Kidnapped: Natalie’s Story
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 couldn’t understand how Natalie suddenly developed a “lazy eye.” Today we know: Prozac has unexpected effects on the brain’s vision center.
Kidnapped
Our daughter Natalie was a bright, loving and happy child—until age 10. She was emotionally and intellectually mature for her age. By age four she was reading and by age eight had scored in the 99th percentile nationwide on a standardized exam. The school district identified Natalie as “gifted and talented” and placed her in an advanced academics program.
Natalie enjoyed school and excelled. As she transitioned, however, from childhood innocence to a growing realization of the complexities of the world, it became apparent she had an exceptionally sensitive disposition and deep concern about problems beyond her age and capacity. For example, Natalie was alarmed—anxious even—about global warming. She also said she sometimes felt too shy to raise her hand in class or get up to sharpen her pencil.
To help relieve Natalie of mounting anxiety, a close relative, who was also a licensed clinical social worker, recommended therapy. Surprised by the recommendation, I ignored it. However, we decided to try therapy after hearing: “There are images of the brain that show untreated anxiety and depression can permanently change brain development.” In 2003, this information, and the chemical imbalance “theory,” was prevalent teaching in the mental health field. Neither of us knew then that we had been duped.
My children’s wellbeing was a top priority—from prenatal vitamins, to breast feeding to homemade baby food—I strived to promote a healthy start. I would never withhold necessary medical care nor intentionally harm my child’s developing brain. Our military medical insurance covered psychiatry and Natalie’s dad and I chose psychiatry over counseling. We naively thought psychiatrists were better trained to uncover causes for anxiety and develop coping strategies. We never anticipated treatment would include prescription drugs.
Wreaking havoc
Definition of “Thing” (noun): an object that one need not, cannot, or does not wish to give a specific name to.
Natalie, a prolific reader with a witty sense of humor, enjoyed Dr. Seuss. One of our favorite stories, The Cat in The Hat, features odd, destructive characters called Thing One and Thing Two. Uninvited, these “things” enter the house of two children, wreak havoc, and ultimately destroy their home. A similar unanticipated invasion happened to my family, except our true story is a tragedy with no happy ending.
We took Natalie to several doctors with the expectation they would develop a therapeutic, healing relationship with our child. The process and outcome were “things” far different. My family suffered a series of abductions and Natalie was, literally, poisoned by her doctors. First they stole Natalie’s spirit. And in the end they took her life.
Abductor number one: 2003
The psychiatrist recommended Prozac after only a few therapy appointments. She said it was for “OCD-like symptoms,” not for depression. Concerned about the drug, I asked questions and read consumer information from Eli Lilly. The doctor skipped over risks vs. benefits and provided no informed consent. The only Prozac side effect she shared was nausea and vomiting, symptoms Natalie soon experienced. The doctor said it might be caused by Prozac but would likely subside.
At this time SSRIs had no Black Box warning—despite that, years before my child was even conceived, the FDA and drug manufacturers knew SSRIs cause akathisia and death.
Natalie’s personality and happy, compassionate spirit quickly changed. She was increasingly anxious and agitated, withdrawn and apathetic, and developed new fears and obsessions. In mid-2004, Natalie began cutting her eyebrows and had light cuts on her arm from a paperclip. Alarmed, I immediately called the doctor. Her response was to increase the Prozac dose. Twice.
Critical info withheld
What the psychiatrist did NOT do was share the new March 22, 2004, FDA advisory sent to doctors. It warned that SSRIs pose life-threatening risks to children. In October 2004 another mother—a teacher like me who also lived in the Washington, D.C. suburbs—had recently lost her 12-year-old daughter, Candace Downing, to Zoloft prescripticide. After Candace’s family, and many others, pressured the FDA, the FDA belatedly released an SSRI Black Box warning. But we remained unaware.
Had Abductor Number One responsibly shared this new critical info, Natalie’s story would end here. But she did not.
It never occurred to us during Natalie’s “treatment” to ask the doctor if the drug she prescribed was now identified as dangerous. We didn’t think to ask the pharmacists the same question. We wrongly assumed Natalie’s well-paid doctor and the pharmacy was required to provide such critical information. Few consumers could fathom that the FDA allows serious Black Box warnings to be printed in tiny type, buried inside an envelope most consumers routinely discard. Why doesn’t the FDA require large, bold-print warnings on the outside packaging, as they require for tobacco products?
Clearly communicating Black Box warnings wasn’t a priority then and isn’t today. The number of consumers suffering from akathisia, the adverse drug reaction that often precipitates fatal harm to one’s self and others (prescripticides) is greater than reported. Yet, organizations such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention still don’t adequately communicate Black Box warnings and never even mention akathisia.
The lost summer
Still left in the dark, we continued “therapy” and the doctor’s drug of choice. The close parent-child relationship we enjoyed with Natalie was disintegrating. She now viewed us as “mean and unfair.” Natalie also lost her ability to participate in physical activities. Her fifth-grade diary reflects she felt uncoordinated, “couldn’t catch a ball,” and was often “the last person picked” for sports teams. This was significant given that Natalie previously showed excellent fine motor skills and happily out-climbed friends at the rock climbing wall.
