My doctor gave me tranks as a teenager
I read your Viewpoint about tranquillisers and children (WDDTY, vol 11 no 7) with despair.
In 1970, when I was 16, my mother took me to our GP for help with my 'nerves and moodiness'. She was going through menopause at the time and was taking large quantities of high dose tranquillisers. I was put on Librium, then Valium and, at 17, the Pill to 'regulate my periods'. After about four years,
I stopped and relied on less harmful remedies for help with the occasional panic attack.
Looking back, I feel lucky to have escaped the addiction that could so easily have resulted. My mother, however, is not so lucky. Now in her 70s, she has a history of depression, nervous problems and panic attacks.
I am now going through the menopause myself and determined to do it naturally, despite the pressure of the medical profession and my peers to make things easier with HRT! Laina West, by e-mail