Editorial Note: For the past two months while there have been a series of authors on RxISK posts, David Healy has run a Persecution of Heretics series on davidhealy.org. The heresy is that drugs come with side effects - that they are poisons that can be put to close to magical use if both doctor and patient know they are dealing with a poison - See Persecution: Professional SUI … [Read more...] about The Persecution of Heretics
Blog
Pink Viagra or Pink Elephant?
On October 27 – 28 the FDA held a “Patient Focused Drug Development Meeting” on the issue of Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD). It’s one of about of a dozen such meetings they’re hosting over the next two years in what’s billed as an effort to be more responsive to patients. Most will focus on conditions that are life-threatening (sickle-cell anemia, Parkinson’s, breast cancer) … [Read more...] about Pink Viagra or Pink Elephant?
Rethink at Rethink?
Editorial Note: This post from James Bennett of RxISK's team explores the increasingly problematic area of sexual functioning on antidepressants and other drugs. The efforts to take down the Wikipedia page on Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD) suggest that the sexual side effects of antidepressants worry industry more than anything else. Why this should be is something that … [Read more...] about Rethink at Rethink?
The Tooth Fairy
Editorial note: While many people in the UK make it a point of honor to say they never read The Mail, when it comes to its health and femail pages The Mail can be quite astonishing. For some of us who have followed the stories on RxISK linking SSRI use to alcoholism, the Mail's pages feature an extraordinary parade of women crashing cars and killing others, or divorced by … [Read more...] about The Tooth Fairy
If Anxious Check Drugs: PPIs and Diuretics
Editorial Note: One of us had a very successful colleague who over time became more and more anxious and sought advice. It was difficult to see why this person should become anxious suggesting there was a physical factor involved. Repeated physical investigations showed nothing, except low magnesium. The only possibility left seemed to be the PPI, the person had been put on for … [Read more...] about If Anxious Check Drugs: PPIs and Diuretics
Asexuality: A Curious Parallel
Editorial Note: This post is by James Bennett who is organizing RxISK research on PSSD. In the last two decades there has been an explosion in the number of children being prescribed a range of drugs including antidepressants, antipsychotics and stimulants. There is also a dramatic increase in the number of children exposed to these drugs, especially antidepressants, before … [Read more...] about Asexuality: A Curious Parallel
Life on Drugs
Editorial Note: This extraordinary account of what it can be like to live on psychotropic drugs came by email out of the blue from Jim Seko. For the record, it looks from here that Jim cannot have had schizophrenia. His original problem almost has to be an acute and transient psychosis. The tragedy of these states is that they sometimes do lead to a life dulled by … [Read more...] about Life on Drugs
Chantix and Violence
Editorial Note: On October 16, there is an FDA hearing about Chantix and violence which is widely expected to feature an effort by Pfizer to roll back the warnings on the drug. One of the fascinating things about the Chantix story has been to see perfectly normal friends who use it to stop smoking become very agitated, and distressed. I don't personally know anyone who has … [Read more...] about Chantix and Violence
Medicines are not just a commodity
Editorial Note: This is not a RxISK Story - it's about preventing RxISK Stories. Those who read RxISK Stories are well aware of the economic might of the pharmaceutical industry (and the medical device industry) and their growing political clout with the government agencies that are supposed to regulate them. Their capture of the U.S. FDA, which operates within a largely … [Read more...] about Medicines are not just a commodity
Femininity and Drugs?
Just as the concepts of Recovery, Citizen Scientists and pretty well everything else can be captured by pharmaceutical industry, so also feminism and claims of sexism are now being hijacked by industry as marketing tools. FDA are accused of being sexist in not licensing a ‘female Viagra’. This claim is being used to mobilize pressure on them to license a pharmaceutical … [Read more...] about Femininity and Drugs?