Better Times Will Return © Josie Russell 2017 This post is by our warzone correspondent Harriet Vogt from frontline trenches. A few weeks ago I was invited to join an online discussion with a group of experts on iatrogenesis who have an in-depth knowledge of antidepressant withdrawal and the risks of polypharmacy. These highly informed, articulate, empathic medical … [Read more...] about Repairing Ruptures in Clinical Care
Human rights
Restoring the Magic to Healthcare
The Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SRI) story starts in 1969 with Arvid Carlsson (above) who created Zelmid, the first SRI, after listening to people on antidepressants. He linked an anxiolytic effect some older drugs have to the serotonin system. The SRIs aimed at exploring that effect - Normality and Antidepressant Dysregulation. Fluoxetine (Prozac). sertraline (Zoloft). … [Read more...] about Restoring the Magic to Healthcare
Deciphering the Web We Have Woven
Three people who got in touch recently, one with a problem, one with an idea, and one 'outraged' contributed to this post. The problem and idea illustrate what happens when doctors take Probity Blockers. The outrage tells you almost everything you need to know about the Web we are enmeshed in. Using the problem, idea and outrage, this post gives a punchier version of the … [Read more...] about Deciphering the Web We Have Woven
It is Hard for Thee to Kick Against the Pricks
The title of this post by Peter Selley comes from the Acts of the Apostles. It captures the moment where the Divine is advising Paul to stop persecuting Christians. Acts 9:5 (KJV). An if you can't beat them, why not join them moment. The words lend themselves to the situation of anyone attempting to grapple with the growth of a new RSV religion in more than one sense. Among … [Read more...] about It is Hard for Thee to Kick Against the Pricks
No One Expects the Reformation
The title of this post borrows a famous line from Monty Python: No one expects the Spanish Inquisition This is an advance notice of things to come rather than a post per se. To get a sense of the things to come, it is worth reading the Antidepressants, Homicide and a Challenge post and the comments that come after it where many regular contributors to RxISK pick up … [Read more...] about No One Expects the Reformation
Where is the Great Light that is Supposed to Shine?
Around the time Bob Whitaker asked me to do a Webinar on Stopping Antidepressants, K filed a RxISK Report on her efforts to get off Prozac. Like many Reports, in her case it seemed clear she should never have been put in the situation she is now in - she didn't have a mental illness. She got sucked into a situation not of her own making. Some wonderful touches to her … [Read more...] about Where is the Great Light that is Supposed to Shine?
Challenging My Doctor to Disclose
This recently published US strategy on Suicide Prevention epitomizes all that is going wrong in medicine today. It is stuffed full of references to Shared Decision Making, Informed Consent and Lived Experience. Stuffed full of token words, window-dressing, tick-boxing. It will increase rather than reduce suicide rates. It is clear that the people behind this, and … [Read more...] about Challenging My Doctor to Disclose
Deprescribing – Where does Responsibility Lie?
This post follows on from last weeks Potentially Inappropriate Deprescribing and has links to this weeks The Creation Narrative and God Complex. It brings up a painfully tricky point. Reducing Medication Burdens is perhaps the most important task in medicine today. Many well-meaning folk are aware of and raising the profile of this need and attempting to work out how to go … [Read more...] about Deprescribing – Where does Responsibility Lie?
Potentially Inappropriate Deprescribing – PID
This post is linked to An Archipelago of Realities on DH.org. The link may not be clear when you start reading Archipelago but half way down it will be apparent. What is being said on Archipelago about SSRIs applies just as much to benzodiazepines here. Geriatric medicine came into being in the 1980s and with it a new word – polypharmacy – a phenomenon particularly … [Read more...] about Potentially Inappropriate Deprescribing – PID
Teresa Heartchild and World Down’s Syndrome Day
World Down's Syndrome was last week and we missed it. But it's still worth noting as RxISK has a link to it through Teresa Heartchild along with Bill and Franke James. We have had a number of posts on RxISK about Teresa - Quality of Care and Human Rights should be for Everyone. There are several more on DavidHealy.org - the most recent being Uplifting 2024. These … [Read more...] about Teresa Heartchild and World Down’s Syndrome Day