Hush-a-bye baby on the tree-top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock;
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
Down will come baby, cradle, and all.
We face a problem as important or more important than Climate Change – the changing climate in healthcare – see Pharmageddon and Our Healthcare Climate. For a decade, RxISK has been pointing to a polypharmacy pandemic, the need to reduce medication burdens and beyond that to dangerous climate changes transforming the healthcare we had into health services – central to which is an inability to see that the treatments we give can cause harms.
We now face a growing Fertility Crisis. A few days ago, Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, told the French they have a crisis. The image above shows the falling sperm counts of French men.
This is a Fertility Crisis in its own right, but this Crisis also sharpens the focus on a broader Healthcare Crisis.
RxISK was set up to get to grips with drug induced injuries. When injured by medicines, we now face increasing problems, because pharmacovigilance, instead of getting to grips with our injuries, like Maleficent in the Sleeping Beauty, sets up impenetrable hedges of thorns between us and anyone who might rescue us – Malevigilance.
From the get-go, RxISK said drugs caused injuries. They can poison you. Few if any doctors, and not even lawyers suing pharmaceutical companies, want to embrace the obvious – that when we give or take drugs we are trying to bring good out of the use of a poison, an operation as delicate as attempting to defuse bombs.
Third Party Problems
Stating the obvious that drugs cause injuries increasingly provokes incendiary reactions, none more so than when the injuries happen to third parties – when an antidepressant triggers a homicide for instance. In the 1990s, the media could report murders and mention a link to Prozac, even adding that Prozac was controversial. But for over a decade now, all you get is a mention of the mental illness shooters have. The illness causes the problem and we need mentally ill folk on more, not less drugs. To be safe everyone should be on more drugs.
The sexual problems drugs cause also affect third parties. If either you or your partner are on drugs that sabotage lovemaking, you are both affected.
Sex has always been the lifeblood of the mainstream media. When the internet began, pornography followed by health rapidly became its biggest draw. It seemed a no-brainer a decade ago that the media would leap on the topic of antidepressants and sex. But both mainstream and underground media shunned any mention of the sexual difficulties drugs might cause.
On top of that we now have the Big Mama of third party problems – Falling Fertility. A drug that impairs your fertility affects not just you, and your partner, but the entire country in which you live. Its explosive implications can be seen across the world from the US-Mexican border, to drownings in the Mediterranean, and Japanese declarations of a population crisis – Pharmageddon and HealthCare Crisis.
No Baby No Hush
For nearly 20 years I have cited a 2004 rat study that shows Prozac dramatically drops male sperm counts and is toxic to the testes. To make the point, I routinely showed this slide commenting that we once thought excessive masturbation wiped out sperm but actually there ain’t nothing like an SSRI.
Juxtaposed with a standard company image of an SSRI putting things right to make the point.
A network of PSSD researchers brought the Prozac Rat Study back to my attention recently and between us we figured it might be time to ask the medicines’ regulators about it. Several people did. We asked the British and French regulators and struck lucky. (Its another story but Prozac should never have been licensed for Lilly to push it on children – it doesn’t have the positive trials for licensing – see Science, Kansas and Pancakes).
Back in 2007, pediatric Prozac was approaching a license review moment and the regulators asked Pilly to explain what was happening Rats on Prozac.
Lilly went minimal. The regulators asked if a hormonal alterations produced these findings. Lilly reported no endocrine effect. The regulators suggested it would be good to get industry wide views on the significance of these findings. Lilly agreed.
Follow-up correspondence and searches dragged in Danish and Swedish regulators, who were concerned and these concerns drew in a wider group of French and Scandinavian authorities who proposed The Fertility Label Changes.
In 2012, the SSRIs got some brand new words in their labels – see Link. It looks like most US and European labels adopted them – in the very small print hidden deep in the very lengthy sections drawn up for doctors.
As the document shows it looks like a simpler version was supposed to appear in Patient Information Leaflets or Medication Guides. These have not happened.
The proposed changes say sperm counts seem to return to normal after stopping – this is a watery version of the story. Sperm might recover to some extent after stopping SSRIs or SNRIs but not everyone can stop. Quantity may improve but we don’t know about quality.
We know nothing about what happens pubertal boys – or pre-pubertal boys or girls. Quite aside from sperm counts how is a teenage boy or girl going to respond to finding their genitals numb? What do they say to their parents? What happens if they consult the internet and find they may have PSSD or may be infertile forever?
The fertility and PSSD changes are similar. At RxISK we were pleased, as we put it, to help get PSSD into the label of antidepressants. But PSSD is in the small print for doctors rather than in the patient information leaflets that stand some chance of warning a person about what might happen them.
