 1-6 yet?
In conclusion, although I have experimented time and time again with various
mood stabilizers and anti-depressants, it has all been futile, alas, and at
best - I was "over-medicated". I have undergone a real struggle on this issue.
Speaking from experience, except perhaps in the extreme cases of sociopaths ,
psychopaths, and other people completely removed from social-reality,
psychotropic drugs interfere with clear thinking and the self-actualization
experiences as described by Abraham Maslow. I can only surmise that yoga, deep
breathing, meditation, a balanced life, a good laugh daily, and time - will heal all
wounds. just because...doesn't mean they aren't out to get you,
ps (oh please God, leave me with my sense of humor at least! ))
pps (stand up and be counted!)
***************
1. Is aspirin included?
2. Strong Headache. I did have a fever at the same time.
3. No.
4. Aspirin.
5. Just one night.
6. Seemed to sooth the headache a bit.
7. Just when they feel troubled or conflicted.
*********
*1. Have you ever taken medication for "Kundalini related" *symptoms? Nope. I
have always avoided the medical system.
First I was too stubborn to look for advice, later I couldn´t understand how
someone could help me. Finally, I feel lucky of my decision. I can´t tell from
direct experience, but reading the general ideas that psycolgy defends, you
can have a great risk of becoming ever more confuse and lost if you follow the
advice of a "professional".
*7. Would you recommend taking mediation to others.
Nope. Never. The body is an exquisite flower and medication is just a clumsy
attempt to make it recover it´s beauty. The best way, I think, is natural
healing. There´s a world of posibilities here, that it isn´t explored. Could it be
because it doesn´t give money? :).
*********
1. Self-medicated; non-pharmaceutical (alcohol/drugs)
2. Deadening of senses, isolation from sensation/emotions.
3. Hehe. Just by me.
4. See above.
5. 2 years.
6. Kept me happy for two years. My next lesson appeared, and I didn't have
need of them any more (although I still do drink, but for different reasons).
7. There may be times when it's good to 'take a break'; however, being a
totally subjective decision, you may not be the best person to make this choice.
Also, it is very, very difficult to find someone who can relate/understand
where you are and therefore trustworthy in assisting you in this decision making.
In the end, trusting ourselves and understanding/accepting that we are using
something to stabilize is much more healing and loving than decrying ourselves
for 'being weak'. One assists in helping us grow stronger and the other breaks
us down.
*********
1. Yes
2. Overwhelming energy surges; delusional thinking; classic mania.
3. No.
4. zyprexa and depakote. Huge doses at first. Also had at one time buproprion
and topomax in the cocktail.
5. Zyprexa for a month or so. Depakote for 26 months, but in decreasing
amounts and will be off completely soon. topomax briefly. Buproprion also for 15
months, but gone since last fall.
6. Medication grounded me. Psychiatry's understanding and perception of
higher consciousness confused me and put me in a difficult conflict, until I
resoved to embrace my experience as valid regrdless of psychiatry's view of it as
delusional.
7. If at all possible, try to find an enlightened teacher/community to help
you manage your energy/process without it. there are many ways to manage K
without medication, and very few Western medical practitioners who can administer
meds without condemning the K experience. If meds are indicated, however, the
Spiritual Emergency Network can put you in touch with practitioners who
embrace spirit and will treat patients accordingly. However, I live in NYC and still
could not find one who could help, at least not in time to head off
psychosis.
*********
1. Yes.
2. Classic bipolar manic: Ecstasy, witnessing the cosmos as Oneness, abundant
Love, no time/space boundaries. Extreme anxiety, panic attacks that kept me
"frozen," to head racing and "bursting." Feeling center of all that is to
paranoia. Numerous ESP and mystic experiences, more than I could "handle." Other K
symptoms were/are not as extreme and I just enjoyed/ enjoy them, learn and
build from them ;-).
3. No and yes. I walked into ER each of 4 times in psychic pain; either the
anxiety or the head bursting, racing with millions of connections, and twice
was given Haldol which gave me an extreme side effect of clenched, grinding
teeth (lockjaw-like). This happened as soon as I began to rant against the "course
of emergency" treatment. Staff was not interested in my "findings." ;-)
4. It has been a learning process over 20 years. No discharge meds in 1984...
I came down naturally with a little help of that "lockjaw Haldol" and a quiet
room. Docs were scratching their heads and I went back to Eastern medicine
techniques. Then in 1993 a bad one, was given Lithium and stopped that myself
after 2-3 months. But in 2000 and 2001 had 2 major manias and could see that
they were getting worse and progressively closer together in time. During the
period I took a variety of trial and error meds for bipolar, namely Zyprexia,
Resperdol, Topomax, Lithium, Trileptal, Lamictal, Depakote, and finally Abilify
with Depakote.
5. The trial and error ones above were from 7 days to 3 months and switch
because of intolerable side effects or allergies, in my case. I have been taking
the Abilify 5mg and Depakote 750mg for almost a year.
6. Very, now. Frustrating before. I finally again have sharp cognitive
function and good balance. Most of all, I have my feelings from the ups and downs of
life, and spirituality. The Abilify was new and it is very different from the
others, for me.
7. It depends. If it is first aid, yes. If it is a life threatening
situation, yes. If symptoms last longer than a month (some of mine last months and grow
slowly into total "chaos"), yes. If it is truly bipolar, and not dissociative
disorder or some other (non biochem) problem, yes. Yes, so that it doesn't
progress in frequency and intensity. It has been a soul searching 20 years with
lots of stubbornness/ denial/ fear on my part but my situation was clear cut a
year ago, for me. The trial and error was a painfully slow process. I also
take acupuncture and talk therapy, do not drink alchohol, and the dosages are
very small amts in my system (they barely show up on blood tests). I feel that I
am in control of my own health and my open-minded doctor listens to me as
well. For my situation, I am grateful.
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