dendriforming:

I am going through an antidepressant discontinuation syndrome again. I couldn’t stand the exhaustion any more, and this thing doesn’t work for me anyway. I have something that does now (an anticonvulsant that wasn’t supposed to work because it wasn’t “evidence-based” for a diagnosis I received without any real evaluation, and the dose is so low it’s evidence-based for exactly nothing, but both are absolutely evidence-based based on what works for my family), so why continue pointlessly taking this?

At this point, I am tapering from an extremely low dose. Even that is awful. And I’m going faster than I theoretically should be because the dosages don’t actually exist to follow my prescriber’s theoretically preferred protocol. (This makes me think she has never actually tapered anybody off it, TBH.)

This is not a relapse. A nausea problem I never had cannot relapse.

And I can’t agree that talking about this is irresponsible unless I’m willing to agree that people with expected medication reactions matter so much more than those of us who don’t that we need to deny our reality for them. I’m not.

The thing that really gets me about this “don’t talk about the stuff it will dissuade people” etc.

I am on opioid painkillers. I have been on them around 5 years now with no problems whatsoever. But there are thousands of articles written further stigmatizing these drugs, chastizing people for depending on them, calling for more and more restrictions. Drugs that are the difference for myself and many others between being bedridden and being functional.

Like I would under no circumstances recommend them as a first step treatment. I agree there should be restrictions. Despite the fact I am like, the best case senario patient who is lowest tier abuse likelyhood, I would not actually want more pills then I am getting rx’d right now (around 20 a month that are cut in half as a maintenance dose usually) because these are ABSOLUTELY dangerous drugs. I am acutely aware even if none of their reasons for saying I am an abuse risk are true, I can spot potential red flags in myself they haven’t noticed nor care about and I am largely protected from them only through sheer spite of refusing to prove drs right.

But I am TERRIFIED of antidepressants. I have permanent damage to my health from side effects of them. Every time they put me on them they don’t do anything remotely positive and make me sicker somehow.

Antidepressants unlike painkillers ARE thrown around like candy. They are frequently prescribed by primary care doctors who have not been properly educated on them. They are considered the first line treatment not only for depression, but things like pain despite being an off label use often without any actual studies backing effectiveness. And as psychiatric medications they are often forced on people without their consent and then any side effects are brushed off as delusions an that is SCARY.

Just because there is stigma against depression treatment doesn’t mean those drugs somehow should be excused from critisism of the very real risks and negetive effects. For fucks sake like half of them have SUICIDAL IMPULSE as a potential side effect, as in “literally can do the opposite and make you worse instead”. People act like printed on the bottle side effects are some kind of slander under a capitalist medical system that wants you to buy them. I am sure the warnings on tobacco are fake too. Informed consent isn’t anti-recovery.

“In an average week, nursing facilities in the United States administer antipsychotic drugs to over 179,000 people who do not have diagnoses for which the drugs are approved. The drugs are often given without free and informed consent, which requires a decision based on a discussion of the purpose, risks, benefits, and alternatives to the medical intervention as well as the absence of pressure or coercion in making the decision. Most of these individuals—like most people in nursing homes—have Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia. According to US Government Accountability Office (GAO) analysis, facilities often use the drugs to control common symptoms of the disease.

While these symptoms can be distressing for the people who experience them, their families, and nursing facility staff, evidence from clinical trials of the benefits of treating these symptoms with antipsychotic drugs is weak. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) never approved them for this use and has warned against its use for these symptoms. Studies find that on average, antipsychotic drugs almost double the risk of death in older people with dementia. When the drugs are administered without informed consent, people are not making the choice to take such a risk.

