I I as prescribed Zoloft after I told my doctor I felt anxious due to stressful events in my life and it was affecting me physically. I just wanted to feel better and wasn’t aware of the dangers. I’d hardly ever taken a drug before that. After completing a 4 question survey I got the prescription. The only follow up was every six months or so I had to see the doctor to get a refill. Same questionnaire, which was really vague and anyone wanting drugs would know how to answer it. Zoloft stopped the anxiety but drained every bit of color from my life. After several years I stopped taking it, mostly because I felt such apathy I didn’t want to bother finding a doctor to re-prescribe it. (I’d moved to a different state in the meantime.).
That was the best thing I ever did for myself. It took more than a year but the brain fog gradually left. I had been taking a very low dose, but the effects were profound. I later read of adult snd teen suicides due to this drug. I never felt that way but I can see how this drug might send someone there.
The medical profession doesn’t do enough to screen people who have situational anxiety and find drug-free alternatives.
Because Obamacare demands that we have health insurance, I make a required yearly clinic visit to the VA and the first health related question I'm always, (yes always) asked is, "are you depressed?" Since I know what that's all about, I usually come up with some smart ___ answer like "If you ain't depressed, you ain't been paying attention" and I say it with a big grin and a twinkle in my eye which indicates that a guy like me couldn't possibly be depressed. Shocks 'em good; they're speechless. The other things they push are statins and antihypertensives. I made enough of a mockery of all of the above for a guy my age, history, and health that the doc quit bothering me about it but of course giving her a copies of Malcolm Kendrick's opinions on those things also helped.
I like your answers! I keep expecting my Medicare plan to demand regular “wellness visits”. They’ve been pushing in-home visits where they can “check my medications” (I have none) and check for “safety concerns”. Um, no not happening.
If all that is done is a “vague questionnaire” this is negligent practice, pure and simple. Having been working “outside the system” for most of the last 30 years, I don’t know what may be done in t up ur area. What you describe does not remotely meet any standard of care.
As for the complaint of feeling numb or fogged - you are not on the proper medication or dosage, pure & simple! While I have seen some people have a rapid & virtually complete elimination of symptoms, most require effort: dialing in the best med protocol, doing some cognitive restructuring, and (far more commonly than current approaches tend to believe or utilize) possibly more “depth” type work - yes, classical psychotherapy.
I would add that the patient has the responsibility to communicate to the physician, we are not mind readers. IF your doc does not appear interested in listening, bring it up! But the catch is that PROPER TREATMENT takes time (as well as skill & understanding). Insurance won’t pay enough to do this sort of work, so it becomes a fee-for-service arrangement. I haven’t dealt with insurance since the early 90s for exactly that reason.
It’s odd - people will gladly pay 1000s out of pocket for a quick laser buzz of their eyes, yet are frequently reluctant to pay for effective treatment. And when I explain that vigorous exercise helps (modestly to full remission) virtually everybody, it is frustrating when maybe 1-2 out of 10 patients will commit & follow through with this.
Yes, this does get me up on my soapbox. I have issues with most docs AND the “average American” patient - but I suppose the average took the jab. Tonight I listened to McCullough from the NY meeting 2 weeks ago, he said 96% of physicians took the jab! I am AMAZED, I figured much lower. My patients got a little tired of me getting on my soapbox about NOT taking it, and they sure understood about HCQ & IVM!
Too bad there were not more MDs like you. No offense but my experience with "medical professionals" over the last 60 years is that most are quacks. Covid exposed the medical industry for what it was/is about...greed. Gotta make that Porsche payment.
Never had a Porsche or anything else in that sort of price range 🤣. I don’t have a very high view of most MDs, either. I preferred the engineering students from my undergrad days over most I was in med school with.
One of the problems is that the process of becoming a doc: 4 yrs +/- for undergrad degree (and for some, add’l years in grad school trying to be more competitive as an applicant), 4 yrs in med school, and then 3-4-5+ years in residency & possibly add’l for fellowship. That is a LONG time, and it’s generally spent quite isolated from “normal people.” Then there is the - sort of like a fraternity hazing or gang entry - crap you are put through. I’m surprised I didn’t get kicked out when I argued with residents about “scut work” (go get my charts, slave!) and being yelled at because somebody else yelled at them. Now this wasn’t constant, but enough that I just never WANTED to be like that. I thought I wanted to be a surgeon, but I couldn’t stand most of the general surgery residents. Ortho was more laid back, and they LOVED my engineer mind. The 5 years of every 3rd night on call wasn’t something I (or my young bride) wanted.
All of that stuff is happening in adolescence, which developmentally is prolonged when in a “student” or other “non-adult” role. So there is some psychological impact, and of course there tends to be somewhat of a selection bias anyway (it seemed to me that admission committees unconsciously chose people more like themselves, when other qualifications were comparable.
Realize most get out with MASSIVE debt, so they are committed to maximizing $$. A really bad trend I became aware of is that the income potential of specialty (residency choice) correlates almost perfectly with class ranking. In other words for some years the highest ranking students end up in the residencies for the highest paying specialties. It was NOT like this back in my days!
Hope this adds a little light ... I suppose this is yet another topic I ought to write a post to discuss. But understand, these factors seem to have produced some bad characteristics in these more recently trained docs. Money - bowing to authority - failure to THINK INDEPENDENTLY - fear of “coloring outside the lines.”
It is funny. I calculated the amount “the king of the hill” neurosurgeon in Seattle makes per year. Don’t care. He fixed my Lovely Bride’s neck with very minimal residual symptoms. I estimate he’s clocking around $20m a year. Yes he works his Asz off; and Yes, he drives a Porsche.😁
Edit - I cannot imagine what high risk neurosurgical malpractice insurance costs; so, take that plus 2 neurosurgery P.A.’s, staff and office space costs..off the gross.
But seriously, there is a rather crazy process involving ridiculous hours - sleep deprivation OVER MONTHS can have significant effects. I spent 1-1/2 years at a Navy teaching hospital, and honestly I have never seen so many depressed residents in my life. The hours they worked were seriously impacting them.
This does lead to abusing the next generation, just like inter-generational abuse in families. There is a reflexive sense of “superiority” to fend off the truth of being a poorly paid & overworked MD, and a concept Freud called “identification with the aggressor”. You emulate those who abuse you. It was really just a statement of the Stockholm Syndrome before that came into existence.
The sense of entitlement (economic, power, authority, and infallibility) that one sees among physicians has its roots here, in my mind. The training approach was unnecessary, yet it continued. Laws were passed limiting the number of hours residents could work, but I am told it is not enforced.
Our standard neuromusculoskeletal evaluation was 1-2 hours. Ever seen a S/P left dominant hand stuck in a machine for 45 minutes. We didn’t miss S-. If You have one, You have none.
Not sure if I got all of that, but yeah - things like EMGs & such take time. Many formal tests or procedures do. What I’m addressing is the general assessment that a competent physician ought to do for a given problem/complaint/disorder.
When an individual falls off a 20’ foot ladder and lives, it is a 2 hour evaluation. Cranial nerves 2-12 right down to EHL and such including the serratus anterior. Evaluation of reflexes and true “rudimentary” sensory and motor evaluation and physical examination appears to be a lost “art” at 10-15 minutes. Ed
Edit - Our initial diagnostic evaluation was 11 pages long with notes made on the back for “those” if necessary. I dictated reports way into the mornings sometimes.
