Isotretinoin and Safety outlines the efforts people disabled by Isotretinoin (Accutane, Claravis) and their families have been making for a decade to get medicines regulators in Britain (MHRA) as well as in Europe (EMA) and America (FDA) to make Isotretinoin use safer.
Some of those who have been injured or who have lost children or partners think nothing short of banning the drug can be safe.
Many dermatologists view Isotretinoin as extremely effective and some of them fiercely resist acknowledging that it causes any problems blaming any issues on the prior mental state of person taking the treatment. They also give out about regulators, faced with grumbling families, deserting Evidence Based Medicine.
Regulators are bureaucrats who review paperwork. They have no training in establishing whether a drug causes a problem or not. They are up against Company Based Medicine, which peddles any claim their drug comes with hazards is an anecdotes, that only company studies can tell what their drug does and self-respecting doctors and scientists should pay no heed to anecdotes – misinformation – conspiracy theories. The media in particular should pay no heed as misinformation will deter people from seeking the benefits of treatment.
The testimony from US families on the hazards of Montelukast and Isotretinoin and of UK families on Isotretinoin in recent years has been so compelling, however, that the MHRA, acting within the severe constraints of its job description, has been nudged into efforts to improve things.
As outlined in Isotretinoin and Safety, among the steps MHRA have taken, in cooperation with the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD), has been to support the production of an Isotretinoin Video to brief people on when Isotretinoin should and should not be used along with some mention of what BAD call its side effects. The Video Transcript is here.
You should watch this BAD video before accessing the video that comes next.
Some families, unaware it is not MHRA’s job to keep us safe, still see a regulatory conspiracy with companies. What they don’t see is that it is primarily the job of doctors to keep us safe.
Looking at the BAD video, some of us in RxISK found it hard not to see doctors status quo-ing. The video seems designed to keep us taking Isotretinoin rather than keep us safe.
- There is little recognition of the suicidality and suicides or permanent sexual dysfunction that concern those Isotretinoin and prescribing dermatologists have injured.
- There is no recognition that dermatologists are not trained to recognize the most important hazards, nor manage them once they have happened.
- No-one seems to have even begun to think we should research what goes wrong in order to be able make a meaningful difference.
Consensual?
A video that lacks these elements did not seem to us designed to support consensual treatment.
Against a background of Guilty until Proven Innocent, the RxISK post prior to Isotretinoin and Safety, it might seem shocking to say but the BAD video has a Droit de Seigneur tone. Despite good intentions, jingly music, recognition of diversity and other tokenism, it will feel semi-assaultive to some.
This prompted us to try our hand at an alternative video aimed at enabling a more consensual treatment of acne that would inform those thinking of opting for Isotretinoin of some this drugs very real hazards.
A key difference between RxISK and BAD is that we are not constrained by regulators, drug labels or treatment guidelines all of which have been captured by company articles
Our video is Isotretinoin Benefits and Hazards.. The Video Transcript is linked here. We’ve removed the jingly music and, while not Jodie Comer, a real Broadway actress has done the voiceover.
We welcome all and any comments – whether your views are that our efforts are misguided and dangerous or that we haven’t gone for enough.
It would be wonderful to have some comments in the form of other short Isotretinoin videos. What should a video for people out there contemplating acne treatment think would help them? What should they or folk they know with acne be told?
(You don’t need to tell us that You Tube titles are spelling Isotretinoin incorrectly.)
More Videos
MHRA are involved in a program that we expect will lead to other videos on SSRIs and Finasteride. These drugs can also cause suicide and permanent sexual dysfunction and neither companies nor doctors will want these to be mentioned. It is difficult to see MHRA, likely liaising with the College of Psychiatrists, approaching the issues with these drugs in anything other than the way they have done with Isotretinoin.
Given this, we hope to move on and use the BAD Isotretinoin template to tackle Finasteride and SSRIs. So you can expect more from us soon and to this end all comments on tone, style, and what you think are mistakes, or what there should be more of, would be most welcome.
What does anyone taking or thinking of taking Finasteride or SSRIs think they should be told prior to starting treatment? Do you think videos like this will leave us with blood on our hands – or leave people badly scared and scarred who would otherwise have clear skin and be leading a happy life?
Unsafety Systems
Words and labels and guidelines are not what keep us safe. What keeps us safe are the judgement calls we as patients make and the judgements our doctors make. We are safest when these coincide. In efforts to keep us safer, well intentioned people, including doctors, have put ever more words in place in the form of guidelines etc.