[…]

One facility social worker said that one of the most common “behaviors” leading to antipsychotic drug prescriptions was someone constantly crying out, “help me, help me, help me.” An 87-year-old woman reflected that at her prior facility, which gave her antipsychotic drugs against her will, “they just wanted you to do things just the way they wanted.” A social worker who used to work in a nursing facility said the underlying issue is that “the nursing homes don’t want behaviors. They want docile.” A state surveyor said: “I see way too many people overmedicated…. [Facilities] see it as a cost-effective way to control behaviors.”“

Human Rights Watch, “They Want Docile”: How Nursing Homes in the United States Overmedicate People with Dementia

alienriot:

grumpyoldnurse:

fatale-distraction:

fatale-distraction:

constantine-spiritworker:

its-thedinosaurman:

staying-happily-high:

butterscotchwm:

notnights:

soloontherocks:

my favorite side effect warning is for antidepressants

pros: you won’t want to kill yourself

cons: you might want to kill yourself

Back when I was in a psychiatric hospital, and was offered antidepressants, my mother had declined them due to that apparent side effect. So the staff actually explained about this effect antidepressants have, that give reason to that warning.
When first taking antidepressants they raise up your energy first. So that you have the energy to do the tasks you might have avoided doing due to your depression.
Because of this those who were already suicidal, now have the energy to go do so. Which is the ones this warning is given for.
It’s not that a side effect of antidepressants magically makes you want to kill yourself, it’s the energy it gives those who were already struggling with suicidal issues, to actually attempt the act.

Very informative…

Wow. I’m so glad you explained that. Now I understand

My high school choir/psych teacher actually told is about this. She also said if you have a suicidal friend who starts seeming like they might be getting better because they have more energy, that’s the time to be cautious because that’s when they may still be suicidal but they’ll actually have the energy to go through with it

THIS. a thousand times THIS. I had it explained to me in my AP psychology class in high school. super fucking important.

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT and I wish my doctors had explained it to me this well when I first started taking them.

JUST GONNA REBLOG THIS AGAIN TO ADD that my younger sister in law recently started on anti-depressants among other medications in juncture with therapy to help handle an extreme case of OCD and anxiety, and I was the one who had to explain this to her. Her doctor only explained the risks, and not WHY they would actually be considered risks, which put her off of taking medication for most of her life. I explained it, and she understood, and THAT is why she is now on medication that is significantly improving her life. DOCTORS NEED TO TELL US THIS SHIT.

Best description of why ‘increased risk of suicide’ is included in the warning for anti-depressants I’ve ever read.

Signal boost this to save a life.

While this definitely needs to be spread, this isn’t always the reason for them including that as a side effect. Some antidepressants do make people more suicidal, not because it’s making them better, but because it’s making them worse.

If you start to feel suicidal when taking a new med, tell your provider *immediately*.

When I was put on Prozac my suicidal ideations became way more intense and I ended up trying to kill myself. Turns out my body doesn’t process SSRIs well and I was switched to lamictal. I am doing so much better now.

I’m not saying this to deter anyone from getting help or starting a new medication, but feeling more suicidal isn’t necessarily an indicator that a medication is working.

I had some similar experiences, including with Prozac. Which got totally dismissed at the time (along with other side effects) as irrational resistance to taking medications at all. It was very dangerous, and I know I am not the only one to encounter this.

One thing that SSRIs and some other medications can do? Lower seizure threshold. Where temporal lobe seizures in particular can be interpreted as worsening psych symptoms, unrelated to the meds and requiring more which may make the situation worse.

(Very much including the possibility of agitation/sudden strong anxiety attacks and suicidal thoughts, yes.)

More about this, that I wrote years ago: Autism, medication, and seizure risk.

With our tendency toward unusual medication reactions and high prevalence of epilepsy, this may be a much more common issue for autistic people. Even if you’re not aware of having had seizures before. (I did, but they were never recognized as such.) Lowering the threshold may be enough to cause problems there.

It’s a possibility to keep in mind for anyone who is suddenly having unusual experiences while taking medication(s), and too rarely considered as an explanation.

Important for people to have plenty of info going in. And to consider that anything out of the ordinary that starts happening on a medication is most likely related.

poztatt:

once-a-polecat:

aephobe:

wetwareproblem:

sfiddy:

ask-an-mra-anything:

quixotess:

smallapplegoat:

cupcakeinatorellie:

denyselfandfollowchrist:

cupcakeinatorellie:

Hey

Psstt

The guy who invented the theory that vaccines cause autism had his medical license revoked for it

thats ridiculous

they took it away because he came up with a seemingly plausible theory?