What is disturbing to me is how basic physical examination is so poorly done by most MDs anymore. I can give an example: a couple of decades ago as a serious bicycle racer I had a devastating accident: plunge over a guardrail down the side of a mountain. Later CT showed multiple cervical fractures (!) and so the neurosurgeon was called in. Guy sees me & does an evaluation, says they look stable, and keeps me overnight for obvservation. When I was discharged the next day, the charge nurse of the neuro unit was disturbed & gave me copies of EVERYTHING & whispered (I'd get a thorough evaluation & follow-up quickly. I had a neuro exam that morning of discharge as well as the previous day, no focal findings.
Three days later when seen by a great neurosurgeon, during the evaluation he REALLY pushed hard on me. What he revealed was a clear unilateral C-7 weakness, that the other guys hadn't ID'd because they didn't push HARD ENOUGH. I was very fit & even with loss of strength, I could equally resist their movements. When the neurosurgeon saw this and reviewed CT images he sent me immediately to the neuro ICU: "this is NOT STABLE!"
That was eye-opening to me, and I realized that many docs either 'go through the motions' or simply don't know what they are doing. I get being a little lax on a routine physical, but when you KNOW you have cervical fractures (including a blow-out of C6) you are obligated to thoroughly assess.
I might also add: it was about 1.5 years later when I actually experienced recovery of the L C-7 motor strength. I had triceps atrophy & "a divot" in my pec, but I kept at the gym & finally began to regain a little strength. The arms are indistinguishable now, and I primarily do dumbbell flies & the like to make sure I am equally loading each side. I do have traumatic arthritis impinging on that area now, and get C-7 paresthesias bilaterally at times. I can apply vertical traction to my head & literally make the 'pins & needles' go away! Hows that for an interesting neuro tale?!
I’ve read that the clinics and hospitals get money from the government for every anxiety or depression diagnosis. I don’t know if it’s true but it would not surprise me. Patients for life!
Money FOE THE GOVERNMENT is in the approval process. It’s a costly endeavor for Pharma, and some drugs never make them any money. Others do ... USUALLY because it does work (not always) or as in the case of statins, it changes a number. That’s probably where (statins) I would demarcate the line from “questionable business practices at times” to “utterly & completely corrupt.”
Of course the jab is an entirely NEW category of evil. Nothing, literally NOTHING IN HISTORY can compare to the manufacture & release of the virus, the lockdowns & associated insanity, restriction of EFFECTIVE TREATMENT, and then mandating the jab. I have been saying that I went to sleep & woke up in an alternate universe.
[raises hand in back of room & quietly says ‘can I go home now? I don’t LIKE this place!]
Last week Dr. Jennifer Brown (substack) sent out 2 different posts with copies of old insurance brochures sent to doctors delineating what and how much reward they got for hitting certain prescription goals. Antidepressants were one of the goals.
I would have to see originals of this to believe it, if you are implying payment FROM INSURANCE companies for prescribing of antidepressants. Color me a skeptic on this point. Now PHARMA payoffs are real. Speaking at educational conferences is compensated, and I’ve done some of that over 20 years ago. I always set the agenda & gave my own talk. When they began to say “you WILL use these slides AND make these points” I protested & quit. I have recollections of some very fine MDs presenting under Pharma $$, yet doing legit talks that really had little in support of the specific drug that company sold. Dr John Day mentioned in one of these comments to first hearing of omega-3 oils at one of these. Interestingly enough, that was MY first exposure as well. And the company wasn’t selling them! The speaker did address their drug as one possibility for bipolar disorder, but he covered a bunch of new research inc oils. Great talk, absolutely no bias whatsoever.
That changed, and I haven’t been to one in probably 15 years. Even then I went for a nice dinner - the talk was so-so. I saw no conflict in eating their food & continuing my current practices!
I believe that's why the COVID vaccines were pushed so hard - the previous blockbuster psych drugs are starting to be questioned....and are not making the money they once did.
Dr. Eric Berg ,Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Darrell Wolfe, have some alternative recommendations too. I just heard someone say no one ever died from a chiropractic treatment, and the second causes of death is from medications. I bear witness to that.
That isn’t entirely true: people have been to chiros who claimed they could diagnose with “iridology” & patients did not get timely diagnosis & treatment. My friend (chiropractor down the hall from me) & I have talked about both of our professions. She is troubled by outlandish claims. And people have been paralyzed by injuries during an ‘adjustment.’
Chinese herbal medicine has many positive elements. My difficulty as a follower of Christ is that there is an underlying belief system (in TCM) that is antithetical to Christian faith & practice. It’s a parallel to yoga - the physical part is excellent, but from a Christian view they are teaching a false view of reality & a false concept of God.
I will be delving into these sorts of things on my new Substack - that’s where “truth” comes in. The next couple of posts will hopefully set forth a direction, but I intend to solicit input from subscribers about what they want to hear about. I have such a broad range of interests, I want to write papers that people want to read!
What is exciting is where we have begun to understand the physiologic mechanisms for many of these herbal medicines. The key is keeping regulatory agencies out of it, at least trying to ban or limit. I DO want some oversight of what is actually in the supplements!
The modern practice of Chinese medicine is no longer connected to its shamanistic roots. No need to believe in any doctrine. The one remnant of Taoism is flow, enhancing the flow of energy or Qi on the body, going with the flow of life, not fighting and striving all the time. I think a lot of Americans could benefit from this idea.
Christianity on the other hand is responsible for much of the violence against women in our world as well as the destruction of our natural environment and will lead to the extinction of humans if we don't wise up that destroying nature will lead to our demise.
I would suggest that Biblical doctrines raised the ethical treatment of women higher than any other writings from ancient history. People can claim things are due to 'Christianity' but this is not following from Biblical principals at all. Two thousand years ago the Apostle Paul wrote 'Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.' Christ DIED for His church, husbands are similarly to love their wives in a sacrificial manner. Given the very first instructions of God in the Garden, we are to be His stewards over creation. The idea of destroying the environment and extinction of humans is Satanic, it is antithetical to any rational reading of Scripture.
May I VERY gently suggest that you spend time to actually read the Bible to see what it says, rather than relying on people making statements that proceed from their own worldview and not from Scripture. I had the same mindset as you did 30 years ago, carrying many prejudices based on things said & done by 'Christians'. God led me to actually consider the claims of Christ, to read His Word in its entirety. My mind & heart were dramatically changed.
This idea of Qi is absolutely a pagan idea - it is a metaphysical concept that has no bearing in physiologic reality.
I was injured by an overzealous chiropractor a decade and a half ago and I have had chronic pain since then. Ironically, perhaps, I recently was referred by a friend to a marvelous chiropractor who has gotten to the root of the chronic pain. After two visits I feel almost normal and no longer just managing pain symptoms.
I hope the FDA will not overregulate or ban supplements. They’ve done such a bang-up job with pharmaceuticals and should leave natural products alone. I like to know that what I am using is clean and that I am getting what is on the label.
I am so sorry to hear of your experience, but am delighted that you have found some relief. I might additionally comment that MDs do a tremendous amount of damage to backs as well! I have a friend (Orthopedic Surgeon) and we have discussed the state of medicine & how we practice. He WILL NOT do any back surgery. In those rare occasions were spinal surgery is actually needed, he refers to a specialist spinal surgeon. But most low-back procedures don't seem to accomplish what they are supposed to do. I have had patients come to see me after having failed surgeries with resultant pain & depression.
I have been harmed by chiropractic. Intercostal neuralgia became inflamed when "crunched," which made my condition worse. (however, he was the first practitioner who pointed out my sensitivity to wheat) Others who submit to certain neck "adjustments" have ended up disabled. There is harm in the practice, albeit likely less than allopathic "treatments."