Rather than keeping us safe, these efforts to improve the system have given us an increasingly Unsafe Safety System – see also Unsafe Safety at FDA.
We lack a Patient Safety Body. A body that everyone can see really does have our safety at its heart. No country has one. What would such a body look like? What might a video it made look like? Let us know if you have thoughts.
There is a companion set of posts on dh.org
See also
Sam says
Very informative and I hope that the message that the regulators, as we have been inclined to be, are not there to keep us safe. I’d go further and say they are not fit for purpose. I feel you could have gone further and included the risk of psychosis and explained that the patient and or those around them may not recognise what this might look like. You mention that dermatologists are not trained to recognise mental health disorders but this is multiplied for patients and the general public, most especially young patients. While psychotic, patients have spontaneously taken their own lives during Isotretinoin treatment, sometimes without any premonitory warning signs at all. It has been found that there is also an increased risk of suicide post treatment. This is why campaigners believe that the drug should be banned. Personally I wouldn’t advice women to get pregnant just 4 weeks after treatment but that aside females need to be informed about a decrease in ovarian reserve and that many women have reported that they have had fertility problems post treatment. Males should be informed that the Regulator state that there is a question mark over male fertility(it has not been researched). I believe that teenagers are not mature enough to appreciate just how devastating the above risks are in the long term and that we could argue that teenagers with acne might be more emboldened to take serious risks in order to possibly clear their acne. Patients and their families should also be told about the risk of homicide and that campaigners are fighting to have these ongoing concerns added to the patient information leaflet.
Dr. David Healy says
Sam
Thanks for these points. They are great to get and at our end we will research them further and add what we can in to a further post or the next iteration of the video.
The points you are making may also help with the videos we hope to make for Finasteride and SSRIs.
Everybody owes a great deal to you for all your efforts and Heather Roberts sadly no longer with us.
I’m going to add something here that most readers will find unbelievable but it needs to be put in print. At one of the meetings with regulators that you and other parents of damaged family members faced with the problems you mention here and the ones in the video – in particular sexual dysfunction – June Raine, then CEO of MHRA, told you that she was sure doctors could fix these problems. That they can do amazing things these days – the can even change men into women and vice versa.
I think regulators are fit for purpose if you remember that the purpose is to be bureaucrats and not anything more than that
David
David
Dr Pedro says
Is that Dame June Munro RAINE, registered with the GMC with a Licence to Practice and whose Responsible Officer is Sir Christopher Whitty?
https://www.gmc-uk.org/registrants/2447896
Didn’t she step in the shoes of disgraced former doctor Ian HUDSON OBE?
https://www.gmc-uk.org/registrants/2616869
It’s reassuring that the GMC takes an interest in whether doctors are fit to practice
Sam says
I have been to plenty of meetings at the MHRA and spoken to June Raine on many occasions. June and her colleagues know exactly what these drugs are doing and admitted that the MHRA have long understood that Isotretinoin induces suicide. She also told me that they had been aware of Isotretinoin induced sexual dysfunction for years(not surprising given they surmised that over 20,000 cases had been reported across Europe. So the question is why did it take campaigners many many years and a lot of screaming and shouting to get these side effects added to the PIL, 40 years after the drug went to market? We maintain that the suicide risks are still not clear nor is the risk of taking someone else’s life. Patients have the right to be informed but that aside dermatologist should not be able to hold a gun and kill patients in the way they have been doing.
Peter Selley says
Oscar winning.
It’s a shame neither video mentions the natural history of acne which is, as everyone knows, that it usually gets better over a few years.
It is interesting that, despite the noise, not much has happened to the frequency of isotretinoin prescribing in the UK over the past few years – unless you live in the BADlands of the Northeast and Yorkshire Region.
https://openprescribing.net/analyse/#org=regional_team&numIds=1306020J0&denom=total_list_size&selectedTab=chart
Dr. David Healy says
There are some folk in the background who deserve nominations for an Oscar
D
Dr. David Healy says
Another point to note. Some has happened to the comments on this post. Occasionally a valid comment goes into spam but Sam Ward commented and surprised that nothing showed up sent me an email – so I checked and both her comment and Peter Selleys had gone into spam.
