In some of the comments after the last post, POGO mentioned that Josef Witt-Doerring has done two interviews with me so far and posted them on his site. The Risks of Antidepressants and Antidepressants and Mass Shootings/Murder Suicide: An interview has also appeared on Demystifying Science podcast with Anastasia & Michael Shilo The Podcast called […]
Illustration: Is There Life After Meds?, © 2014 created by Billiam James Here is a Question put to the recent RxISK post on Sensory Neuropathy. I’m a psychologist and I have made numerous attempts to discontinue antidepressants only to experience significant withdrawal symptoms. I’ve been on antidepressants for 25 years at this point and have made […]
An article appeared in the British Journal of Psychiatry some weeks ago, by Narinder Bansal and colleagues from Bristol University. Having met Narinder I can tell readers she is a very impressive woman, with an impressive husband, Petros, who are both in one way or another working on population health. She had been working in […]
RxISK began in 2012. One of its main goals was to offer people an opportunity to report problems they had on treatments – any treatment – and generate a report they could take to a doctor in the hope this might get the doctor to take their problem seriously. I had seen my first cases […]
This post was written by several members of the RxISK Team drawing on the work of Jorge Carrasco – see below. There is a prior RxISK post on DRESS Syndrome – No Way to Treat a Lady. María Elisa Rangel was 38 and a mother of four children when she signed up for a phase […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
There are 3 bits to this post – an interview with Joan-Ramon Laporte. An article by Ariane Denoyel and a Q and A with Laporte and Healy. Laporte Interview As part of a series for ROAR Magazine, Frank Barat has run some striking interviews about aspects of the Covid pandemic not usually mentioned. Here […]
Editorial Note: This is the third in a RxISK Map series of posts – See Reformation Day and Here We Stand. These link closely to the RxISK Prize. There are two aspects to finding a cure for an adverse event. One is understanding the biology. The other is getting it established that the effect happens. […]
Editorial Note: The first RxISK story was about Plavix – Fiona’s Story. This anonymous account has striking overlaps with that. Plavix is clopidogrel. The grel group of drugs include 1tazigrel, dimetagrel and others. They function like expensive aspirins. They cause problems on withdrawal and can be lethal. But medics and nurses will bat the problems […]
Editorial Note: This post is by Adam Urato. There are other Adam Urato posts on RxISK (see Antidepressants and Autism and Autism Awareness Day) about the use of antidepressants in pregnancy and by women of child-bearing years. This post appeared first on Mad in America. The image is from an article by Gideon Koren that seriously […]
Editorial Note: Ten years ago I was at a meeting in Ottawa Canada looking at the issue of adverse events on treatment and how to manage these. The attendees were mostly left leaning activists. But Terence Young, then recognizably a conservative and later a conservative Member of the Canadian Parliament was also there. He was […]
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 […]
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 […]
Editorial Note: A study published this week suggests that the issue of birth defects on antidepressants rather than suicide or homicide may yet end up as the Mark of Cain by which these drugs are remembered. Hush, little baby, don’t say a word, Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird. If that mockingbird won’t sing, Mama’s […]
Editorial Note: Two months ago we were deep in a controversy about Antidepressants and Birth Defects. (See The Dark is for Mushrooms, not for Women, Preventing Precaution and Mumsnet). Many women hearing a message that they should be wary about antidepressants and the risk of birth defects hear that they are being regarded simply as […]
Since 2005, Paroxetine, first marketed by GlaxoSmithKline as Seroxat/Paxil, has carried warnings of birth defect risks. These risks led to litigation in the US – but not elsewhere. In the first case that went to court in the US in 2009, the Kilker case, the lawyers for Lyam Kilker argued that, even before Paxil was launched, there was good […]
Editorial Note: Two comments from Johanna and Neil in response to The Dark is for Mushrooms and Preventing Precaution. Johanna I didn’t see the BBC Panorama show (not available in the US) and don’t know if the outrage expressed by the Mumsnet blogger is sincere. It hardly sounds like Dr. Pilling was against using SSRI’s […]
Editorial Note: This post by Harriet Rosenberg aims at getting some debate going about medication and birth defects. We will run a survey early next week on this issue Right-to-Know (R2K). A recent post on RxISK, The dark is for mushrooms not for women features responses on Mumsnet to the issue of prescribing SSRIs during pregnancy. Johanna Ryan comments […]
The pre-pregnancy puzzle This post contains a comment by Neil Gorman on Humira in Ulcerative Colitis backed up by material criticising a BBC Panorama program on antidepressants in pregnancy retrieved from the link to Mumsnet mentioned by Neil. This link illustrates beautifully why Pharma has such an easy ride. There is a mythic element here. Where […]
After its launch in the late 1950s, Upjohn’s Orinase (tolbutamide) became the first blockbuster hypoglycemic (blood sugar lowering) drug. Its success was born of failure. It wasn’t a replacement for insulin. Even if used early, it didn’t stop people from becoming insulin dependent. But attempts to create an early use market led to a focus on […]
Editorial note: Fiona’s story (FB) was the first RxISK story filed. It is reproduced here. Data from FDA’s MedWatch system noting withdrawal problems on clopidogrel and Plavix are laid out in the Table at the bottom. Fiona’s story I had a heart attack two years ago and was prescribed Clopidogrel and low dose Aspirin as my […]
Editorial Note: This post is excerpted from After the Error: Speaking Out About Patient Safety to Save Lives by Susan McIver, Ph.D. and Robin Wyndham. © 2013 Susan McIver and Robin Wyndham. Published by ECW Press Ltd. ecwpress.com Special recognition The day after Terence Young’s 15-year-old daughter, Vanessa, suddenly died on March 19, 2000, he began his journey to […]
Editorial note: This post is by Dr. Duane Graveline, Author of Lipitor Thief of Memory (referred to in an earlier post), and other books. The original of this post is on his website. Dr. Graveline has sent this account of what can be found in FDA’s Medwatch system for Lipitor. RxISK makes data like this […]
Editorial Note: This RxISK story written by Jeannie’s mother records a growing epidemic of sudden unexplained cardiac deaths. These are linked to the effects of a range of drugs on the cardiac QTc interval. There is considerable evidence that pharmaceutical companies have known about these risks for years and sometimes before drugs like citalopram are marketed. […]
Editorial Note: This chilling account of the effects of statin drugs brings out a key role for reporters to RxISK.org – we need good data on how long the after-effects of drug treatment can last. This data is rarely collected but is of critical importance when it comes to insurance and disability assessments. A statin […]