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
Hormones
Snakes in a Love Drug 2
This image is widely viewed as a symbol of medicine. Many, particularly in America, owing to a bad mistake by the American Medical Association, would identify it as the Rod of Aesclepius, a healer in Ancient Greece. But its not a symbol of medicine - as it used to be at least - its the Caduceus of Hermes / Mercury - a symbol of commerce. The Rod of Aesclepius is down … [Read more...] about Snakes in a Love Drug 2
Snakes in a Love Drug on St Patricks Day
IJME In recent years the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics has been to the forefront in grappling with tricky issues in medical ethics and politics - topics that the best known medical journals and authorities should deal with but steer clear of. One of us (DH) had a growing awareness of IJME's lead on tricky issues, but became even more aware of it at the time of the … [Read more...] about Snakes in a Love Drug on St Patricks Day
Cis- and Trans-Drug Wrecks
After a Montelukast Withdrawal Syndrome post two weeks back, we had more comments than after any previous post - so much so that this seemed worth noting in a Post in its own right. After last weeks Transgender Meds, we have had fewer comments than after any previous post. This also seems worth noting in the form of a post. This is not so much a post as a series of notes … [Read more...] about Cis- and Trans-Drug Wrecks
Transgender Meds: A Call for Reports
This post is an invitation to report on drugs prescribed to transgender people. These include cross-sex hormones - testosterone for women, estrogen and progesterone for men, hormone-blocking agents like Lupron given to children with gender dysphoria to stop the physical changes of puberty, and other drugs like finasteride, spironolactone and birth-control pills prescribed to … [Read more...] about Transgender Meds: A Call for Reports
Lupron: Homicide of a Husband
Editorial Note: This post starts with Michelle Millikan's report to FDA of the night she killed her husband. The event Several days after my 6th injection of Lupron Depot, in some kind of an impossible-to-understand and difficult-to-explain 'fugue state', I killed my husband with a gunshot to the head while he was sleeping. I have NO MEMORY of waking up at 4 am in the … [Read more...] about Lupron: Homicide of a Husband
Lupron: a Nightmare produced in Abbvie
Editorial Note: This post is by Lynne Millican, the founder of Lupron Victims Hub. Lupron is leuporelin - one of several Relins. Lynne's story which dates from the late 1980s is still being repeated today with drugs like Goserelin - Zoladex. This group of drugs can cause seriously bad outcomes for some women. But it can be hard to know at times whether the greater problems … [Read more...] about Lupron: a Nightmare produced in Abbvie
Diane and Diana: Carly’s Story
Carly’s story: I was referred to a psychiatrist for adult ADD when I started my first year at university. I made a passing complaint to my aunt, who is also a GP, over the summer about some occasional acne around my period. She suggested that I try Diane-35. I was also taking dexedrine at the time, but had not had any problems with it. I was just fed more medication By the … [Read more...] about Diane and Diana: Carly’s Story
Weight Gain on Thyroxine
If there is one thing most doctors think they know it's that weight gain can be caused by an underactive thyroid and having an overactive thyroid leads to weight loss. So the thyroid hormone, thyroxine, will lead to weight loss. And magazines, newspapers and websites, especially in the United States openly invite anyone who is overweight to get their thyroid checked. Thyroxine … [Read more...] about Weight Gain on Thyroxine