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Subject: Full Moon
Time: 12:22:00 AM EDT
Author: kheadenmd
Mood: Mischievous
The week was short due to Labor Day Monday, but the moon was full.
I'm admiring its beauty as I type. The worst days for mental health professionals are usually when the moon is full. Superstition, most may say. There was a time when I may have responded the same, but now I know better. I don't know if there is an acceptable theory yet about the effect of a full moon on the behavior of some humans and weirwolves. So if you are looking for scientific data here you might be disappointed. Maybe the NIMH will one day grant me the funds for a randomized double blind placebo controlled clinical trial.
There is not a doubt in my mind that an indisputable correlation exists between a full moon and some people just totally losing their damn mind, to put it frankly. I've been involved in this business in one way or another for close to 15 years and it never fails that the activity level of the population seems to peak at the same time of a full moon. Check your local ER at the next full moon if you don't believe it.
My personal war on drugs has been adopted by my physician extender staff who are doing a remarkable job of IDing and shipping out lawbreaking lying addicts.There really isn't a lot of time to spare for detective work but in order to survive it must be done by someone. The pharmacies and the police department have responded beautifully. If the state policy has become destined to fill up the jails then so be it. I have had it with this crowd of substance abusers. Either we have become much smarter or they are getting dummer each day. I suppose it could be desperation on their part also. We terminated about 6 or 7 cases in the past 2 weeks and filed charges on most of them. Yesterday, a young Einstein called with the number 2 excuse on the well known list: "My pills fell in the comode." Yeah, right. My assistant asked him to bring in the bottle of wet pills that remained. To our amazement he did just that. He apparently had flunked out of con artist school, as most pill heads have. Upon examination, a soggy bottle of capsules with a familiar aroma of baby powder was detected. Thank you for exhibit A in the evidence locker. The police had fun squeezing a confession out of this now ex patient.
I suppose that snorting certain compounds up ones nose within a short period of time could cause such a lapse in judgment. That's when the answer dawned on me that the brains of the drug culture exists at the top of the food chain, where they are smart enough not to use a product that causes them to become stupid. Most of the moronic behaviors occur at the bottom of the chain. It does make me a bit angry when the party trying to out smart me uses a strategy equivalent to Curly of The Three Stooges. Please don't insult my intelligence and at least give me a challenge. Forging prescriptions is another totally ignorant crime that people still try. They are guaranteed to be caught and easily convicted at some point. The forged script serves as their receipt to be convicted of the crime. Some are learning to read the package inserts of the meds prescribed that they don't want to take. People who can tolerate the strongest narcotics on the planet can develop all the common side effects after a single dose of meds that the average pediatric patient has no problem with.
Being the devil's advocate I sometimes am, I have pondered to find effective solutions to rid my life of con artist substance abusers once and for all so that I can practice psychiatry more of the way I would like to. The State Medical Board advise a "just say no" policy to controlled drugs while at the same time saying there is a "crisis with the undertreatment of pain." No wonder many primary care docs seem to get confused about which way to go in prescribing pain medications. It's a catch 22.
Sometimes, I think a radical approach could represent the best solution for career oriented non-productive drug addicts. This idea will seem totally bizarre to all but those who have tried to work with such people. The proposition is to secure a remote piece of land and give it an exotic name such as the Oasis or Crackman's Heaven or such. Next invest in a few dump truck loads of the finest benzodiazepines, opioids, cocaine, and marijuana. No alcohol or crystal meth allowed (too many health complications). These loads would be dumped in huge piles allowing free access to all the future inhabitants. To qualify for a term at this resort one must simply admit that I love drugs more than I love my family, I don't need any help you have a problem not me, or they may be signed in by an annoyed friend or family member. This form of psychological intervention is known as flooding and it has been effective treatment for many conditions. The inhabitants would have access to an all you can use buffet twenty four seven three sixty five. The only condition being that they must remain at the site for at least five years and no phone calls allowed. I believe this could fix the drug abuse problem once and for all by giving hardcore abusers a place to go where they are welcomed and they can do what they do continuously and undisturbed..
[slap on the wrist] Bad host, I know. In the next five to ten years you may not think so. If there are better ideas I would love to hear them.
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Last seasons HBO series The Wire, a policeman decided to make a drug free zone (a zone where you can use and sell drugs freely) and was able to lower the crime rate in his district. That really made me think "What if that would work" Hmm? I totally agree with the full moon theory. I even feel a little nuts during that time.
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I think it all stems from existential psychology. One can not conform to all that one knows without first accepting that to make a decision of any kind(whether it be not to decide at all) is to conform. Thus, without the perception of reality one will never understand what is wrong and right. The answer to wrong and right is simply this: Humans see wrong and right as that which they value or discredit. And if they have no values or they discredit everything, then conformity exists in the form of a sociopath or an abuser. Good luck with your practice and long days and pleasant nights sir.
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Yes and I think they should send the child molesters to that place of freedom with them but with the way the borders are protected now they would only find a way back in....whaaaa!! But sounds like a good place for both of them!!!!
I do agree with that full moon thing however..hope ya have a great weekend...TerryAnn -
Sorry for the Redux...talk to AOL about it...glitchy tonight.
9/25/06 4:14 PM
This has been going on since our mother died almost 3 years ago.
Today I did what I have been wanting to do since then. I called the doctors office and told them I wanted to speak with the doc or nurse and told them my sister's name. They, of course told me that they couldn't tell me anything about her care. I said "I don't want you to tell me something "I" want to tell you something." I told the nurse about my sister's abuse of the drugs they prescribed.
I don't know if I did a good thing or a bad thing. Will she find out it's me? Will she just move on to harder illegal drugs? The nurse said they would note in her chart for her to come in before the next refill.
The rampant abuse of prescription drugs angers me because there are so many legitimate uses for them. I could not have moved at all after a bad accident if it weren't for hydrocodone and soma. Likewise for pain relief from surgeries.
I could never forgive myself if she OD'ed and I didn't at least *try*.