If you comment and nothing shows – you need to give me some time to get to it – send RxISK an email
D
Dr. David Healy says
Sam Ward sent the following news story
A judge has sentenced a mass shooter to life in prison without parole for killing five people in 2022 when he was 15
By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — A judge sentenced an 18-year-old who acknowledged killing five people in a North Carolina mass shooting to life in prison without parole Friday, rejecting arguments that he deserved the chance for release decades from now.
Austin David Thompson was 15 during the Oct. 13, 2022, attack that began at his Raleigh home when he shot and repeatedly stabbed his 16-year-old brother, James.
Equipped with firearms and wearing camouflage, Thompson then fatally shot four others — including an off-duty city police officer — in his neighborhood and along a greenway. He was arrested in a shed after a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.
Thompson pleaded guilty last month to five counts of first-degree murder and five other counts less than two weeks before his scheduled trial.
Thompson, who did not speak in court, was led away in handcuffs after the sentencing. Family members of the shooting victims cried as the sentence was handed down. Thompson’s attorneys announced plans to appeal the sentence.
Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway judge had the option to sentence him to life in prison with the chance for parole after at least 25 years, but Thompson did not face the death penalty given his age at the time of the crimes.
“It’s hard to conceive of a greater display of malice,” Ridgeway said, adding that months of planning and fantasizing by Thompson to carry out the rampage also confirmed that Thompson is the rare juvenile offender “whose crimes reflect irreparable corruption.”
During the sentencing hearing that began last week, prosecutors revealed the previously confidential contents of a handwritten note with Thompson’s name and the shooting date found at his family’s house in the Hedingham subdivision.
The note said the “reason I did this is because I hate humans they are destroying the planet/earth,” adding that he killed James Thompson ”because he would get in my way.”
Thompson “cannot tell you why he wrote that note the way that he did,” defense lawyer Deonte’ Thomas said, noting that he had no history of ecological-based anger. “And he cannot tell you why he ran down the streets of Hedingham terrorizing people that day.”
But “he is not unredeemable, he is not incorrigible,” Thomas added in asking Ridgeway to give him the opportunity one day to tell parole commissioners he could “still be a productive person in society.”
Thomas argued that the rampage happened during a behavioral episode caused by medicine he regularly took for acne which dissociated the youth from reality. A psychiatrist who interviewed Thompson and a geneticist testified to bolster the explanation.
Ridgeway decided the evidence did not support the conclusion that Thompson’s acts happened while he entered an altered mental state induced by the medication and a genetic abnormality.
Prosecutors dismissed the medication argument as weak and highlighted Thompson’s internet search history on his phone and computer leading up to the attack. They said it included school shootings and were related to guns, assaults and bomb-making materials.
Nicole Connors, 52; Raleigh police Officer Gabriel Torres, 29; Mary Marshall, 34; and Susan Karnatz, 49, also were killed in the rampage. Two other people were wounded, including another police officer involved in the search for Thompson.
“In the blink of an eye, everything changed for those people and for the people that they left behind,” Wake County assistant prosecutor Patrick Latour said Thursday while urging a sentence with no potential parole. “And the thing that made it change was not some acne medication. It was the defendant’s knowing, researched, well thought out, planned, decisive actions.”
The judge heard from people like Jasmin Torres, the widow of Gabriel Torres and the mother of their 5-year-old daughter. She asked Ridgeway to sentence Thompson to life without parole, calling him a “monster.”
“Not one of us surviving victims, our families, our friends, our community should ever have to worry about a future where his barbaric self is set free,” Torres said last week.
Thompson’s parents testified they couldn’t explain why their son committed the violence, calling him a normal, happy kid who did well in school and showed no signs of destruction.
Thompson’s father pleaded guilty to improperly storing his handgun that authorities said was found when his son was arrested. He received a suspended sentence and probation.
“We both lost our children, one at the hand of the other. We never saw this coming and still cannot make sense of it,” mother Elise Thompson said last week while telling the families of shooting victims she will “forever be sorry for the pain that this has caused you.”
In her cover note as in an earlier comment Sam used the word psychosis
Dr. David Healy says
Sam
I think you need to stop using the word psychosis – the way the video tries to get people to stop using the word depression and refer to a toxic drug state instead.
Psychosis and depression locate the problem in the person – and because of this the legal system will always find the person guilty.
A drug induced toxicity locates the problem in the drug and links it to the absence of warnings. Juries and judges need to hear that the drug could cause even them to do things like this.
