Withdrawal | RxISK

Gateway to the Soul

February 3, 2020 | 75 Comments

Read the accompanying Sex, Withdrawal and Boundaries post first. We are looking for anyone interested in the material raised there to comment on or add to the set of questions below. We are so insensitive to the fact that our skin and gut principally, but also bladder and maybe the inner linings of our lungs, […]

Read more ....

Sex, Withdrawal and Boundaries

February 3, 2020 | 31 Comments

“Do you think studying monolayers of cells will tell you why you fall in love with a girl?” The quote comes from Rudolf Hess, who won the Nobel Prize for physiology in 1949. His students remembered him as telling them never to study a neurotransmitter or even a cell without thinking about where this bit […]

Read more ....

Healthcare or Health Service?

December 23, 2019 | 15 Comments

Up to 1800, no-one went near a doctor if they could avoid it. At best doctors might amuse the patient while nature cured the disease – the doctor’s business was to take as much of the credit and the money as possible. The best was rare. In an effort to get the money, doctors liked […]

Read more ....

Trust Withdrawal and Antidepressants

December 10, 2019 | 18 Comments

The images, which are a wonderful metaphor for the coming back to life, the restoration of emotions and senses that stopping an antidepressant can bring, comes from this news item – its worth clicking on the video link There have probably been more posts about withdrawal from antidepressants – especially if PSSD is included as […]

Read more ....

Sleep Problems After Stopping Antidepressants?

November 5, 2019 | 57 Comments

It is well known that antidepressants can interfere with a person’s sleep, but it’s less clear what happens after they stop taking the drug. One of our earliest blog posts from 2012 was written by someone experiencing terrifying nightmares while withdrawing from Cymbalta. The post received a number of comments from other people reporting the […]

Read more ....

Coming off Depakote

October 28, 2019 | 10 Comments

I stopped Depakote – See Going on Depakote. First Try This was a nightmare to cold turkey off. I felt crazy, like my brain was going to explode and was on fire. I kept an ice pack on my head for days and listened to meditation tapes. I am not sure how I managed to […]

Read more ....

Going on Depakote

October 21, 2019 | 7 Comments

Beginnings Childhoods are difficult to remember in detail. My first few memories were about the age of 2 1/2, maybe 3. I had chickenpox and I got an encephalitis. I didn’t know that this is what it was until years later, when I became a medical provider. My experience was that I visually hallucinated (the […]

Read more ....

Montelukast, Fluoroquinolone, Psychotropic Withdrawal & Toxicity

July 1, 2019 | 37 Comments

Last week’s post on Montelukast Withdrawal Syndrome has attracted comments at a higher rate than any prior post in 7 years of RxISK posts. It followed a post on Asthma causing Suicide and Homicide two weeks previously, which had links to the QuarterWatch 2015 report of adverse events in children fingering montelukast and suicidality as […]

Read more ....

Montelukast Withdrawal Syndrome

June 24, 2019 | 136 Comments

When my happy, full-of-life, adventure-seeking 11-year-old son experienced severe, debilitating neuropsychiatric symptoms after stopping his asthma medication, I embarked on a journey in a desperate search for answers. How could a medication that acts on the respiratory system reduce my healthy child to a lifeless shell? How could our beloved doctor not discuss the potential […]

Read more ....

EMA Acknowledges Persistent Sexual Dysfunction After SSRIs & SNRIs

June 11, 2019 | 49 Comments

The European Medicines Agency has just concluded a review into sexual dysfunction after the discontinuation of SSRIs and SNRIs. Before we discuss their findings, it’s worth looking back over the events of the past year. RxISK petition In 2018, we put together a petition requesting changes to SSRI and SNRI product labels to warn about […]

Read more ....

Antidepressant Withdrawal Welsh Senedd Debate

May 24, 2019 | 35 Comments

Editorial Note: For context see Welsh Government Response to Withdrawal Petition. The image is of Janet Finch-Saunders. The cover image is of the Senedd building. Debate on the Petitions Committee Report: Petition P-05-784 Prescription drug dependence and withdrawal—recognition and support Motion NDM7053 Janet Finch-Saunders To propose that the National Assembly for Wales: Notes the report […]

Read more ....

Welsh Government Response to Withdrawal Petition

May 21, 2019 | 10 Comments

For Context to this post – See Welsh Senedd Withdrawal Seminar and Welsh and Scottish Petitions on Antidepressant Dependence. From Stevie Lewis Dear All, At the back end of last week I received the Welsh Government’s response to the Petitions Committee’s recommendations – see HERE. As you’ll see from the attached, they have accepted […]

Read more ....

RxISK Rorschach: Do not Go Gentle

April 9, 2019 | 47 Comments

Last week’s RxISK post on Assisted Dying proved something of a Rorschach test. People read diametrically opposite messages into it. It was written at the same time as Something Stupid This Way Comes and cross-referenced this. This I thought made it clear that there is no such thing as Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD). TRD is […]

Read more ....

Assisted Dying: Going Gentle or Not so Gentle

April 1, 2019 | 53 Comments

Assisted dying has become a hot topic. For large parts of human history when people came toward an end, they might have been left in an outhouse by relatives or consigned themselves to a hut in the woods. Children too. When born, Spartan children were taken outside and their hands placed on the eaves of […]

Read more ....

Encountering Doctors

March 18, 2019 | 9 Comments

Editorial Note: The image goes with a study headlined Doctors stop listening to patients several seconds into a conversation. This post is from one of the many PSSD sufferers who behind the scenes has been helping push research on this awful condition forward. It would be a lot easier if doctors did listen. Just as […]

Read more ....

Ketamine: What’s God got to do with it?

