bartleby012 has left a new comment on the post "Introduction":
"What you do with the info, Heather, is empower yourself with it. And the cornerstone of that empowerment is awareness -- which, thankfully, is the very thing that a site like Versed Busters raises. You can do a few things with this awareness:
First, refuse Versed in the future should a medical practitioner want to administer it to you. There is simply no good or valid reason to ever purposely induce amnesia during a medical procedure. It is only a recent development in medical thinking that amnesia is somehow a "benefit" to the patient, but sadly all too often the patient isn't given an opportunity to make that judgment for himself. At any rate, I maintain that the pharmacological inducement of amnesia is NEVER a medical necessity, and I welcome any medical professional to cite a single credible and objective basis for thinking otherwise.
Second, raise other people's awareness to this terrible drug and familiarize yourself with your rights as a patient, as well as with the concept of informed consent.
And third, recognize that time moves forward; not backward. If your repeated exposure to Versed has caused you memory problems, there is no constructive purpose in dwelling on it, or in torturing yourself with wondering what changes the drug may have caused to your mind. To do either is an easy (and potentially agonizing) trap to fall into. Obviously you do want to address those emotions because it would be unhealthy to suppress them, but one important thing to keep in mind is to not allow them to take over your life. Instead, the best way to recover on a cognitive level, I think, is to let all that extra "stuff" go (and by "stuff," I mean anger, resentment, the endless "what ifs," etc.).
It is absolutely atrocious that a drug like Versed even exists, and worse still that it remains in such widespread use. But Versed is simply yet another reflection of the craziness of the world we live in. I don't know if you ever saw the movie Lock Up starring Sylvester Stallone, but in an early scene, the main character defines his daily approach to life with the acronym "D.T.A." -- which stands for "Don't trust anyone." Unfortunately, with the ethics and behavior of the contemporary medical profession being such as they are, that particular approach is the only viable one for today's patients. Indeed, in an age where potent, brain-disabling drugs are being given out like candy by doctors and nurses all over the world, without the patient receiving even the most basic explanation of these drugs' side effects or mechanisms of action, trust is sadly no longer an option. Awareness, however, is -- in fact, it is an imperative. And don't expect doctors, nurses, or pharmaceutical companies to bestow it upon you. Instead, each patient needs to gain it for himself, which is why sites like Versed Busters are so valuable.
I wish you well in the future with your health problems."
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This post was in reply to a woman who wondered what to do with the information and insight she gleaned from www.versedbusters.blogspot.com She realized that it was most likely her exposure to the brain poison Versed that caused her symptoms. When people are trying to figure out just why their brain has disintegrated, they look around and see if others have had the same problem. As far as I know patients do not look to see what has caused problems with other people and then decide to have the same symptoms. This is a very bad drug, this Versed.
Most excellent post!
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