In the 90's, I was contemplating a career in medicine, and looked at: MD, Pharmacy, DO, physiotherapy, and chiro. The admission requirements for chiro were devastatingly low - I only needed a HS Diploma for admission. The order or difficulty was as follows
Chiro (easiest)
DO (where I was headed)
MD
Pharmacy
Physiotherapy - requirements were the hardest for admission.
There are healers among the chiropractics, but I extremely cautious about them.
Be careful about generalizing, there are many of us providing broad based services for a long time, before “alternative” or “complementary” were even descriptors!
It's disheartening to see how regulatory capture has influenced the FDA's approach to SSRIs & COVID-19 vaccines. We need transparency & accountability from those safeguarding our health. In the midst of this, alternative treatments like ivermectin have faced hurdles. Check ivermectin4sale.uk for more info & let's advocate for a balanced approach to medicine! 💊👩⚕️🙌
If the market demands it, the medical field will capitulate to it.
One of the reasons I am so invested in substack is because since a lot of journalists are making a lot of money on here (while MSM is dying) it's making a lot of established journalists realize they may need to leave their jobs to migrate over here and it's putting the pressure on the legacy media to producte content that isn't garbage.
This is somewhat analagous to Fox now being the most watched newsnetwork, and all the other ones that have lost much of their viewerbase are continually trash talking fox for being bigoted and fake, but simultanously know deep down the viewship is moving and they are losing their job s because those networks push garbage.
My Substack blog is doing much better than my Google blog ever did, and is much better supported by Substack, without the overt and covert censorship Google imposes. I keep the Google blog up as a mirrror, but it is missing 3 posts from the past year, because it took them down for content-violations, basically independence from the imperial-narratives.
Tucker Carlson is killing it. So are many Substackers and popular alternative media sites like The Brownstone Institute and Epoch Times. The Citizen Free Press is now one of the most-visited Internet sites on earth. So is Zero Hedge ... See a trend?
99% of the main street media is still filled with lies and total garbage. They may tell the truth to some extent for a while, but will turn on a dime and can never be trusted.
The larger market won’t demand ivermectin because it’s been effectively branded as “horse medicine” by the alphabet agencies and the MSM. Too many people trust those corrupt entities.
The disturbing part is doctors went along with this lie and they new better. Just more proof the majority of doctors don't practice medicine.......they practice GREED.....and are nothing but cowards when it comes to doing the right thing.
The only thing the current health model, allopathy, does that I trust over traditional, natural healing arts is mending broken bones and patching up bullet holes. Trauma from auto accidents and the like. That's it. The only thing it is good for.
I'm glad to see others voicing their concerns about the current state of our healthcare system. It's important to stay informed about all possible treatments, including ivermectin.We need a more balanced and transparent approach!
America's healthcare system is a disaster. Too top-heavy (administrative/bureaucratic). Who here ever had a non-medical bureaucratic administrator decide your personal health? And charge ridiculous Thousands of $. Doctors are in chains, it is tricky to find a good doc these days. Thanks A Midwestern Doctor for putting your honesty out to the world.
It ain't just America. America's healthcare isn't so much top-down, as entangled with & corrupted by pharma & insurance interests. Australia (and Canada, less so the UK) is top-down. The governmental bodies (as influenced by pharma) produce the algorithm, and doctors who do not perform the algorithm are harassed and delicensed. I actually have hope that the chaos in the USA will create something new, as it did in 1776.
You're right! We must demand better from our healthcare regulators and be proactive in seeking unbiased information. I'll be looking into ivermectin4sale.uk to learn more about ivermectin. Let's continue to push for transparency, accountability, and a well-rounded approach to medical treatments! 💪🏼💡
I’m in CA (medical mafioso state). The principle of our high school reported me to Child Protective Services for refusing to allow my daughter to be put on an SSRI. She said she is mandated to report me for medical neglect.
Could be the child complained to the teacher. Or could be the in school clinic (I think Killifornia has those.) was the place trying to give out the SSRIs.
Well done! As long as the medicine man is ignorant and avoids testing for nutrient deficiencies, we will continue to go down the wrong road in medicine! Bush was instrumental in getting a $30 million research grant to discredit estrogen for treating osteoporosis. It was called the women’s health initiative which was designed to push Lilly’s chemo drug for osteoporosis. There is a book called confessions of an RX drug pusher by Gwen Olsen that. Tells the story of her niece who was on SSRI’s and kills her self. She was a pharmaceutical sales rep that was pushing those drugs, and she regrets it!
For some reason - survivors question the validity of Virapen's stories - as if - he chose this as a new career, profit motives. I don't remember the arguments now.
But Gwen Olsen had a female relative at Uni who fell into the SSRI trap - again, don't recall the whole story - but the relative died (suicide?) - and Gwen realised how her pharmaceutical sales rep job was maybe not the bees' knees. Her whistleblowing is considered (by survivors) to be more accurate and ethically motivated.
It is not just SSRIs. Estrogens are horrid, cancer, breast cancer, jaw degeneration, and GERD to the point of puking, leading to pre-cancerous Barrett's Esophagus, the next thing you know you have a ruined GI tract and are taking Nexium at 40 Mg a day. Foreto is black-boxed for Bone Cancer. Women die in horrible pain due to them. FRK Jr just a few days ago had an article on it.
Then you have Statins, Crestor made itself #1 via TV ads, #2 is Lipitor, and #3 Whelchol all have horrid side effects.
Congress takes bribes to pass legislation in favor of changing parameters to put you in a new category. You see your doc and they are pleased with your weight, in six months when you go again you are now Obese, even though you haven't gained a half pound. That was done under the Obama administration.
Robert Yoho's Butchered by Healthcare, Government, and Big Pharma is a must-read book, Kindle is just $5.00. It may save your life.
How did we as a nation become so Fat I recommend you watch History's Channel Foods that Built America. The last episode was Frozen Food, which is NO more than Fast Food. Avoid the Snack and Frozen Isles as if they are the Black Plague.
Baby formula and food are over the Toxic limit in Heavy Metals which grows by the year. Ask yourself Why your Newborn needs Nexium?
I wrote on that last year, the comment section has more links as I find them. WHERE IS OUR BABY FORMULA, WHY DOES BABY FOOD HAVE HEAVY METALS, LIKE LEAD IN THEM, STILL ON THE STORE SHELVES.
As a doctor, I can tell you I have had patients pissed off at me for PUSHING dietary change & structured exercise plan RATHER THAN prescribe meds. There have been a huge increase in complaints to medical boards from patients who got their feelings hurt when their doc tried to get them to deal with their weight.
At present I tell young people NOT to go into medicine, it’s just too crazy at this point. When people are willing to take responsibility for their own health, it will be different.
I'm the one caught in the middle, not a fan of pill pushers, but have health issues that are polar opposites. A Meniere's Vertigo fall damaged my Vagus nerve, causing Gastroparesis which they kept calling Idiopathic IBD, only by eliminating all non-digestible foods did the pain go down. The new diet was too high in carbs, no help in working on a diet plan, I gained weight, and enter Type 2 Diabetes. And I'm reactive or sensitive to most meds. Being Hypothyroid on top of that, my diet got really restrictive. YOU CAN'T EAT THAT became the refrain, this impacted the necessary vitamins/minerals the body needs. I had to figure those out. We don't have Natural Paths in my state. I learned to do my own research. And listen to my body.
That's because dietary change and exercise takes work. The majority of the population are lazy and want a pill for every ailment. Not realizing every drug has a side effect.
The majority of people today don't go into medicine to "practice medicine". They go into it to make money. Doctors today MUST follow what the government and their administrators tell them or face losing their license and possible jail time..........Another reason I don't trust doctors!!!!