Natalie’s doctor started offering new diagnostic guesses. They included borderline personality disorder, emotional lability, OCD and manic depression. She diligently updated her charts, but didn’t update us with new Prozac information. Natalie’s symptoms were far more serious than her original presenting symptom of anxiety.
Desperate—and not knowing better—we continued to trust the doctor. The doctor continued to trust her drug rep and their treatment: The psychiatrist could not consider that Natalie’s evolving symptoms were the result of the doctor’s own pharmacological interventions.
In early summer 2005, Natalie was directed to “take a medication holiday” to see how she does without Prozac. Despite that information was available to doctors stating SSRIs should be slowly tapered, Natalie’s doctor provided no such direction.
Unless one is a sadist who equates fun with a 10-day stay in a mental hospital, following the doctor’s advice was far from a holiday. Days after stopping Prozac, Natalie flatly declared, “Mom, I would kill myself if I could. But I know I can’t, so I won’t.” During my frantic drive to the hospital, I was terrified thinking my 11-year-old daughter might jump out of the van along the way.
Abductor number two: 2005
The hospital conducted an interview and asked Natalie to share her feelings. She wrote: “I wish I could stop thinking about wanting to kill myself.”
We didn’t want to leave our daughter in the care of strangers, but there seemed no choice. Natalie showed little emotion and appeared to view us distantly. She shook uncontrollably. I requested extra blankets before tucking her in bed because I thought Natalie was cold. The hospital wouldn’t allow us to stay by Natalie’s bedside.
We didn’t know Natalie was suffering from Prozac-induced psychosis and Serotonin Toxicity. The hospital doctors didn’t know this, either.
Abductor Number Two, the hospital psychiatrist, called to declare Natalie needed more drugs in addition to restarting Prozac. I said I first needed more information about Risperdal before approving. I was, therefore, labeled a problem parent. Hospital records sharply criticized me. Despite being told that Natalie’s doctor had abruptly stopped Prozac, the hospital falsely charted patient had been “noncompliant.” It was soon apparent the social worker believed Natalie’s suicidality was likely caused by Natalie’s mom and “family dynamics.”
Not fully realizing Natalie’s first psychiatrist had caused Natalie’s deterioration, I called her about Risperdal. She provided little information. I then pleaded, mother-to-mother: “Would you give your child Risperdal if you were me?” The psychiatrist, who was also a trained lawyer, coolly replied, “I don’t answer hypothetical questions.” She did, however, state Natalie would benefit from daily therapy with her.
Ten days later, we left the hospital with no informed consent, no Black Box warning info, and no acknowledgement that Prozac could have even possibly caused Natalie’s life-threatening symptoms. But they didn’t leave us empty-handed: Risperdal was thrown into their cauldron.
Natalie spent her sixth-grade summer taking two dangerous drugs for an illness she never had. We were told if she didn’t take the drugs, she might again become suicidal. The doctors’ potions turned Natalie into a lethargic zombie. By September, Natalie’s 11-year-old body had changed from a petite, thin girl into that of a pear-shaped, woman. Natalie was quite distressed to see her now fat body covered with permanent, Risperdal stretch marks.
We discontinued the drugs and thought our family would soon return to normal—the way we were before we came in contact with psychiatry.
Rollercoaster of withdrawal: 2005-2009
We never fully got our daughter back. Our innocent little girl was damaged in mind, body and spirit. Suffering long-term adverse drug reactions, Natalie also faced the stigma of being mislabeled “emotionally disabled.” She tried to joke about it, saying “I went from gifted and talented to special ed.”
Nevertheless, Natalie strived to live a full life. During middle school she went on trips, earned good grades, attended camp, etc. But periods of normalcy were interspersed with periods of prolonged “depression” and anxiety. We did all we knew to do to reclaim Natalie’s happy spirit. She started talk therapy with a social worker in private practice. Unfortunately, this counselor was unfamiliar with tardive dysphoria, which is antidepressant-induced chronic depression. As were we.
Continued in Part 2.
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Yet another all too familiar tragic story of a life destroyed by SSRI poison. How many countless lives have been destroyed, how many thousands more victims are created every day by ignorant clinicians? To the doubters, take a standard dose everyday for a month and then stop. Tell me how you feel a month later, a year later, five years later…
If anything, these drugs create a chemical imbalance, they cause damage and recovery does not exist. It is like waiting for a severed limb to regrow. It ain’t gonna happen.
And…yet another case where someone presents with some issues, the drug is prescribed and things get worse. Response? Increase the dosage! Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Oh, Kristina, your beautiful child.
She looks so much like my Naomi, at her tenth birthday. So pretty, so articulate, so wise at such a young age.
It is your writing that will save lives and I thank you for it.