March 11, 2019 | 23 Comments

The fuss about ketamine has generated interest in where it has come from. There were probably multiple beginnings. One was with Stan Grof, who moved from Prague to Baltimore in 1967. His interest in therapy led him to a focus on early life experience. This stemmed from work with LSD and psilocybin in the 1950s […]

Read more ....

Welsh Senate Withdrawal Seminar

December 17, 2018 | 28 Comments

Last week a seminar on dependence on and withdrawal from antidepressants took place in the Welsh Senedd, overlooking Cardiff Bay. It was the initiative of and organised by Aled Jones of Prescription Drug Awareness, Support and Treatment, under the auspices of Mark Drakeford – the First Minister. The Senedd building was a stunning setting for […]

Read more ....

Skin and Drugs and Sex

October 25, 2018 | 6 Comments

Editorial Note: This post returns to PSSD – post SSRI sexual dysfunction – PRSD – post retinoid sexual dysfunction – PFS – post finasteride sexual dysfunction and PGAD – persistent genital arousal disorder. See our RxISK PSSD page for the many prior posts on these conditions There is also post on davidhealy.org – Khashoggi and […]

Read more ....

Akathisia, Depression & Suicide: The List

September 27, 2018 | 35 Comments

This post closes our series on akathisia. Along with posts on davidhealy.org, the other posts were: Akathisia Anthem 500+ Drugs that Cause Depression and Suicide – AKA Akathisia Akathisia Challenge Even Politicians get killed by Akathisia In 500 drugs that cause depression and suicide, we mentioned building a new list of drugs that can cause […]

Read more ....

Even Politicians get killed by Akathisia

September 18, 2018 | 11 Comments

Editorial Note: – This continues our series of the lethal effects of akathisia running on RxISK and davidhealy.org – with special reference to Little Red SSRIding Hood and Even Docs get killed by Akathisia. Akathisia and treatment induced suicide took a political turn over the weekend, along with the issue of whether teenagers should be informed […]

Read more ....

Akathisia Anthem

August 29, 2018 | 10 Comments

A link to the Akathisia Anthem song and video is available on RxISK’s Akathisia page. There will be follow up posts on RxISK and DavidHealy over the next two weeks. Akathisia anthem Akathisia, Akathisia You make me wanna Make me wanna Akathisia Thank you doctor for this little pill But the fact of the matter, it’s […]

Read more ....

Crazy and it was

The WARM Network: Withdrawal and Recovery Meetings

June 27, 2018 | 17 Comments

New Initiative: The Withdrawal and Recovery Meeting (WARM) Network of Groups By Jennifer Bryant and Laurie Oakley This is a new initiative to give anyone who would like to start an in-person withdrawal group in their community a way to get started. We have created a free “toolkit” that contains a Guide for Facilitators, Suggested […]

Read more ....

The Woman Who Was: Looking back from Prescription Cascade

May 21, 2018 | 16 Comments

Editorial Note: This is M’s story. She outlines a Prescribing Cascade. In an email she also asks a question: does anyone have any evidence of SSRI withdrawal causing Vit D deficiency? HRT HRT started it all. Peri menopausal at 45, my GP did a FSH test and prescribed Climagest – oral oestrogen and progesterone. […]

Read more ....

Enduring Sexual Dysfunction: 300 Cases

May 4, 2018 | 57 Comments

New publications After a great deal of work, we are pleased to announce details of two new publications in the International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine. The pre-print versions are currently available. [Now updated with printed versions – June 11, 2018.] The first is our new paper – Enduring sexual dysfunction after treatment […]

Read more ....

Antidepressant Withdrawal: What’s in a Name

April 28, 2018 | 13 Comments

Editorial: a recent email to RxISK on the topic of antidepressant withdrawal brings out the fact that bupropion withdrawal is very different from SSRI withdrawal and both are very different to mirtazapine withdrawal. For all RxISK posts on withdrawal see Here Email from Edge My name is A. I’m 28. I was prescribed to Wellbutrin […]

Read more ....

Dependence on Antidepressants and The New York Times

April 17, 2018 | 72 Comments

Editorial note – for all RxISK posts on withdrawal see Here A feature article in the New York Times recently by Ben Carey covered dependence on and withdrawal from antidepressants. Here. It led to over a thousand comments within 48 hours including a predictable set of comments from doctors claiming that antidepressants don’t cause dependence […]

Read more ....

PSSD, Withdrawal & Small Fiber Neuropathy?

March 20, 2018 | 73 Comments

The picture here shows the before and after feet of a person who has erythromelalgia. After exercise or in response to other triggers, sometimes just lying in bed, the feet or other body parts can become hot and burning, possibly painfully so. The condition is linked to sodium channels. Those who get it may have […]

Read more ....

Five Minutes to Midnight

February 26, 2018 | 6 Comments

See Taper MD In 2016 life expectancy in the United States fell for a second year in a row. This was the first time anything like this had happened apart from a brief flatlining for men around 1962 we now know was linked to tobacco use. In 1962 the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) put […]

Read more ....

Introducing Taper MD

February 20, 2018 | 3 Comments

Do you think you or someone you love are on too many meds? Did you know that reducing your medication burden may be the single best thing you can do to improve your quality of life? Adverse drug events are now a leading cause of hospitalization, disability, and death, all at great human and financial cost. […]

Read more ....

Psychotropic Drug Dependence in Scotland: Petition PE01651

January 29, 2018 | 90 Comments

Email from Marion Brown PE01651 – Prescribed drug dependence and withdrawal I wanted to let you know that our Scottish petition seems to be gathering a very remarkable and powerful collection of published ‘evidence’ of patient experiences especially – and from all over the world! The petitions clerks are being kept busy with ‘processing’ these […]

Read more ....