April 4, 2023
Texas Medical Board Suspends Doctor for Choosing to Do No Harm
Look out, mate. In this Woke World, that could get you sent before the boards.
It's happening at Universities - a professor "offends" some snowflake, and the next thing they know, tenure is not renewed, or they are looking for work as part time adjunct or associate at multiple schools to make a crust.
"The Biden Admin.Disaster: We can see the obese results of this green food revolution waddling down the aisles of supermarkets and ordering green smoothies and muffins in the food courts.
Green energy will prove a disaster for our economy, and green foods will be a deadly choice for many humans.
Thank you for all you do. It appears that as long as there are big bucks to be made by Big Harma, humanity will be harmed and sacrificed. Sadly, most people refuse to believe this corruption is anything but a "conspiracy theory" and therefore choose to be harmed. It's blind apathy.
Thanks for sharing this. My wife has been using SSRI's for decades. Her reasons for starting them have long since been resolved, but I think her continued use has ruined her mentally and physically. I wish there was a published and proven path toward discontinuation. Does anyone know of such a thing?
Many authors have written about this. In the previous part of the series, many comment or share their experiences along with one book specifically written for this approach published by a functional medicine position. Off the top of my head, that comment section is the best place you can go for resources on the subject. I also believe supplementing with lithium orotate, magnesium threonate and a good quality amino acid preparation helps with the process.
Look into the works of Dr. Peter Breggin he wrote the book in 1994 Talking Back to Prozac. He has been fighting with Big Pharma his whole professional life as a psychiatrist who has witnessed the harms of SSRI drugs. He is currently ill. Reach out to Pam Popper@masm.com that is who originally introduced me to Dr. Breggin’s works. Pam owns Wealness Health Forum. She is a great educator, connector and caring Patriot.
Great article, thanks! I am surprised that Dr Peter Breggin isn't mentioned since he did great work on exposing Prozac as the dangerous drug it is back in the 90's. Not to mention, he got lobotomies outlawed in the the 70's. A true hero. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Breggin
I was shocked too that Dr. Breggin’s work was not mentioned I truly hope it wasn’t political as that would be very disappointing as facts are facts and Dr. Breggin’s work deserves acknowledgment as he did much for the nefarious agenda of Big Pharma especially lobotomies. They were so barbaric. When I graduated from Nsg. School they were still being performed. I was horrified!
Dr. Breggin has saved countless lives through his hard work over many decades to get people to understand the dangers of taking psychotropic medications and getting ECT treatments. I'm so sorry to hear that he's ill!
Breggin has presented bogus testimony in court. He claims to have broken ties with Scientology but I have my suspicions (they don’t let people get away, especially if they are wealthy or have influence).I’ve seen transcripts & he has basically said anything to get his fee. Take what he says with a grain ... no, a full shaker of salt!
Hmm ... smells to me like a big pharma-style smear attempt. Is "An old doc" associated with Eli Lily? From Peter Breggin himself, he sounds all right to me, but judge for yourself. From "The Rights Tenet: Autumn" (1994):
"My Real Opinion of Scientology
I am not merely neutral about Scientology. I am critical of Scientology. I became familiar with the group in 1972 when--for a short time--I accepted its offer to work together on some reform projects. As I got to know more about the group, I found myself opposed to Scientology's values, agenda, and tactics. I stopped all cooperative efforts in 1974 and publicly declared my criticism of the group in a letter published in Reason as long ago as January 1975. For two decades I have refused to have anything to do with Scientology and have criticized it hundreds of time to the media, on the air, and in public speeches and workshops.
I have a yet more personal reason for refusing to have anything to do with Scientology. In 1973 I met and fell in love with an idealistic twenty-year-old Ginger Ross; but Scientology officials pressured her to stop seeing me because I was not a member of their group. Ginger and I did not meet again for twelve years. By then she had broken all ties with Scientology and had become a staunch critic of it. We have now been married for ten years and are the co-authors of Talking Back to Prozac and The War Against Children. [CONTINUED, see part 2]
That Lilly would try to link my views with those of Scientology, when Ginger and I are known, long-standing critics of that group, indicates the giant corporation's desperation to prevent the American public from learning the truth about Prozac and the company's corporate practices in researching and promoting it. Eli Lilly's McCarthy-like tactic of trying to link me with Scientology--when I am in fact opposed to that organization--reflects the extreme lengths to which the company will go to protect its profits at the expense of patients.
From "Joe McCarthy Lives!" (reference #25 on Wikipedia)
Thanks for the reply, sounds fairly clear and I accept that it may have been an attempted smear by big pharma. It is interesting that although Ginger has long left Scientology, she and her husband are as anti psychiatry as Scientology is!
Breggin has been writing & testifying for decades. He sees the problem, however his books do not offer a solution. Please see Joseph Glenmullen's "The Antidepressant Solution" or go to www.survivingantidepressants.org
Mad In America is a great website too for finding all things mental health, including help with discontinuation. My friend Laura Delano who created a website called The Withdrawal Project with a lot of resources.
15 ml per day of Carlson brand fish oil is quite stabilizing, in both unipolar and bipolar depression. Depression and bipolar, as well as postpartum and intrapartum depression are much lower (like 30%) in countries like Japan that have high omega-3 dietary intake.
As an ob/ gyn laborist , it is amazing to me , the amount of pregnant women on antidepressants and have positive drug screens for THC. Our country is headed in the wrong direction unfortunately IMO. Thanks Drs. Kory and AMD , great information!
My goodness, in my experience the OB/GYN’s used to put virtually every woman on Lexapro when Forrest Pharma was pushing it so heavily! I’ve seen women and suggested they dial in their hormones before considering an antidepressant, they say their GYN said to get an antidepressant!
Just a note, several antidepressants will cause a false positive for THC as well as other illegal/recreational drugs so they weren't necessarily toking up while pregnant. That being said, I agree pregnant women should not be on anti-depressants, or much of anything else for that matter. However, how are they supposed to withdraw from these horrible meds upon finding out they are pregnant? Shame so many women of child-bearing age are prescribed them in the first place
Actually if one uses the lousy urine dipstick tests (which I stopped because of so many false positives) you get all kinds of things. But a GC/MS will not give a false report. As to women on antidepressants - do you think untreated depression is good for mothering? Even worse, the Social Service ... okay, I won't refer to German fascists from the 1940s) WORKERS seek to use that as an excuse to take children from mothers.
Cost to benefit, once again. Educate the person, let them make their informed decision. As I tell people: I don't charge more or less if you are prescribed a medication or not. I charge for my time.
Yep, we have known Omega-3 fatty acids had significant such properties, as does NAC. What’s funny is Pharma jumped in to produce a “prescription” O-3. I will say patients tend to take more convincing when I ‘prescribe’ supplements! They expect Pharma drugs, sad to say.
All fish oil becomes rancid before it is processed into pill or liquid.
"...I investigated the high temperature treatment for fish oils, for the purpose of making them keep longer, and killing their fishy taste. I came to the conclusion that these oils do great harm to the entire internal glandular system, as well as to the liver and other organs and are therefore not suitable for human consumption."
-- Dr. Johanna Budwig, Flax Oil as a True Aid Against Heart Infarction, Cancer and Other Diseases
I must disagree with this. Flax oil may be helpful with depression, but high doses are still needed, and it lacks the DHA form of omega-3 which is stabilizing. Flax oil is a good thing, and is vegetatian, but is not stabilizing, which is an important consideration.
If the oil does not taste funny, it is not omega-3. Changing chemical structures of these oils makes them into something else.
