RxISK.org
November 2016
 
 
 

Here's a recap of blog posts and other news from the past month.

We have now launched a dedicated page for  akathisia . This distressing and potentially life-threatening side effect of antidepressants and antipsychotics is often poorly understood by both patients and doctors. We need your help to share it as widely as possible.

A number of you may be interested in the first course offering by Mad in America. Here is a brief description and a link to find out more.

"Title: Antidepressants in Pregnancy: What are the Risks to the Developing Fetus?

Description: In this 90-minute course, Dr. Adam Urato, an associate professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine, details the role that serotonin plays in fetal development, and reviews the scientific literature regarding the risks posed to the fetus by use of antidepressants during pregnancy. These risks include pre-term birth, birth defects, autism, and other long-term neurobehavioral and motor problems.

Presented by Mad in America Continuing Education; 1.5 CEU/CME credits (US only)."


Thank you for your support. 
 
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David Healy, MD


RxISK stories

This post is by Sally Macgregor. I left a comment on: Stopping Antidepressants: Kenny's dilemma, which contained this statement: 'I think acknowledging that coming off the pills can end badly is absolutely crucial. For one thing it's honest, and without honestly how can people begin to cope with the situation they find themselves [...] ...»

 

Last week, there was a post Asexual, Transgender and SSRIs about possible links between antidepressant use in pregnancy or early childhood and a later development of asexuality. In recent weeks RxISK has had several emails asking about possible links between Transgender issues or Gender Dysphoria and antidepressants. In one a woman wondered about a brother [...]...»

 

Last week's post about Antidepressants and Autistic Spectrum Disorder came with an article attached. This article was first sent to and first turned down by BMJ Open because it contained references to a set of animal studies. BMJ Open it turns out is a human studies only journal. The interest in the animal studies listed [...]...»

 

Five years ago, the Croen et al article in the Figure above appeared suggesting that antidepressant use in pregnancy can cause Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Pharmaceutical companies rushed to manage the risks - to them. What you do is you convene your experts and you put them in boxes, a teratology box, an animal studies [...]...»

 

Further excerpts from Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run. Bruce looks like he had a dependence syndrome and perhaps even organic damage or dysfunction linked to an antidepressant - See Born to Withdraw. Did he also have akathisia? Akathisia (restlessness, agitation & turmoil): A disorder characterized by an uncomfortable feeling of inner restlessness and inability to [...]...»

 

These excerpts from Bruce Springsteen's new book Born To Run were picked out for us by a colleague who is a lifetime Bruce fan. Zero to sixty in nothing flat The blues don't jump right on you. They come creeping. Shortly after my sixtieth I slipped into a depression like I hadn't experienced since that [...] ...»


Dr. David Healy
From David's blog...

64 women to sue in 3 Japanese courts over health woes from cervical cancer vaccines A group of lawyers for 64 women who are suffering health problems from cervical cancer vaccines said Tuesday the victims will file damages lawsuits against the government and two drug makers that produced the vaccines through four district courts on [...]...»

 

This anonymous comment featured toward the end of the Murder or Accident post. It seemed worth transforming into a post in its own right. In the week of the US vote, a key question facing voters is where does all the pain come from. A colleague and I gave a talk to family [...] ...»

 

The plan this morning was to continue coverage of the Opioid Epidemic but perhaps because it is Halloween a link to a Wall Street Journal story on how Drug Makers Turn Cheap Generics into Expensive Pills arrived by email. It was difficult to resist. Here's why. The article features Treximet, a combination of sumatriptan and naproxen, [...]...»

 

Harold Shipman was a doctor in Britain, who was arrested for murder in 1998. He turned out to be a true Angel of Death, the most prolific known serial killer, who killed it is thought between two and three hundred of his patients by prescribing opioids in large doses. After his trial and conviction and [...]...»

 

This post merges the Go Figure sequence of posts from several weeks ago with the 329 series. In the wake of the French Revolution of 1968, the government was still tottering when on February 4 1970, sixteen miners died with twelve others maimed in an explosion at a mine in Lens in France. The [...] ...»

 

It was tempting not to run a post today for fear it might get lost in the wash of the Clinton-Trump debate. But today is the fourteenth anniversary of the day FDA issued an approvable letter for Paxil for children, as well as the fifty-fourth anniversary of the 1962 FDA Act that created [...] ...»

 

We interrupt the Go Figure series of posts to return for two posts to Study 329. We will then return to Go Figure. All the fuss about Study 329 centers on its 8 week acute phase. But this study had a 24 week Continuation Phase that has never been published. Until Now. We might [...] ...»