Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ramanujan88]

Hello,

I just moved to South Korea and am loving my new teaching job. I've been a teacher in America for 10 years, but this is my first time in another country. The hours are intensely long, but the kids are so wonderful. Also, I love Korea so far - the people, the work, the places.

There's is one large downside for me personally that I can't talk to anyone about. I live with schizophrenia and ADD. I've never been on meds except for a few month period last year, which was wonderful. I felt not cured, but certainly healed of the pain and able to do things that were always so hard. Unfortunately, to get into Korea, one could not take prescription drugs (unless it was physical problem) nor could one even be honest about their health background. Don't get me wrong I can function, I can get through the day. The kids learn what they need to, I meet the requirements as a teacher. It's okay. But it could be great. I could teach without pain. I could focus far better and make better projects for my kids. I could study Korea more and even learn the language.

Does anyone else have mental illness and is teaching abroad in SK? Suggestions? I can't reveal to my work obviously or they may fire me. It's sad...disability (especially mental) is not recognized well in SK. Don't get me wrong, I love it here, I just want to experience it fully and with less pain.

Do psychiatrists require ID? Or are their alternatives treatments you found useful? Some other route I'm missing?

Please don't bash me with ablelist comments. Not up for a prejudice argument. If you've been in my shoes or have a helpful idea, I'd really appreciate it. If you're here to troll, save your breath. I'm here, I'm working, I'm staying.

[slothrop]

[Ramanujan88]

[Hokie21]

Are you saying you didn't bring your meds with you??? Of course you can bring your medication with you, just don't tell your school about it. Did you think someone was going to confiscate your meds upon entering Korea? As long as you had a prescription for it in your name there is nothing immigration etc could have done about it.

If you did bring your meds with you (hopefully you did) go to a clinic and say you need a refill because you have trouble sleeping or something. I know of people who were suffering from depression and had no trouble getting their meds filled...they just said they couldn't sleep.

Schizophrenia is no laughing matter...to go off your meds suddenly with that is a serious health concern OP. Get to a clinic. Your health is way more important than some 12 month teaching gig.

Good luck.

[jazzmaster]

I don't have any mental illness but I do take low dose tricyclic anti-depressants for a stomach condition. I recently had a medical check at work and everything came back fine. But it's worth noting that my dose is 10mg whereas doses for mental illness would be 50-300mg.

If you know the doses you require then I would suggest finding a Korean you trust and asking them to go to a psychiatrist with you. They do require ID but hopefully you can ask them to refrain from sharing your medical information with anyone else.

Good luck for the future and I wish you the best in dealing with your illness.

[ghostrider]

You can be prescribed ritalin at the international clinic in Itaewon. There is no law requiring doctors to inform immigration about a foreigner who is being treated for a mental health condition. Just be discreet. Maybe it's best not to use your national health insurance to pay for any medication.

[cmxc]

I firmly believe that Koreans have a disproportionately higher rate of mental illness according to Western standards.

It's always seemed to me that Koreans suffer a type of collective autism and solipsism.

For example, if you were to consult the DSMV, and read the description of bipolar disorder, you would read a description of the overwhelming majority of Korean females you might meet in Korea.

Standards of mental health or wellness may be culturally relative. This makes sense when you consider that as recently as 42 years ago, homosexuality was considered a form of mental illness.

If I were you, I would not worry too much if you are considered mentally ill, according to someone else's standard. The question remains, do you feel mentally ill according to your own standard?

PS - Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you...

[radcon]

[tob55]

[kingplaya4]

Am I the only one who thinks Korea is all wrong for this guy, especially if he can't get his meds? He might be in a honeymoon stage with the kids and the country right now, but what if it doesn't last? This sounds like the potential for a disaster in the making. These days, Korea isn't really that great for people without any serious problems, in the case of the OP I would say sprint, don't walk to the airport and get back on your medication.

[Pianote]

It is really dangerous to go off meds without the supervision of a doctor. Especially meds related to schizophrenia, your body could feel adverse effects by stopping medication suddenly. This is true for depression meds and other types of meds as well.

Find a English speaking Doctor/therapist who can help you asap! Living overseas as an expat is stressful and you don't want to have a relapse. Please seek professional medical help for your condition as soon as you can. Like tonight or this weekend.