Natalie deserved better, much better
After me and seroxat, wild horses would not have suggested to me that I send off my daughter to my gp as I knew deep in my bones she would ply the child with drugs, like she did me. Naomi had a very lucky escape.
In my wildest dreams I didn’t ever think that a Psychiatrist and a General Practitioner would screw around with psychological terminology leading to the eventual demise of their patient.
It seems unbelievable to me that each of these individuals would pass along to each other great scribes of ‘information’ about how Seroxat impacted on my life, my child, my mother, my partner, in such a way that Seroxat seemed like an innocuous ball bearing
When you read acres of paperwork delivered between a local mental hospital and a local medical practice which did not include the ‘patient’ it seems that these individuals can get away with anything they choose to
Most of their ‘reports’ were pretty insulting, read your medical records at your peril, and, normally a psychiatrist telling a general practitioner what to do would result in the general practitioner doing what she was told.
It so happened that instead of this simple and straightforward instruction being followed this general practitioner decided to play at being a ‘psychiatrist’ and dishing out ‘other’drugs which at no time did the psychiatrist tell her to do
Even when instructed by the Pharmacist at the Hospital for the year long withdrawal with Paroxetine Liquid, although, done, led to more pretty insulting referrals beings sent off
How a Hospital and Medical Practice could lead each other astray like this is really quite enlightening……is it not normal practice to include the ‘patient’ in Medical Plans regarding Drugs?
Apparently, not.
Not a word was said to me until it was revealed five years later and then the avalanche of emails, telephone calls, rebuttal letters, I have quite a pile..
I also have two letters of support from witnesses.
One is from an organization called Women’s Aid who was witness to my shocking appearance after ‘Event’, the other is from the Practice Nurse who was with me from Day One and who watched the whole Scenario Play Out.
Her letter is very honest, very kind, and very supportive……..shown to her boss it would get her the sack
She is still in the same job at my previous medical practice and we have not had contact since I received her ‘to whom it may concern’ personal and private letter
She was a dear friend to us having us for Christmas and Overnights……the General Practitioner was also a ‘dear friend’ to us as we stayed in her luxury hoose on the Isle of Bute sipping away the Paroxetine Liquid..
And more..
Trail Of Paxil Suicides Leads
To GlaxoSmithKline
By Evelyn Pringle
16 February, 2007
Countercurrents.org
http://www.countercurrents.org/pringle160207.htm
Dear Kristina, as you quite rightly say, it is all ‘diagnostic guesses’ with such tragic results.
I am so sorry.
As loving parents you were duped, as Dr. David Healy keeps saying
“We were all hoodwinked, misled, duped,” he stated in the interview.
“If you’d heard the experts talk,” Dr Healy said, “they all say the drug was extremely safe and very effective.”
“They produce these clinical trials,” he noted, “which appear to be evidence and they aren’t, they’re adverts.”
With thoughts for Natalie and expecting further darkness from Kristina, very sadly
This was said in 2005 and should give us all pause for thought..
http://ahrp.org/uk-doctors-told-to-stop-giving-antidepressants-to-children-glaxo-warns-of-paxil-birth-defects/
Annie,
Your compassionate understanding means very much to me. Few people can fully understand what it is like to have one’s soul and mind stolen by doctors and their potions. It’s a life-long horror for me to realize that seeking professional “care” to help my child cope with mild anxiety led instead to her torture and destruction.
Sadly, there are many people walking in these shoes. We must work together to educate the public about SSRI dangers and risks. Lives can and will be saved.
Thank you, again, for your kindness.
How many children are unnecessarily diagnosed to the point that ‘pills’ are the only answer to a perceived problem!
Lives are being ruined and so many within the medical fraternity so strongly believe that the problems that they are witnessing with the onslaught of these meds do not exist `IT IS ALL COINCIDENTAL’ – A quick slapdash response that is only ALL to familiar.
Natalie, like many other children, are being ‘just children’.
If this is her nature, why on earth does everything have to be over medicalised?
The system not only puts the child through the wringer.
The parents suffer also, after witnessing what these unforgivable meds do to their child’s wellbeing.
The system forgets that children are individuals and that each and every child is born with a unique ‘blue print’ which sets them apart from each other.
What disservice are we doing to children that don’t fit the ‘norm’?
What is the ‘norm’?
The system is beyond ‘dysfunctional’ because it portrays/diagnosis and identifies certain ‘personality traits’ as ‘abnormal’.
Perhaps, we should find another paradigm that assists professionals to accept that all children are gifted in their own right.
Perhaps, many educational institutions are teaching disabled and when children do not fit the ‘norm’ we will send them on a ‘crazy roller coaster of their lives’.
If the children don’t fit the MOULD, this is when things can get very out of hand and messy especially, if one does not open their eyes to what is going on!
WHY are so many children being punished for not being the ‘perfect/ideal/student?
What are educational institutions looking for when a child does not fit the ‘norm’?
It is natural for children, including adults, to exhibit anxiety especially, when they feel uncomfortable and are made to feel inadequate.