They took it away because other scientists have been unable to reproduce his results, his results were made up, he didn’t even get approved by an ethics committee, and now he’s risking the health and lives of a whole bunch of people

It’s not just that he came to incorrect conclusions, he falsified data on purpose, apparently because he had patented a related medical test and stood to make a lot of money off people using his test instead of vaccinating.

It’s crazy how this one person, in a study of only twelve children, gained so much traction in the world. He put this lie out there—and it was a lie, not just interpreting data incorrectly—and now it doesn’t even matter that he’s been proven totally false. Years of effort to reestablish the truth can’t undo the lie once it’s out there in the world. Hundreds of thousands of people believe that lie, and actual children are getting sick and dying because of it.

This is a really troubling aspect of how human minds work, and it’s something conservative politicians take advantage of on a regular basis. If you just say that “well over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does“ is provide abortions, it doesn’t matter how often people recite the objective truth that abortions are a tiny fraction of Planned Parenthood services. You can say the truth 1000 times for every one time the lie is repeated, and thousands of people will still trust the lie.

I’d never heard this before, and it’s actually really helpful information to have, so thanks. Here is a scientific article by the American Academy of Pediatrics explaining the flaws in Wakefield’s research and briefly summarizing four studies that refuted the fraudulent claims. Here is an article by the editor-in-chief of the British Medical Journal calling him a fraud in no uncertain terms. Here is the first part of a nine-part investigative journalistic series, published in the BMJ, uncovering his fraud. And the General Medical Council conclusions that stripped Wakefield of his clinical credentials can be found here.

I’m honestly so mad right now reading about this guy. People are dying of measles right now because vaccinations fell off so sharply, and those deaths can be laid at the door of this man.

This man is a mass murderer

VACCINATE YOUR KIDS.
THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT VACCINATING HEALTHY CHILDREN.

NONE.

Your regular reminder that the entire anti-vaxx movement is founded and predicated on hatred and devaluation for autistic people and autistic lives. Never forget this, and remember to talk about it when you’re talking about anti-vaxxers.

funny that parents would rather their kid die than “possibly get autism” from vaccines 🤔

I have talked about this before, but I’m going to point it out again. Not only did he falsify data, but he conducted unethical medical research on children.

Andrew Wakefield was found guilty of professional misconduct by the UK General Medical Council. I’ve worked in research for a pediatric hospital, and two of the GMC findings constitute major violations of professional ethics for research on children here in the US (I’m pretty sure the UK is similar since these findings formed the basis for revoking his medical license and retracting his Lancet paper.

He performed invasive medical procedures with potential serious side-effects on autistic children contrary to the children’s clinical interests. I.E. the colonoscopies, biopsies and lumbar punctures he performed on these children were of no benefit to them and were done strictly for research purposes. All procedures done for research purposes only should be approved by an ethics board known as an institutional review board, which ensures that parents are given enough information about the research and negative side effects of the procedure (adverse events) so that they can give informed consent. Wakefield did not do this. He sidestepped the ethical review process. We have no idea if any children were harmed by this, because there was no tracking of adverse events, because there was no review board involved.

He performed invasive medical procedures on “normal” non-autistic children with no clinical benefit to them, no ethical oversight and no informed consent. In fact, these were children he was not even seeing as their doctor, he simply asked parents at his child’s birthday party if they would allow a blood draw on their children for £5. Now, a blood draw is WAY less invasive, painful and has less potential to cause injury. But it’s still an invasive medical procedure done for zero reason and without informed consent of their parents.

Basically, Andrew Wakefield is an unethical asshole, on par with the people who ran the Tuskegee study.

Working in research I’mma point out a thing in this that people outside might not understand.

Informed consent means not only that the person says yes, but they also know what they are saying yes to. So a person walks up to you at a kid’s party and asks if they can, for five bucks, take a blood sample. They don’t explain why. Just “oh, I’m doing a study” is not an explanation.

