This is Lacoon, a Trojan priest, and his sons being engulfed and killed by snakes from the deep as he tried to warn the Trojans about the Horse they were planning to pull inside their walls. Gordon Hughes case, outlined last week in Treatment Great, Patient Died, shares a lot in common with Evelyn, Kafka, Jack and Luise in the same post. Unfortunately, most readers … [Read more...] about Our Unequal Struggle with Health Systems
The Treatment was Great, The Patient Died
This post contains a letter sent on October 31, 2022 to the Minister for Mental Health in Scotland about Gordon Hughes pictured here with his mother a few weeks before the events outlined below. Pictures and headings have been added. Kevin Stewart MSP, Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care, MinisterMWSC@gov.scot Dear Mr. Stewart, I was recently approached by … [Read more...] about The Treatment was Great, The Patient Died
Science, Kansas and the Wizard of Washington
This post follows on from Science, Kansas and Pancakes. Peter is doing a good job spreading word of this article on the Prozac studies in children and featuring other aspects of this extraordinary story. This post focusses in on one revelatory feature. Reviewer #3: A window with the view on the details of how drug approval proceeds. Very informative and helpful for … [Read more...] about Science, Kansas and the Wizard of Washington
Science, Kansas and Pancakes
A long time ago, following work on the Restoration of Study 329, I was approached by Peter Goetzsche, featured above, to work on restoring the two trials that had got Prozac (fluoxetine) approved for children for depression. I may have suggested this idea to Peter in that from 2004 or so I was aware that reviewers in the US FDA had concluded that although they were going to … [Read more...] about Science, Kansas and Pancakes
PSSD Patients Needed for Small Fibre Neuropathy Investigation
We recently ran a couple of blog posts about the possibility of a link between post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD) and small fibre neuropathy: Sensory Receptors, Small Fibres and Neuropathy Antidepressant Neuropathy and the Color of Life The posts recapped some of the things we had previously discussed on the blog and also included new information about a Finnish … [Read more...] about PSSD Patients Needed for Small Fibre Neuropathy Investigation
Remind Your Sister to get Vaccinated
The European Pharmaceutical Industry, in the guise of EFPIA, has a stranglehold on the European Commission in terms of policies for vaccination promotion and acquisition of healthcare data. Healthcare data is essential for Pharma to collect commercially useful realworld evidence of clinical illnesses and prescribing habits and trends. Both campaigns are supported directly or … [Read more...] about Remind Your Sister to get Vaccinated
Antidepressant Neuropathy and the Color of Life
Illustration: Is There Life After Meds?, © 2014 created by Billiam James Here is a Question put to the recent RxISK post on Sensory Neuropathy. I’m a psychologist and I have made numerous attempts to discontinue antidepressants only to experience significant withdrawal symptoms. I’ve been on antidepressants for 25 years at this point and have made four unsuccessful attempts … [Read more...] about Antidepressant Neuropathy and the Color of Life
Antidepressants and Premature Death
An article appeared in the British Journal of Psychiatry some weeks ago, by Narinder Bansal and colleagues from Bristol University. Having met Narinder I can tell readers she is a very impressive woman, with an impressive husband, Petros, who are both in one way or another working on population health. She had been working in cardiovascular medicine but switched to … [Read more...] about Antidepressants and Premature Death
ADHD and Polypharmacy. American Conditions?
This post tackles two RxISK themes - ADHD and Polypharmacy. While working through Pfizer's Serious Adverse Event narrative file, see The Fog of a Special Medical Operation, the term ADHD - attention deficit hyperactive cropped up quite often. There was one predictable feature to this - all cases came from the United States with none at the moment from Argentina, Brazil, … [Read more...] about ADHD and Polypharmacy. American Conditions?
Sensory Receptors, Small Fibres and Neuropathy
RxISK began in 2012. One of its main goals was to offer people an opportunity to report problems they had on treatments – any treatment – and generate a report they could take to a doctor in the hope this might get the doctor to take their problem seriously. I had seen my first cases of Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD) in 2000, had been writing about withdrawal since the … [Read more...] about Sensory Receptors, Small Fibres and Neuropathy