[guavashake]

http://www.cchr.org/sites/default/files/The_Side_Effects_of_Common_Psychiatric_Drugs.pdf

http://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/antipsychoticsideeffects/

Antipsychotic drugs side effects

BRAND NAMES (generic names):
Older Antipsychotics
Newer Antipsychotics
Abilify (aripiprazole)
Clozaril (clozapine)
Geodon (ziprasidone)
Invega (palperidone)
Leponex (clozapine)
Risperdal (risperidone)
Serlect (sertindole)
Seroquel (quetiapine)
Symbyax (fluoxetine and olanzapine -
antidepressant/antipsychotic mix)
Zeldox (ziprasidone)
Zyprexa (olanzapine)


ANTIPSYCHOTICS
(Called Major Tranquilizers or Neuroleptics)
Haldol (haloperidol)
Lidone (molindone)
Loxitane (loxapine)
Mellaril (thioridazine hydrochloride)
Moban (molindone)
Navane (thiorixene)
Nozinan (methotrimeprazine)
Orap (pimozide)
Permitil (fluphenazine)
Proketazine (carphenazine)
Prolixin (fluphenazine)
Repoise (butaperazine)
Serentil (mesoridazine besylate)
Sparine (promazine)
Stelazine (trifluoperazine)
Taractan (chlorprothixene)
Thorazine (chlorpromazine)
Tindal (acetophenazine)
Trancopal (chlormezanone)
Trilafon (perphenazine)
Vesprin (triflupromazine)

SIDE EFFECTS:
Abnormal gait (manner of
walking)
Agitation
Akathisia*
Anxiety
Birth defects
Blood disorders
Blood-sugar abnormalities
Blurred vision
Breastmilk production
Cardiac arrest
Changes in behavior
Chest pain
Confusion
Constipation
Death from liver failure
Decreased sexual interest or
ability
Depression
Diabetes
Diarrhea
Difficulty breathing,
swallowing or fast
breathing
Difficulty falling asleep or
staying asleep
Difficulty urinating or loss
of bladder control
Dizziness
Dreaming more than usual
Drowsiness
Dry mouth
Dry or discolored skin
Excess sweating
Excessive weight gain
Extreme inner anxiety
Eye pain or discoloration
Fainting
Fast, irregular, or pounding
heartbeat
Fatal blood clots
Fever
Fine worm-like tongue
movements
Flu-like symptoms
Headache
Heart arrhythmia
Heart failure
Heart palpitation
Heartburn
Heat stroke
Hemorrhage
High fever
Hives
Hostility
Hyperglycemia (abnormally
high blood sugar)
Hypoglycemia (abnormally
low blood sugar)
Impotence
Increased appetite
Increased salivation
Indigestion
Insomnia
Involuntary movements
Itching
Jaw, neck, and back muscle
spasms
Joint pain
Lack of energy
Light-headedness
Loss of appetite
Manic reaction
Mood changes
Muscle or joint stiffness,
pain, or weakness
Muscle twitching
Nausea
Nervousness
Neuroleptic Malignant
Syndrome*
Nightmares
Pacing
Pain in arms, legs, back,
or joints
Pain in the upper right part
of the stomach
Painful erection that lasts
for hours
Painful skin rashes
Pancreatitis (inflammation
of pancreas, a gland near
the stomach that helps
digestion)
Poor concentration
Restlessness or pacing
Seizures or convulsions
Sexual dysfunction
Shakiness
Shaking hands that you
cannot control
Sleepiness
Slow or difficult speech
Slow, jerky movements
Sore throat
Spasms
Suicidal thoughts
Swelling of the arms,
hands, feet, ankles, or
lower legs
Swollen and leaking breasts
Tachycardia (heart
irregularity)
Tardive dyskinesia*
Tremors
Unusual behavior
Unusual bleeding or
bruising
Unusual tiredness
Violence
Vomiting
Weakness
Weight gain
Yellowing of the skin or
eyes84
*Akathisia: A, meaning “without” and kathisia, meaning “sitting,” an inability to keep still. Patients
pace about uncontrollably. The side effect has been linked to assaultive, violent behavior.85
*Neuroleptic malignant syndrome: A potentially fatal toxic reaction where patients break into
fevers and become confused, agitated and extremely rigid. An estimated 100,000 Americans have
died from it after taking the older antipsychotics.86
*Tardive Dyskinesia: Tardive, meaning “late” and dyskinesia meaning, “abnormal movement of
muscles.” Tardive Dyskinesia is a permanent impairment of the power of voluntary movement of
the lips, tongue, jaw, fingers, toes and other body parts.87

