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 "side effects" that we are doing our best to minimize. This issue came up in … [Read more...] about What a Surprise: RxISK taking entrepreneurs
Anticonvulsants
Drug Wrecked: Where Does Change Come From?
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 and our doctors dismiss us, or get nasty, and close ranks. The idea behind a … [Read more...] about Drug Wrecked: Where Does Change Come From?
Greg’s Dilemma: Feeling Blue
Magic bullet In Greg's Dilemma 1 and Dilemma 2, Greg outlined more than one dilemma linked to getting hooked to antidepressants and benzodiazepines. The responses to these posts were all over the shop - from pull yourself together, to entrust your life to God, to support for descriptions of positions others find themselves in. The responses also split in terms of what the … [Read more...] about Greg’s Dilemma: Feeling Blue
Kicking Lyrica
Editorial Note: This post was put together by Johanna Ryan from reports to RxISK on Lyrica - Pregabalin. Lyrica is closely related to Neurontin. Many anticonvulsants such as carbamazepine have been used for forty years for pain syndromes such as trigeminal neuralgia. Neurontin but especially Lyrica have been promoted heavily for this. Both cause dependence and withdrawal and … [Read more...] about Kicking Lyrica
Antidepressants and Violence: The Numbers
How on earth could an antidepressant drug drive someone to murder? In the past two columns RxISK has heard from two people who know they can. In The Man Who Thought He Was A Monster, Steindor Erlingsson shared his own story of being tormented with urges to stab his wife and young children while on antidepressants. These were utterly alien thoughts, which horrified him – he … [Read more...] about Antidepressants and Violence: The Numbers
Doctors and Withdrawal from Antidepressants
This is a follow-up to Katie's post, Girl on a Hot Tin Roof, about drug withdrawal and burning feet. I have been profoundly affected by adverse events from medications. I attempted repeatedly to talk to my psychiatrist about my concerns and hoped he would believe what had occurred so that he could partner with me. This hasn’t been the case. I decided to try again, this time by … [Read more...] about Doctors and Withdrawal from Antidepressants
My Trip Through the Polypharmacy Blender
By Rory Tennes I was asked by David Healy to write my own story after he read my comment on another RxISK story. I agreed but have been surprised how hard it was to sit down and do it. I knew the story, the words were in my head. Yet I avoided getting started. Perhaps it was because of the painful emotions I knew it would bring to the surface. Or maybe because it reminds me … [Read more...] about My Trip Through the Polypharmacy Blender
Because Veterans Are Worth It
Editorial Note from Johanna Ryan: Cesar Ruvalcaba is a veteran of the U.S. Army, 10th Mountain Division, and served in Somalia in the early 1990’s. He’s now a dedicated antiwar activist and a member of Vietnam Veterans Against War (VVAW). He told this story May 25 at a Memorial Day rally in Chicago organized by antiwar veterans. As Cesar indicated, many Iraq-era veterans … [Read more...] about Because Veterans Are Worth It
Pilots and Antidepressants
Editorial Note: This post is by Julie Wood, the central figure behind SSRI Stories in its current incarnation. SSRI Stories has collected and posted 47 stories about pilots flying and crashing while on antidepressants. The majority are airplanes but several of the crashes involve helicopters. With the current focus on the possible contribution of psychoactive drugs to the … [Read more...] about Pilots and Antidepressants
Written on Water
Editorial Note: This is a brief synopsis of Dear Luise by Dorrit Cato Christensen - a story of power and powerlessness, and a most extraordinary book. Extraordinary because of the horror it outlines. Extraordinary because of Dorrit's restraint when writing about her daughter. Do things go as badly wrong as this often - yes. Are we doing anything to stop disasters like this - … [Read more...] about Written on Water