Dr. David Healy

Psychiatrist. Psychopharmacologist. Scientist. Author.

A.K.A.thisia: Drug Induced Emotional Turmoil – D.I.E.T.

26 Comments

A link to the Akathisia Anthem is now live on the RxISK Akathisia page which includes more details on D.I.E.T. Pills. There is a parallel post on RxISK and will be follow up posts here and on RxISK over the next two weeks.

AKATHISIA ANTHEM LYRICS:

Akathisia, Akathisia
You make me wanna
Make me wanna
Akathisia
Thank you doctor for this little pill
But the fact of the matter, it’s making me ill
The fact of the matter is I can’t, can’t, can’t
I can’t can’t sit sit still
Akathisia, Akathisia
You freak me out. You freak me out
Akathisia
Tripping on my restless thoughts
Have to admit I used to be sad
Told the doctor I’s  feeling bad
Gave me these meds and I’ve been had
The side effects are driving me mad
Falling through the cracks, medicated dregs
My heart is racing, as it begs
Doctor please, you got to stop
Stop these restless legs
Akathisia, Akathisia
You freak me out. You freak me out
Akathisia
You make me wanna
Make me wanna
Kill myself
You make me wanna
Make me wanna
Kill myself
Cause I can’t, can’t can’t
Can’t sit still
Cause I can’t, can’t can’t
Can’t sit still
This pill, pill, pill. This pill
Is making me ill
But I’m still here, trying to cope
Doctors’ drugs, too much rope
Reaching out, need some hope
Got to lose this prescription dope
Akathisia, Akathisia
You freak me out. You freak me out
Akathisia.
You make me wanna
Make me wanna
K-k-k-k
Make me wanna,
Make me wanna
K-k-k-k
Make me wanna
Make me wanna
Quit that dope
I’m gonna quit
Quit that doctor’s dope

CREDITS:

Song Title: Akathisia (I Can’t Sit Still)
Music and Lyrics: Billiam James
Musical and Vocal Performance: Billiam James
Recording and Production: David Tallarico, The Beat Cave
Video Camera/Editing/Production: Franke James and Billiam James
Producer: The James Gang, Iconoclasts Inc.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. ‘I took a pill that turned me in to a killer and took me away from my kids”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1rAAPklkGQ

    It’s called Akathisia

    http://missd.co/

    Billiam James

    https://www.billiamjames.com/tag/dr-david-healy/

    Billiam James

    The Akathisia Anthem will rock the boat, it will spill the beans, it will spell it out, it will jigger the jogger – it is quite brilliant.

    AKA
    thisia:

    “But for the fact that he was put on these pills, he would not have killed anyone”

    Rock on, Bill

    Reply

    • Nice to see you know your Dylan, I’m a life long fan.

      If you read the lyrics of his song “License to kill”, you can easily twist it to be about the pills.

      -“Now he is hellbent, for destruction, he’s afraid and confused. And his brain has been mismanaged with great skill….”

      Ove2018

      Reply

  3. Stewart Dolin was at the Station
    “Life changes in the instant”

    https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Drug-Induced+Akathisia&&view=detail&mid=5F47417D5B36AE2A8D425F47417D5B36AE2A8D42&&FORM=VRDGAR

    “All three patients developed severe akathisia during treatment with fluoxetine and stated that the development of the akathisia made them feel suicidal and that it had precipitated their prior suicide attempts.”

    https://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/features/drugs-medical/ssri-suicide-akathisia.html

    Akathisia (I Can’t Sit Still), is also available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and Google Music.

    https://rxisk.org/akathisia/

    Sing and Bob along with Bill

    Ah ka thees is Ahh ~ Ah ka thees is Ahh

    Reply

  4. Brilliant vimeo by a young man not much more than a kid himself who is warning others via a rap song about SSRIs:- (free to share)
    ‘Music and Lyrics from the psych blasting songs SSRIs-SSRLies -songs attack the crimes against humanity committed by modern psychiatry painting a disturbing picture of the side effects of anti depressant drugs’.

    It’s very long so here’s a few lines- it comes over even more powerfully with the music

    Little Johny’s just going to school
    He ain’t breaking the rules he’s just
    doing what kids do
    Teacher says Johny ain’t paying attention
    Gonna put him on drugs but they
    never mention the side effects
    Making him violent and defiant and his parents
    are buying it and before long he’s lying
    and trying to hang himself in his own room
    Or stick a nine in his mouth and make it
    go boom
    But the psych says gotta see it through
    Didn’t you know the brain chemistry is whacked
    And all these drugs are a scientific fact……

    SSRIs – SSRLies Songs from Beyond all Reason by Michael Adams – Health Ranger.

