Thread by @color_me_

Dear World,

Recently a man of much wealth and so undue power & influence, @elonmusk, made a bizarre, senseless attempt to malign a drug, #BUPROPION (aka Wellbutrin/Zyban), which continues to profoundly benefit the lives, the functioning, of myself & others.

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The potential implications of this must be addressed.

Of all the drugs on the market — some easy to get as candy (alcohol, cigarettes, vaping), others blithely prescribed, often irresponsibly (opioids, broad-spectrum anti-biotics) &

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in some cases even seemingly maliciously (opioids, anti-psychotics) — why would he pick one that´s been in use since the ´80s, never had any controversy, helps a lot of people lose weight, and helps a lot of us THINK, PERCEIVE, COMMUNICATE, LEARN, and MOVE ABOUT.

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Very confusingly, Bupropion is often referred to as a "psychiatric" drug, an "anti-depressant", because it is often, under the name #Wellbutrin, prescribed by psychiatrists for "depression" — whatever that even means. 

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{One of the very *confused & confusing labels* in medicine, "depression" gets assigned to many disparate symptoms & cases; is it referring to *a unipolar mood disorder* — that is, a spontaneous endogenous dysfunction in the brain causing suppression of some emotions &

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unwarranted, unnatural predominance of others, and the resulting distraction & disheartened lack of motivation/enthusiasm?  Or is it a misdiagnosis of a natural, actually healthy, reaction that a cognizant, feeling person has to horrific life &/or world circumstances? 

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Or is it referring to another matter entirely — fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, pain & other not-nice sensations, of unknown etiology, often previously or concurrently labeled #ChronicFatigueSyndrome & often later disgnosed as #Fibromyalgia, #Lyme, or #MultipleSclerosis?}

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Under the name #Zyban, Bupropion is prescribed by general practitioners to help with cigarette addiction.  (Bit of marketing trickery — it was given this 3rd name for fear that smokers would be reluctant to take something associated with psychiatric patients! 🙄)

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It´s a STIMULANT, but of a different sort than Amphetamine (Adderall), Methylphenidate (Ritalin), Caffeine; for many of us it´s an ACTIVATING drug — a *QUALITY of LIFE*-saving, or *-giving*, drug.

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Obviously #ElonMusk isn´t stupid or naive — he has a well functioning brain, an education, and´s been hobnobbing all ´round the world; he must know that, considering this from an empathetic, moral perspective, NO drug — whether over-the-counter, prescription,

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or currently illegal — should be denied to someone who benefits, or might benefit, from its effects.  And surely he knows it often happens that three people suffering the same symptoms of the same cause will react three very different ways to the same drug —

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one it makes larger, one it makes small, and for one, to much frustration, it doesn´t do anything at all...
If a drug isn´t helping you, stop taking it, and try something else.
And if indeed the cause of Musk´s friends´ trouble was their taking Bupropion, well:

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for every one of those folks it´s had a harmful effect on, it´s helped many others;
If there´s a market for it, it should damn well be on the market; and there is, and it shall stay.

(And this guy´s supposed to be a *libertarian* type?!?  ಠ_ಠ)

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A few weeks back, he posted a particular bit of snark in time to simultaneously score however many million likes for "edginess" & however many million more for trendiness: likening Trudeau to H¡tler.
Oh, the meme he shared was quite right:

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potentially ruining someone´s life by denying them their means of income because they won´t allow a potentially injurious substance to be injected into their body, is #ableism to the level of naziism...

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*As is denying people the drugs that help them, or the right to try ones that might.*

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#HealthFreedom #MedicalFreedom #MyBodyMyChoice #Drugs #RightToTry #RightToFunction #RightToLife

@threadreaderapp unroll , please. :)