Why has the watered down fertility or PSSD information not found its way into patient information leaflets? Well in the United Kingdom we have it in print that NHS Digital, and the Mental Health Czar, Louis Appleby, along with the President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and the media do not want to deter you from taking your antidepressants.
Attempts to talk about hazards gets branded as pill-shaming. Back in 2012, it was just about possible to give a talk at the College of Psychiatry Scaremongers of the World Unite. This is no longer possible – thanks to Dave Nutt and others. People like Joanna Moncrieff run into serious problems attempting to raise serious problems – Psychotropic Drug Follies.
I was recently invited to participate in Dr Xand van Tulleken’s Cure or Con program on the BBC, tackling antidepressant dependence. Aoife emailed me.
We have a film of a lady who experienced really negative withdrawal symptoms after coming of anti-depressants and we feel you could provide knowledgeable advice and take-home information for viewers. We’d be keen for you to discuss how often this is happening, informed consent and what people should do if they’ve been affected. Our main priority is to reassure viewers – those who are currently taking anti-depressants or may be in the future to follow medical advice and not to make any changes to their medication. Aoife
I responded:
Aoife, I don’t think your good intentions about not doing anything without medical input can work out. The dependence and withdrawal from antidepressants scene is a quagmire. Some doctors are bound to make things worse. I’ve given up telling people not to be guided by their own lights.
I heard nothing back from Xand. I’ve got history with the Van Tulleken brothers – Chris, Xand’s brother, also a doctor, came to cover the issue of antidepressants and children and chickened out of covering the story – The Greatest Failure in Medicine.
Chris and Xand sell themselves as medically qualified investigative journalists, taking on the tricky issues – the kind of people willing to defy censorship, and as doctors are ideally placed to do so on health issues. But like everyone else they seem to bow to the pressure to avoid deterring you from taking your antidepressants.
The chickens are coming home to roost as fewer and fewer humans get to roost.
What Ever Happened Informed Consent?
Falling male sperm counts are no laughing matter. They correlate with rates of testicular cancer, which are increasing. They correlate with male mortality and the gap in life expectancy between men and women in the West is rising.
The article that most comprehensively outlines the testicular ecosystem is by Niels Skakkebaek and colleagues. Its full of extraordinary and fascinating detail. You learn that in terms of getting the balance between testes and sperm right the Black-Tufted Marmoset is much more evolved than Humans who seem “uniquely poor at spermatogenesis”.
You can learn that even though uniquely poor, men still produce 1500 sperm per heartbeat – but they don’t mind them as well as the Black Tufted one. Drugs and endocrine disrupting environmental chemicals aren’t helping.
While nothing beats an SSRI at wiping out sperm counts, antidepressants are not the only source of the problem. Antihypertensive drugs cause problems, cytotoxic drugs used to treat cancer cause problems, testosterone and androgens surprisingly cause problems, because consumed testosterone turns off testosterone production in the testes.
This Male Infertility Guide gives a comprehensive list of the drugs that can cause problems. This Sperm Test Guide tells you everything anyone could want to know about the subject.
In terms of male libido, all psychoactive drugs – benzodiazepines, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, antipsychotics and opioids – cause problems.
For men, there may be an upside to having PSSD in that there is a chance sperm counts will show some recovery while the person is off treatment and this can make it possible to aspirate sperm and father a child. Fertility problems may be worse for men who remain on, or can’t stop their SSRI, as sperm counts do not recover while on treatment.
When drugs come into the fertility frame, the talk once was about women and their failure to recover their fertility as a result of contraceptives. Men now look more likely to be at fault and for women there are drugs other than contraceptives to think about. The way things are going there may be no need to have adverts like these:
Drugs like the antidepressants and benzodiazepines can affect implantation, increase rates of miscarriage, trigger disinhibited abortions, but above all have a dampening effect on libido. In many countries, antidepressants are the second most commonly taken drugs by young women, after contraceptives and the most commonly taken drugs throughout a pregnancy – in part because of the difficulties stopping them.
The SSRIs women are more likely to take than men may also be sabotaging male sperm. Googling Prozac or SSRIs in lakes, rivers, drinking water and fish produces surprising results. Could drugs in the water really cause a problem? Yes. Serotonin is more primitive than testosterone or estrogen. Serotonin was there before we had sexes.
Thirty-two years ago, Sertraline launched in the UK. At the launch, the primitive role of Serotonin was pointed out. The message was that we have no real idea what we might see with widespread use of these drugs. Primitive Serotonin. We’ve found out a lot since but not anything company marketing departments want you to hear about.