I BELIEVE, in the distant future, many parents will question the integrity of the educational system, just like so many are questioning the health system.
The ‘witch hunt’ begins from when the child enters the system until they leave the system. IT IS NEVER ENDING!
With all honesty, how many children benefit from taking these dubious meds?
Is it the system that wants to placate individuals so that they conform to ‘normal conformity’, whatever this may be!
If children are gifted or regarded as ‘slow learners’- why do these children have to be put through a broken system that does not benefit them.
Society, is all ‘hell bent ‘thinking the more support you give a child the better the success. The more you spend on that child/ren, the better the success. This is just a false illusion of what we have been bought up to believe.
Many children, would benefit form a system that believes in the child.
Children need ongoing support and encouragement to become pillars of our community.
What ever happened to hard work, determination, extra support and getting the help/assistance that professionals need to help those children that need the extra attention.
When you put a child under the microscope it can make or break them!
PILLS are the last resort that parents should turn to.
My opinion, they may create worse problems than what the individual started up with!
Many children, do need help and support but when a parent questions the integrity of the system, the parents and children suffer the repercussions of also not conforming.
We are made to feel incompetent beyond belief?
DO AS YOU ARE TOLD OR ELSE WE WILL NOT HELP YOU OR YOUR CHILD/REN!
Somehow, we have forgotten that parents know their children better than a drug does?
We have placed our trust in a system that feeds many hands and we have forgotten about the ‘individuals’ wellbeing.
Children are made to feel different when they don’t fit the ‘norm’.
When adults don’t fit the norm, society chastises them for questioning paradigms that are dysfunctional.
Have we really learnt from our past mistakes?
With all the technology and resources at our disposal, have we really evolved as an intelligent species?
Tests, specialist reports, paediatric assessments, psychological assessments etc. etc. etc. `let’s pass the buck and generate money for every professional out there’.
What are we saying to the poor child when they don’t fit in the dysfunctional system?
The pressures of fitting the perfect criteria is just a ‘NO BRAINER’ for me.
The child gets lost in the system and feels unsupported.
Thank goodness, there are schools out there that support the uniqueness of children.
If a child is passionate about something, they will ‘go above and beyond’ to nurture their gift.
The fact that we are born, is a gift in itself!
What more evidence does anyone require to understand/appreciate that these meds are destroying many lives?
There will be a day, when clinicians will feel very embarrassed to face their patients.
The endless lies, deceit and useless mind playing games they play will only serve as a reminder that the tools they have in their tool box are no different to the experiments Dr J Mengele conducted.
When the meds induce problems, the care giver is blamed for the problems it induces! What a bad state of affairs!
Dear Natalie, I am sorry you had to experience all these horrible things, at an early age.
Your parents did what they thought was best at the time.
The system, has truly failed you and your parents.
I feel confident and have faith that your story will help many children and parents, who are in the same situation, to tackle things differently.
Awareness and education starts with us.
If some professionals don’t get us, I am certain that in the near distant future our voices will resonate with their ‘illogical’ reasoning.
Every pill that has harmed, will be eliminated from their tool box.
We can not sustain something that harms.
Every being will resonate with what I am saying.
To deny what is happening is a travesty of justice.
I agree wholeheartedly with everything you’ve said Carla. I am dreading Part 2 of Natalie’s story as I found part 1 quite difficult and know that this is not a story with a happy ending.
Regarding the ‘able and talented’/ ‘gifted and talented’ label, now used rather too often without due support (in my opinion), it needs to be acknowledged that such children need special attention in exactly the same way as children who have additional learning needs at the other end of the spectrum. Just placing the child in a group of like-minded youngsters is not enough. These children often need support in coming to terms with their anxieties but will, invariably, be helped more by discussions and ‘talking therapies’ than they ever will by a drug of any kind.
The education system, or rather the Dept. of Education here in the UK worries me a great deal at present. Here in Wales we are slightly sheltered from the on-going battles of England but, even so, are worried. The latest idea is that, in order to raise standards, testing at ages 7 &11 need to be more difficult. This has resulted, this year, in almost half of the eleven year olds of England failing the test – where will their anxiety levels be now I wonder? The original idea behind the testing was so that the next school receiving the children would have a clear picture of their pupils’ abilities. Can anyone explain to me how getting a certain number of pupils with ‘pass’ against their names and others with ‘fail’ can possibly help their planning? Pupils can fail by 1 mark or by a far bigger margin – the ‘label’ will be the same. On the opposite side of the fence – a child can pass by 1 mark or otherwise – the label will still be simply ‘pass. How then can this system possibly raise standards?
To my mind, the only difference it can possibly make is to raise the number of parents, pupils and teachers who will suffer from mental health problems – the pharma companies must be wringing their hands with glee!
One last note – I think it is very important, as Carla says, that we keep uppermost in our minds that every child is precious and different and that every single life is worthy of celebration – not destruction.