"Rancid" refers to chemical changes of oils, which happen slowly, and can be prevented in processing. Fish oil is just fish oil, not "rancid". You can get it with orange or lemon flavor in 500 ml bottles (Carlson brand), but it will taste like fish oil and give fishy belches.
I have used this as a treatment for depression and bipolar disorder since I heard about it from NIH researcher Jerry Cott Ph.D. at a psychopharmacology conference. It helps the people who are already failing on multiple antidepressants, and is profoundly stabilizing in bipolar ("I just feel stronger inside", for instance). Sometimes DHA has to be increased by addition of DHA (Nordic Naturals, and others) to be more stabilizing in bipolar disorder.
Wait ... you are in TEXAS?!?! I had not heard of any license action ... OOPS! I see “fired” not licensure. Yeah, my friend in Houston can only use a few facilities (does anesthesia) because of jab refusal. The Houston hospitals are really understaffed because they all took that stance.
Go solo - off grid - just work as you please. I treat whom I wish, and it is MY choice as to what I charge & when I discount or do pro bono work.
There is something "in the pipeline" that should work out very well. I cannot afford to do private practice. I'm no businessman. I have done that in the early 1990s, when it was much easier, so Iam certain.
I am contributing to society, and have food to eat.
It really is quite simple. I rented a two room office, screened off the outer part to have a private waiting area, and went to work. No insurance, had a landline but >10 yrs ago I moved it to a cell. One more thing: I do not carry malpractice insurance, stopped that years ago. Lawyers are targeting that policy, it isn't hard to arrange assets to where they cannot easily be attached. And I tell people that up front, the relationship is an agreement between two people. We are partners, and that's that. Yes, they have to trust me, and I them.
You see, we must change our own mindset about this work. I simply have a fee-for-service agreement with my patients, no different than someone cutting your hair. I even decided I wasn't doing the 'premises slip & fall' insurance, that is simply another cost I have to pass on to my patients. Many years ago I discounted for checks vs CCs due to the fees, but almost everybody uses a card these days. Even there, using a 'Square' was cheaper & easier than the old CC machine.
Finally, I am sure that you get unsolicited contacts from headhunters all the time. There is a real shortage, needs are everywhere.
John, THANKS! You saved me the trouble. There are distilled products that look quite good on testing, and the triglyceride conversion of some aids absorption.
I was a serious competitive endurance athlete for years & have spent more time in some years studying supplements than “professional” literature (as there wasn’t so much value for me!). I have pushed NAC forever, and so the attempt to outlaw it in 2020 really irritated me. Quercetin was part of my regimen, along with Resveratrol, for years. I have used red/NIR personally before it was brought up in this community, but given the need for skin exposure it isn’t something I’ve offered patients (need a separate room in my office for privacy which I do not have).
And again - EXERCISE!!! Get out in the sun!!! Living in the south, for half the year I only wear a pair of shorts when I’m home or nearby.
I am truly sorry to hear of your license issues. Living in a free state has its advantages, although we still have massive influence from a huge medical center-research institution. I will check out your posts. Have a look at mine, although I just started last week!
I have not been so "serious" of an endurance athlete, but "steady". I ran one marathon in 1980, when I was 22, and intended to improve my time (3:39:46) but kept getting stress injuries from leg length discrepancy. I ride a fixie in recent years, which is a good workout, and less stressful to my feet and legs.
Life is a log race. Grow vegetables. Be a human. Know Thyself.
Actually I ran my only marathon 10 years after that. 10-15 mile runs were fun, but marathon distance was too hard on my body. At 35 I had (another) knee injury (basketball) and was told to stop running, basketball, volleyball, etc. Hmmm, what to do? Got into mountain bike racing and went pretty much insane with it for many years. I used to post everyone on the 'net using the name MTBDOC, and became sort of a guru on one site concerning training matters. The toughest thing I ever did was a 100mile MTB race in serious terrain, finished within top-10% in my late 40s. What truly irritates me is that I have always stayed in shape, but my joints are reminding me I am on the downswing! DMSO is a lifesaver (I do not ever see ANYBODY discuss it besides me!), although I finally burned through my 3 gallon supply (seriously!) and need to order another gallon. I am going to post on it sometime.
"Fish oil is avoided because there is a high risk of impurities, it is always rancid from heavy industrial processing, and it can dangerously upset the balance of the omega oils further. Dr. Budwig discovered that the body will synthesize omega-3 from flax seed oil in the exact quantity that it needs, and in the proper ratio with other omega oils."
Flax oils cannot provide the basis for stablization of manic tendencies.
DHA, the main stabilizing omega-3 fatty acid will be inadequate. That may be helpful in unipolar depression, in high enough quantities. It is certainly worth a try if a depressed person has no family history of bipolar disorder on the side of either parent.
This may be a history of heavy alcoholism in many cases, instead of "Bipolar" diagnosis.
The link you provide is not to data about omega-3 fatty acid therapeutics, but to cancer treatment.
SurvivingAntidepressants.org offers peer support tapering, and loads of articles (i.e., if you are coherent, you don't need the peers, who are volunteers and limited). If there are multiple drugs involved, peer support can be helpful in untangling the mess.
Here's a summary of what our founder learned from running SA for almost 2 decades:
Mark Horowitz is starting to document the process of escaping these chemicals well. Still one of the best books on tapering is Joseph Glenmullen's "The Antidepressant Solution." The only caution is that his tapering plan is still a bit too fast.
She can recover, too. I was on for 30 years, yes - I have paid a price for this. I'm not nearly as smart or healthy as I was going into the drugging. But I can see the horizon, and am grateful.
Pharma did make money, and by achieving widespread acceptance, they create a future market for new formulations. The fact that the existing antidepressants don't solve people's problems means people will always be in search of a new one that will. Pharma will be there to meet that need.
The physical deterioration might be from the drugs themselves, or from the numbing of the human spirit that might otherwise expend effort to improve their lives through fitness and healthy eating. Our antidepressant epidemic tracks very nicely with our obesity epidemic. Pharma is there to treat that problem too.
"Pharma doesn’t make any money from these drugs..."
Maybe not "these" drugs, but plenty of people in the know have written about the ways Big Pharma has to get around that problem. I believe that Marcia Angell describes it well in her excellent, "The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It".
"How do you know that they are causing physical deterioration? That’s rather odd..."
You have to be kidding; there's nothing odd about it and it's plain to see even with "untrained" eyes. I'm all for scepticism and questioning everything, but some stuff is too obvious to ignore. You may be old, but so am I, and I suggest you make the effort to get up to speed (no pun intended).
I have had experience with these psychotropic drugs. I took prozac for about 10 years after my divorce as I was depressed. Finally I decided there was no need to be on it and came off it.Then about 10 years ago my gynecologist put me back on one drug after another to try and stop severe hot flashes in conjunction with an over the counter natural pill from Europe. It would work for about 6 months and then we would have to change to a different anti depressant. Finally my primary doctor changed my medication not telling me that what she was putting me on was not an anti depressant and not telling me that I had to wean myself off that anti depressant. Well gees I wonder why? About 6 weeks later I was crashing and suicidal. I was forcefully admitted to a psychiatric hospital for 72 hours and the psychiatrists put me on Zoloft. This happened about 5 years ago a year or so after my husband Bart died. He said I was suffering from unresolved grief. Finally last year I talked with another doctor about coming off Zoloft as I didnt like how it was making me feel. I felt as though I was only half alive and had no emotions at all. I took my last dose on Aug 31st last year. I feel so much better now. I had not cried for years, but I do now. It is coming up on 7 years since Bart died and I am now able to grieve him. I will never take any of these drugs again. Big Pharma is evil to the core. The only thing they care about is money.