Life But Not As We Know It
Make no mistake the Starship Enterprise is venturing where humanity has not gone before. The correspondence leading to label changes on SSRIs shows regulators busy covering their backs.
But happy if it doesn’t end up on the public’s radar.
The Japanese are talking desperately about copying French measures to make workplaces and financial structures more family friendly. In 2023, the Chinese population fell for the second year in a row and Fertility Rates are down to Japanese levels. Xi Jinping too is looking at incentivizing women.
The original IVF procedures were aimed at unblocking Fallopian Tubes. By 1991 in the UK a body had been set up to license clinics to deliver IVF. In 1992, the first thing it did was to approve IVF to compensate for male infertility linked to low sperm counts. By 2012, 5 million babies were being born by IVF. A few years later it was over 10 million. Even while IVF rates approach 10% in many countries from Japan to Europe, the assumption remains that women are not choosing to have children and we can change that by supporting them with more time out and financial incentives.
Chatting to women who have not had children or have friends who have not had children, people in my social circle, the story that comes back is fascinating – an inside out version of the Microgynon advert above. Men are feckless and you can’t find a decent one these days but they don’t mean it the way the Microgynon ad means it.
Younger women in contrast seem more aware of the fact that men are no longer dependable in the way the Microgynon advert assumed. The Fertility Rate of women in their 30s is higher than the Fertility Rate of women in their 20s or teens. It’s not the women’s fault – French women on average express a desire to have 2.3 children. This is more than replacement rate. If this were happening Emmanuel would be celebrating the Good News of Salvation.
A major survey in the BMJ in 2019 pointed to evidence that the Brits – and this likely applies to all the Western world – are no longer making love the way they used to – the way it was once assumed they always would. As Hamlet put it:
Young men will do it when they come to it, by G’ad they are to blame.
No longer it seems. Not wanting to have babies is one thing but not having sex is quite another.
The BMJ blamed depression. It’s hard to know what the author of the article might have really thought because as mentioned BMJ’s lawyers would not have let them blame the antidepressants 15% of the population are now taking – see When The Personal Becomes Political.
The depression being treated by SSRIs doesn’t cause problems like this. Modern ‘depression’ is a worried wellness. SSRIs don’t treat depression. They were branded as antidepressants at a time when benzodiazepine dependence made calling them anxiolytics, or serenics a problem.
(For those on SSRIs or SNRIs who view yourselves as seriously depressed and bridle at this thought – well you might bridle. If you were originally severely depressed, you were put on drugs never likely to help you – drugs that barely beat placebo. See Health’s Illusions.
If you know you have severe depression because of how bad things are when you reduce your drug, you have a severe disorder now – SSRI/SNRI dependence).
Since the BMJ article came out, there has been a Boston randomized controlled trial of men at infertility clinics trying to tease out if their ‘depression’ might be causing the problem. It doesn’t. Their antidepressants appear to be the biggest single factor in their problem – Yland et al.
There is more in Heaven and Earth than male sperm. The recent RSV vaccine posts bring out a serious point. Vaccines cause inflammatory responses which can be a problem in pregnancy, especially for any woman predisposed to pre-eclampsia. They likely all increase the risk of pre-term births. Pre-eclampsia and pre-term births have consequences for woman and children for the rest of their lives – Coming Clean on Neonatal Deaths.
Vaccine schedules are now recommending 6 vaccines during pregnancy – Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Influenza, Covid and RSV. It looks like these interfere with each other so that the benefits you might get from one are lost once a woman gets multiple vaccines – No Room at the Inn. We have known for years from the work of Peter Aaby and colleagues that dead vaccines can in theory sabotage responses to other vaccines – but the evidence from RSV vaccines that this might now be happening to pregnant women hasn’t led women to rise up and reclaim Our Bodies, Our Selves.
We are now pouring chemicals into the wellsprings from which life bubbles. We are doing so without anyone checking that it is safe to do so. The regulators of medicines have no idea what is safe in pregnancy – by this I mean they have no boxes to tick when it comes to the third trimester. They are sitting down as we speak trying to work this out. The companies running vaccine trials have run them with protocols stating there will be no investigations of safety issues in this trial, and specifically limited the collection of adverse events.
There will be 2 linked posts next week – one offering a timeline on Antidepressants, Sex and Fertility and the other inviting older folk – over the age of 60 to contemplate voluntary altruistic euthanasia to help Emmanuel out of his difficulties.