OMG Mary you reminded me now when I was at school we were the first year to be taught Gcse’s. We were the Guinea pigs for the new Gcse,s that were coming in, the teachers were frantic because they didn’t understand it themselves and it was our year that did worst when it came to our exams. No one in our year did well at all, very sad really because most of us were capable of doing far better than we did.
Just like the kids now this year, it’s very unfair.
Today’s news:
Gifted young person gets diagnosed with “depression” and is prescribed pills by their GP. Young person goes on to commit suicide under a train. They say he wasn’t given enough help. I say he was given antidepressants.
No mention in the article that it might well have been the pills that led him to do what he did. So very sad.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3677797/Betrayal-brilliant-boy-Edward-just-won-place-Cambridge-plunged-severe-depression-grief-stricken-father-tells-NHS-failed-him.html
What a sad loss.
The system failed Edward.
I am sorry that he felt all alone with his situation.
Depression does not discriminate.
Edward, needed someone he could talk to.
Someone who would take the time to listen without psychoanalysing.
I am wondering whether the vaccines we have as babies have any effects on the brain and why are some predisposed, whilst others breeze through life.
If we want help people with depression we have to debate important issues like the one I have raised.
Perhaps the chemicals in the antidepressants, vaccines, water, drinks and food we ingest, are impacting the part of the brain/gut lining, that are inducing people to become so down.
People who are highly gifted, are not quick to seek help when they have a problem.
Did the antidepressants create a big chemical change in Edwards brain?
If he was down, why did they prescribe him meds?
I have been told, that if one displays severe clinical depression, they should not be prescribed antidepressants, as it could tip them over the edge.
Unfortunately, some males feel weak if they turn to someone for help and support.
There is this stigma we have in our society that if a male needs help, you are not ‘macho ‘enough.
What complete nonsense!
Depression can be cured without taking drugs.
We have been bought up to believe that a pill is a panacea for all our problems.
Right now, at this very moment, I am observing how some professionals treat people when they ask questions about their medicines.
If someone has experienced an adverse drug reaction, they should listen to that individual instead of dismissing them.
I am quite shocked how some professionals treat their patients.
They believe that they have the power to abuse, misdiagnose, lie or mock the patient who has some understanding of negative drug interactions.
Then if you speak up about something that is not within their realm, they have the audacity to put you down for asking questions outside the box.
They put you into a ‘grid lock’ and somehow try to convince you that you have the anxiety or that you are worrying too much. Perhaps, you add to their anxiety!
Reverse the tables and see who has anxiety when you question the drugs they use.
Who exhibits anxiety, then?
Poor professionals playing the victim when they have behaved inappropriately or broken the rules of conduct.
What kind of a society do we live in when everything you experience, boils down to a script?
When a patient goes into a downward spiral because of the meds some clinicians prescribe, they are nowhere to be seen.
If a drug creates a problem, they add another drug to make problems worse.
It can escalate to death or another sinister disease.
Many drugs are inducing diseases but no one has the integrity to say the drug has induced another health issues.
I am perplexed how we never question the integrity of what goes in our mouth.
Take this med and you will be fine or ask your GP.
They know which medicine is best for you.
NO THEY DO NOT!
They do not make the drugs and they do not know if a patient will have an adverse reaction if another drug is added to the equation.
Do they know if the med they are prescribing to a patient is flawed in any way?
When a clinician prescribes and a patient gets harmed they don’t go down with the patient.
As far as I am concerned, they are playing ‘Russian roulette’ with people’s lives.
Some of the medicines cause the problems they are meant to cure.
This is not healing.
I hope that Edwards parents question the integrity of the meds their son ingested.
I hope they can recommend safer alternatives to people who find themselves in this very same situation.
Thank you to all the people out there who are not helping me with my cause.
You are only adding fuel to this epidemic problem.
If we want positive changes, compassion and understanding go a very long way especially when it comes to dubious meds.
People don’t need to be treated poorly.
They would like to be treated the way you would like to be treated.
Get off your high horses and listen.
You might learn from our experiences.
Dear Mary,
I like you approach and analytical thinking towards important subject matters.
I wouldn’t mind having you by my side.
These tests are not black/white.
There are many shades of grey.
Some of the labels that children have put on them are not helping them.
Some of these labels can be dangerous hence, the reason why scripts are unnecessarily written.
They make matters worse.
I believe that some children don’t flourish until they get older.
C
Dear Mary,
I like you approach and analytical thinking towards important subject matters.
I wouldn’t mind having you by my side.
Like you, I as very sad to read about Natalie’s story.
The tests they have in schools today are inadequate and are in need of desperate change.
These tests are not black/white.
There are many shades of grey.
Once you get on the roller coaster ride, it is very damaging to the child’s wellbeing.
In schools, they should have a multi-disciplinary team that focuses on the help children require.
Schools need to invest in programmes that will adequately assist children at their capacity.
I was told that my child would never be able to speak in front of a crowd and I somehow believed this nonsense.
One school proved this theory wrong.
I was in tears when I saw my son stand on the podium and speak up about something.
