RxISK

Making Medicines Safer for All of Us

akathisia

The Mysteries of Tapering – XX Rated

21 Comments

A woman on lamotrigine, a drug I never give anyone because of its withdrawal and other problems, recently came my way.  She had been tapering for a long-time partly because lamotrigine can be a nasty drug to stop but primarily because her lamotrigine support group were firm Hyperbolic believers. An extraordinary number of people, primarily in my experience women, are … [Read more...] about The Mysteries of Tapering – XX Rated

No One Expects the Reformation

22 Comments

The title of this post borrows a famous line from Monty Python: No one expects the Spanish Inquisition   This is an advance notice of things to come rather than a post per se. To get a sense of the things to come, it is worth reading the Antidepressants, Homicide and a Challenge post and the comments that come after it where many regular contributors to RxISK pick up … [Read more...] about No One Expects the Reformation

Antidotes for Akathisia and Dysregulation

19 Comments

A recent Mad in America Webinar on Antidepressant Dysregulation Syndromes introduced the idea that tapering might not be the only way to solve some of the problems SSRI antidepressants can cause.  Tapering supporters give the impression tapering is the only legitimate way to go, leaving little or no room for the possibility that antidotes might help. Quite aside from … [Read more...] about Antidotes for Akathisia and Dysregulation

Madness, Normality and Antidepressant Dysregulation

37 Comments

Some weeks ago, Bob Whitaker asked me to do a Mad in America Continuing Education Webinar on the problems stopping Antidepressants. The talk with discussion is here Stopping Antidepressants and responses to points raised will be followed up in forthcoming posts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIlk1My4ZgQ   I prerecorded the talk in case of disaster as Tapering … [Read more...] about Madness, Normality and Antidepressant Dysregulation

Complex Sensory Imbalances: New Remedies

15 Comments

  In the Beginning The sulfonamides transformed medicine in the 1930s.  They were the first effective antibiotics and they gave rise to the first diuretics, antihypertensives and hypoglycemics. The latest medical miracle, Semaglutide – Novo-Nordisk’s Ozempic - is touted not just as an effective hypoglycemic (anti-diabetic) medicine but also a Holy Grail drug that … [Read more...] about Complex Sensory Imbalances: New Remedies

Ondine’s Curse: Can’t Live With or Without

29 Comments

Ondine's Curse links closely to Balancing our Bodies and next week's Juggling our Selves. Ondine’s Curse sounds like a Greek Myths. Its not.  The story began taking shape a few hundred years ago and has been elaborated ever since - ending up featuring in The Little Mermaid and other stories. The standard version is that a faithless man is cursed by Ondine, a water-nymph, … [Read more...] about Ondine’s Curse: Can’t Live With or Without

Balancing Our Bodies and Our Selves

25 Comments

Thanks to R who helped trigger this important RxISK post and some doctoring. . In July 2023, RxISK ran a post, written by R, giving an account of her Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness.  PPPD was new to us.  R had been in regular contact for a decade because of protracted withdrawal problems. Her problems came back in waves that were difficult to manage. She was then … [Read more...] about Balancing Our Bodies and Our Selves

Potentially Inappropriate Deprescribing – PID

33 Comments

This post is linked to An Archipelago of Realities on DH.org.  The link may not be clear when you start reading Archipelago but half way down it will be apparent. What is being said on Archipelago about SSRIs applies just as much to benzodiazepines here.   Geriatric medicine came into being in the 1980s and with it a new word – polypharmacy – a phenomenon particularly … [Read more...] about Potentially Inappropriate Deprescribing – PID