In the mid-1980s, I gave a very nice man, an in-patient, weekend leave. He hung himself. Everyone was shocked. The drug I’d put him on was the trigger to his suicide. Soon after, a medical resident called me to a case she was handling. She seemed exceptionally impressive, so I was surprised to hear afterwards she was taking an antidepressant. She told me about the … [Read more...] about Experts by Experience and Nobel Prizes
Antipsychotics
How the Safety of Drugs was Destroyed
Emer Cooke, the CEO of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is Irish. This is Dublin's famous Halfpenny Bridge which for some reason features in an article outlining the history of the phrase Tail wags Dog which seems appropriate for what followed. I wrote to Emer recently about a bizarre letter I received from Kinapse - A Brush with EMA - who run EMA's medical literature … [Read more...] about How the Safety of Drugs was Destroyed
The Wild Doctor – Le Médecin Sauvage
The French playwright Moliere loved poking fun at pomposity especially when it involved doctors. In Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, he pokes fun at Monsieur Jourdain, a pompous upstart, who has come into money and is taking on airs and graces. Translating gentilhomme into gentleman misses what the word meant around 1660, which was more like civilized, the manners which … [Read more...] about The Wild Doctor – Le Médecin Sauvage
A Brush with the European Medicines’ Agency
This post should be read in conjunction with Are Journalists the Answer to Clinical Medicines Cause and Effect Problem which is on davidhealy.org, or will be, and last weeks Clinical Details Confuse Expert Doctors along with Royal College of Psychiatrist's Suicide Note. Several months ago, I agreed to review an article by John Read analyzing the hundreds of antidepressant … [Read more...] about A Brush with the European Medicines’ Agency
Clinical Details Confuse Expert Doctors
Following the death of their 16-year-old son Romain, who had been put on paroxetine with Tercian later added, Yoko Motohama and Vincent Schmitt began asking questions of GSK, Sanofi, the French ANSM (Agence nationale de sécurité du medicament), and others. They set up two websites Antidepeffects.wordpress.com and Romainschmitt.wordpress.com. Romain’s case features on … [Read more...] about Clinical Details Confuse Expert Doctors
Could Journalists be Doctors in Disguise
I had to give some workshops a few years ago to media students and either while thinking about what to say or in the middle of saying it, or soon after, it hit me that good doctoring has a lot in common with good journalism. Both hinge on getting the story right and key to that is having a real person whom others can contact to check out the story they have been told about … [Read more...] about Could Journalists be Doctors in Disguise
Pyridoxal-5-Phosphate and Akathisia
This post came from a regular contributor to RxISK and DH posts. An earlier comment pointed to something interesting and has developed into this post which should be of interest to anyone who has a withdrawal problem that entails some kind of akathisia. When I came out of a psychiatric hospital in Summer 2019, I had been on zopiclone for a good 6 months. For most of that … [Read more...] about Pyridoxal-5-Phosphate and Akathisia
DD and AA Groups Similarities and Differences
Illustration: Is There Life After Meds?, © 2014 created by Billiam James DD in this case stands for Drug Damaged. AA for Alcoholics Anonymous. Some of the material in this post is likely to disturb some readers. Reading it in conjunction with Here We Stand We Can Do No Other and Dos Centavos - Veinte Euros may help make sense of material that may not sit well with some … [Read more...] about DD and AA Groups Similarities and Differences
Did My Doctor Make Me Alcoholic or Substance Abusing
AnneMarie Kelly is among the most impressive researchers I have met and I've met Nobel Prize winners like Arvid Carlsson and Julie Axelrod. I have told the story in many venues how she, with no background in healthcare or university research, taught me things about the serotonin system that I, who have a PhD in this system, never knew. She is one of the heroes of Shipwreck … [Read more...] about Did My Doctor Make Me Alcoholic or Substance Abusing
Everything You Want to Know about Sex *
Lost in Medication. Ask your doctor about the sexual side-effects of your meds. Based on Adam and Eve painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1526. © Billiam James 2014 The title for the post comes from the W Allen movie Everything you Wanted to Know about Sex * But were Afraid to Ask. Not a title that has worn well with time. We have things we don't know about sex. You … [Read more...] about Everything You Want to Know about Sex *