Let me tell you a brief story of Canadian socialized medicine. We moved to the US from Canda just before the turn of the milennium. My wife had a lump in her breast. And her closest friend in Ottawa also had one around the same time.
Now, here is a tale of two cities/healthcare:
From the time they found my wife's lump, biopsied, assayed and gave a clean bill of health (thankfully!) it was about 28 hrs; our friend, in contrast *** they took THREE FREAKING MONTHS to get the clean bill of health back.
Now, imagine both were malignant. HOW in Heaven's name is waiting 3 months "compassionate??" And what if it were malignant, and spreading everywhere in that three months? And what about the added costs to the system for the three months of metastasis?
Truth is, as Bastiat wrote, socialist is the great fiction, whereby everybody endeavours to live off of everybody else. Has never worked, and never will
In my eyes, the bigger issue is that the country with socialist medical systems impose heavy restrictions on what type of alternative care you can get. For example in many socialist countries, no doctors willing to treat Lyme disease for fear of being targeted by the government, so instead those patients fly to the United States to be seen in clinics my friends operate.
When we moved to the US, the premier of Newfoundland had just gone to the US for heart surgery. I.e., there already IS a two-tier healthcare system. But then we see this two tier system with the Hollywierd Learjet leftists, in Venezuela, etc.
The story goes that Leonid Brezhnev had his 100 yr old grandmother visit him in Moscow in the 1960s. He proudly took her around his offices as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. showing her his Italian marble private bathroom with solid gold sink handles and the like, showed her his multiple well appointed dachas, all outfitted with the latest in Parisian fashion, the 10 Zil limousines he had waiting for him at all times; showed her the giant mahongany desk with solid gold handles, the chandeliers which incorporated real diamonds, and proudly boasted about the 20 attendants he had at his beck and call for every and any whim.
Finally, the end of the day came, and he dismissed his servants.
His ancient granny, born before the Bolshevik Revolution, frantically and furtively looked around to make sure absolutely NO ONE was around. She then, very, very carefully, sidled up to Leonid and, in sotto voce, whispers so no one else could hear:
"This is all very well Leonid. But... WHAT IF THE COMMUNISTS COME????"
I had a friend from Denmark (may she rest in peace), who's grandfather was functionally blind from cataracts and was on a surgery waiting list for 2 years before dying, blind.
Yes, "something for nothing" is just wunnerful...and "universal health 'care'" is the epitome of compassion. Bollocks!
We do have wonderful docs, like Midwestern; also, if I get in a car accident, I definitely want a good ER doc. But after that, most of us now are using a combo all allopathic and other modalities. And if you use Canadian healthcare, like I did for half my adult life, well.... bonne chance. Truth is, is is subpar care, and it is NOT FREE. Ever hear of "taxes?" And check out the cost per hour to park! Brain surgery would be cheaper than 4 hours of parking. At Ottawa's Riverside Hospital, I used to park many blocks away, then walk. Then, to gouge patients, they put up no parking signs all over, even up to perhaps a mile away.
And might I add, if you are stuck with a lousy insurance plan, DEFINITELY look into Heath Sharing Plans. I actually got BETTER care for 1/3 of the price, literally. We used Liberty Health Share, but there are others like Medishare, Samaritans, etc. Most of the have zero drug usage, zero smoking, limited alchohol, and a lot require church attendance. They also don't pay the "rack rate" for services, e.g., that $75 for the nurse to give you an aspirin, they negotiate down. We literally were paying $1,000/month on COBRA when I left to consult, and that dropped to about $350 - for MUCH better service and care. Why people don't look into this is beyond me.
I am always amazed at how much cobra costs. The project I think we all need to move towards helping people understand which things they do need to get conventional medical care for.
There seems to be a push to see a doctor for everything (15 min appts!!!!) but in my non-medical opinion, much of the time a visit is not necessary. I’ve never gone to a doctor for cold or flu in my life but know many people who do, even for mild symptoms. And then Covid...
For the life of me, I have *no* idea why people won't look into health sharing plans. I slept thru jr high math class, but MUCH better coverage for 1/3 of the price? Even **I** can do that kind of math!
People MUST take responsibility for their health. If they would (1) PUT THE FORK DOWN, (2) Exercise, (3) No alcohol, or very little, (4) No smoking => 60-75% of health care costs would go away. There are certainly far too many errors, but I’d they weren’t in the hospital or doctor’s office BECAUSE OF (1-4 above) they would not end up gettin bf the wrong drug or bad procedure.
"People MUST take responsibility for their health. "
They would do well to take responsibility for that and many other things as well. It'll never happen, but in general, people would do well and just plain grow up and quti looking for the quick fix, some messiah, or some "authority" to take care of this, that and practically everything.
**Ever hear of "taxes?** I totally agree, a Universal Health Care system ("Medicare for All") as seen in Western European countries is not free. But at least you won't go bankrupt from a medical crisis:
"11. feb. 2019 — Two-thirds of people who file for bankruptcy say medical bills or other issues related to illness contributed to their financial downfall."
Also, the mental calm of simply having to not worry about health insurance is immense. Huge.
Regardless, the challenge under both a Universal Health Care system as well as a capitalistic, rapacious US style system, is to avoid over medication. The difference is that at least you don't go bankrupt under Universal Health Care. after a medical crisis.
And do you know how impoverished Canadians are vs. Americans. Go look up house prices in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, or heck, even Regina. I repeat. Canadian healthcare is NOT free. Not even close. Great. So now your care is free. My wife had a lump in her breast when we moved to the US same time as her friend back in Ottawa. From time of discovery to it biopsied, reported on, and clean bill of health was 28 hours. Our friend in Ottawa, same risk factors? FREAKING THREE MONTHS. What if both had been malignant and spreading, the latter for THREE MONTHS to the liver, pancreas, liver etc?????? How is that compassionate? How does that save money where you now have to treat the person for metastasized cancer. Ever wait to even FIND a doctor in Canada? Rural? Good luck ever finding one. And bankruptcy in the US? First of all, we are not even close to rich. And I have had cancer. That is why we had insurance!!!
And please do not cite fake news CNBC. Most thinking people are now long past the fake news.
Finally, it is true: the medical industrial complex is now larger than the military industrial complex, and utterly corrupt. THAT, mon ami, is the issue. In fact, it is no longer capitalist, but crony capitalist, which has nothing to do with real capitalism.
"Not having to worry about health insurance" was a staggering comment. No, you just worry about ever finding a doctor to begin with, then waiting THREE freaking months to get a report about possible cancer, where if it IS cancer, it has been metastasizing all that time, or waiting for a CT scan for a year (when we left, it was that time frame where in the US, I could get it that week). -But hey, it's "free."
The US system is not capitalist, and needs to get the incestuous insurance medical cabal broken out. No doubt. But your contention about socialized medicine is utterly absurd. I hope you get to experience it first hand someday, or see as it is in the US.
Meanwhile, when I had cancer, it never "bankrupted us," because that is why we had INSURANCE. And if people want to gamble with getting low end coverage, then complain they aren't covered, then that is what they chose.
Finally, there are all kinds of solutions to Big Pharma, but people are too intellectually lazy to do even a modicum of research, change diet, stop smoking/excess drinking, get off seed oils, take vit D etc. If people want to be lazy and stupid, that is there choice. Just don't blame the system. But when our $31 trillion in debt comes home to roost, you will then understand, as Frederick Bastiat wrote 150 years ago "socialism is the great fiction, whereby everybody endeavours to live off of everybody else. " Didn't work, can't work ,and will never work.