GENERAL WARNINGS AND STUDIES ON ANTIPSYCHOTICS:
2001: The Journal of Toxicology reported that the newer antipsychotics “will soon account
for the majority of poisonings from antipsychotic agents that get presented to health care
facilities in the U.S.”88 Researchers found “seizures are uncommonly associated with
atypical [new] antipsychotic agents following both therapeutic doses and overdoses….
[T]he ingestion of a single tablet of clozapine (Clozaril), olanzapine (Zyprexa) and
risperidone (Risperidal) may cause significant toxicity in a toddler. Ataxia (involuntary
muscular movement), confusions, EPS (extrapyramidal symptoms—nerve damage), coma
and respiratory arrest have been reported following ingestion of 50-200mg of clozapine
in toddlers.”89
September 2003: The FDA requested the makers of six newer antipsychotic drugs add
a caution to their labeling language about the potential risk of diabetes and blood sugar
abnormalities.90
June 2004: The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration published an Adverse
Drug Reactions Bulletin reporting that the newer antipsychotics could increase the risk of
diabetes.91
September 22, 2005: Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman of Columbia University and other researchers
published a study in The New England Journal of Medicine that compared the older
generation of antipsychotics with several newer ones. Far from proving effectiveness, of
the 1,493 patients who participated, 74% discontinued taking antipsychotic drugs before
the end of their treatment due to inefficacy, intolerable side effects or other reasons. After
18 months of taking Zyprexa, 64% of the patients stopped taking it—most commonly
because it caused sleepiness, weight gain or neurological symptoms like stiffness and
tremors.92
December 1, 2005: Researchers found that 18% of nearly 23,000 elderly patients taking
the older antipsychotics died within the first six months of taking them.93
May 2, 2006: USA Today released the results of an analysis of FDA data that showed at
least 45 children died between 2000 and 2004 from the side effects of antipsychotic drugs
(Clozaril, Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, Abilify and Geodon). Despite an adults-only
FDA approval for these drugs, according to the USA Today, up to 2.5 million children
were prescribed them. As the FDA’s Adverse Drug Reactions reporting database only
collects 1% to 10% of drug-induced side effects and reported deaths, the true child death
rate could be between 450 and several thousand. Further, there were 1,328 reports of other
side effects, some life-threatening, such as convulsions and low white blood cell count.94
January 5, 2008: The Lancet (Britain) published a study where the authors concluded
“that the routine prescription of antipsychotic drugs early in the management of aggressive
22
challenging behavior, even in low doses, should no longer be regarded as a satisfactory
form of care.”95
April 2008: The American Geriatrics Society published a study entitled, “Antipsychotic
Drug Use and Risk of Pneumonia in Elderly People,” which reviewed 22,944 elderly
people with at least one antipsychotic prescription. The results of the study showed that
“antipsychotics were associated with an almost 60% increase in the risk of pneumonia…”
concluding that elderly people are at greater risk of pneumonia, especially during the first
week of antipsychotic drug treatment.96
April 9, 2008: Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety published a study entitled, “The
use of central nervous system [CNS] drugs and analgesics [painkillers] among very
old people with and without dementia.” The study compared the use of CNS drugs in
people aged 85 years or older, with and without dementia and concluded: “[T]he use of
antipsychotics in people with dementia should arouse particular concern, because of the
high risk of severe adverse events and the limited evidence of positive effects.”97
May 26, 2008: The Archives of Internal Medicine published a study about “Antipsychotic
Therapy and Short-term Serious Events in Older Adults With Dementia” that found:
“Serious events…are frequent following the short-term use of antipsychotic drugs in
older adults with dementia. Antipsychotic drugs should be used with caution even when
short-term therapy is being prescribed.”98
June 2008: The FDA issued a warning to healthcare professionals that conventional and
atypical antipsychotics are associated with an increased risk of mortality in elderly patients
treated for dementia-related psychosis. It specified that antipsychotics are not indicated
for the treatment of this condition. Additionally, the FDA required the manufacturers of