The Cradle of Civilization
Cell by cell the baby made herself, the cells
Made cells. That is to say
The baby is largely made of milk. Lying in her father’s arms,
the little seed eyes
Moving, trying to see, smiling for us,
To see, she will make a household
To her need of these rooms –
Sara, little seed,
Little, violent, diligent seed. Come let us look at the world
Glittering: this seed will speak,
Max, words! There will be no other words in the world
But those our children speak. What will she make of a world
Do you suppose, Max, of which she is made?
***
Hush-a-bye baby on the tree-top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock;
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
Down will come baby, cradle, and all.
Dr. David Healy says
We have just had our first RxISK Report listing infertility. It made a convincing case that an SSRI affected this woman’s anti-Mullerian hormone AMH.
In recent days when drawing up a list of adverse effects drugs might have leading to infertility we did not include AMH because no-one had heard of it. Googling it now shows that SSRIs and other drugs affect it and we need to restore it to the original list.
This neatly shows how the input of readers and reporters can make a big difference to the Fertile Zone when it goes up
DH
Dr. David Healy says
A regular reader also posted this image – guaranteed safe to click on
DH
Johanna says
“The Fertility Rate of women in their 30s is higher than the Fertility Rate of women in their 20s or teens.” Is it possible that women in their 30s (or their partners) are taking fewer Rx drugs than those in their 20s or teens? That makes no sense, and doesn’t match the data on antidepressants. So what’s up?
What it says to me is that women may be “choosing” to delay motherhood—but not as a free choice. Yes, they may want 2-3 children. But for decades young Americans have believed they should have a decent paying job and put a down-payment on a home of some sort before becoming parents. That’s getting awfully damn hard to achieve by age 30—and the IVF industry gives them unrealistic messages about the odds of having those 2.3 children if they wait.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the findings about medication effects on fertility are real, and pretty alarming too! But it won’t help our case to simply dismiss those non-medical factors. They are not just elite talking-points; they are massive realities that shape and limit our lives at every turn. As one of those women who never had children, I know they have been HUGE for me.
In a recent NEJM article young women physicians described conditions they felt were forcing them to delay having kids (and penalizing them if they didn’t wait). They’re a fairly upper-class group—society’s winners in many ways—and grew up believing they could Have It All and Do It All. That may be true on paper, but In Real Life, not so much: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2807657
Dr. David Healy says
Jo
No one is dismissing the non-medical factors. These factors are the only ones in the political and public health frame at the moment. There is no public mention of medication factors – except here.
If I have insomnia, even if its not caused by coffee, the medical and public health advice will be to stop drinking coffee in the evening until the problem is sorted. Even if the primary drivers to current fertility issues are entirely non-medical, when people try to have children it looks like they ain’t going to be able and increasingly turn to IVF or ART – which you can only do in most places if you have plenty of money. These are not freely available options.
Part of the reason to get these things aired came with the first RxISK report after the posts went up – a women reported convincing data on the effects of SSRIs on her AMH levels. I had no idea what AMH is and likely few RxISK readers know about this. Its anti-Mullerian Hormone – recently discovered to be of significant importance in female fertility and sites dealing with infertility in women all screen for it. This is fascinating – and plays into informed consent issues which will be the post on RxISK next week.
Finally, yes of course many people – couples not just women – likely put off having babies until they can afford it. Never happened before in human history but I’m totally willing to buy into this. The data we have though is also consistent with a cohort effect. We won’t know what is going on until the pre-30 couples now not having children who may be deferring to 30+ – will they be able to have children when financially secure enough? Or will they even be having sex then?
Just so you know I will be chasing Emmanuel Macron – this morning – for any answers the French can offer us and will keep readers posted on any response.
David
tim says
Over 50 years studying and practising medicine, and I have learned so much, and updated significantly as a result of this truly fascinating and compelling post. Thank you.
I wish current medical students might become aware of how much more they could learn by following RxISK and D.H. Blogs.
susanne says
Apologies if I lost my way around this a bit
Fertility rates seem to be based on pretty fuzzy data ie ‘Hypothetical Averages’ Included in this average is that they don’t discount women who are in the 6-12 month period used to calculate fertility – but choose not have children for differing reasons. They are therefore wrongly included in the infertility statistics if I have got that right.
Just from reading around google much is made of the anxiety and depression associated with having children but on the WHO website there is no reference to the amount of medication being prescribed to women .This is surely a strange and worrying omission when so many of WHO members have connections to pharma companies. Which they have challenged as being incorrect. Whatever there is hardly anybody who couldn’t be diagnosed in one or other of their diagnostic groups and medicalised as a result.
Special Paper
Undisclosed financial conflicts of interest in DSM-5-TR: cross sectional analysis
BMJ 2024; 384 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-076902 (Published 10 January 2024)
By the way it is more widely known that we have rights of access to our medical information (how to on google sites) but less known that we can request what Codes have been assigned. to any ‘disorder’ Yet again a devious lack of information sharing.
