RxISK.org
January 2017
 
 
 

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

RxISK launched in 2012. This New Year feels more portentous than any since then. Few can predict what 2017 might bring. Nothing is certain except that treatment-induced death (which ordinarily means drug-induced death, especially if opioid overdoses are included) will be the modal mode of death. More people will die for this reason than for any other. It is also likely the modal mode of disability. 

Problems on this scale have triggered revolutions in the past, but the rallying cry, "People of the planet, rise up, you have nothing to lose but your Pills!" is not likely to catch on. The RxISK Revolution needs more co-operation, not antagonism. If you want to see change, join us.

Thank you for your support. 
 
Your feedback, as always, is greatly appreciated.
 
David Healy Signature (First Name)  
 



David Healy, MD

PS. You can find me on Twitter @DrDavidHealy. And you can also  follow RxISK on  Facebook  and  Twitter .


RxISK stories

This is part 2 of the post by Heather and David Roberts - See RoAccutane and The Perfect Circle. Ever since in 2012 our son Olly died after using it, we have tried to learn what it does to the body and the mind. For the most terrifying thing about it, apart from [...] ...»

 

This post by Heather and David Roberts is about their son Olly and the struggles he and they had with the health system, acne and its treatments. Our son Olly had RoAccutane prescribed for him aged 21, getting ready to celebrate his birthday at Bristol University and wanting to look his best. He [...] ...»

 

The first RxISK story was about Plavix - Fiona's Story. This anonymous account has striking overlaps with that. Plavix is clopidogrel. The grel group of drugs include 1tazigrel, dimetagrel and others. They function like expensive aspirins. They cause problems on withdrawal and can be lethal. But medics and nurses will bat the problems [...] ...»

This is an anonymous guest post. I started teaching in the early 1970's, when to be a teacher was to be a professional, like a solicitor or a doctor. A few years later the Minister for Education, Margaret Thatcher, managed in one short speech to downgrade the status of teachers. At the time, [...] ...»

 

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 [...]...»

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

This is a final post in the current vaccine series. In 1798 Edward Jenner in Britain demonstrated that vaccination with cowpox was a safer way to confer immunity to smallpox than variolation with smallpox. It quickly spread. In Britain, variolation was banned in favor of vaccination in 1840. In 1853, vaccinations were made compulsory [...] ...»

 

The Post-Truth Rumorology post attracted a comment by Annie that deserves featuring. She cites a really good Daily Mail article in which Melinda Messenger talks about intervening when her daughter is scheduled to have the HPV vaccine. The DM article drew this response from Dr. David Robert Grimes - a physicist at the University of [...] ...»

 

Stopping the spread of Japan's antivaccine panic Following the post last week on MedWatcher Japan's efforts to bring the issue of HPV vaccines to light, my attention was drawn to a recent Wall Street Journal article which stated: "Japanese women's health is increasingly at risk as public-health policy is driven by conspiracy theories, misguided political interference and [...]...»

 

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, [...]...»