What a Surprise: RxISK taking entrepreneurs
June 12, 2017 | 7 Comments

It is worth wading through some slow moving stuff at the start of this post to get to the juicy bits. The Things Drugs Do Drugs do things.  Company marketing divides these things into the one good thing the company wants you to focus on – good for a company bottom-line and the ninety-nine other […]

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Shipwrecked by the Cure
Drug Wrecked: Where Does Change Come From?
April 24, 2017 | 50 Comments

Editorial Note:  There are two elements to RxISK.  One is identifying adverse events in order to keep people safe and to widen our knowledge about what drugs do. But just as important is taking on a power structure that some of us get a glimpse of when we raise the possibility of an adverse event […]

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You’ll Come a Taltzing Matilda with Me
March 6, 2017 | 21 Comments

Editorial Note: This post links to Are you Aware that Siliq causes Suicide and Otezla: Birth Defects and Suicide.  Pharma companies have a great deal of skin in the dermatology game at the moment – perhaps more than in any other area of medicine. Taltz, aka ixekizumab, is yet another new drug for psoriasis. Others […]

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Otezla: Birth Defects and Suicide
February 27, 2017 | 9 Comments

We’ve been here before – a woman in come hither mode or able to plunge into come hither mode at a moment’s notice without the worry of being compromised by a minor skin blemish just below her hairline.  See Stacy London and Welcome to Troy. AbbVie pioneered advertising like this for Humira, a hugely costly […]

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Olly
Roche and The Perfect Circle
December 19, 2016 | 83 Comments

Editorial Note: This is part 2 of the post by Heather and David Roberts – See RoAccutane and The Perfect Circle. Ever since in 2012 our son Olly died after using it, we have tried to learn what it does to the body and the mind. For the most terrifying thing about it, apart from […]

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Olly
RoAccutane and the Perfect Circle
December 12, 2016 | 29 Comments

Editorial Note: This post by Heather and David Roberts is about their son Olly and the struggles he and they had with the health system, acne and its treatments. Our son Olly had RoAccutane prescribed for him aged 21, getting ready to celebrate his birthday at Bristol University and wanting to look his best. He […]

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Hannah Was Here by Nancy Szakacsy
DRESS Syndrome: No Way to Treat a Lady
June 15, 2015 | 28 Comments

Black out Five minutes into yoga class, my sixteen year old daughter Hannah blacked out. Her face, white as a ghost. When she came to, she said she couldn’t see. Her pulse was almost nothing, and panic set in. I ran to my car to grab my phone and dial the infectious disease doctor Hannah […]

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Libido
His Chemicals, My Imbalance: A Story about Love
February 24, 2015 | 10 Comments

Editorial Note: This is a post by the partner of someone going through the persistent sexual dysfunction that isotretinoin can cause. It could be caused by an SSRI or it could be caused by finasteride. It could be a man supporting a woman, or a woman supporting a woman or any partnership. In June 2013 […]

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Clear skin
Accutane: 30 Years of Trading our Sex Lives for Clear Skin
December 10, 2013 | 113 Comments

Editorial: Bill G. Sex and skin There are an ever-increasing and disturbing number of young people claiming their sex lives have been permanently ruined from taking the acne drug, isotretinoin, commonly referred to by its former brand-name, Accutane. Often these affected young men and women, many in their teens and early 20s, cannot overcome their […]

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Clear skin
Diane and Diana: Carly’s Story
January 8, 2013 | 12 Comments

Carly’s story: I was referred to a psychiatrist for adult ADD when I started my first year at university. I made a passing complaint to my aunt, who is also a GP, over the summer about some occasional acne around my period. She suggested that I try Diane-35. I was also taking dexedrine at the time, […]

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