Saturday, September 11, 2010

The costs of pharmaceutical fluency

Most people who write to me about their experience with different pills stopped taking them. Only a few claim significant improvement in fluency or secondaries.

The cost-adjusted outcome is the critical concept. Even if your outcome is positive, you must be aware of the following costs associated to pills.

1) You have financial costs for the rest of your life.

2) You might experience side effects for the rest of your life.

3) You could face serious unknown side effects after long-term use.

4) You have to take the pills for the rest of your life.

5) You are dependent on the pills for your well-being for the rest of your life.

6) You are not cured of your stuttering.

7) If you don't take them for a while, you might even stutter worse than before until the neurotransmitter levels have settled.

8) You know that the pill has succeeded, and not you yourself.

9) They might interfere with other medication, especially for psychoactive compounds, and your doctor's options might be restricted. At worst, you need to stop taking them.

10) You might develop tolerance after a few months or years.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

All what you have wrote is true for most of the medications for many/majority of disease.
from my point of view the main issue is wether it reduce stuttering or not. If the answer ia positive then come the question whether it worth, and the answer is individual.

Anonymous said...

There is one drug that works for the majority of pws. As a long time stutterer it improves my fluency 75 percent to 90. There are some who do not recieve benefit from this drug but they seem to be in the minority. Yep, and you don't even need a rx for it. This drug is proven to be very effective-alcohol. For what ever reason my speech process just flows after having a beer or two. Why does alcohol work Tom? And plz don't give me this bs about it relaxes you so inturn improves your speech which is bunk. What ever chemical changes that occur has a positive effect on ones speech. It's like turning on a switch. Peace

John said...

If you look at stuttering as a medical disorder, the result of a chemical imbalance due to an abnormality in the brain, then why not treat it with medication? The closest parallel I see is with tourette's syndrome, and that is very effectively treated with medication. I appreciate the risks you mention, all are true, but feel the benefits are well worth it.

Great blog. Keep up the great work.