Can you compile a list of homicide violence cases? The list won’t mean isotretinoin caused these deaths – that can only be done by a doctor assessing the person involved and virtually no doctor, and very very few of those that might be called as experts know how to establish how the drug contributed – if it did contribute – in a manner that would force the court to take the drug into account
David
Sam says
Thanks for this information, makes good sense x
Dr. David Healy says
Peter Selley sent this ‘newsy item’
7/13/2016 11:21:00 A.M. EDT jeevacation@gmail.com writes:
any info on neurontin from Jay,
To: jeevacation@gmail.com CC:
Subject: Neurontin
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2016 17:16:25 +0000
Yes, actually spoke to him last night about it.
Jay’s background with this specific drug is so unique as he was formally retained by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals to educate & train Doctors Nationally on Neurontin & it’s science, it’s uses, it’s contra-indications, etc…
He could write volumes of info about it but in Jay’s genius he is succinct & direct especially when it comes to O & A on such an important drug such as Neurontin.
Jay said ifs okay to contact him directly to review, (I’ll copy him on this).
Tell him about anything else you’ve taken or have been prescribed.
In addition and as you know I’m always concerned when Doctors (who mean well) indiscriminately prescribe medication to you (Medrol Dose Packs) without often knowing everything they can about you, your history, your metabolism, your genetics, your other meds., etc. etc.
Certain drugs have more cognitive effects than others & we should always know the short-term & longer term effects of such.
It’s simply important to use all the “arms-length” outlets you have to learn about what’s the BEST medical decision at that time for you & using what I am now calling a “Medical Security Team” which I believe everyone should have (provided that they have the Medical pedigree and/or the extended personal history) to always act as a point of counsel, reason, knowledge & confidence in assisting/guiding us in what we are putting in our bodies (i.e.meds) or thru our bodies (i.e. injections, epidurals, surgeries) to make the most informed decision to keep us at MAXIMUM health potential & our bodies “train on the tracks” always moving forward…
You can email Jay @ – redacted – or probably easier to call.
His direct tt is:
Enjoy the sneakers…
Sam Harris
For more good medical advice like this see
https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00635225.pdf
Dr. David Healy says
I’m sure Sam and everyone linked to RxISK would agree we should all have a medical security team – one who really listens to us for whatever reason
D
David T Healy says
Sam Harris is an American author, philosopher, neuroscientist, and podcast host known for his work on neuroscience, ethics, meditation, and his public critiques of religion and Islam. He is often associated with the “New Atheist” movement and the “Intellectual Dark Web”.
Based on recently released files regarding Jeffrey Epstein, Sam Harris had limited, peripheral, and generally negative interactions with him.
According to Google
Dr. David Healy says
Apparently Sam Harris, whom I’d never heard of and likely few people within medicine have, is well known in meditation circles.
Deepak Chopra, whom most people have likely heard of – the books are everywhere – one of his taglines is Unlock the Astonishing Power of your DNA for Optimum Health and Wellbeing, emailed JEE two weeks later saying:
Look what you’ve started!!!! The clinical head of research in Pfizer is interested !! Love
It looks like Jay Bergeron, Jay Johnson, Jay Grobler, Jay Purdy or Gary Jay (linked to neurontin) might fit the bill. It would be fascinating to find any exchanges between JEE and Jay
D
Dr. David Healy says
Sam has been in touch again. She has found more evidence that in the above acne medicine and murder case the drug was minocycline not isotretinoin.
The defense argued the young man had a genetic defect which meant he couldn’t metabolize minocycline all that well
https://www.wral.com/news/local/austin-thompson-genetic-deficiency-acne-medication-feb-2026/
Genetic evidence sounds compelling but it’s not. It may be rhetorically useful but poor metabolism does not offer a defense. There has to be evidence from the young man as to the actual – real life – concrete effects the drug was having on him to support a case of automatism or delirium to stand a chance with a jury or judge.
There may have been such evidence. We have no evidence that the experts who reviewed the guy knew what to ask for or even listened and heard things that might have led to an acquittal,
That said there is an interesting background here. MHRA and other folk concerned about patient safety have argued that there is no problem with Isotretinoin because it really doesn’t cause many more suicides than doxycycline does.
Doxycycline is a serotonin reuptake inhibitor as many antibiotics – like Prozac – are and it unquestionably causes suicide. There are convincing challenge-dechallenge-rechallenge effects that nail this down.
Minocycline shares some actions with doxy but as I say there is no good evidence that the defense knew what to look for.
DH
Peter Scott-Gordon says
Thank you for this post and for inviting comments.
