Happen to be reading the news on NAMI when I came across an article pointing to MSNBC talking about being able to prove positive of the illness with a simple blood test. My first thought was…finally a way to stop doctors from prescribing a bunch of medications to people that aren’t bipolar right down to early childhood.
It is scary how our kids are supposedly being diagnosed with the illness and then treated with adult medications. This would stop also in that it would be a simple yes or no.
My next thought was if they can do that…what would be the implications on the people that are bipolar? Privacy would be the first issue…everyone would know that had access to any of your medical records. Insurance companies might deny health insurance or make it at a higher premium. There could also be discriminations at a job hiring, if the employer knows this before your interview.
Are we going to start testing in the womb and if it does come back that the child has a defect should there be an abort of the pregnancy with having a less than perfect child?
If you have the time….read the article posted here http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23337532/from/ET/ and then come back here and post what your thoughts are. I would be interested in what your thoughts are.
I haven't read that particular article but I have seen this noted in other areas.
You asked for thoughts and here is mine
I think it would be great actually to have a "blood test" to say - Yes you have Bipolar or No you don't have Bipolar. Course, if you registered a Yes, it still wouldn't state precisely what form on the spectrum you are. That would still be left to the psych docs to determine which, would also lead to the experimentation of the meds anyway. But hey, at least you'd know for certain.
Course for those that have been diagnosed erroneously, have gone through the stigma and prejudice from friends and family, have won disability cases based on it, and have had to come to grips with the diagnosis - it may throw some folks over the edge to then suddenly be told "Oops, our bad. Uhm you don't actually have this according to the blood test and although we know it has screwed your life up since we diagnosed you, all we can say is - sorry!"
It also would give credence to the fact that it is a bio-chemical illness and not "just in our heads" which would shut a lot of ignorant people up. Or, at least give them a gaping hole of a mouth for a few minutes until they could conjur something else up to disprove it.
It still wouldn't give a answer to whether a child as young as 1 has the illness. A parent will still take the 1 - 10 year old in and give testimony to the docs along with maybe a teacher's testimony, docs will give blood test, test comes back negative and what will be said then is "Well, the blood test can't be accurate at such a young age because the child hasn't developed enough of whatever to give a more accurate diagnosis based on the results of the test. So, although the test shows a negative for the illness, we will still apply their behavior, according to the parents testimony, to the criteria we have been using." Thus, they will still be chemically altered and heavily medicated at age 1-11 while the brain is still developing.
Course if the opposite were true and the 1 year old tested positive, no one would be saying how the test isn't 100% accurate based on their chemical development. It would just give them proof positive to drug the heck out of them.
Yes, I'm against the heavy handed drugging of children below the age of 11 unless it is in response to absolutely dire and horrifying dangerous activities of the child. Even then, I advocate for the doc to get testimony of the activities from non-biased areas (parent) and from other outside sources first and foremost. I've just seen too many negative cases of exploitation of young children in an effort to better manage them for the adult for which they are in the care from or, for the adult to get their medication from them in order to sell it or consume it themselves.
I do have a comment about the shared medical history and whatnot you mentioned. Unless you have really been sheltered Eric, or literally under a rock, this is already happening. You are labelled Bipolar, insurance companies deny care or apply it to a pre-existing clause for 18 months. Every medical entity that exchanges information has it. If your school, employer, or other entity requires a medical disclosure - they will get it.
If a prospective employer has to have a medical disclosure prior to hiring, they have it. Life insurance companies have it, the government is supposed to now have it reported for gun control, law enforcement can get it if there is an issue in that area, lawyers, judges, law clerks have it if you are involved in a legal case and they've requested your medical records.
It is already being shared amongst the universe as we know it cause a lot of your info is on the world wide web. Discrimination, assumption, and etc... happens today Eric with or without someone's knowledge or permission. It all depends on what you are doing, applying for, or needing. It also depends on how the other side looks at the info they've received as to whether it will go in your favor or their's.