And don't even get me started on vile, corrupt Trudeau. My wife's cousin was his nanny, and we used to be personal friends with his health minister, who left over his corruption.
Oh, that old "panacea" again. How would something like that not be corrupted like so much else?
Besides, we already have what should be a universal health care system. It's called using ones' head, taking care of oneself, and somehow stopping the spewing of poisons in and on the air, water, land, food, medications, and jabs to name just a bit of it.
So called "universal health care" systems seem to turn out to be little more than subsidies to big pharma, big health "insurance," and bureaucrats. The US military has one of those systems, yet look at how many of them have injuries from various jabs, for instance.
One size fits all gives me fits and the last thing we need is more centralization of something else. Harsh, but true.
Exactly right. the person you are responding to had no clue, other than old bromides that sound nice, but have never worked, and CAN never work. But they will keep spouting it until they, like those in Venezuela, Zimbabwe, the USSR, or even Greece today, see their savings disappear and the slide into poverty. They may then wake up, but for many, even then they are too drunk on the Kool Aid (actually, in Jonestown it was Flavour aid
Funny you mention Greece. The Greek people are generally conservative and quite realistic yet their savings were stolen despite the promises of the politicians voted inspecifically to avoid that.
Have you read Varoufakis' book, "Adults in the Room"? It describes what went on and how corrupt the world banking systems are. They are at least as bad as our medical systems and other institutions are.
The story is so obvious that it's a wonder people cannot yet see through the scams. I don't know what it'll take.
From my 40 years experience, I would say I have seen a few people who had significant issues occurring quickly with an SSRI, but that’s why we FOLLOW OUR PATIENTS! It is inexcusable to prescribe ANYTHING and not monitor. The discontinuation syndrome is quite real, which is why fluoxetine is preferable. It basically does an auto taper due to the half life of the primary drug (~3 days) and 7-10+ for nor-fluoxetine which is also active. Citalopram has been the absolute worst.
Prior to SSRIs, tricyclics were used but have such high rates of sedation, constipation, & the like that compliance was not good. The drugs are also toxic in that 10x effective dose is roughly the LD50 => most docs tended to under dose them. I remember a study that showed suicide rates her HIGHER when the drugs were underdosed.
Precipitation of an agitated depression or hypo manic state can happen, I have seen patients literally have one dose & stay up talking all night. But again, I have always “caught” this & responded. Never had any problems BECAUSE I monitored patients.
These drugs have been WIDELY overused. People have issues in life, and they have been led to believe they need a pill. It’s the same frustration when dealing with parents of kids who just KNOW their kid needs an antibiotic.
It’s also tough when people refuse to consider lifestyle changes. 30 years ago I wrote a Wellness column for a hospital newsletter, but even there I could generate little interest in exercise, for example. Trying to get outpatients to workout, change to a healthier diet, utilize sleep hygiene, and the like is largely an exercise in frustration.
In the psych drug arena, far more aggressive marketing has been the “atypical antipsychotics” which have been MARKETED into “preferred first line” for people struggling with Bipolar Disorder. Type II diabetes is a very real side effect.
Finally I would add this: beware that there has been a lot of sensationalizing SSRIs by the “Church” of Scientology. They of course can cure any mind problem (and teach you to levitate if you progress far enough)! The reality of these issues is that they are multi factorial. Having watched someone very dear to me struggle with OCD, who had 90%+ symptom resolution on fluoxetine and no significant side effects (in 20+ years), I have a true respect for what these agents can do.
We cannot simply talk to patients for 5 minutes, write a prescription for 3 months, and have no follow-up. Any adolescent receiving psych meds needs parents or other caregivers ACTIVELY involved so that everybody is up to speed & communicating about what’s going on. And if you have ever seen someone with severe postpartum depression come back to life after a week or two of these agents, you appreciate having this tool.
Also - the PATIENT is ALWAYS an active part of treatment decisions. No mandatory jabs or SSRIs. I tell everybody that we are embarking on a research study N=1 subject! People are individuals, so we weigh the pros & cons, assess progress & complications, and the patient has the final decision on whether we continue or make a course correction.
Every psychiatrist I've talked with believes that the monoamine oxidase inhibitors are the safest anti-depressants, even though we are constantly told to vilify them due to the tyramine reaction.
That's sad, I think you hit the nail on the head. It's not appropriate to use SSRIs if you cannot do a detailed examination of the patient and follow up on them…which in most cases is not realistic for the physicians to perform.
MAOI’s can be awesome agents, but the tyramine-free diet is “hard to swallow” (pun FULLY intended) for patients. I would add that I have personally reviewed some documents in the past that were embarrassing. There was a lawsuit against Lilly by a man (a deputy sheriff) who claimed Prozac turned his wife into a nymphomaniac (this was before the issue of delayed orgasms had come to light; I imagine that you, like me, were not trained to ask female patients about such things as part of a general ROS!). He blamed Prozac for his wife sleeping with other men.
Somehow he couldn’t explain how her taking Prozac had HIM sit in the closet with a camcorder 🤪
Back in those days Lilly seemed reasonably honest - well, I had two reps I dearly loved & they were straight shooters. But Zyprexa was a nightmare, and when Cymbalta came out I passed out samples to a few patients. It didn’t seem to work, and the (new) rep said “well you NEED to try it on more patients!” I never had him in my office again.
Again, I would also recognize that the Scientologists have had lots of sketchy groups (various names such as the Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights) spreading their version. Just go pay them money to be “audited” and HOPEFULLY you won’t be kidnapped.
There is no excuse for doctors not to BE DOCTORS. It’s been that way since the 80s for me ... which is why I haven’t dealt with insurance or “systems” in 30 years. We evaluate & educate our patients. We provide full disclosure & do NOTHING without informed consent (absent a true emergency). But it’s all lost. They can’t even do a competent exam, just order tests & practice checklist medicine.
I’m an old doc too and psychiatrist and agree with much that you say. It’s all about following up with your patient and acknowledging side effects and risks, and monitoring for them. Prozac and all antidepressants can cause increased libido by triggering mania or hypomania so the husband could have been right!
My wife’s doc is a lovely lady, and a conscientious practitioner who does adequate follow-up, but she “treats the numbers, not the patient”. She focuses solely on labs— eg, the lab said her HbA1c was 5.9, but this was impossible because her lab serum glucose was never above 95 and her home-test was never above 100 (she’s not diabetic but we test every few days for shitzengiggles). She would not consider another explanation, such as the lab had a bad lot of reagents or that her RBC’s stuck around longer than 90 days. Doc wanted her on metformin, wife said no way. Anyway, “checklist medicine” made me think of that.
Ha! Actually metformin is a drug with a lot of positive benefits. It has been demonstrated effective in cancer, but it’s too cheap so little follow-up research has been done.
My wife had symptoms of hypothyroidism (cold intolerance, 15# weight gain with great workouts & good dietary management; fine, slow growing hair, brittle nails, etc) but her GYN (her primary care) said “you are in the normal range.” She shrugged, came home, & I gradually titrated her up clinically (no numbers). If you get sweaty or palpitations, it’s too much! She felt much better on a modest dose.
The problem is these numbers are population statistics, but each person is a single day point. The lack of individualization of care makes me crazy! Personalize the care, why is that concept no longer valid in medicine? Even IF the jab was safe & effective, you only target those NEEDING the benefit, not everybody.
Incredible. I called Vanderbilt university hospital today, to speak with somebody in infectious disease, regarding a patient. The outgoing message, from the hospital, was all about 'getting your booster.' I’d rather see witch doctor.