The teacher believed in him and look what he was capable of doing : )
These labels are dangerous and if you believe in them you will stay frozen and not achieve.
Every child, if in the right environment, with adequate help and support from teachers and parents can flourish.
I always tell my son to dream and believe.
If you take that hope away from anyone, they feel like they have no purpose.
Some of the labels that children have put on them are not helping them.
Some of these labels can be dangerous hence, the reason why scripts are unnecessarily written.
They make matters worse.
I believe that some children don’t flourish until they get older.
All children need support.
What does a teacher do when they have 90% of the class that learn and the rest are trying to learn but can’t keep up.
Teachers, need resources and valuable assistance from special education teachers to help students who need the extra support.
Smaller classroom sizes and extra resources goes a long way to helping teachers assist those children who really need it.
Sometimes, professionals make errors with diagnosis, also.
I believe the vaccinations of today are causing more problems than we will ever know.
Sometimes, to get the additional support the parent has to lie on the form to get that extra assistance. This is not based on an honest approach.
To get funding, why do parents and child have to be placed in this dishonest situation.
In my school days, if you were a struggler you were given the help and support without the added hoo-ha.
Somehow, along the way, we have forgotten about the child and have handed over all the control to politics of life.
The economy has to survive but in can survive on integrity.
How did we allow the system to get so corrupt?
Carla, you are so right about the state of our education system. There is only one reason why this year’s level2 SATs have failed so many children in England – and that is to build the ego of the UK government’s education group into the future. By that I mean – many children (and therefore schools) failed this year – Tories wanted all schools in England to become Academies but had to do a U-turn – will now push for further ‘standard raising’ gimmicks – next year’s tests will be made slightly easier (secretly of course) – many more will ‘pass’ next year – hooray for the Tories, they’ve managed to turn the education system around (not!). Things will only change when trust, by government ministers, in teachers, parents and pupils is restored – bullying does not bring success. Same is true with junior doctors as well as many other workers.
I think that the Wales football team have taught us a valuable lesson this past month – DARE TO DREAM. Against all odds they progressed, match by match, to the land of dreams ( well almost anyway!) – way beyond anyone’s expectations. Once they were beaten by Portugal, there were no sad faces – only praise for the team’s attitude throughout and respect for their fans. As Chris Coleman said – if you’ve given of your very best and that’s not quite good enough on the day then so be it. What a wonderful example for our youngsters to follow.
The same goes for us too I feel – Dare to Dream and TOGETHER STRONGER. Iechyd da!
Consumer Laws Are Not Meeting The Needs Of People.
Pharmaceutical companies are not held accountable when an individual is maimed or died as a result of ingesting one of their medicines.
If the clinician states that the medicine caused harm, then you may have a good chance of litigation.
If a clinician does not state that the patients illness or death was due to ingesting a particular medicine, the patient is not being fully represented in a court of law.
If a pharmaceutical company has not disclosed all the information, then I strongly believe there is something fundamentally wrong with our system.
Many celebrities have died ingesting a medicine which is deemed safe. If clinicians are aware that this is occurring, they should have no reason to prescribe this medication even if the regulators have ‘deemed it safe’.
Regulators work for big pharma and if they are not doin the right thing by consumers, they have also failed morally and ethically with their obligations to informing the consumers of the risks involved.
If there is a medicines that highlights risks to adolescents, there should also be a risk label for everyone else.
Companies can not discriminate with age.
If it is capable of causing harm to adolescents it is capable of causing harm to everyone else.
I just can’t understand why this kind of unethical reasoning is blatantly disregarding unsafe protocols.
Consumers have rights, also.
If you ingested a medicine and it induced suicide, other diseases which you were not informed about, ruins your life or causes unnecessary pain/suffering or death, that consumer should be entitled to compensation.
This concept that there is no proof or evidence to show that the medicine caused no harm, is morally wrong and unethical.
If the patient has substantial proof and evidence and the system has turned their backs on that individual, then they have also done a disservice to the rest of humanity.
When it comes to consumer laws, patients are not fully protected from unsafe products and unscrupulous businesses.
Currently, in Australia, companies have no legal obligation to ensure the products you buy aren’t harmful or unsafe.
This is like giving companies the rights to do whatever they want and to continue with their unethical behaviour.
If a product causes death, illness or injury this information is not available to consumers.
The poison I ingested induced: suicide, caused so much unnecessary pain and suffering and has impacted my ability to go back to work full time, ruined my good health and impacted my family lives.
The hardships that these medicines have cause and the lack of support from organizations and the medical/legal system is unjust.
If this information has not been made public, there is something fundamentally wrong with the medico/legal system.
After a product has injured or caused death to millions of consumers, one should think that immediate acton should be taken to inform consumers.
Why is this information kept confidential?
This vital safety information should be made public to alert consumers about the risks.
There are dangerous gaps in our Laws that need to keep up with current issues.
Clinicians also need to be advocates for patients and stand up for a cause when they know that a medicine has caused harm or death.
The medico/legal system have failed millions of consumers.
