Label Me Sane

I found out about a great group that helps people get off of prescription drugs. Normally, when a drug is prescribed, it either a) only deals with part of the problem - other parts of the problem are prescribed other drugs or b) the drug will illicit side effects that get drugs prescribed to sort the side effects out. This program was set up to stop this vicious cycle and allow people get off of medical drugs once and for all.

I have encountered a few really excellent detox groups - one being Point of Return and the other is Novus Detox. Both of these are excellent medical drug detox facilities. Also, a great program created by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard is the Narconon Program.

If anyone you know needs help getting off of prescription meds, check out the above programs. They are all well worth your time and research.

New Warnings for Abilify

The FDA has issued changes to the Abilify box warnings. The box now warns of seizures and convulsions, head rushes and possible cognative and motor impairment. I just wanted to send out a little update on this, since the FDA doesn't let you know about this sort of thing unless you sign up for updates - which you can do here.

Check Out the Links

Wow! I found some great links to various blogs that have something to say about psychiatry. Check them out:

My brother works at a drug detox clinic and is often featured on a radio show about drugs. Check out what he has to say on his blog.

Sandy talks about what to do if your child has a chemical imbalance

Grahame talks about his views on psychiatry

The Alliance for Human Rights tells us about the ADHD Experts Meeting in Florida

Pharmalot posts an update on my previous post about army vets being use for drug experiments

Army Hero Used for Drug Expirement

Citizens Commission of Human Rights in Florida

My dad sent me some links the the Citizens Commission of Human Rights in Florida that I'd like to share.

The first is to a book called A New Approach to a Healthy Mind

Here's some great videos

Local news articles about psychiatry

That's about it! Let me know what you think.

Over-the-Counter Anti-depressants

This article asks if anti-depressants should be sold over the counter. What are your thoughts?

Army Suicide Rate Increases

This article points out that an enormous amount of soldiers (a confirmed 108) have committed suicide in 2007. Ten times as many have attempted or thought about suicide. This has ranked suicide as the fourth leading cause of death in the army, exceeded only by hostile fire, accidents and illness.

Somehow, the additional 180 hired psychiatrists and psychologists along with added mental health screening has not handled the problem. It's only getting worse. It makes me wonder if the amount of army suicides are going up in relation to the amount of soldiers on psychiatric drugs. If soldiers are on SSRIs or other drugs that include suicide as a side effect, the psychiatrists hired could be part of the problem - not the solution.

I'd love my readers to keep their eyes and ears open for more data about this truly tragic epidemic that is happening in our military.

Reporting Side Effects Directly to the FDA

There is a 1800# and website to report adverse side effects of drugs to the FDA directly. The FDA currently is offering this information on print ads, but not on tv ads. This articles tells that the Consumers Union is now appealing to the FDA to get this information out in TV ads, along with the print ad campaign. They have compelling statistics - among those who take prescription drugs, one in six experienced a serious side effect. Only thirty-five percent of these people knew that you could report the side effect to the FDA directly. Eighty-one percent had seen or heard a drug ad in the last month, but ninety-one percent had seen this ad on tv. So, by putting this number on television ads, it would reach the majority demographic of prescription drug users.

The 1800# is: 1-800-FDA-1088 and the website to report side effects direct to the FDA is www.fda.gov/medwatch.