In 2015, there was a series of posts on davidhealy.org Pharmaceutical Rape, Pharmaceutical Rape is not a Metaphor, Pharmaceutical Rape: Cast of Characters, Pharmaceutical Rape: The Good Patient, Pharmaceutical Rape: Doctors Still Know Best, Pharmaceutical Rape: Discrimination, Pharmaceutical Rape: Ending our Tolerance. The following year GlaxoSmithKline lawyers deposed me in … [Read more...] about Prescribed Harms and Vaccine Hesitancy
Benzodiazepines
Once We Were Warriors Tackling Prescription Drugs
The title of this echoes We Were Warriors but also Once Were Warriors. The post dovetails with What's a Life Worth, Morgan vs Morgan, and next weeks Escaping the Prescription Drug Maze. All will be on the Politics of Care Forum. The post copies a letter sent to J Mercer MP last week, with images added not in the original letter. Mr Mercer has not responded to the gauntlet … [Read more...] about Once We Were Warriors Tackling Prescription Drugs
Insomnia the Royal Road to Pills and Nightmares
This post links to Bob Fiddaman's Forty Winks last week. Insomnia is one of our all time biggest problems. We all need Kind Nature's Chief Restorer to knit up the ravelled sleeve of care. There is all sorts of health advice out there about how you owe it to yourself to get a good nights sleep, that its dangerous not to, and that whatever is today's hypnotic of … [Read more...] about Insomnia the Royal Road to Pills and Nightmares
Clinical Trial Fraud
This is part two of Johanna Ryan's posts on Ghosts in the Clinical Trial Machine or Clinical Trial Fraud. Last weeks post reported on how doctors in three states have been convicted of handing in fake clinical-trial results from fake patients. This week we’ll examine how small-time crooks like these ended up doing world-class medical research for companies like GSK. Medical … [Read more...] about Clinical Trial Fraud
Ghosts in the Clinical Trial Machine
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
The Insomnia Diaries
Insomnia is a huge problem. Insomnia triggered by the drugs supposed to treat it is another huge problem. A RxISK post featuring enduring sleep difficulties after antidepressants has been very heavily accessed and commented on. Miranda Levy puts all three sleep problems in the frame in a way that all too many will recognize. Eight weeks after I stopped being able to … [Read more...] about The Insomnia Diaries
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
Functional Neurological Disorder?
A recent RxISK post on SSRI triggered Movement Disorders - My Doctor Thinks I'm Faking It - put together by Stevie Lewis, attracted less attention than we expected. This may be because it featured strange movements and few of us figure we are in a good position to make sense of strange movements. The movements we featured don't make sense to many neurologists, even … [Read more...] about Functional Neurological Disorder?
Starship Corona: Captain’s Log
The use of psychiatric meds in the U.S., already sky-high, is on the rise as a result of Covid-19. That’s not surprising – it happened after the 9-11 attacks, the 2008 crash and other crises. This graph comes from “America’s State of Mind,” an April 2020 report from Express Scripts. In the month from February 15 to March 15, prescriptions for depression, anxiety and … [Read more...] about Starship Corona: Captain’s Log