The increase of stigma due to one of the guidelines here

@AffyAvo please submit screenshots if you seen this behaviour in the rooms, especially from mods.

i literally lost my fluff when after someone kept bringing up a substance some newbie in the room was like "is ____ something i should try?"

so, yeah. it's a really, honestly needed rule because people who come here with an addiction need to work on their addiction, not sit around casually chatting about it.

& then we get into complications of discussing medications we're on leading into people thinking they should try something, which is definitely something that needs to be curbed before it turns into all so many messes and people's feelings hurt.

so while the "no discussion, period" does not feel great, it feels more great than other options, yeah?

& 100% i do not want to hear that fluff in group chat x_x;

And again, an honors project sends an alert to everyone that doesn't stick to these rules - I think the information is actually good with the inclusion, but other posts with other meds can be too. @Laura where is the consistency with this?

Long post warning! Sorry!

I'm sure about 80-90% of members/listeners are on prescribed meds as a daily maintenance drug. Usually for the rest of our lives. As many know our bodies begin to be immune to certain drugs and adjustments need to be made. These meds are prescribed, not street drugs. With a community such as this, together we have lots of knowledge of how medications work and what's available on the market. We also have useful information from our doctors. With the age gaps in the sight we could certainly share experiences with certain meds. There are also age gaps of our psychiatrists each staying current about drugs but younger docs may not even consider meds used say 2 decades ago, that do in fact still work.

With all this we should be able to discuss by name. Maintenance drugs are not usually street drugs that are readily available. A prescription from a doctor is needed. With gaining information from members we can research and speak to our doctor. Ultimately its up to the doctor! Many of us do our own research on meds, why not have personal stories as a part of our research. Things to share with our doctor. Maybe a course of action they had not thought of. Also maybe after reading someone's post we find the words from them to better describe to our doctor what we are feeling.

And, hush, hush on drugs that get us out of bed does raise a stigma. I will share that I am on 8 maintenance drugs just to function and not be delusional or hallucinate. Then 3 as needed drugs for anxiety, panic, more delusions. This amount is embarrassing but not being able to say the name of drug its not easy to explain why I'm on so many. A few of these drugs I'm embarrassed that I'm on but I'm sure knowing that others are also on that med would help me feel more comfortable, not as alone. Who else do most of us have who could possibly begin to understand us talking about our meds other than professionals? We need peer and community support and I know I can't afford group therapy which would be the only other place to discuss with people in similar situations.

As for street drugs, that's different! That is a choice nor made by a professional. Sharing that "the drug they shoot" is not medical, its lifestyle, and yes, illness! I AM NOT JUDGING, SUBSTANCE ABUSE IS AN ILLNESS, its just that society doesn't always see that. However, a doctor is not involved! Substance abuse is serious and that's where mods need to be on their toes! Are these street drugs being pushed not medically related. There's definitely a difference.

Now on the topic of recreational drugs, there is one that is legal in many places! Places that we, this community, live! To me, its all research reading others medication experiences.

This site should be a safe site to share our medication experiences! And the legal drug that is still too often referred to as a recreational drug is a medication! Its prescribed!

I had no intention for this post to be so long and probably all over the place but, if a goal is to fight against stigma then let us speak!! Let our experience be heard! Let us not feel so alone!

Just my opinion on the topic.

@AffyAvo @EnergySensitive - you each raise some excellent points!

My understanding of the original purpose of the rule was to avoid people giving harmful medication related advice (or taking harmful medication related advice that was not posted as advice), but it seems to me that there could be a solution that addresses that challenge while also not making all medication names banned here.

For instance, if people were able to talk about the medication names/types, but not dosages, would that help to decrease stigma and allow for discussion of things like side effects while not directly telling someone something only a medical professional should? I would think so.

Or would something to the effect of "medication may be discussed, but we are not medical professionals and no one can tell you what you should take except for your doctor" work, so that we have the ability to remove content saying "You should try this drug!" or "Up your dosage to X!", while still allowing for "There are a range of medications to treat that - X has these common side effects and Y has these, and your doctor can provide more info on what options you might have"?

Just my two cents!

Some threads which relate to this:

https://www.7cups.com/forum/FamilyFriendsCaregiversSupport_77/TheTeaRoomComeandhaveacuppa_1538/WhatKindsOfTeasToDrinkWhenYouAreSickOrThatWillHelpYouOrForYourHealth_168252/

If foods are being used for medical purposes - how does that differ greatly from medications? It's not the first example of such a topic either.

https://www.7cups.com/forum/HobbyZone_125/WritingHobbies_839/CoffeeorTea_166946/1/

This topic was started by an admin and considering true tea and coffee both naturally contain a drug, it's expected to come up in this topic IMO. I think I counted the drug being named 5 times - no one is modding that.

@AffyAvo I had no idea this was a guideline. Thanks for posting about this and the conversation.

@Laura @Kate @MonBon @MelAllyouneedislove - wanted to draw your attention to this one :) I know we've discussed before and at the time the decision was no medication names, but it might be time to revisit and think about if there's a way to maintain the goals of the rule while also opening up a bit to decrease stigma (e.g., see my suggestion above on a potential compromise)

I am willing to revist this rule as well. It seems like the purpose is to, of course, not make any medical recommendations or lead anyone into thinking just because a certain medication works for you, that it will work for them too. It seems like something we should open up for conversation again and thoughtfully consider how including medication names may be beneficial to the community as long as we are not speaking about doseages or talking in a way that makes it seem we are making medical recommendations.