Johanna Ryan in her post Dependence Day points to serious problems linked to psychotropic drug use in the military and what seem to be recent alarming developments, but there is a 60 year history here. In the 1950s, the VA hospital system commissioned Norman Farberow to look at rising rates of suicides among veterans. He studied veterans hospitalized for either medical or … [Read more...] about What Would Batman Do Now?
Dependence Day
Author: Johanna Ryan, Labor Activist with Illinois Workers Compensation Lawyers (Chicago) Last month I watched as forty Iraq and Afghanistan vets led an antiwar march to the gates of the NATO summit in Chicago, and handed back their medals. At the rally, they described the toll the wars had taken on the troops as well as the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, and demanded their … [Read more...] about Dependence Day
Pharmacosis: So Long and Thanks for all the Fish
In 1860 at a meeting of the Massachusetts’ Medical Society Oliver Wendell Holmes made one of the most celebrated comments in medicine. While noting that medicines, particularly opium, could help, he nevertheless made it plain that he thought that on balance medicines risked doing more harm than good. You can’t be much plainer than this: "I firmly believe that if the whole … [Read more...] about Pharmacosis: So Long and Thanks for all the Fish
Pharmacosis: The day the music died
Syphilis appeared in Italy in 1498 just after Columbus had returned from the New World. This later led to suggestions that it had been brought back from the New World, in exchange for the many European illnesses that decimated the populations of North American Indians. Exposed to a virgin population new infections can be particularly virulent and during the subsequent … [Read more...] about Pharmacosis: The day the music died
Pharmacosis: Terminator Algorithm
The single commonest question to RxISK.org has been about dependence on and withdrawal from treatments, such as anticonvulsants, statins, diuretics and others. We often think that it is only drugs of abuse that can cause dependence and withdrawal but in fact an astonishing number, perhaps most medicines, can cause problems (see Medicine Induced Stress Syndromes, Dependence and … [Read more...] about Pharmacosis: Terminator Algorithm
Pharmacosis: Trigger Algorithm
The first descriptions of a drug causing suicide came in 1955. A few years later in 1958 and again in 1959 the problem was described with imipramine. Treatment induced suicide became a prominent media issue in 1990 with a paper by Teicher and Cole. But it was not until 2004 that regulators and companies conceded that these drugs can cause a problem. There are now 38 drugs … [Read more...] about Pharmacosis: Trigger Algorithm
Pharmacosis
There is a new Contagion out there. Kate Winslet beware. Disease with no name This new epidemic has rapidly become at least the fourth leading cause of death and disability - it may even be the greatest cause of death because all we have counted so far are deaths in hospital where such deaths can be spotted. Where every other disease comes with a guideline for its management, … [Read more...] about Pharmacosis
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
This is the last of 3 posts laying out the philosophical basis for RxISK.org which will be live in the next few weeks. The others are Cri de Coeur & Once is Never. In his masterpiece on love and life The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera faces us with a dilemma about the important things in life “einmal ist keinmal” – “once is never”. Academics need lovers But … [Read more...] about The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Once is Never
This is the second of 3 posts laying out the philosophical basis for RxISK.org which will be live in the next few weeks. The others are Cri de Coeur & the Unbearable lightness of being. In Cri de Coeur, I outlined a scenario in which a treatment that causes suicide when put into good trials without any manipulation of the data, any statistical artifice, or any ghostwriting … [Read more...] about Once is Never
Cri de Coeur
This is the first of 3 posts laying out the philosophical basis for RxISK.org which will be live in the next few weeks. The others are Once is Never & the Unbearable lightness of being. “[I suggest] a meeting with yourself and your reviewers. I have spoken in public on these issues and offered to speak on any platform. I’ve visited the MHRA [British equivalent of FDA]. … [Read more...] about Cri de Coeur