Carla Bataljin
Pharmaceutical companies have put millions of lives at risk.
1. You have failed to disclose what these medicine do to people when they try to wean themselves off of them
2. You have put a lot of innocent lives at risk by knowing that these drugs can make good people go mad and commit crimes they wouldn’t do otherwise. Such as murdering innocent people.
3. You have failed in your obligations to disclose all the information that consumers require before they make an informed decision.
4. You are causing unnecessary pain/suffering and death
5. You have failed in your moral obligations to do what is right.
6. You have failed to disclose that it can induce hardships because of the diseases and disabilities it induces and you have failed to let consumers know that these medicines induce death.
Important matters should not be swept under the carpet.
Humanity is paying the price for unethical and immoral business.
If laws do not change, we have no hope!
Do we allow this kind of behaviour to manifest or do we take the bull by the horns and say: enough is enough!
Carla, you asked for an update re:- letter to MP on reading ‘A Kidnapped Daughter’. I am pleased to say that I’ve now received a 2nd. reply.(First one told me not to pay too much attention to Rxisk stories as American and different healthcare rules. I swiftly replied that this particular story was wholly UK and gave him a few further facts about Rxisk plus a copy of parts 1 and 2 of the story.)
In his reply this week, he states that some important points were made in my letter and he’s contacted Jeremy Hunt regarding the need to safeguard against pharmacological kidnapping. I now await a response from the Department of Health. Hope the contents of that will be encouraging too.
Could you please update further Carla when possible?
The awaited response from DoH will surely be of real concern to all on this site.
Might it be possible to add this achievement to part 2 of
“A Kidnapped Daughter”?
The outcome of your determined correspondence surely will be of great importance to all these posts?
Thank you. T.
I won’t go over what has already been said in the comment section.
What a beautiful young girl Natalie was ~ Part II, I imagine is going to be equally disturbing and sad.
I’ve just tweeted both the FDA and Lilly this story, adding, “Do you not feel any guilt?”
Truth is, Pharma and regulators are well-oiled machines – almost robotic when giving answers as to the side-effects of psychiatric medication. I know they won’t reply but just felt compelled to direct them to this story.
PS – Kristina, you are a terrific writer.
Bob,
Thank you for your advocacy efforts and kind words. My hope is that by sharing Natalie’s avoidable tragedy, other children and parents will be saved from similar suffering.
I appreciate your sharing our true “story.” Big Pharma and “modern” medicine is a very sick business, indeed!
Kristina
Awareness Psychiatric abuse facts awww.cchr.org
Dr Thomas Szasz.
I would like you to become proactive question everything if you don’t the abuse will get worse.91% of all children sent to a psychiatrist are put on psychiatric drugs.You don’t need to take medication for the difficulties in life.Drug companies spend $5.3 billion a year marketing psychiatric drugs.120 million people worldwide are on psychotropic drugs,prescribed to them as a result of psychiatric diagnosis .374 STIGMATIZING mental disorder fill psychiatry’s diagnostic manual and more on the way.
The scientific basis for ADHD is utterly fraudulent .It was voted into Diagnostic Manual (DSM)by members of the American Psychiatric Association in 1987,driving up sales of stimulants to treat ADHD to $3 billion a year
It is irresponsible to medicate young people, it is shameful to use young people as a scapegoat.I have study sociology and psychology and the knowledge I got from the modules gave me the confidence to question everything.Thomas 1961 was sharply critical of the regimes in particular how psychiatric terminology and practice were being used to respond to social problems such as poverty and crime.
Foucault saw the institutions and discourse of medicine along with other state systems,as a means of controlling populations.
In many countries ,psychotropic drugs are prescribed to children age 5 or younger.It is a crime against humanity has to stop.
Often an undiagnosed physical condition can cause unwanted behavior or supposed psychiatric symptoms.Parents should be given the option of a nonpsychiatric medical examination and access to all educational resources to address any perceived learning or behaviour problems in their child,any alternatives to drugging exist.There is no biological test for ADHD states the FDA.
In September 2005,the Oregon Health Science University Evidence-based practice centre published a review of 2.287 studies virtually every study ever conducted on ADHD DRUGS and found no trial have proved the effectiveness of these drugs.The National Institute of Health reported there is little improvement in academic achievement or social skill by children taking drugs
As ADHD has been debunked as unscientific,psychiatrists have changed the diagnosis to bipolar disorder.Big business causing in the prescription of antipsychotic drugs to children in the United states alone.I am very sad to think about it very uncaring behaviour not very professional creating illness through inappropriate and incompetent interventions.
Love cures everything
Love yourself do exercise take responsibility is better for you.Build up resilience to bounce back from difficulties we all face.
Exercise has long been suggested as a way to maintain physical fitness and help prevent high blood pressure diabetes obesity etc.Research shows that exercise also improved symptoms of psychological depression or anxiety .It may take at least three to five day a week to significantly improve symptoms of depression.However ,smaller amounts of activity have been shown to improve mood in the short term. There’s evidence that exercise boost level of mood-enhancing neurotransmitters in the brain.
