Editorial Note: Laurie Oakley has recently brought out a book, Crazy And It Was, that gives many vivid illustrations of the problems of coping with healthcare systems, especially mental healthcare systems. Her account of what it's like to deal with a doctor who just isn't listening was particularly compelling. We asked her to give some hints of the kinds of problems covered in … [Read more...] about Over The Top: Tackling Medical Power
Suicide
Massacre of Innocence
Paradise lost Any post about pregnancy pulls in more than the average amount of complexity. We had a series of posts on the risks of antidepressants in pregnancy at the end of last year The Dark is for Mushrooms, not for Women and Preventing Precaution and Mumsnet and a string of posts from Adam Urato - see Massacre of the Innocents - with another point of view from Philippa … [Read more...] about Massacre of Innocence
Better to Die RxISKing It
Editorial Note: This post continues from last week's Persecution of Heretics. It's about how only a Popular Movement with those suffering adverse effects on drugs speaking up can save us now. It adapts a talk given a month ago to the International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry in Los Angeles. It loses something without its slides. But it was recorded and may be … [Read more...] about Better to Die RxISKing It
Chantix and Violence
Editorial Note: On October 16, there is an FDA hearing about Chantix and violence which is widely expected to feature an effort by Pfizer to roll back the warnings on the drug. One of the fascinating things about the Chantix story has been to see perfectly normal friends who use it to stop smoking become very agitated, and distressed. I don't personally know anyone who has … [Read more...] about Chantix and Violence
When is a Drug Guilty?
Editorial Note: We desperately need you to undertake some jury duty - we need you to explore why we react so strangely when it comes to changes on behavior linked to prescription drugs? In the last two posts Doctor Faces Marriage-Buster and Homicide of a Husband, there were two scenarios where drugs were involved and the questions were - can a drug change a person so they … [Read more...] about When is a Drug Guilty?
GSK and Catch 22
Editorial: This post by Johanna Ryan notes a significant legal development for anyone taking a generic drug. It's also a testament to the ability of motivated women to make a difference to the landscape. We’re posting this interview with Wendy Dolin to draw attention to a victory – a possible break in the terrible legal Catch-22 faced by people in the United States who suffer … [Read more...] about GSK and Catch 22
Post Finasteride Syndrome: PFS
Editorial Note: Wikipedia astonishingly removed their post on Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction on January 27th (see this week's previous posts: Sexual DEATH, Wikipedia Stumbles and Wikipedia Falls). This was a huge mistake. PSSD and related conditions like Post-Finasteride and Post-Isotretinoin Syndromes are very real, probably holding the key to a number of physiological and … [Read more...] about Post Finasteride Syndrome: PFS
At First a Lifeline, Then a Noose
Editorial Note: The death of Philip Seymour Hoffman featured heavily in early news bulletins this week. It seems highly likely that Hoffman's death originated from a prescription drug problem. As it happens Johanna Ryan from RxISK's Community Board had been liaising with the parents of Steve Rummler and others concerned about the licensing of yet another opiate pain-killer - … [Read more...] about At First a Lifeline, Then a Noose
The Strange History of Lariam
Editorial Note: This is the second part of a Lariam Odyssey by Dr Sam Ramsay Smith. The first part ran last week - Lariam Hell. Like most good stories this one involves expediency, hegemony, immorality, greed and even scientific bias, blindness and dishonesty all in the quest for power and money at the national and international levels. At the personal level there is a range … [Read more...] about The Strange History of Lariam
Lariam Hell
Editorial Note: This post and the following one on the strange story of the Birth of Lariam come from Dr Sam Ramsay-Smith who has some questions he wants answered. In October, ‘The Independent’ printed the news that the US Armed Forces had banned the use of the anti-malarial drug mefloquine, otherwise known as Lariam. To many this may mean little or nothing, but to quite a few … [Read more...] about Lariam Hell