    Reply

    • here’s the rest of his amazing song – read in rapper rhythm if poss –

      These drug pushers/should be arrested/We used to be a nation that/would try to educate kids/but now we focus on/ways to medicate kids/We label them as victimsand/addict ’em to toxic chemicals that/tricked ’em into thinking/we somehow fixed ’em for life/But in reality it’s/medical insanity,/a chemical calamity,/scientific profanity/And it’s a horrible mistake/that never had to be/Modern psychiatry is guilty of/crimes against humanity/And that’s the way it’s gonna be/Unless you stand up and make the /Changes you wanna see/A non-medicated mind/is ready to be free/but that’s too dangerous,/don’t you see?/You might discover your own throughts,/your own ideas,/your own philosophy/Your own non conformist views/you might read the alternative press/you might learn about health online from Natural News/They take the brightest kids/in the nationand put ’em on medication/and vaccinate ’em and then/wonder why they can’t tolerate ’em/so they put ’em on psych meds/and they end up dead/but nobody said/they could use healthy food instead/Messing with your head/Can’t get out of bed/Eyes are turning red/doctors got no cred/You don’t have to follow what/the psych doc said/You gotta take your life back/put the knife back down’If it’s like that, throw the medication on the ground/Cause the medical suckers /they gonna psych that/And if you’re speaking your mind/They’re gonna strike that/it’s time y’all learned you/gotta fight back/and take your mind back from the medication trap/And if you get that, then watch your brother’s back/These drugs hit youlike a /chemical bitch slap-(loud slap -) /Take that psych doctors/But it’s all an act, the doctor’s a quack/the is jacked/Modern psychiatry is smoking crack/that’s a fact/
      Selective serotonin/SSRs/Reuptake Inhibitors/SSRLies/Why you wanna mess with a kid’s brain/and take away everything/that made him a human being/Like his uncommonallityand his/unique personality and originality/ Authority figures hate individuality/If they keep drugging kids /it’s gonna get worse, psych drugs are/a time bomb ready to burst/Take the money outcha purse, give it to the nurse, the drugs /seem like they’re working at first/But even on the drugs life still hurts/ and the more you take /the more it gets worse/The psychiatric medication has/become a curse/And then yourkid comes home/in the back of a hearse/coming home/coming home/from the drug free zone/coming home from the/drug free zone

      with massive respect and thanks to Michael Adams the Health Ranger

      Reply

  5. Brilliant song and brilliant performance.

    Akathisia was the worst experience of my life, I didn’t know what was happening or if it would ever end. If I experienced this again I could easily try to kill myself again.

    Doctors promised me they had put a warning on my records – but they didn’t, and I can substantiate this with documentary evidence from my Historical Records.

    Reply

  7. Thanks for continuing to raise the awareness of severe adverse reactions and giving us the words and the confidence to talk about that A.K.A thing. Ive shared it on my social media networks.

    Reply

  8. Thinking the Unthinkable

    First Opinion

    FDA’s continuing use of ‘black box’ for antidepressants ignores the harms of this warning

    https://www.statnews.com/2018/08/29/fda-antidepressants-black-box-warnings-harms/?utm_source=STAT+Newsletters&utm_campaign=c09097e9db-Daily_Recap&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-c09097e9db-149674737

    Michael P. Hengartner, PhD
    @HengartnerMP
    ·
    1h
    Here are the official suicide rates for adolescents in the US. Could anybody explain to me how the statnews author could claim that there was a surge in suicides immediately after the FDA warning in 2004? There unambiguously was a clear drop in suicide rates after 2004

    That AKA thing..

    Reply

  9. About AKATHISIA…
    Over on RxISK blog I’ve set out how AKATHISIA was there at the beginning for our son, with his first prescribed medication isotretinoin for his acne) and there at the end ( when Olanzapine and a cocktail of other meds, prescribed one on top of the next in what appeared to be a random lobbing in of whatever concoction they fancied trying) and in all the time in between, NO ONE GOT THE MESSAGE, including us, because we didn’t know AKATHISIA existed.

