This post is by Spruce who has been a regular contributor to these columns. It follows from his comments on The Invisible Doctor and it adds to that post which has had a lot of comments since. Humans seem to have a tendency to caste systems but most people would be surprised to think you […]
From her first email M seemed completely believable. Everything since has added to her believability. So why is she not believed? This post offers another example of repeated Sanctuary Trauma, outlined in last week’s post, in earlier Kidnapped Daughter posts and in all posts tagged Medical Kidnap. In The Beginning Thirteen years ago, this spring […]
Illustration: Lost on the Sea of Medicine, © 2014 created by Billiam James This is the first of 4 posts on the idea of Sanctuary Trauma. Some weeks ago, Trixie Foster got in touch. Trixie is an extraordinary campaigner on behalf of those injured by Lariam (mefloquine) – see the Strange History and Lariam Hell. […]
Lots of people complain of cognitive problems on or after taking medications, whether psychotropic drugs, cholesterol lowering statins, asthma drugs like montelukast, or fluoroquinolone antibiotics. They often use the word “Brain Fog” to cover this. Women get Brain Fog in pregnancy that can linger afterwards. People with Long Covid complain of Brain Fog as do […]
In response to recent posts, especially A Time for PSSD, Laurie Oakley got in touch with the following thoughts. Laurie has had a series of six posts on Pharmaceutical Rape on davidhealy.org starting in February 2015 but mostly from early January 2016. These outline her own difficulties recovering from medication induced injury and the equal […]
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 the Dolin case, spending hours […]
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 […]
This post is by Tracey G. Tracey approached me and as you’ll see others in October 2020 for materials on antidepressants to give her Member of Parliament, Johnny Mercer. She had been in touch in 2018 – “lost in the world of not being taken seriously or believed with regards to a possible protracted withdrawal”. […]
Nearly a week ago a group of Italians sent this post written after one of their number gave up his struggle with PSSD and the system. We’ve been very slow posting it – partly because of the emotions it stirs. Its quiet beginning and contained fury at the end conjured up Marc Antony’s speech after […]
Accessible New Resource RxISK has a new resource – a literature resource. PSSD Literature. You can download any of these articles and take them to any doctor, lawyer or other person you see. While in this area on RxISK, have a look at the other material under Tools. Anyone who becomes aware of any other […]
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 […]
See accompanying MAiD in Canada and Sex. Illustration: Meds © created by Billiam James The provision of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) is under review in Canada with debate about access for patients with mental illness. An amendment to the draft legislation eliminating the exclusion of people with mental illness was proposed by Senator Stan […]
Antidepressant Withdrawal and Dependence is one of the greatest public health crises of our time. Ed White has recently featured in the UK recounting his experiences he drifting into dependence on antidepressants and finding that the people best placed to help him and you were others in same position supporting each other through groups on […]
This 2020 closes in the middle of Covid19 and with the package leaflets of SSRI and SNRI antidepressants just updated in Europe with a new but evasive Warning: ‘Cases have been observed where symptoms of sexual dysfunction have persisted after discontinuation of treatment‘. Doctors, did you notice? Here I am. My sexual symptoms caused by […]
Stimulated by the recent Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) discussion, the following began as a comment from one of RxISK’s background activists but grew into a post. RxISK is not about to desert orthodox medicine and turn to herbalism but herbalism may well have a lot to offer. It looks like many traditional remedies actually do […]
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. […]
This post by J is about his withdrawal. He takes a different approach to the ones outlined in Side Effexor Withdrawal through to Helping H – an engineering approach rather than a therapy one. Next week we will feature a post about some of the TRP (Transient Receptor Potential) Channels he mentions. I usually work […]
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 […]
The following email arrived last week from someone who is unknown to me – has never filed a RxISK report about PSSD, never contributed to the RxISK Prize, never previously been in touch that I know of – at least under the name offered – doesn’t sign off, and is unwilling to engage in a […]
Two posts last week on RxISK Biohacking and david healy Stormy Weather raised issues about the Enduring Sexual Dysfunctions (ESD) linked to SSRIs and related drugs (PSSD and PGAD), finasteride and related drugs (PFS), and isotretinoin (PRSD). In the biohacking post both sides of the “debate” were concerned about the people with these conditions […]
This ambiguous picture comes up when you search under grave robbing – nothing you can make money out of is sacred. But its entitled grave digger. Digger, robber, it can be hard to tell. We had an email a few days ago about a young man desperately seeking help who had in good faith took […]
Editorial Note: This post by Stevie Lewis raises a very tricky area. There is no doubt that SSRIs cause movement disorders and not just temporary disorders but permanent problems like atypical Motor Neurone Disorder (ALS), Steele-Richardson Syndrome, Osmotic Demyelination Sydrome (Pontine Myelinolysis) and Multiple System Atrophy. There is also little doubt that most neurologists have […]
The expert inputs Managing Efexor and SSRI Withdrawal and Protracted Antidepressant Withdrawal to and comments on H’s case Side Effexor Withdrawal have been wonderful to get and hopefully will be a resource for others. Helping H H’s original problem and the idea of a commentary came about because 3 of us considered her case in […]
Following H’s report of difficulties with Effexor, we asked Will Hall, Altostrata, Bob Fiddaman and Josef Witt-Doerring, all experienced in this area, how they would Manage her Withdrawal. We also asked Peter Groot who helped develop the first Tapering Strips for Antidepressant withdrawal – who with colleagues has demonstrated that this can help many people […]
H’s nightmare with Effexor withdrawal was laid out in last week’s post. Experts on antidepressant withdrawal were asked to comment – Will Hall, Altostrata, Peter C Groot, Bob Fiddaman, Josef Witt-Doerring have generously given time to do so. James Moore, Stevie Lewis and Ed White, administrator for a Facebook venlafaxine withdrawal group, who have substantial […]
About 12 years ago I was diagnosed with mild depression and prescribed 75 mg effexor. I did achieve relief from my symptoms on this dose. Later, maybe a few years, my dose was increased to 150 mg when my job became more stressful. There was no discussion about duration of treatment. I used to be […]
Samizdat has just published Children of the Cure – the Preface of which is here This Book is not a Game. Quotes from the text are in Hand of History on davidhealy.org. Most of the first chapter is below. Flying to Philadelphia Shelley Jofre was 32 when she got on a plane to Philadelphia in […]
Dozens of these buttons flooded the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) headquarters at a meeting for the widely prescribed asthma/allergy medication, montelukast (brand name, Singulair). The message was simple: “The benefits did not outweigh the risks.” As each button approached the podium, the panel of experts heard gut-wrenching testimonials about the unimaginable psychiatric […]
There have been some major developments on the RxISK Prize front. First we are hovering around the $66,666 point – depending on how exchange rates go we may be wandering back and forth over this line as I write. More important however is that San Marino has raced out in front as the donor leading […]
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 […]