A link to the Akathisia Anthem song and video is available on RxISK’s Akathisia page. There will be follow up posts on RxISK and DavidHealy over the next two weeks. Akathisia anthem Akathisia, Akathisia You make me wanna Make me wanna Akathisia Thank you doctor for this little pill But the fact of the matter, it’s […]
Editorial Note: Returning to the theme of the RxISK Prize… Reading the weekend newspaper, some months back, my eye was caught by a flame red haired women in a turquoise dress who said her occupation involved testing sex toys. The article was impossible to ignore and there was nothing for it but to contact Venus […]
The following blog post comes from Mary Hennessey. It’s a wonderful example of the generosity we have seen in response to our RxISK Prize campaign, in support of men and women who have been left with permanent sexual dysfunction after using antidepressants, finasteride, or isotretinoin. Commissioned textile art piece – to be sold I commissioned […]
The RxISK Prize campaign took off 3 months ago. The generosity of donors from all walks of life – many out of work because of the impact of these conditions on them – has been astonishing. There have also been substantial anonymous donations. While many of those affected have lost faith in doctors and pharmaceutical […]
Editorial Note: This is the third in a RxISK Map series of posts – See Reformation Day and Here We Stand. These link closely to the RxISK Prize. There are two aspects to finding a cure for an adverse event. One is understanding the biology. The other is getting it established that the effect happens. […]
Editorial Note. This post runs hand in hand with Vampire Medicine and Cisparency on David Healy.org. It is the second of three posts, following on from Reformation Day laying the basis for a RxISK Map which is linked to the RxISK Prize. When you are facing down the barrel of a tank… Pharmaceutical companies, medical […]
Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther nailed a set of theses to a Church door calling time on a scam. A scam that had the backing of the political and religious authorities of the day. When challenged his response was “Here I stand, I can do no other”. Today is Reformation Day. The drama in […]
This continues the series of posts about the RxISK Prize. It lays the way for the RxISK Prize and Map which will feature next week Stigma PSSD, PFS, PRSD and PGAD come with a heavy burden of stigma. This is a problem AIDS activists met head-on and conquered in an extraordinary fashion. It had never […]
Globalization is not a word that’s in favor at the moment. In the face of this very recent economic development that seemed to be sweeping the board in the 1980s and 1990s, we now want to reassert national boundaries, hang onto “our” jobs, and keep out others – sometimes those who have done a great […]
The RxISK Prize campaign has now had over $10,000 from 51 donations coming from 48 donors in 12 different countries. People from Korea to Argentina are engaging with the issue. We will give more details later in the week. It seems clear that Adverse Events – Drug Wrecks – are a Global Disorder, the greatest single source […]
The RxISK Prize throws up one surprise after another. I would have thought as organizations that save lives and pillars of the economy, it should be relatively easy to contact a pharmaceutical company. It isn’t. I have lots of contacts in organizations that liaise with pharma and used to have many contacts in pharma but […]
This post follows Launching and How You Can Help which are also now on our Prize page on the Main Menu. Launching the RxISK Prize has been eye opening. Everyone who has donated or will donate will hopefully get some sense of this. If you’re not getting it, you need to remember this Prize is yours […]
As will be clear from some of the helpful comments on the first post about a RxISK Prize, you are going to have to work with us to make this work. Your input can take several forms. The greatest need The biggest block to making the Prize work is the same block everyone suffering from […]
This Prize is part of a two-pronged attack on the unwillingness of the medical and regulatory establishments to listen to people with adverse events in general – not just the sexual dysfunctions mentioned here. The second front in the attack will be unveiled in a few weeks’ time. The problem The idea for a RxISK […]
If you look at the adverse events section of the sertraline – Zoloft – label you will see in small print that sertraline has been linked to psychosis, hallucinations and aggressive reactions. Its there in small print. These links have been there since the mid-1990s. Vanishingly few doctors understand what is going on here. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]