    I’d like some advice, if anyone could offer some. We are likely to speak soon from the floor at a Suicide Crisis Conference. The big difficulty we have, when it comes to forums on Suicide, is that the mainstream line is always ‘get people to talk out their feelings if they are suicidal and get treatment for them’ and desperate families usually feel that medication is the way to save them, because they still believe that it’s some kind of chemical brain imbalance and the most important thing to do fast is to get the medicine in there, as waiting for psychological help may be too late to save them.
    We have somehow to get across the message that antidepressants/antipsychotics CAN make things worse. The world doesn’t seem to want to hear this. Because maybe those meds are like a welcome sticking plaster, or so it seems. I know that David Healy has written here previously that the Prince Harry brigade, who do carry great respect and influence (and rightly, with the aims they have and the work they do) are still wedded to this line about getting treatment, meaning antidepressants etc. As though this is vital to save lives. And yet so many of us here know it just kicks one further down the road to hell.

    So, what to do, what to suggest, what to offer? The use of a little red wine to lessen AKATHISIA if effective, sounds good. Could a little red wine be used anyway for anxiety instead of antidepressants, but officially prescribed by a doctor. Would it work for depression? Would it help cushion the emotions whilst people battle unbearable worry?
    But if people rely on it too much, that’s not good either…

    On the one hand there is this huge push currently in the media about saving people from suicide, as rates soar. On the other hand, how can we get them to see that often those suicidal feelings don’t come at the very beginning of sadness/worry/depression, they come after a bit of use of antidepressants. But if you can’t offer antidepressants, benzodiazepines etc then what CAN you do? We seem to go round in circles about this and if we can’t offer any kind of timely alternative, how can we convince the Prince Harry brigade, who can influence public opinion and ultimately Government, whose NHS is buying and promoting the use of more and more antidepressants. Which will lead to more and more misery, withdrawal problems, suicidal ideation, and possibly, as with our own son, death? It seems like the stuff of nightmares, it goes round and round, with no answer.

    Advice please ASAP on how to put across a reasoned argument on avoiding suicide.

    Reply

    • Heather, please don’t advice anyone to use alcohol along with SSRIs – it can be a fatal mix as alcohol dependence, for some (as we always seem to have to say to justify ourselves!) can lead to an addiction to alcohol. Alcohol is a ‘downer’ and the lows experienced if you mix it with Seroxat (and possibly other SSRIs)can easily lead to law-breaking behaviours.
      What to suggest as a way forward is, of course, a puzzle. I have not come across suicidal thoughts /actions being present prior to ADs being taken but have seen the worst possible outcome when alcohol was in the mix. We have also seen suicide attempts with ADs or antipsychotics without the presence of alcohol – due to which I am of the firm belief that ADs/ antipsychotics, alone, are quite capable of creating those situations.
      I am a firm believer in ‘talking’, but it needs to be coupled with ‘listening’ and ‘taking action’ and it’s the last one that creates the biggest difficulty. What can you say to a suicidal person when you yourself haven’t got a clue what’s going on? Your sense of hopelessness can easily transfer to further their helplessness. I used to explain the legality of suicide and the importance of leaving a note so that those left behind would understand the intention was death rather than a plea for support. Whether that made any difference, I don’t know – but it somehow settled his indecision and kept him away from further attempts.
      Knowing the system as we do, there is hardly any point in encouraging anyone to visit their GP as the result, in all probabilities, will lead to a prescription. My only suggestion would be to offer the online forum of Ele Friends – a branch off from Facebook ( I think) which is overseen by MIND. They are a great group of MH sufferers, many having gone through the same feelings themselves and they offer support which often lasts for weeks until the individual is in a better place. If the individual is in a very dark place then the MIND team get involved and will, as a last resort, call for an ambulance to take the person to hospital. I think it’s London based but have access to services UK wide.
      Further than that, Heather, my mind is a blank – except, of course, that should the person who is suffering be on medication, then the ‘listener’ should be made aware to forcefully give that message ( of adverse reactions) to the patient and to anyone that they may be lucky enough to find who will offer some support.

      Reply

      • Mary, I wouldn’t dream of advocating taking red wine with SSRIs, I just followed the RxISK link to the Akathisia information page and it does suggest that sometimes red wine could temporarily help to take down acute levels of Akathisia.

        I’ve looked at Ele Friends you mentioned, an interesting site overseen by MIND, and the principle is good but from many comments it seems that the technical running of it is very iffy and people are expressing their natural frustration over this. Also, some say they just get a ‘like’ to a comment from someone but no interchange/dialogue. The satisfaction rating is 2.5 out of 5 stars. But it is at least somewhere to touch base and hope to find an ear and some written hope.

