(np) new hope for the nutty

[Keith Davis]

Please send cash..

On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 1:48 AM, Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>wrote:

> I think I'm developing acute anxiety.
>
> On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 10:00 PM, Michael Bailey
> <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
> > This could work!
> >
> > http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/cash.html
> >
> > longish excerpt:
> >
> >
> > Psychiatric medications relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety by
> > restoring chemical balance within the brain, but exactly how these
> > drugs restore the brain's chemical balance while simultaneously
> > wreaking havoc on every other organ in the body remains a mystery.
> > Equally mysterious is the mechanism by which cash payments provide
> > therapeutic benefit to depressed and anxious patients.   The receipt
> > of a large sum of money may somehow stimulate, increase, block, adjust
> > or otherwise act upon the level, supply, transmission, inhibition,
> > secretion or bodily excretion of dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine,
> > acetylcholine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, dihydrogen monoxide, propylene
> > glycol or some other chemical compound yet to be discovered.
> >
> > Elation and euphoria are the most common side effects associated with
> > cash.   The favorable side effect profile and high response rate
> > compared to placebo are the main advantages of cash over standard
> > pharmaceutical treatment, while the major disadvantage of cash would
> > appear to be its prohibitive cost.   However, retrospective analysis
> > supports the hypothesis that over the long haul cash is not only safer
> > but also more cost-effective than any medication currently on the
> > market.
> >
> > A depressed and/or anxious patient is typically maintained for an
> > indefinite period of time on two or more psychiatric drugs
> > simultaneously, in addition to numerous other medications prescribed
> > to control side effects ranging from diabetes to high blood pressure
> > to urinary incontinence to insomnia to everything in between.   The
> > cost of maintaining a patient on a standard treatment regimen of half
> > a dozen or more prescription drugs might easily surpass $1,200 per
> > month, amounting to roughly $150,000 over the course of ten years, or
> > nearly $300,000 after 20 years.   Seen in this light, a lump sum
> > payment of $100,000 or even $200,000 would be a genuine bargain by
> > comparison.   Cash-strapped state Medicaid programs squeezed by
> > escalating pharmaceutical costs would be well-advised to adopt
> > formulary guidelines and preferred drug lists authorizing pre-approved
> > cash payments as a treatment alternative.
> >
> > In a random survey, 3,964 Medicaid patients were asked whether they
> > would prefer to receive various combinations of prescription drugs for
> > the rest of their lives, or a single lump sum payment of $250,000.
> > The vast majority (99.93%) chose the cash option.   A total of 3
> > patients (0.07%) elected to continue receiving medications in lieu of
> > cash.   All three of these patients appeared to be truly sick, and in
> > each case the illness was iatrogenic (i.e., resulting from treatment).
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
> creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
> trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
> of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
> than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant
>



-- 
www.innergroovemusic.com
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