I have watched both the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) video and the one by RxISK.
When it comes to informed consent, it is vital that all those involved in healthcare ensure that all information is shared and that the narrative content reflects actual patient experience and NOT just ‘Company Based Evidence’. As RxISK rightly identifies: Regulators are bureaucrats who review paperwork that is provided to them.
In terms of patient safety we need to take back control from vested interests. This is no easy task and probably never fully possible.
My backdrop is not in Dermatology. I worked my career as an NHS Psychiatrist until I retired a few years ago. I have personal experience of taking an SSRI antidepressant that was prescribed for me nearly 30 years ago for anxiety by my GP. My doctor had been ‘educated’ to use it for ‘Social Anxiety Disorder’ and had been told that it was ‘safe and effective’ and would not cause ‘dependence’ [one of the KEY messages of the 5-year-long, Pharmaceutical Industry funded, ‘Defeat Depression Campaign’]. I have been unable to stop [discontinue] this SSRI without severe and hazardous effects both mental and physical. I have had akathisia and suicidality.
I am interested in the films shared in this post given that, as an artist, filmmaking is one of my creative interests. I have made many short films on a wide range of subjects. Many years ago I made several short films about my experience of an SSRI. At the time I was working as a Consultant Psychiatrist and not even half-way through my career. I shared my short films with the Educational Supervisor for Psychiatry in my area wondering whether my films might provide the basis for discussion at our weekly educational program for trainees psychiatrists.
The reply I received was that this would not be welcomed. I did not pursue the matter but reflect now on an important missed opportunity to learn from actual experience.
If you watch these short films please bear in mind that they were made 15 years ago and my views and wider understandings have developed since then.
Powerful Embrace: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hshbznaoe9wciyby99vkl/Powerful-Embrace.mp4?rlkey=qgqxk28rnsaxkf13pe35xhvmj&st=p3sht8nm&dl=0
Gilbert Farie Revisited: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/f2i2nzwofmvoa54zbj40i/Gilbert-Farie-revisited.mp4?rlkey=lpljmfk4wfshn935pz2ntebuz&st=oj7oapom&dl=0
Dr. David Healy says
Peter
Your comment has caught the attention of the powers-that-be within RxISK. I just make the coffee and do the typing. They suggest you should think about doing something in the SSRI area. Our plans at the moment don’t include SSRI withdrawal. It’s difficult to think of anyone better than you to cover this. You don’t have to follow our format
D
tim says
This would be invaluable.
Video presentation provides a very powerful tool in increasing awareness and understanding of ADRs to SSRIs et al.
The opportunity to prevent such iatrogenic (ADR) tragedies provided by this means would be enhanced by those harmed, forwarding videos by email to friends and families.
Videos could enhance PRIMARY PREVENTION via Increased awareness in patients, prescribers and families.
During a recent hospital admission, a case conference (including parents) was thoughtfully arranged to discuss our loved one’s vulnerability to AKATHISIA. We provided Information from RxISK. A video would have been even more compelling.
Several professionals had the openness to say that they had ‘never heard of it’.
Dr. David Healy says
Tim
SSRI videos are in the pipeline
D
Lou Beauchamp says
So good!!!!
All informed consent should look like this. And how long did that take?
Forever hearing ‘we don’t have time to give proper informed consent’ is such a cop out.
Dr. David Healy says
Lou
Thanks for this. It’s not just a matter of how much you tell, its a willingness to listen and respond. Very few doctors have that these days. Partly perhaps because they don’t want to mention or respond to things they can do nothing about – but making this clear would be honest.
There are parallel posts on davidhealy.org about Gaslighting that deal with the system side of this
David
anon says
Thank you for creating the video Isotretinoin and Consent and for particularly highlighting the importance of being aware of impulsive and harmful thoughts that are not a result of previous mental health conditions.
For me, I would stress the importance of vigilance and persistence in recognising and reporting an adverse reaction. In addition, one of the issues I found unbearable to listen to in the original video was around the consultation appointments/follow up where there is a disconnect between what should happen and the reality of the situation. Checks and balances in the system are designed to keep people safe and for many they may work well, my child’s experience seemingly was very different.
The original video shows a ‘comfortable’ consultation between patient and medical professional and provides advice to report any problems, implying that patients will be listened to and taken at face value. In reality my child was consulted by a phone call with a nurse. You may find that rare side effects are downplayed. In my child’s experiences the occurrence of rare side effects were underplayed and this serves to discourage a patient from reporting or even being aware of a link.
