This is the first part of a two part series on clinical trial fraud from Johanna Ryan, with part 2 next week. Jo is RxISK's clinical trial and shoddy clinical practice sleuth - see The Maintenance Man. Recently the U.S. Department of Justice called attention to a small but worrisome crime wave. Health care fraud is a familiar feature of American life that may account for … [Read more...] about Ghosts in the Clinical Trial Machine
Anticonvulsants
Farewell Marchino
Nearly a week ago a group of Italians sent this post written after one of their number gave up his struggle with PSSD and the system. We've been very slow posting it - partly because of the emotions it stirs. Its quiet beginning and contained fury at the end conjured up Marc Antony's speech after Caesar's assassination. I Come to Bury Marchino Goodbye Marchino.. Little … [Read more...] about Farewell Marchino
Antidepressants: Education and Disability Certificates
This post covers difficulties primarily on antidepressants that medicines can cause to people in schools or universities who end up unable to study or do course-work, as well as the difficulties people can have trying to get off medicines, a process that can be pretty disabling. The materials linked to this post are being put in your hands to run an experiment and hopefully … [Read more...] about Antidepressants: Education and Disability Certificates
TRP Drugs and Herbs for Withdrawal and PSSD
We first mentioned Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) Channels/ Receptors in several RxISK posts about withdrawal and they feature on the RxISK Complex Withdrawal Page under Ion Channels. The table on that page gives a fascinating list of herbs and other compounds that could conceivably play a part in stabilizing people who are having withdrawal problems. Five or more years … [Read more...] about TRP Drugs and Herbs for Withdrawal and PSSD
Grey Hair, Rotting Teeth, Semi-Blind and Demented
The Human Body is not meant to be taking ‘stuff’ all the time, whether medicines or biohack stuff or whatever. Forget the image of a magic bullet that flies to the one spot where it is needed and causes no collateral damage, every medicine poisons. The trick is to use medicines only when the damage being caused by some condition outweighs the inevitable harms of the poison … [Read more...] about Grey Hair, Rotting Teeth, Semi-Blind and Demented
Coming off Depakote
I stopped Depakote - See Going on Depakote. First Try This was a nightmare to cold turkey off. I felt crazy, like my brain was going to explode and was on fire. I kept an ice pack on my head for days and listened to meditation tapes. I am not sure how I managed to survive let alone work. The psychiatrist of course thought I needed to absolutely be on a mood stabilizer. I told … [Read more...] about Coming off Depakote
Going on Depakote
Beginnings Childhoods are difficult to remember in detail. My first few memories were about the age of 2 1/2, maybe 3. I had chickenpox and I got an encephalitis. I didn't know that this is what it was until years later, when I became a medical provider. My experience was that I visually hallucinated (the one and only time in my life). I saw a wrought iron fence around my bed … [Read more...] about Going on Depakote
Ecclesiastical and Pharmaceutical Risk Benefit Calculations
The Catholic Church has been convulsed in recent years by sexual abuse scandals. There are two aspects to this. One has been the harm inflicted on children from the abuse but in many instances as much if not more damage has arisen from the secondary harms these children and later adults have incurred in their efforts to get believed. The second aspect has been the Church’s … [Read more...] about Ecclesiastical and Pharmaceutical Risk Benefit Calculations
Welsh Government Response to Withdrawal Petition
For Context to this post - See Welsh Senedd Withdrawal Seminar and Welsh and Scottish Petitions on Antidepressant Dependence. From Stevie Lewis Dear All, At the back end of last week I received the Welsh Government's response to the Petitions Committee's recommendations - see HERE. As you'll see from the attached, they have accepted 9 of the 10 … [Read more...] about Welsh Government Response to Withdrawal Petition
Welsh and Scottish Petitions on Antidepressant Dependence
Scottish and Welsh Parliaments Debate Psychiatric Drug Dependence and Withdrawal Over the last decade, the UK has seen dramatic increases in the number of people prescribed psychiatric drugs. In the British National Formulary, the prescribers bible, Chapter 4 represents Central Nervous System drugs including antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, antiepileptics and … [Read more...] about Welsh and Scottish Petitions on Antidepressant Dependence