Here, in the work done in my organization, we need to confirm the people know what they are consenting to, and what future uses of information/material they are consenting to. “We’re going to use this in THIS research to look at THIS issue”.

Often I see conversations wherein people misunderstand informed consent as “they said yes”, not understanding that they need to understand what they are saying yes to.

Antidepressants and the Placebo Effect

slashmarks:

bittersnurr:

oleandir:

heavyweightheart:

“Antidepressants are supposed to work by fixing a chemical imbalance, specifically, a lack of serotonin in the brain. Indeed, their supposed effectiveness is the primary evidence for the chemical imbalance theory. But analyses of the published data and the unpublished data that were hidden by drug companies reveals that most (if not all) of the benefits are due to the placebo effect. Some antidepressants increase serotonin levels, some decrease it, and some have no effect at all on serotonin. Nevertheless, they all show the same therapeutic benefit. Even the small statistical difference between antidepressants and placebos may be an enhanced placebo effect, due to the fact that most patients and doctors in clinical trials successfully break blind. The serotonin theory is as close as any theory in the history of science to having been proved wrong. Instead of curing depression, popular antidepressants may induce a biological vulnerability making people more likely to become depressed in the future.”

like is this for fucking real???? WHAT?

And I need to know if a similar study has been done on adhd meds

Edit: I googled the journal and it sounds like a legit journal, but the conversational writing style is throwing me off and I want to know more about like. everything about this cause this is a fucking big claim to make

Yeah this is definitely a legit source and since it’s from 2014 if no one has found anything wrong in this yet….

I mean on some level I do understand. Like I could have reblogged this to my main, I didn’t put it on twitter in the big rant I had today about informed consent with psyche drugs and the fact people claim anti-depressents are “safe”

Because I know people who follow me there are on them and for them they are Working and if I post this they will Stop Working. Some of these people already have the permanent damage from side effects so it’s too late to stop that.

Like the convincing part about this for me is that it isn’t just about the science, it’s about the moral implications and the dilemma. These drugs are placebos, but for the average person they are REALLY FUCKING GOOD placebos. The most effective placebos. This is in fact probably why they keep being prescribed off label for chronic pain, and why people say they work for their chronic pain. For some people… it might be worth it.

That being said FUCK the fact that people are still gaslit and blamed for these drugs not working. If they won’t take them off the market doctors should at least be educated in the fact these are placebos. I know they are not because while my therapist DOES think they are useless trash pills she does not seem to be aware that that is intentional.

Also ADHD drugs are not fake (unless they are fake stimulants)I know this because I have been told that meth works as a substitute and people occasionally find out they need adhd meds because they used meth recreationally. Caffeine in huge quantities apparently also works for some people. So those are a normal “it probably won’t work for everyone but it definitely does for some people. Also they probably would not be on the market otherwise because lol controlled substance.

For the record, placebos still work if people know they’re placebos; placebos actually can get more effective if a doctor gives them to you and explains the placebo effect and that you should expect to experience it, iirc, though I read that elsewhere. (The article talks a bit about this.)

It also discusses the fact that antidepressants have bad enough side effects and are physically addictive enough that knowingly using them as placebos probably isn’t ethical, but all other depression treatment has similar effectiveness, and you could also prescribe, like, sugar pills as an open placebo.

There’s also the fact that people who have been on antidepressants are more likely to become depressed again later. This is an effect separate from severity – it’s not that people who are likely to relapse are more likely to be prescribed drugs, the drugs cause the later vulnerability. (The article cites studies on this subject, if you want to verify it, read it again.)

Of course, for people who are already physically addicted to them and are already susceptible to relapse because of them, the balance of factors is different.

As for whether the article is accurate, the results have been replicated – that is, other people have done the same thing and found the same results – four times, and they cite two additional similar studies which had similar conclusions.

If you start to feel suicidal when taking a new med, tell your provider *immediately*.

Read the full piece here

If you start to feel suicidal when taking a new med, tell your provider immediately.