Psychological and emotional benefits of exercise include confidence .Engaging in physical activity offers a sense of accomplishment.Meeting goals or challenges ,no matter how small ,can boost self-confidence at times when you need it.Mentally tough people are not more intelligent or talented than the average person;they’re more consistent .Best wishes
Dear Mary,
Thank you for the update.
I believe it is in everyone’s best interest to take RXISK stories seriously.
Australia, being the ‘lucky ‘country, has to answer to the SAFETY of our medicines.
They can keep mal treating me however, they cannot deny the fact there is a problematic issue that cannot be swept under the carpet, continuously.
Consumers cannot rely on everything they hear from their clinicians, regarding a medicine.
Trust me when I say, there will be many heads rolling, in the near future because they did not bother to do the right thing.
There are serious issues that have never been addressed.
Thank you to all those concerned, who have treated me like an imbecile.
One day, you will judged the way I have been unjustly judged.
We need to be safegaurded against flawed ‘medicines and clinicians who have no respect for patients who have been harmed by the poisons they prescribe.
There is an elephant in the room, that all are choosing to ignore.
It is quite evident that some clinicians are quite happy with the curent ‘status quo’.
Who would want to upset their gravy train!
Nothing justifies illegal or dishonest behaviour. The ones turning a blind eye are not any better! CB
Hi Bob,
What a very sad world we live in.
The true seekers are being punished and the wayward are being rewarded.
I find it incredibly sad that society is turning a blind eye to what is really going on.
Natalie and her family have paid a high price for ‘so called’ better health.’
Belief: The benefits outweigh the risks. Well, if these medicines are so beneficial why are so many innocent people being harmed or dying.
Many people are taking these meds and I wonder if they fully comprehend what they are capable of doing.
Some people/organizations are beginning to think that it is completely fine to harass/bully/patronise those who speak up for the vulnerable.
It is becoming the ‘norm’ when we tolerate a society that accepts these kind of behaviours.
There is a minority of individuals speaking up and paying a high price for doing so.
I resigned from my last job because I advocated for someone and I was told that the last place which I worked in is not the only place that sees me in a negative light however, others are talking quite unfavourably about me also.
Can you please tell me what my crime is?
You can prevent me from finding a job but you can’t kill my spirits.
What kind of a world are we breeding?
The fine distinction between victim and perpetrator is definitely getting blurred!
Ethics and moral responsibility are only convenient when it suits them.
Keep fighting, Bob.
How can professional call this drug therapeutic?
How can a drug harm and make a person commit suicide, is beyond my comprehension.
We live in a civil society where mal treatment of individuals who have been harmed by these drugs, is considered the ‘norm’.
One endures so much pain and suffering as a result of being prescribed these so called safe meds and in addition to this, many have to endure inhumane responses that one receives by those who are meant to care for us. This clearly is just unacceptable and dangerous.
These drugs are unsafe and if they harm ones brain, one can be left to forcibly end their life, or live through a torturous ordeal because of the injury these meds induce.
Those who have mislead, mistreated and denied many any form of human rights, should be ashamed of themselves.
We are in 2016, still adhering to archaic policies that do not serve human rights.
To die alone, whilst on these meds is the most inhumane treatment to mankind.
In order to move forward, prolonged/inadequate intervention, will only lead to more harm and unnecessary deaths.
I am ashamed that many have turned a blind eye to many sad stories.
This kind of abuse, in the healing profession, only demonstrates an unwillingness to change what many innocent souls have endured at the hands of those who do wrong.
No one should have a licence to prescribe these poisons. NO ONE!
Please…PLEASE…stay away from any and all psychiatrists who are too quick to prescribe a drug to treat would could be, for example, a hormonal or nutritional deficiency. Worse, NEVER allow an alcoholic at an in-patient ‘treatment facility’ to be doped up with ‘legal’ phsychotropic drugs to ‘stabilize’ them – especially if they have state-funded insurance. These desperate people will be shown the exit door within 2 weeks when their ‘insurance’ runs out….with a new batch of ‘legal’ scripts to fill. These will undoubtedly wreak havoc on their already vulnerable and unbalanced biological makeup. They become ticking time bombs for either relapse or, worse, the latest ‘news story’. I despise these ‘legal’ drugs and cannot help but equate the rise in ‘legal drug abuse’ with big bed shared by the pharmaceutical companies and the government bureaucracies that allow them unfettered access to medical schools, doctors, and even our tv commercials……
Dear Kristina,
I am so very sorry for your loss. I lost my son Aaron David, much the same way. His poison was EFFEXOR. Thank you for all you are doing. Pleas continue your good work. My son quit taking EFFEXOR cold turkey because he KNEW what it was doing to his brain, but the side effects drove him to suicide on November 14, 2003. Seems like only yesterday and I miss him SO MUCH. God Bless you.
Sincerely,
Glenna Todovich
Aaron’s Mom