Greg’s dilemma is one we all share – even John Junig. The easy bit of the dilemma has to do with dependence and withdrawal. Dr Junig’s line that he’s trained in neuroscience and behavior and can confidently say that Greg’s – or anyone else’s – difficulties on treatment with benzodiazepines, antidepressants or mood stabilizers, are just in their mind, just a matter of … [Read more...] about Greg’s Dilemma: Riding a Backwards Bike
Withdrawal
Greg’s Dilemma: Riding a Bike Backwards
Editorial Note: Last week in Greg's Dilemma, Greg outlined the difficulties he had with dependence on and withdrawal from serotonin reuptake inhibitors and benzodiazepines. The first comment was from a therapist who seemed to say "pull yourself together". This eerily echoed the next part of Greg's dilemma - that could have been posted last week but was held over till this week. … [Read more...] about Greg’s Dilemma: Riding a Bike Backwards
Greg’s Dilemma
Editorial Note: This post on the difficulties of withdrawal comes from Greg. There will be 3 parts to it. In Part 2 Greg gets some standard psychiatric advice and in Part 3, we offer a response to the advice. Way, way down in a hole, there is no feeling Because when you're so far below the floor, everything's a ceiling -Death Cab for Cutie Unfortunately for me, being down … [Read more...] about Greg’s Dilemma
Down These Mean Streets
Editorial Note: This post that neatly ties together drug induced violence and dependence and withdrawal, the theme of the next few posts, is by Mickey Nardo. It featured on OneBoringOldMan a few weeks ago. It has a ring of a Raymond Chandler novel. Hence the image and the postscript. It was towards the end of today’s clinic. He was a big guy, friendly, seemed neither anxious … [Read more...] about Down These Mean Streets
Tracking Down the Cause of Withdrawal and PSSD
Editorial Note: Between now and the end of the year, RxISK will have a major revamp. Among the first new features will be a Complex Withdrawal and PSSD research section. The philosophy behind this is that no-one knows what Protracted Withdrawal Syndromes and PSSD actually are and it's more difficult to find an answer if we don't know. Both are conditions that cannot be found in … [Read more...] about Tracking Down the Cause of Withdrawal and PSSD
Withdrawal Research Forum: Relief at Last?
Editorial Note: There are tens of thousands of people affected by dependence on and protracted withdrawal from antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, dopamine agonists and other drugs. We will be opening up a Complex Withdrawal and PSSD research section in the very near future aimed at solving what is going on. This post by DA who has a certified protracted … [Read more...] about Withdrawal Research Forum: Relief at Last?
A 329 Story
Editorial: This is an account from someone who went on paroxetine - Paxil - Seroxat - soon after Study 329 came out. She didn't commit suicide. But it would be difficult to describe these effects of the drug as good. And it is also difficult to view the culture in which the drug was given as therapeutic. Most of us can probably remember the power of a sympathetic adult when we … [Read more...] about A 329 Story
Benzodiazepine and Antidepressant Dependence
Sally MacGregor has written about the horrors of dependence on olanzapine - see Olanzapine Withdrawal and Back In Olanzapine Waters. Here she picks up a conundrum - Primary Care Doctors react to the idea of Benzodiazepines as though they have been the greatest threat to the stability of society since World War II, while at the same time it seems still dishing out these drugs in … [Read more...] about Benzodiazepine and Antidepressant Dependence
Kicking Lyrica
Editorial Note: This post was put together by Johanna Ryan from reports to RxISK on Lyrica - Pregabalin. Lyrica is closely related to Neurontin. Many anticonvulsants such as carbamazepine have been used for forty years for pain syndromes such as trigeminal neuralgia. Neurontin but especially Lyrica have been promoted heavily for this. Both cause dependence and withdrawal and … [Read more...] about Kicking Lyrica
Withdrawal from Sertraline
This is the story of Anna. My first encounter with psychiatry and the “mental health” system was in the summer of 2008. A beautiful; warm summer indeed. But unfortunately I will recall this summer for other, less glorious, reasons. I was 20 years old at the time and had moved eight times in my short life, changed countries twice and had become increasingly more lonely and … [Read more...] about Withdrawal from Sertraline