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 […]

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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 […]

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Stop suicide
Akathisia, Depression & Suicide: The List
September 27, 2018 | 34 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 […]

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Even Politicians get killed by Akathisia
September 18, 2018 | 9 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 […]

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Akathisia Anthem
August 29, 2018 | 7 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 […]

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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 […]

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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.  […]

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300 Cases
Enduring Sexual Dysfunction: 300 Cases
May 4, 2018 | 56 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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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PSSD, Withdrawal & Small Fiber Neuropathy?
March 20, 2018 | 71 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 […]

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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 […]

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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. […]

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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 […]

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Toilet sign
Bladder and Bowel Problems After Antidepressants
January 19, 2018 | 20 Comments

In addition to sexual problems such as post-SSRI sexual dysfunction (PSSD) and persistent genital arousal disorder (PGAD), a range of other urological problems linked to antidepressants are increasingly coming into view, and can sometimes be long-lasting after the drugs are stopped. They are likely to be significantly more common than is generally thought, and it’s […]

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PGAD: Clitoridectomy or ECT?
December 22, 2017 | 12 Comments

Editorial Note:  Following on from The Princess and the Frozen Pea, this is a second post in a PGAD series.  There will be one more on the range of conditions mentioned here that are often linked to PGAD – interstitial cystitis, pelvic floor dysnergia, prostatitis and others. See also PGAD Video Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder […]

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The Princess and the Frozen Pea: PGAD
December 15, 2017 | 7 Comments

Imagine: sitting with friends – maybe a couple of people you have never met before also present – having supper. You’re uncomfortable; it’s hard to sit still. You try hard to concentrate on the conversation – the political turmoil erupting around you, or a film someone’s just been to see – but you can’t. Because […]

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RxISK Prize: Campaign & Challenge
November 28, 2017 | 8 Comments

The RxISK Prize campaign took off 3 months ago.  The generosity of donors from all walks of life – many out of work because of the impact of these conditions on them – has been astonishing. There have also been substantial anonymous donations. While many of those affected have lost faith in doctors and pharmaceutical […]

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RxISK Map: Relationship Based Medicine
November 14, 2017 | 15 Comments

Editorial Note: This is the third in a RxISK Map series of posts – See Reformation Day and Here We Stand. These link closely to the RxISK Prize. There are two aspects to finding a cure for an adverse event. One is understanding the biology. The other is getting it established that the effect happens. […]

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Here We Stand, We Can Do No Other
November 7, 2017 | 28 Comments

Editorial Note.  This post runs hand in hand with Vampire Medicine and Cisparency on David Healy.org.  It is the second of three posts, following on from Reformation Day laying the basis for a RxISK Map which is linked to the RxISK Prize. When you are facing down the barrel of a tank… Pharmaceutical companies, medical […]

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RxISK Prize: Stigma and Recovery
October 25, 2017 | 26 Comments

This continues the series of posts about the RxISK Prize.  It lays the way for the RxISK Prize and Map which will feature next week Stigma PSSD, PFS, PRSD and PGAD come with a heavy burden of stigma.  This is a problem AIDS activists met head-on and conquered in an extraordinary fashion.  It had never […]

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Map of 300 cases
RxISK Prize: Global Impact
October 16, 2017 | 44 Comments

Globalization is not a word that’s in favor at the moment. In the face of this very recent economic development that seemed to be sweeping the board in the 1980s and 1990s, we now want to reassert national boundaries, hang onto “our” jobs, and keep out others – sometimes those who have done a great […]

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RxISK Prize: No Nos
October 4, 2017 | 16 Comments

The RxISK Prize throws up one surprise after another. I would have thought as organizations that save lives and pillars of the economy, it should be relatively easy to contact a pharmaceutical company. It isn’t. I have lots of contacts in organizations that liaise with pharma and used to have many contacts in pharma but […]

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RxISK Prize: The Golden Rule
September 26, 2017 | 15 Comments

This post follows Launching and How You Can Help which are also now on our Prize page on the Main Menu. Launching the RxISK Prize has been eye opening. Everyone who has donated or will donate will hopefully get some sense of this. If you’re not getting it, you need to remember this Prize is yours […]

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Withdrawal & PSSD: Terminal Diagnoses?
July 17, 2017 | 96 Comments

There has been something of a hiatus on posts on DH and RxISK in recent weeks.  There are a few reasons – one of them outlined here and one to come next week. Part of the problem has been knowing what to say to people with PSSD and severe withdrawal.  I have been swamped with […]

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Shipwrecked by the Cure
Drug Wrecked: Where Does Change Come From?
April 24, 2017 | 52 Comments

Editorial Note:  There are two elements to RxISK.  One is identifying adverse events in order to keep people safe and to widen our knowledge about what drugs do. But just as important is taking on a power structure that some of us get a glimpse of when we raise the possibility of an adverse event […]

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Drug wreck
Illnesses Worse than Side Effects?
February 13, 2017 | 21 Comments

This extraordinary image is from an advert for Clozapine. Mental illness can unquestionably bring distress – it can be haunting, dislocating and deeply disturbing. But the side effects are often more severe. Drugs like Clozapine are used by the military for torture purposes. Healthy volunteers commit suicide after a few days exposure to them. Treatment […]

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Heartattack and Vine – and Plavix
December 5, 2016 | 8 Comments

Editorial Note: The first RxISK story was about Plavix – Fiona’s Story. This anonymous account has striking overlaps with that. Plavix is clopidogrel. The grel group of drugs include 1tazigrel, dimetagrel and others. They function like expensive aspirins. They cause problems on withdrawal and can be lethal. But medics and nurses will bat the problems […]

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Dilemmas: advising others
November 21, 2016 | 36 Comments

Editorial Note: This post is by Sally Macgregor. I left a comment on: Stopping Antidepressants: Kenny’s dilemma, which contained this statement: ‘I think acknowledging that coming off the pills can end badly is absolutely crucial. For one thing it’s honest, and without honestly how can people begin to cope with the situation they find themselves […]

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Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen: Born to Withdraw?
October 10, 2016 | 20 Comments

Editorial Note: These excerpts from Bruce Springsteen’s new book Born To Run were picked out for us by a colleague who is a lifetime Bruce fan. Zero to sixty in nothing flat The blues don’t jump right on you. They come creeping. Shortly after my sixtieth I slipped into a depression like I hadn’t experienced since that […]

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