Withdrawal | RxISK - Part 2

The Pill that Causes you to Steal Someone Else’s Life

September 4, 2016 | 52 Comments

Katinka Newman’s The Pill that Steals Lives brings out the hazards of being put on a treatment that then becomes the problem that other treatments are used to treat. In her case she could have easily killed herself – or her children. The website 100Families.org lists 1250+ cases where mental health is linked to homicides. […]

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Chinese symbol for resilience

Stopping Antidepressants: Kenny’s Dilemma

August 29, 2016 | 26 Comments

Editorial Note: This request came to RxISK through Contact Us, last week. It went out to several of the panel who contribute to our responses, some of whom have qualified in medicine and some who have qualified by going through the medical system. There was no consensus among us about how to respond. Beneath the […]

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Olanzapine: Still Treading Water

July 31, 2016 | 20 Comments

Editorial Note: Ages back, Sally MacGregor wrote this piece to follow up to her Olanzapine experience – Olanzapine Withdrawal: Sally’s Story. The original piece has routinely been among the top ten RxISK blog posts visited. This update slipped between the cracks. But here it is. Time for a progress report. I was in feisty mode […]

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Natalie at Rain Forest Cafe 10th Birthday

Kidnapped: Natalie’s Story

July 6, 2016 | 25 Comments

Editorial Note: Natalie’s story parts 1 and 2 are by her mother Kristina. Natalie, celebrating her tenth birthday in 2003, shortly after being prescribed Prozac. Her left eye was starting to show signs of amblyopia, more commonly called “lazy eye.” This adverse drug reaction worsened and was one of many Natalie suffered from unnecessary prescribing. We […]

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15 Tips for Quitting Antidepressants

Medical Kidnap: Withdrawal & Non-Compliance

June 20, 2016 | 22 Comments

Editorial Note: This post is by Wendy Murray. It comes from a chapter in her new book that deals with the problems many of us have with prescribers of all kinds for medications of all kinds when we question their judgment. Their attitudes can kidnap us just as much as a detention can. I had reached […]

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Hands tied with rope

A Kidnapped Daughter 2

June 13, 2016 | 12 Comments

Continued from Part 1. Put on mirtazepine my daughter deteriorated rapidly. The crisis intervention team descended. They started by counting pills. When they found the number correct, they assumed I had destroyed the pills. They seemed perplexed. One of the team would take her out for some one–to-one. They would visit the local park, go to […]

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Medication and Withdrawal

March 16, 2016 | 43 Comments

The RxISK website has been undergoing major renovation. There is still a great deal of work going on behind the scenes to look at new ideas and better ways to make available the best tools and information about prescription drug side effects. The old site had a Symptoms on Stopping Zone – a Withdrawal Zone. […]

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United States of Adderall

February 15, 2016 | 12 Comments

Ed Note: This post is by Johanna Ryan who covers most of our stimulant related topics. Dr. Larry Diller is a pediatrician who specializes in children’s behavioral problems, especially Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He’s by no means anti-medication; he has prescribed stimulants to kids for decades. But twenty years ago he was already concerned […]

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Antidepressant site specific action

Greg’s Dilemma: Feeling Blue

December 31, 2015 | 27 Comments

Magic bullet In Greg’s Dilemma 1 and Dilemma 2, Greg outlined more than one dilemma linked to getting hooked to antidepressants and benzodiazepines. The responses to these posts were all over the shop – from pull yourself together, to entrust your life to God, to support for descriptions of positions others find themselves in. The […]

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Greg’s Dilemma: Riding a Backwards Bike

December 21, 2015 | 22 Comments

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 […]

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Greg’s Dilemma: Riding a Bike Backwards

December 14, 2015 | 8 Comments

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 […]

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Greg’s Dilemma

December 7, 2015 | 24 Comments

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 […]

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Down These Mean Streets

November 30, 2015 | 7 Comments

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 […]

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Tracking Down the Cause of Withdrawal and PSSD

October 13, 2015 | 27 Comments

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 […]

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What's standing between you and your life?

Withdrawal Research Forum: Relief at Last?

October 7, 2015 | 36 Comments

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 […]

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GSK - Science with a conscience

September 14, 2015 | 10 Comments

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 […]

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Benzodiazepine and Antidepressant Dependence

August 31, 2015 | 13 Comments

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 […]

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August 24, 2015 | 173 Comments

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 […]

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The Sick Child by Edvard Munch

Withdrawal from Sertraline

July 27, 2015 | 154 Comments

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 […]

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Is there life after meds?