You may find it difficult to recognise side effects and if you report them they may not be investigated as being linked to the drug. You may have to be persistent in reporting your side effects. It seems my child thought there was a link between their ongoing physical side effects and the drug and made numerous attempts to discuss this with various NHS services including the dermatologists where the possibility to a link to a drug was dismissed and with no questions asked. For me this will always be a missed opportunity.
Even after my child’s completely unexpected suicide, medical professionals did not make any link to the drug as a possible cause or that the aforementioned physical side effects could have been induced by isotretinoin. Different factors were suggested including that my child had a mental health condition, or physical effects were the result of food poisoning. There was no appetite to explore possible links to isotretinoin as a cause. My child had so much to live for and look forward to, they were loved, fully engaged and had a promising career ahead. I hope this never happens to you or a loved one but if it does you will be left to pick up the pieces.
Dr. David Healy says
Knowing about this case, I can confirm the accuracy of everything being said and more. This is not a grieving mother trying to rewrite reality or history. This is what really happens routinely.
D
mary H. says
So many interesting comments here. It would be interesting to get an idea of how recent, or otherwise, these experiences are. I ask as one who saw a son suffer from so much arrogance etc. for simply having suffered a severe reaction to an SSRI prescribed by their system. Poisoned by the drug, he lost almost everything except his family and his life. Today, 24 years later, the story is different but he still carries the problems of the toxic drug state of those early days coupled with the addition, to this day, of a myriad of psychotropic drugs, having not had one day without the prescribed drugs since those early days.
Due to the fact that he is no longer a patient in the secondary care service, I have little knowledge of exactly how things compare today. However, a member of our Withdrawal group shared an interesting story with us last night. This is absolutely up to date and shocking.:-
She has withdrawn from her psychotropic drug since over four years ago. Towards the end of 2025, she wished to have her protracted withdrawal recognised by her GP in the form of the use of a SNOMED Code.
She was told, by her GP and psychiatrist, that for a SNOMED Code to be applied, she would need to reinstate her Venlafaxine dose! We were also shocked when she shared this with us at that point in 2025.
Last night, she shared that the GP surgery have been in touch with her on a number of occasions this year, insisting that she needs to attend to pick up her prescription. SHE HAS NO INTENTION OF STARTING BACK ON VENLAFAXINE OR ANY OTYHER DRUG – but still they pester her.
I therefore deduce that things are hardly better than they were 24 years ago!
Yes, we need these videos – but we also need to make sure that they get to the eyes of the general public, If doctors are reluctant to share the truth before giving out the prescriptions, maybe we’ll have to do our best to get the message out to young people BEFORE they go to their GPs or get referred to dermatologists and psychiatrists.
Dr. David Healy says
Mary
None of what you outline surprises me. Things are getting steadily crazier. The posts on DH this week and the one to come next week make this – we are as crazy or crazier now than health systems were in Germany in the 1940s.
D
chris says
Was looking at Prednisone the other week. At about 12 mins in this doctor gets to prescription medicines for the psychiatric symptoms. It’s just jaw dropping:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ChMPXJpOod0
Also am wondering if there have been anymore patient examples of acetazolamide or any carbonic anhydrase inhibitor halting akathisia ?
Dr. David Healy says
C
Acetazolamide appears to help akathisia but its not tolerable in the longer run – this may be a hazard with several carbonic anhydrase inhibitors
D
Ben says
The MHRA / industry approved video touches on some details but
(1) glosses over the seriousness of the side effects.
(2) does not specify that the ‘depression’ and sexual side effects are likely induced by the drug rather than being unrelated.
(3) does not specify that the side can be irreversible after stopping the drug.
This shows that as suspected, MHRA and most doctors are more interested in continuing to facilitate sales of the drug rather than patient safety.
The RxISK video is far more informative and accurate, thanks for the work. I would still like to see the irreversible nature of the drug induced state specified.
SSRI and finasteride versions would be very welcome.
Dr. David Healy says
Ben
Thanks for this. Re the irreversibility, it does look like the Isotretinoin state may not be reversible and this would be important to know. There can be some improvement in both PFS and PSSD – although without evidence that the problem is fixed and we don’t what proportion improve. Those suffering from Isotretinoin are lower profile in terms of the sexual effects. We need to find out more.
Re Finasteride you will have your wish later tonight or early tomorrow. Re SSRIs there will be a few videos which will air over the next few weeks
D