        I’m very grateful for this information, and also for all the rest that has been offered here, which will be enormously helpful, the links from Annie are really excellent, especially the Science Forum one at the end, and also all those from Fiachra, which I have carefully read of his and noted.

        I do thank you all for having put your minds to this and having given me such marvellous factual stuff. They do say that no good barrister ever asks a question they don’t know the irrefutable answer to, so they can’t be tripped up by the other side. This collection of information gives me a very fair chance of getting our points across.

        Reply

  10. Hi Heather – if Fiachra is up for it (would you F?) she is such a powerful communicator maybe F could go to the conference to speak with you? Also (have flagged it up in Rxisk) ask the registrar Fiachra is tackling and is now an holistic ‘expert’ on drugs and suicide to attend or at least send a submisission.

    Ask attendees to make a note of the references you give ,on their gadgets while you are giving the talk or many will go away and not read up further. Hope it goes well – where is it? is it open to everyone?

    Reply

  11. This is a very well reasoned and justifiable ask…a reasoned argument for avoiding suicide

    Mostly what is going on AKA suicide is just plain wrong

    Talk more, get more pills; get more pills, talk more

    The red wine debacle rumbles on as someone has latched on to DH and it wasn’t saying cheers

    The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power

    The Argument

    1.

    There is no point looking to a regulator to solve problems with any adverse effect on a drug.  Their brief is to supervise the wording of drug labels and adverts by drug companies primarily before a drug comes on the market.  It is not to ensure that patients or doctors are properly warned before they take a drug.

    Being bureaucrats their job is to make sure they have a good reason for doing nothing.  This means for instance that there needs to be a hint from an RCT that a drug does something they can point to if politicians ask questions.  If a politician asks about akathisia, the regulator can say – ah but if we warn about that we will deter people from seeking treatment and lives will be lost.

    This is why they are so vulnerable on the issue of SSRIs for children.  There is no benefit they can point to – not even for fluoxetine (Prozac).

    There is also a large number of people, perhaps an even larger number who have been injured by treatment and in particular who have lost loved ones to treatment who have become advocates for more treatment – who will front up programs to pick up schizophrenia or depression or osteoporosis or cancer at the earliest possible stage.  If only we’d picked things up in time, everything would have been okay.

    This is the side Prince Harry or Camilla Parker-Bowles or Ivanka Trump are always going to end up on – they will all want to spread the good news of salvation through baptism and treatment.

    https://davidhealy.org/?s=What+to+do+about+suicide

    The Argument

    2.

    Simon Wessely Retweeted

    Kensington Palace
    @KensingtonRoyal
    ·
    30 Aug
    The Duke of Cambridge will launch ‘Mental Health at Work’, a new initiative from
    @heads_together
    and
    @MindCharity

    , in Bristol on Tuesday 11th September. Mental Health at Work is a new online gateway that will change the way that we approach workplace mental health across the UK.

    The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power

    “We’ve done a lot on medical manslaughter”

    “I think it’s the wrong question, actually… and then I say what’s the correct number then…should it be 60 million is that OK, 40 million, twenny, ten, nought

    The correct question is are sufficient people who might benefit from antidepressants actually taking them and the answer is still no.

    There are still far too many people I think its a quarter of people not getting anything like the best treatments for depression.

    So most people aren’t getting treated but overall I’m more concerned about under treatment of depression than over treatment.

    https://videos.rsm.ac.uk/video/rsm-the-nhs-at-70-podcast-episode-8-prof-sir-simon-wessely-president-of-the-rsm—the-challenges-for-mental-health

    The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power

    The Argument

    3.

    Personally, from me, there was loads of talk coming at me and loads of talk coming between professionals and I was quite mute just taking the tablets.
    No one paid any attention to Drugs -d-d-d-d or the Patient -p-p-p-p and -k-k-k-k- no attention to me.

    And that is how it was.

    Staying on, and coming off, antidepressants: The experiences of 752 UK adults
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460318308438

    Heather, you are very well qualified to give your talk, just concentrate on what you have said over the course of all your highly intelligent and aware comments and you will slay them with how much you have learnt and how much you know and how much you miss Olly because of it.

    Billiam James
    @billiamjames

    What if the medications used to treat mental illness actually caused more problems than they solved?
    @RxISK
    @DrDavidHealy
    @Mad_In_America
    #Akathisia

    Good Luck!

