Dr. Healy, I am writing to you after receiving distressing messages from my son, who asked for help with regards to names of specialists or supports to help him with his extreme PSSD condition. This may seem like helicopter parenting, but I feel compelled to write in regards to the devastating impact your message had on him. He is in utter despair over what has happened. … [Read more...] about Empathy for Drug Induced Injuries
A Medical Triumph SSRIs and Alcohol
Over the last decade David Healy.org and RxISK.org have both featured a series of posts about SSRIs and alcoholism and about Anne Marie Kelly. There has been Out of my Mind Driven to Drink and related posts, Petra's Story and Every Drink Spiked on DavidHealy as well as Driven to Drink: Antidepressants and Craving for Alcohol, Prescription Drugs Spiking your Cocktail, and Did … [Read more...] about A Medical Triumph SSRIs and Alcohol
Freeing Teresa: The Quality of Care
Samizdat is co-publishing Freeing Teresa with Franke and Bill James. There is a complementary Freeing Teresa: Human Rights Should not be Disabled post on davidhealy.org. There has also been a prior RxISK post about Teresa - Human Rights Should be for Everyone. Today we will also add a Human Rights Category to RxISK posts. Freeing Teresa is a true story about Franke’s … [Read more...] about Freeing Teresa: The Quality of Care
Treatment Complications: Good Expert Needed
I recently had a request for input on akathisia and withdrawal related issues that for some reason charmed me into responding. The back and forth however began to sink into a quicksand that can put me off responding. There is an old aphorism about experts – a true expert is s/he who knows how little s/he knows. Sounds cute but it’s not what anyone who consults someone they … [Read more...] about Treatment Complications: Good Expert Needed
When the Personal becomes Political
This short talk was delivered 10 days ago. The video is Healy - Post SSRI Sexual Dysfunction is here. Slide 1: One of these two is on an antidepressant and unable to make love. Like SSRIs and Homicide, the sexual effect of SSRIs impacts significantly on people not on a drug. Or one of them was on an antidepressant and years later is still not able to make … [Read more...] about When the Personal becomes Political
New Test to Confirm a PSSD Diagnosis
A 2016 RxISK post discussing how common post-ssri sexual dysfunction (PSSD) might be, highlighted Colpi et al., 1991, and Yilmaz et al., 1999 showing fluoxetine and clomipramine, both serotonin reuptake inhibitors, reduce genital sensation. These studies feature in our 2018 paper: Enduring sexual dysfunction after treatment with antidepressants, 5α-reductase inhibitors and … [Read more...] about New Test to Confirm a PSSD Diagnosis
Withdrawal, PSSD and Cholinergic Drugs
Health Warning I don’t know a great deal about the issues in this post. Experts by Experience and The Marketing of Anticholinergic Maleficence along with Psychotropic Drug Follies will give some feel for the background that makes it difficult to be certain about anything linked to the cholinergic drugs. The Past Present and Future article will need to be downloaded to take to … [Read more...] about Withdrawal, PSSD and Cholinergic Drugs
Experts by Experience and Nobel Prizes
In the mid-1980s, I gave a very nice man, an in-patient, weekend leave. He hung himself. Everyone was shocked. The drug I’d put him on was the trigger to his suicide. Soon after, a medical resident called me to a case she was handling. She seemed exceptionally impressive, so I was surprised to hear afterwards she was taking an antidepressant. She told me about the … [Read more...] about Experts by Experience and Nobel Prizes
Visual Snow: A Looming Epidemic
There have been multiple RxISK posts on visual problems linked to SSRI use, starting a decade ago with Keeping an Eye on the Ball and most recently Visual Snow Protocol and New Study of Antidepressants and Vision Problems. Visual Snow can be episodic linked to migraine, or continuously present when triggered by antidepressants. When visual problems - palinopsia, enhanced … [Read more...] about Visual Snow: A Looming Epidemic
What Counts? A Tale of Good and Evil
This title plays on words. Counting suggests numbers but also hints at values. This talk hinges on a clash between a worldview centred on numbers and one centred on values. The slides and text are below. A video record of the talk is here - What Counts? Slide 2: One of these two is on an antidepressant and unable to make love. Like drug induced Homicide, … [Read more...] about What Counts? A Tale of Good and Evil