Antipsychotics | RxISK - Part 2

Benzodiazepine and Antidepressant Dependence

August 31, 2015 | 14 Comments

Sally MacGregor has written about the horrors of dependence on olanzapine – see Olanzapine Withdrawal and Back In Olanzapine Waters. Here she picks up a conundrum – Primary Care Doctors react to the idea of Benzodiazepines as though they have been the greatest threat to the stability of society since World War II, while at the […]

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The Maintenance Man: Fata-nomics the cancer plaguing healthcare

July 13, 2015 | 11 Comments

Editorial Note: This post is from Johanna Ryan “You murdered my dad. You poisoned him. You tortured and murdered my dad.” The sentencing hearing for Farid T. Fata, M.D. at the federal courthouse in Detroit last week did not lack for drama – and Piero Zanotti’s daughter was not the only victim to accuse him […]

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Drugs and Smell: Smells of SHIT

June 22, 2015 | 10 Comments

Medication can mess up your sense of Smell. This post links to the Magna Farta post on david healy, which tells the story of Zicam and Matrixx Pharmaceuticals. For anyone interested in adverse events, this is one of the most important stories in medicine. It also links to the SHIT Happens and SHIT happens 2 […]

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Cesar Ruvalcaba

Because Veterans Are Worth It

June 8, 2015 | 7 Comments

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 […]

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The Year of My Life that was Stolen

May 19, 2015 | 19 Comments

This post is by Katinka Blackford-Newman, who can be seen here running a half-marathon to raise money for RxISK but who also since the events described here has been involved in several criminal trials, believing that it is important that juries get to hear stories like hers when faced with the challenge of assessing what […]

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Abilify Maintena

The Once and Future Abilify: Depot Injections for Everyone?

May 11, 2015 | 4 Comments

Written by Johanna Ryan, May 9, 2015 This column is partly a report on the marketing of Abilify, the atypical antipsychotic that has become America’s best-selling drug. It’s also an appeal for advice and feedback from the RxISK and Mad in America communities, and a call for some brainstorming about strategy. The plans laid out […]

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Bureaucrat thinks

Abilify, Tourette Syndrome and You

May 4, 2015 | 3 Comments

Editorial Note: This post follows on from one of the most compelling RxISK stories ever – Abilify, Tourette Syndrome and Me, posted last week. It comes in two parts. The first by last week’s author and the second by the series editor, Johanna Ryan. In our efforts to get our story told, raise awareness about […]

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Tourette Syndrome

Abilify, Tourette Syndrome and Me

April 27, 2015 | 9 Comments

Editorial Note: This post is by DG. It’s number three in the Abilify series, following Dodging Abilify and Abilify from the Inside Out. I was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome (TS) as a child. It was always manageable. I did well in school and was actively involved with music programs at church and school. At 17, […]

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doctor holding timebomb

Abilify from the Inside Out

April 20, 2015 | 24 Comments

Editorial Note: This is part 2 of Johanna Ryan’s series that started with Dodging Abilify. Abilify is at present the best-selling drug in North America – how come? In last week’s column, Dodging Abilify, I described the fan-club enthusiasm for this drug among doctors I’ve met, my own reluctance to try it, and what I’d […]

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Abilify cartoon lady

Dodging Abilify

April 14, 2015 | 43 Comments

Editorial Note: This post is by Johanna Ryan, who has a unique ability to capture the American Nightmare. The best-selling drug in the United States isn’t a blood pressure pill, a painkiller or even an antidepressant. It’s Abilify, an antipsychotic agent with $6.3 billion in 2013 sales. Granted, Abilify isn’t the most prescribed pill, but […]

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I love to hear a doctor beg

Better to Die RxISKing It

December 15, 2014 | 8 Comments

Editorial Note: This post continues from last week’s Persecution of Heretics. It’s about how only a Popular Movement with those suffering adverse effects on drugs speaking up can save us now. It adapts a talk given a month ago to the International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry in Los Angeles. It loses something without […]

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October 20, 2014 | 12 Comments

Editorial Note: This extraordinary account of what it can be like to live on psychotropic drugs came by email out of the blue from Jim Seko. For the record, it looks from here that Jim cannot have had schizophrenia. His original problem almost has to be an acute and transient psychosis. The tragedy of these […]

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Back in Olanzapine Waters

August 7, 2014 | 16 Comments

Editorial Note: Courtesy of Fast Forward, here is a 12 month follow up to Olanzapine Withdrawal: Sally’s Story; some good, some OK and some awful. Sounds and speech Twelve months later, I continue to have problems with my hearing. The serious sensitivity to sounds has settled a bit – so I don’t jump out of my […]

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Olanzapine Withdrawal: Sally’s Story

August 5, 2014 | 178 Comments

Editorial Note: How long does withdrawal last? How much overlap is there between antipsychotic, benzodiazepine and antidepressant withdrawal? This is the first of two posts covering these issues. All answers later this week in part two. For Antipsychotic Withdrawal – see also Carole’s Story. I was prescribed olanzapine 20 mg in 2001, as a mood […]

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Dear Luise by Dorrit Cato Christensen

Written on Water

April 26, 2014 | 2 Comments

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 […]

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Dopamine Antagonist Withdrawal Syndrome – Carole’s Story

May 1, 2013 | 75 Comments

The last post outlined the horrors of dopamine agonist withdrawal syndrome (DAWS). This week’s features the equally grim horror of dopamine antagonist withdrawal syndrome (DAAWS). The dopamine antagonists include the antipsychotic, anti-nausea, anti-itch and other groups of drugs. The antipsychotics were the first of the modern psychotropic drugs to be linked to severe withdrawal, but […]

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