Doctors and Withdrawal from Antidepressants

July 20, 2015 | 61 Comments

This is a follow-up to Katie’s post, Girl on a Hot Tin Roof, about drug withdrawal and burning feet. I have been profoundly affected by adverse events from medications. I attempted repeatedly to talk to my psychiatrist about my concerns and hoped he would believe what had occurred so that he could partner with me. […]

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Tourette Syndrome

Abilify, Tourette Syndrome and Me

April 27, 2015 | 9 Comments

Editorial Note: This post is by DG. It’s number three in the Abilify series, following Dodging Abilify and Abilify from the Inside Out. I was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome (TS) as a child. It was always manageable. I did well in school and was actively involved with music programs at church and school. At 17, […]

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woman with fire in background

Antidepressant Withdrawal: A Prozac Story

March 2, 2015 | 238 Comments

Editorial Note: Over two years ago we posted Antidepressant Withdrawal: V’s story. It has close to 100 comments making it one of the topics that has attracted the most interest. Right now the New York Times is running a series on Breaking up with my Meds that is attracting a lot of comment. This is […]

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Back in Olanzapine Waters

August 7, 2014 | 15 Comments

Editorial Note: Courtesy of Fast Forward, here is a 12 month follow up to Olanzapine Withdrawal: Sally’s Story; some good, some OK and some awful. Sounds and speech Twelve months later, I continue to have problems with my hearing. The serious sensitivity to sounds has settled a bit – so I don’t jump out of my […]

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Olanzapine Withdrawal: Sally’s Story

August 5, 2014 | 130 Comments

Editorial Note: How long does withdrawal last? How much overlap is there between antipsychotic, benzodiazepine and antidepressant withdrawal? This is the first of two posts covering these issues. All answers later this week in part two. For Antipsychotic Withdrawal – see also Carole’s Story. I was prescribed olanzapine 20 mg in 2001, as a mood […]

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Is there life after meds?

Girl on a Hot Tin Roof: Drug Withdrawal Syndrome

July 30, 2014 | 13 Comments

Editorial Note: There are two reasons to run Katie B-T’s story here. One is the phenomenon of burning feet she reports. This seems common with benzodiazepine like drugs, including gabapentin and pregabalin. We would love to hear from others who have had problems like this – how long did the problem last, what helped if […]

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SoS: Benzodiazepine Withdrawal

May 16, 2013 | 3 Comments

The first benzodiazepine, Librium, came on the market in 1960, followed three years later by Valium. By the late 1960s the benzos were selling in vast amounts. In the 1970s Valium became the best selling drug on Earth. While Leo Hollister and others put forward suggestions that you could get hooked to them as early as […]

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SoS: Anti-clotting drugs – Fiona’s story

May 8, 2013 | 63 Comments

Editorial note: Fiona’s story (FB) was the first RxISK story filed. It is reproduced here. Data from FDA’s MedWatch system noting withdrawal problems on clopidogrel and Plavix are laid out in the Table at the bottom. Fiona’s story I had a heart attack two years ago and was prescribed Clopidogrel and low dose Aspirin as my […]

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Dopamine Antagonist Withdrawal Syndrome – Carole’s Story

May 1, 2013 | 59 Comments

The last post outlined the horrors of dopamine agonist withdrawal syndrome (DAWS). This week’s features the equally grim horror of dopamine antagonist withdrawal syndrome (DAAWS). The dopamine antagonists include the antipsychotic, anti-nausea, anti-itch and other groups of drugs. The antipsychotics were the first of the modern psychotropic drugs to be linked to severe withdrawal, but […]

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Dopamine Agonist Withdrawal Syndrome (DAWS)

April 24, 2013 | 114 Comments

Editorial note: Renny’s story chillingly outlines the misery of Dopamine Agonist Withdrawal Syndrome (DAWS). Below this we present data from RxISK’s SoS Zone showing rates of Symptoms on Stopping and related problems on Dopamine Agonists which fully bear out her personal experience. I was prescribed Mirapex (Pramipexole), a ‘Dopamine Agonist’, in early 2012 for ‘Restless […]

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RxISK’s SoS Zone: Symptoms on Stopping

April 17, 2013 | 4 Comments

Editorial Note: Following a redesign of the website in 2015, the Symptoms on Stopping Zone mentioned in this article now works differently. You can search for withdrawal related side effects in the Drugs A-Z section. Side effects can be reported using the main “Report a Side Effect” function. Birth of the SoS zone Backed into […]

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