In America -American Psychiatric Association home
DSM-5-TR Fact Sheets
Click around for info about how the coding is done for each ‘disorder’ Nothing for PSSD of course
Changes in the New Edition
About the DSM–5-TR
Download fact sheets that cover general information and development of the DSM–5-TR.
From Planning to Publication: Developing DSM-5
Making a Case for New Disorders
The Organization of DSM-5
The People Behind DSM-5
In UK It is usually necessary to specifically request the Coding assigned to any ‘disorder’ ie not just access to our medical files.
Webinar: Using the ICD-11 Coding Tool (MP4)
Transcript
Slide 1: Title page
Welcome to Using the ICD-11 Coding Tool webinar. ICD-11 is the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision. This webinar will provide an overview on how to use the ICD-11 Coding Tool. As a prerequisite, we recommend taking the Introduction to ICD-11 for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics webinar.
Slide 2: Learning objectives
At the end of this webinar, you will be able to (dehumanise anybody who consults you)
Access the ICD-11 Coding Tool and Help content;
Identify and describe the icons and links used in the Coding Tool;
Define the “code also” and “use additional code, if desired” instructions;
Perform a regular and flexible search using the ICD-11 Coding Tool;
Use the Postcoordination tool within the ICD-11 integrated browser;
Access the ICD-11 tabular list using the integrated browser; and
Quick-copy a code.
Slide 3: ICD-11 electronic tools
ICD-11 has 2 online electronic tools: the browser and the Coding Tool. The ICD-11 browser contains the tabular list. It displays the hierarchy of ICD-11 and all associated information about each entity. The Coding Tool serves as an alphabetical index and functions like a web-based search such that the user can type (or copy and paste) a diagnostic statement as recorded without using a lead term and/or secondary term. The Coding Tool is linked to the ICD-11 browser so that you can access further details on a category or code in the classification within the Coding Tool.
Slide 4: Accessing the Coding Tool
The ICD-11 Coding Tool can be accessed 2 different ways: from the World Health OrganizationExternal link ICD-11 website by clicking the Coding Tool hyperlink, or from the ICD-11 browserExternal link by clicking the Coding Tool tab.
Slide 5: Coding Tool
The Coding Tool is used to find the correct ICD-11 code for a specific diagnosis. You can select words from the word list, or type or copy and paste a word or diagnosis in the search box. The results of a search are displayed under the heading “Destination Entities.” (got it?)
Another reason to be watchful (below)
Do SSRIs Decrease Fertility?
January 8, 2021
Ellen Mausner, MD, PhD
Article
In addressing mood disorders associated with infertility, sometimes the cure may be worse than the disease.
Sondem/AdobeStock
FROM OUR READERS
An article in the December 2020 issue, “The Intertwining Effect of Mood Disorders and Infertility,” made many important points. I would like to raise to a few additional issues that seem to be often overlooked.
Women taking serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to help them cope with infertility are actually increasing their serum prolactin to an unhealthy level. This hyperprolactinemia, in turn, blocks ovulation.1,2 Unknowingly, they are hindering their changes of conception. This is the biology underlying the common folk wisdom that one cannot usually become pregnant while lactating/breastfeeding. This is when prolactin levels are very high.
I urge all women with fertility issues, especially those on SSRIs, to get a simple blood test measuring their serum prolactin level. An elevated serum prolactin level can be corrected with oral dopamine agonists (dopamine-stimulating) medications.
Certain antipsychotic meds, whether typical or atypical, can also elevate serum prolactin levels. Risperidone in particular can cause hyperprolactinemia in female and males, which causes lactation (galactorrhea) from their breasts. A third, less common cause of hyperprolactinemia is a tumor of the anterior pituitary gland, known as an anterior pituitary adenoma. This can be detected by an MRI of the brain.
Once identified, hyperprolactinemia can be readily corrected by dopamine agonists such as bromocriptine or lisuride.3 Once the prolactin level has come back down to the normal rage, ovulation can occur. The patient can then discuss with her psychiatrist whether or not to continue the psychotropic medications at the current doses or lower, depending on the severity of her particular symptoms and stressors.
In conclusion, women struggling to conceive who are on SSRIs and/or antipsychotic medication should request that their serum prolactin levels be checked. This cause of infertility can be readily corrected. Therefore, it should be checked, especially before moving on to more invasive and uncomfortable fertility tests, such as a hysterosalpingogram, and certainly before beginning the injections to prepare for IVF.
Let’s get the word out!