    Reply

  12. Hi Susanne,
    The conference is in Gloucester, 10th September, put on by Suicide Crisis. They are a fantastic organisation. We went last year and one does get a chance to speak from the floor when they have a panel discussion. I’m afraid all the places are allocated now, they’ve been very popular indeed, but I was hoping to get a chance to speak up a bit at some point, like we did last year.

    They have an interesting range of speakers. Suicide Crisis was started by its CEO Joy Hibbins who herself knows what it is to be made ill by trauma. She writes wonderful articles in the Huffington Post and is well reported in the Press. Her organisation was born in 2013 and they have managed ever since to keep a zero Suicide result, by treating everyone who approaches them with courtesy, kindness, and above all, telling them they matter and they care what happens to them and spending the necessary time listening to them. They have a secret location where people can come, or, if necessary, they will visit people at home. This is because confidentiality, especially for some men, is precious. They are well staffed. They listen, they show they care. They have a good team of like-minded well qualified psychiatrists and psychologists, counsellors etc. Best of all, they are not funded by the NHS so they are independent and don’t have to be bound by NHS guidelines and financial restraints, but they run on charitable donations and we in our very small way through Olly’s charity, support them because we love their ethos and are full of admiration for them. Joy Hibbins is a really brave, determined, inspirational person, and we read everything she writes. She was invited to and spoke at the Parliamentary Suicide investigation last year, to which so many of us submitted reports and had them published.

    I think now I just need a few suggestions as to how we can offer timely and effective support to the suicidal person without resorting to antidepressants, but I feel sure many people initially do find these medications helpful. It’s just that it’s so flooky about who gets made worse on them and how to recognise that in time. If Fiachra could spare the time to set out a few points raising awareness of how this can happen, and how common it is, that would be great. I want to get the AKATHISIA message across to the delegates and panel if I sense an opening for this. Thanks so much.

    Reply

  13. Dear Heather R,

    I’m very very sorry for your loss. My experience is that Akathisia overides all other problems.

    I’d love to exchange contacts with you, I’m having some difficulty getting my posts up.

    Please get back to me.

    I’m also on Mad in America

    Reply

  14. What about including in the campaign , putting an end to depot injections including for people detained against their will. If signs of akathisia or other symptoms are spotted, even if that’s an intuition that somethings not right , it’s ‘easier’ to get off the pills and avoid being over medicated with yet more drugs or threat of hospitalisation.

    Reply

    • My entire Mental Health Records from 1980 to 1984 are completely rotten. I received a copy in August of 2012, and there had been interference to them.

      I reported extrapyramidal disability to Psychiatrist PA Carney in Autumn of 1983. There was much discussion on this, (between me, the Registrar, PA Carney and another more junior doctor), but this discussion is completely absent from my Records.

      Psychiatrist PA Carney in 1985, was on the examining board of the UK Royal College of Psychiatrists but he was incapable of telling the difference between the side effects of his own medication and genuine mental illness.

      He had been causing the disability that he had been holding me responsible for.

      There was no original evidence of Mental Illness in 1980 at Galway, and what came from the UK was intentionally vague.

      Reply

  15. A Point of View – Parity of Esteem on R4 2 days ago. (on BBC IPlayer)

    Scathing attack by Will Self on psychiatric treatment/abuse after seeing what happened to his friend detained in London psych hospital. Mentions everything that is talked about on this blog and elsewhere..overdosed on drugs/ wrong medications – AKATHISIA – arrogance of psych being questioned about treatment and so on …nothing new to thousands of others -she had a solicitor who got her out of it and friends with clout, ‘ being on the psych ward ..’is to feel oneself closer to Hogarth’s vision of hell than any enlightened healthcare”.

    Reply

  16. I must just mention that David Katz, the most recent rampage killer in the USA, was taking SSRI ‘antidepressants’. I do so because nobody else is making this connection. Almost all such killers have been taking one of three types of mind-altering drugs – SSRIs, steroids and marijuana. Why don’t we care?

    Peter Hitchens

    http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/

    AntiDepAware‏ @AntiDepAware Sep 2

    ADA news: David Katz, who shot 11 people at a video games competition, had been prescribed Fluoxetine and Risperdal when he was 13. This was at the behest of his mother, a toxicologist at the @US_FDA. http://antidepaware.co.uk/news-and-comment/ …

    http://antidepaware.co.uk/news-and-comment/

    Make me wanna …

    Reply

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