these drugs to add a boxed warning about this risk to the prescribing information. Older,
conventional antipsychotics were also to carry a “black box” warning about an increased
risk of death in some elderly people.99
WARNINGS ON SPECIFIC ANTIPSYCHOTICS:
ABILIFY (aripiprazole):
Abilify and other antipsychotic drugs have caused a potentially fatal condition called
neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Patients who develop this may have high fevers, muscle
rigidity, altered mental status, irregular pulse or blood pressure, rapid heart rate, excessive
sweating, and heart arrhythmias (irregularities).100
23
Body temperature regulation—disruption of the body’s ability to reduce core body
temperature—has been attributed to antipsychotic agents such as Abilify.101
April 2003: The U.S. consumer advocacy group Public Citizen conducted a review of
information published on Abilify, basing their evaluation primarily on publicly available
FDA reviews of information submitted by the manufacturer to gain FDA approval for
Abilify. Approval was based on five trials only lasting four to six weeks. According to
Public Citizen, “…nothing in these five trials can lead one to believe that aripiprazole
(Abilify) is a meaningful advancement in the treatment of schizophrenia.”102
The information insert on Abilify lists hyperglycemia (abnormally high blood sugar—
usually associated with diabetes), hypoglycemia (abnormally low blood sugar) and diabetes
as possible side effects.103
Clozaril (clozapine):
May 2008: Medsafe (New Zealand) posted a prescriber update called “Clozapine and
Achy Breaky Hearts” warning that Clozapine can cause myocarditis [inflammation of the
heart muscle] that may be fatal. It was also associated with cardiomyopathy [disease of
the heart muscle]. While risk factors are unknown, pre-treatment cardiovascular screening
was recommended.104
May 2008: Medsafe posted their June 2008 “Watching Briefs,” a report in which they
included a warning: “Use of clozapine in older patients carries a higher risk of adverse
reactions such as postural hypotension [low blood pressure], falls, sedation and constipation,
compared to use in younger patients. Therefore, increased clinical monitoring of the elderly
is necessary to ensure their safety.”105
Haldol (haloperidol):
September 17, 2007: The FDA issued an alert to Healthcare Professionals about
haloperidol (marketed as Haldol), stating: “Due to a number of case reports of sudden
death, TdP [Torsades de Pointes] and QT prolongation [TdP and QT prolongation are types
of heart abnormalities] in patients treated with haloperidol (especially when the drug is
given intravenously or at doses higher than recommended), the sponsor has updated the
labeling for haloperidol.” ECG [Electrocardiogram—a graphical recording of the cardiac
cycle produced by a special machine, a.k.a. EKG] monitoring was recommended if
haloperidol is given intravenously, even though haloperidol is not approved for intravenous
administration.106
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ZYPREXA (olanzapine):
July 22, 2005: Eli Lilly & Co., the manufacturer of Zyprexa, agreed to pay $1.07 billion
to settle more than 8,000 claims against the drug, alleging it could potentially cause lifethreatening
diabetes.107
September 22, 2005: Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman of Columbia University and other researchers
published a study in The New England Journal of Medicine comparing an older generation
of antipsychotics with several newer ones.108 After 18 months of taking Zyprexa, 64%
of the patients stopped taking it, most often because it was not well tolerated and caused
sleepiness, weight gain or neurological symptoms like stiffness and tremors.109
October 5, 2007: Eli Lilly issued an important Safety Information update on its website
and product labels for Zyprexa and Symbyax (combination of Zyprexa and fluoxetine, or
Prozac) warning of the risk of weight gain, hyperglycemia (increased blood sugar) and
hyperlipidemia (elevated fats in the blood and cholesterol).110
2008: The current Zyprexa Safety Information includes a “black box” warning of increased
risk of death in elderly patients with dementia, as well as the following warnings: High level
of fats in the blood, weight gain, high blood sugar, “strokes and ‘mini strokes’ (in elderly
people with dementia); neuroleptic malignant syndrome; tardive dyskinesia; low blood
pressure; seizures; trouble with judgment, thinking, and reflexes; trouble swallowing; body
temperature problems…and “this is not a complete list….”

[jvalmer]

[hogwonguy1979]

[sligo]