Dr Mausner is a psychiatrist at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center, in the Outpatient Department on 125th St., NYC
Dr. David Healy says
Susanne
The words are confusing. Apparently we are all at our most fertile around 25 but no-one is having children at that age now. The Fertility Rate is not how fertile you are – its the number of children you are actually having and its calculated in terms of women – not having children for whatever reason feeds into this – but doesn’t mean you are infertile. There is use of a different word these days to try and separate these out – fecund. Fecundity falls off after 25 – but Fertility Rates now rise after 25 and is highest over 30 when women are less Fecund. I have no idea if that’s right – it likely depends who you are talking to
David
Johanna says
I agree, the “rising age at first pregnancy” is an extremely important factor. It’s likely we don’t know a lot about the current Fecundity of women aged 25 and under, because so few of them are actively trying to get pregnant.
But high prolactin levels? Those might be important — and overlooked. SSRI’s can raise prolactin levels; anti-psychotics even more so. And large numbers of folks are now taking antipsychotic + SSRI combos for depression.
The key physical sign of high prolactin seems to be increased breast size. That’s easy to spot in males—but likely goes undetected in females. Unless it’s extreme or involves discomfort/soreness, we may fail to notice; chalk it up to weight gain; or even be pleased. If we do notice, we’re unlikely to suspect a prescription drug unless it’s taken for some “female” issue like birth control, heavy periods or endometriosis. Our doctors may be even more clueless.
RxISK’s FDA Side Effect Search offers three terms. “Gynaecomastia” has the most reports, about 48,000, and the top ten suspect drugs are all anti-psychotics. The same is true of “Hyperprolactinaemia,” which has about 11,000. But “Breast Enlargement” has only 3,500 reports – and only half the top ten suspects are anti-psychotics. Mirena (for miscarriage prevention) and the emergency contraceptive Plan B are in the top five.
I would bet my bottom dollar that reports of Hyperprolactinaemia and Gynaecomastia are almost all for men – the latter actually means “female breasts,” which are not an adverse event unless you’re male! Breast Enlargement reports likely involve women. This suggests that high prolactin often goes undetected in women.
I’m troubled by the “solution” Dr. Mausner recommends: dopamine agonists such as bromocriptine or lisuride. These are often used to stop lactation in women who can’t or don’t wish to breastfeed. Both look pretty toxic; the French watchdog Prescrire advises women that the risk of “serious adverse events” exceeds the benefit. Still, Dr. Mausner sees that as better than the prospect of stopping any psych medication. That of course should never be considered without consulting one’s psychiatrist (likely to be the most clueless of all)!
Dr. David Healy says
When i post things like these male fertility drugs and tests etc I hope everyone knows they are not being endorsed. Its just that several of us working behind the scenes are finding things we never knew about and are putting them on the radar. Most of the happening things would be better off not happening.
DH
Annonnn says
As a PSSD sufferer living in Ireland I thought I should probably mention another thing that really annoyed me about how antidepressants are being handed out to those that don’t really need them. And although Ireland and the UK don’t generally hand out antidepressants like sweets/candy in comparison to other countries there is still room for improvement with our health care services.
A couple of months ago a family member of mine went to hospital for a health check a doctor said to him “you are looking kind of unhappy would you be interested in taking antidepressants?” Luckily my brother respectfully declined the doctors offer to take any psychiatric drugs.
It’s worth mentioning that my brother does not have any mental health issues whatsoever he doesn’t suffer from depression or anxiety. I told him that he dodged a bullet by refusing to take medication that he doesn’t even need because he could have ended up like me and have to live with permanent sexual dysfunction. The doctor who recommend him to take antidepressants should realise that most people who live in a country that has mostly cold weather experience SAD during November,December and January.
John says
That is not a doctor, that is a f****ing drug dealer. Well, the other doctors are not so different either tbh… I am happy for your brother. I am envious of your brother…
annie says
HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS AND RESEARCHERS SPEAK OUT
https://www.pssdnetwork.org/professionals-speak-out
A growing number of doctors, researchers and therapists have been voicing their concerns in recent years regarding antidepressants and their potential to cause persistent sexual, cognitive and physical side effects after discontinuation.
annie says
the effects of covid during pregnancy –
No matter how many times we (and others) have pointed out the statistical flaws and biases that compromise covid studies (especially those attempting to show vaccine effectiveness and safety), studies continue to be published in the most prestigious medical journals that should never have passed review because of these flaws.
In the last week we have reported on two flawed studies (here and here) that were published in the Lancet. A reader has alerted us to another – about the effects of covid during pregnancy – which suggests increasing desperation to prop up the ‘official’ narrative. I decided to do a video (11 minutes) which discussed all three of these studies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_QldhGFuWQ
Pregnant women comes under scrutiny as the third study from Norman Fenton
annie says
Jessica Rose
@JesslovesMJK
·
I literally just made a slide on this ‘phenomenon’ today for an upcoming presentation! Great minds and great work @profnfenton !
Dr Clare Craig
@ClareCraigPath
·
Well done @profnfenton for continuing the expose how broken science had become.
I agree with him that any paper where the data is not disclosed should be disregarded.
Jessica Rose reposted
The Babylon Bee
@TheBabylonBee
Pfizer Introduces New Mascot ‘Clotty’ https://buff.ly/3Dfhjql
Despite their best efforts, Planned Parenthood isn’t killing as many babies as their founder would have wanted. It’s time for a rebrand!
Planned Parenthood –
Jessica steals the show
susanne says
A massive new -ish surveillance health related industry been expanded since Covid made it lucrative as well as a way of curtailing free expression of opinions and sharing of information with those of us who would otherwise be ignorant of opposing views to those that governments and their networks wish to promote . There is still a shameful gap between those who can access information or who are in sections of society which can do some research themselves and those who cannot And these are the people most being targeted by schemes similar to this heavy handed all embracing proposal aimed at mainly impoverished areas. And at those referred to snobbishly as ‘uneducated’ .
Similar community based projects are taking place in UK
How are Social Media Influencing Vaccination?
Behavioural interventions to reduce vaccine hesitancy driven by misinformation on social media
BMJ 2024; 384 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2023-076542 (Published 16 January 2024)
Cite this as: BMJ 2024;384:e076542
And in
JMIR Infodemiology
Call for Papers Theme Issue: Misinformation and Generative AI
No info about who the ‘peers’ would be
JMIR Infodemiology, a peer-reviewed, premier journal in the field of infodemiology, health information, data science, and misinformation is inviting submissions to a special issue on “Exploring the Intersection Between Health Information, Disinformation, and Generative AI Technologies.”
We welcome submissions from different disciplines of health communication,
Specific topics of interest for this special issue include:
Infodemics, Misinformation, and Disinformation in the Context of LLMs and Emerging AI Technologies
The proliferation of health-related misinformation and disinformation presents significant challenges to public health and well-being in this era of rapid technological advancement. Research areas we are interested include:
Identification and classification of AI-generated false information regarding health, when created, assisted, or evaluated by LLMs
Use of LLMs and related technologies to minimize the impact of health-related misinformation and disinformation
Ethical implications for infodemic management using LLMs and other emerging AI technologies.
Advancing Research Methods on LLMs and Emerging AI Technologies
We encourage submissions that advance interdisciplinary methodologies examining the potential impact of LLMs and emerging AI. Other topics may include:
Digital mixed methods studies that combine qualitative, quantitative, social listening, and other methods with the use of LLMs for public health topics
Review or evaluation studies that assess the relative utility or potential performance of LLMs compared to other data science approaches for public health topics.
The Role of Public Health and Medical Professionals in Utilizing Generative AI
Public health and health care professionals play an important role in shaping the health information ecosystem. We are particularly interested in submissions that discuss the involvement of public health and medical practitioners in using LLMs to address misinformation. Potential themes to explore include:
Examining the ways public health and medical professionals can use LLMs and other emerging AI to address misinformation in their respective practices and communities
Strategies to collaborate directly with communities to use LLMs and emerging AI technologies to reduce the spread of misinformation
Examining the extent of trust in the health information provided by LLMs within the public health and medical community and the general public.
Examining the use of LLMs Through the Lens of Health Equity
The rollout of new technological tools such as LLMs has the potential to make health information more accessible, but it may also result in unintended consequences, including exacerbating health disparities. Research along these lines of inquiry could include:
Impact of using LLMs and other emerging AI for topics including data bias, addressing social determinants of health, enhancing inclusivity, or other health equity topics, particularly for vulnerable communities (racial and ethnic minorities, members of LGBTQ+, and indigenous communities)
Understanding how vulnerable communities and individuals from low- or middle-income countries (LMIC) use LLMs for seeking their own health information
Evaluating how the use of LLMs may close or widen health disparities
Evaluating the effects of LLMs on plain-language information and information understandability, as well as health literacy for different population and language groups.
There could be a case for using these strategies if they could be trusted to honestly define what they consider harmful and what their decisions are based on -and crucially share with people being targeted that there is no reliable data available to those promoting strategies to softly coerce rather than terrorize as happened in the epidemic, people into acceptance rather than empower to make their own decisions.
Would those promoting their aims to empower people with very partial information be including such as this. (below) It is clearly showing that there is confusion which many women are aware of but reservations are damped by those in control in favour of the desired aim of vaccinating all.
I have cut bits out of all the articles to save space which could be criticized if all the info was not made available but it is there to click on
An official website of the United States government Here’s how you know
NIH NLM LogoLog in
Access keysNCBI HomepageMyNCBI HomepageMain ContentMain Navigation
Arch Acad Emerg Med. 2022; 10(1): e76. Published online 2022 Sep 24. doi: 10.22037/aaem.v10i1.1622
PMCID: PMC9676695PMID: 36426163
Complications of COVID-19 Vaccines during Pregnancy; a Systematic Review
SeyedAhmad SeyedAlinaghi,1 and many colleagues
d. 2022; 10(1): e76. Published online 2022 Sep 24. doi: 10.22037/aaem.v10i1.1622
PMCID: PMC9676695PMID: 36426163
Complications of COVID-19 Vaccines during Pregnancy; a Systematic Review
SeyedAhmad SeyedAlinaghi,1
:
Abstract
Introduction:
Rare serious complications have been documented after COVID-19 vaccination as clinical research proceeded and new target populations, such as children and pregnant women, were included. In this study, we attempted to review the literature relevant to pregnancy complications and maternal outcomes of COVID-19 immunization in pregnant women.
Methods:
We searched the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and Web of Science on 31 August 2022. The records were downloaded and underwent a two-step screening; 1) title/abstract and then 2) full-text screening to identify the eligible studies. We included English original studies that evaluated the adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy. Information such as the type of study, geographical location, type of vaccine injected, gestational age, maternal underlying diseases, and complications following the vaccination were extracted into pre-designed tables.
Results:
According to the findings of included studies, in most of them vaccination had a positive impact and no negative effects were observed. Also, no medical history was reported in 11 articles, and pregnant women had no underlying diseases. Some serious adverse events were reported after vaccination, including miscarriage, paresthesia, uterine contraction, vaginal bleeding, preterm birth, major congenital anomalies, intrauterine growth restriction, and seizure.
Conclusion:
Because of limited data availability and the cross-sectional design of most studies, we could neither infer causation between vaccines and incidence of adverse effects nor comment with certainty about any possible adverse outcome of COVID-19 vaccines in vaccinated pregnant women. Consequently, more longitudinal and experimental studies are needed .
Key Words: Drug-related side effects and adverse reactions, COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccines, pregnancy, SARS-CoV-2
Go to:
1. Introduction: information Article notes Copyright and License information
We searched the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and Web of Science on 31 August 2022. The records were downloaded and underwent a two-step screening; 1) title/abstract and then 2) full-text screening to identify the eligible studies. We included English original studies that evaluated the adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy. Information such as the type of study, geographical location, type of vaccine injected, gestational age, maternal underlying diseases, and complications following the vaccination were extracted into pre-designed tables.
Results:
According to the findings of included studies, in most of them vaccination had a positive impact and no negative effects were observed. Also, no medical history was reported in 11 articles, and pregnant women had no underlying diseases. Some serious adverse events were reported after vaccination, including miscarriage, paresthesia, uterine contraction, vaginal bleeding, preterm birth, major congenital anomalies, intrauterine growth restriction, and seizure.
Conclusion:
Because of limited data availability and the cross-sectional design of most studies, we could neither infer causation between vaccines and incidence of adverse effects nor comment with certainty about any possible adverse outcome of COVID-19 vaccines in vaccinated pregnant women. Consequently, more longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to define the exact adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant women.
Ben Hotchkiss says
What also Macron does not want to mention, is that these fertility issues are only present in actual French people. Indeed, this makes some sense, since I’m sure 95% of the people prescribed SSRIs or other psychotropic drugs in France are French-speaking, native citizens of France, not recent migrants or immigrants. The same thing applies to practically every Western country today. Indigeneous birthrates are falling below replacement rates, whilst immigrant birthrates are absolutely soaring. In 2040, Belgium is estimated to become the first European country where actual Belgians are a minority in their own country. Other countries are soon to follow, if things stay as they are.
Hush hush, there’s definitely no replacement happening!
Dr. David Healy says
Ben
Thanks for this. On French news yesterday it was reported that one third of the births in France had a parent born outside Europe. You could see this as a mass surrogacy program – see Liberty, Equality and Fertility post on davidhealy.org this week but even the surrogacy program won’t work if newcomers to the country start adopting French or Belgian habits and start consuming psychotropic or other prescription medicines – unless really needed.
David