If you want to read a more in depth account of the deleterious effects of drugs like Prozac, Dr. Peter Breggin was onto Big Pharma and the the harms of psychiatric medications look no further then Dr. Breggin and Ginger Breggin’s book Talking Back to Prozac copyright 1994. ( it was not easy to find but well worth the effort. It is just another gross illustration of the cooperative evils btn. The FDA and Big Pharma. DR. Breggin is a psychiatrist that has been calling out the harms of psychiatric meds. How come history keeps repeating itself and no one especially our so called leaders does a darn thing about it. The fact multiply and divide and yet nothing changes. Big Pharma and the FDA continue to play out the same scenarios over and over again, different day, different year different medications but it always points back to greed and power, our health be damned. They want us sick and dependent on medications for our entire life. Dr. Breggin has been a warrior back then and now. Their other book, The Global Predators We are the pray is another illustration of the excellant research and connecting the dots that seem obvious yet most people are oblivious. Is it because as Dr. Toby Rogers says, “we are all brain injured due to vaccinations.” Clearly some more then others. I am very grateful to the courage, intellect and warrior like energy the Breggin’s have illustrated over the years will little support or progress against the behemoths Big Pharma and the FDA. Please pray for Dr. Breggin he is in his late 80’s and is fighting COVID. When his time comes we will have lost a great man for his efforts to live my example and honor his Hippocratic Oath.
Amen to that! Dr. Breggin is a great hero of mine! A treasure! He's written so many excellent books: Medication Madness; The Anti-Depressant Fact Book; Your Drug May Be Your Problem; Brain Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry; Guilt, Shame and Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming Negative Emotions; The Heart of Being Helpful, and many more. He's made many educational videos and he's fought hard against Big Pharma's lies and deceptions. He's been leading the way for decades.
We are Human. We cannot be reduced to a series of biochemical reactions. Yet, this is the antidote to All Ills. The reason they have not worked is because we are so much more complicated. Beyond biochemistry. My Dad was a Biochemistry PhD, his best friend over a lifetime was an alchemical Theoretic Physics PhD, and poet. Blessed to be sitting in on the conversations of these two as a child. Dad's best friend challenged me to think beyond the Normal. I didn't realize it until now, it was a gift.
I believe our medical system focuses on the bio chemical reactions because those are very easy to make patentable drugs for, whereas many of the other important aspects of human physiology (e.g., biophysics) lend themselves towards treatments that you cannot monopolize and sell on a repetitive basis.
Or one takes so many drugs, one shakes (from neuro-toxins affecting nerves), rattles (from all the pills inside one) and rolls (as your eyes roll up into your head as one's brain degenerates to mush or one dies!).
But not before big pharma have made a seriously large amount of money.
This is a very IMPORTANT Article. God Bless all of you who published and are an essential part of this outstandingly truthful information, that is now FINALLY coming forward. All my love and support to each and every one of you ツ
I am sorry to hear about your cousin. I still can not believe the FDA in an unprecedented move removed the blackbox warning that was put on after people in the real world started having issues. Only then when Pfizer settled all 2700 lawsuits did they approach the FDA about removing it. The issues with this drug still exist, just no warning. I still can't believe the media never reported on this but Alan Cassels who wrote the below article.
Chantix has a weird, PCP like depersonalizing effect on some people. People who get hyper-real dreams on it at the low starting dose should just stop. That is the warning. If these susceptible people drink alcohol on Chantix, they can kill themselves and/or somebody else, not comprehending the actions their bodies are taking.
This has been known since shortly after the drug came out (maybe before, right?).
It is otherwise impressive for smoking-cessation...
I always warn people about the hyper-real dreams, and to stop if they get them.
Yep, I used it with a few patients WITH WARNING & DISCUSSION. Only one had the intense suicdality & it came the first day or two. She knew it was a possibility, we had contacts by phone for reassurance & it passed quickly with discontinuance. She said “I knew this wasn’t me as we talked about it [and she did plenty of reading, something I encourage my patients to do] and you were there for me. It went away.”
Smoking will kill them eventually, and this drug does help IF they don’t have this odd reaction. Generally I prefer tapering nicotine replacement (patch, gum, lozenge).
I I as prescribed Zoloft after I told my doctor I felt anxious due to stressful events in my life and it was affecting me physically. I just wanted to feel better and wasn’t aware of the dangers. I’d hardly ever taken a drug before that. After completing a 4 question survey I got the prescription. The only follow up was every six months or so I had to see the doctor to get a refill. Same questionnaire, which was really vague and anyone wanting drugs would know how to answer it. Zoloft stopped the anxiety but drained every bit of color from my life. After several years I stopped taking it, mostly because I felt such apathy I didn’t want to bother finding a doctor to re-prescribe it. (I’d moved to a different state in the meantime.).
That was the best thing I ever did for myself. It took more than a year but the brain fog gradually left. I had been taking a very low dose, but the effects were profound. I later read of adult snd teen suicides due to this drug. I never felt that way but I can see how this drug might send someone there.
The medical profession doesn’t do enough to screen people who have situational anxiety and find drug-free alternatives.
I am very happy for you. The vague questionares are important because they increase the number of eligible patients to push drugs on.
Because Obamacare demands that we have health insurance, I make a required yearly clinic visit to the VA and the first health related question I'm always, (yes always) asked is, "are you depressed?" Since I know what that's all about, I usually come up with some smart ___ answer like "If you ain't depressed, you ain't been paying attention" and I say it with a big grin and a twinkle in my eye which indicates that a guy like me couldn't possibly be depressed. Shocks 'em good; they're speechless. The other things they push are statins and antihypertensives. I made enough of a mockery of all of the above for a guy my age, history, and health that the doc quit bothering me about it but of course giving her a copies of Malcolm Kendrick's opinions on those things also helped.
What a racket!
I like your answers! I keep expecting my Medicare plan to demand regular “wellness visits”. They’ve been pushing in-home visits where they can “check my medications” (I have none) and check for “safety concerns”. Um, no not happening.
Hooboy!
They must be nuts! Stay strong and thanks!
A strange busybody is not coming into my home to snoop around and report back to a bureaucracy.
Interesting. The word, "busybody" struck me as I read your comment. They are nuts. Who do they think they are? That sort of thing makes me livid.
If all that is done is a “vague questionnaire” this is negligent practice, pure and simple. Having been working “outside the system” for most of the last 30 years, I don’t know what may be done in t up ur area. What you describe does not remotely meet any standard of care.
As for the complaint of feeling numb or fogged - you are not on the proper medication or dosage, pure & simple! While I have seen some people have a rapid & virtually complete elimination of symptoms, most require effort: dialing in the best med protocol, doing some cognitive restructuring, and (far more commonly than current approaches tend to believe or utilize) possibly more “depth” type work - yes, classical psychotherapy.
I would add that the patient has the responsibility to communicate to the physician, we are not mind readers. IF your doc does not appear interested in listening, bring it up! But the catch is that PROPER TREATMENT takes time (as well as skill & understanding). Insurance won’t pay enough to do this sort of work, so it becomes a fee-for-service arrangement. I haven’t dealt with insurance since the early 90s for exactly that reason.
It’s odd - people will gladly pay 1000s out of pocket for a quick laser buzz of their eyes, yet are frequently reluctant to pay for effective treatment. And when I explain that vigorous exercise helps (modestly to full remission) virtually everybody, it is frustrating when maybe 1-2 out of 10 patients will commit & follow through with this.
Yes, this does get me up on my soapbox. I have issues with most docs AND the “average American” patient - but I suppose the average took the jab. Tonight I listened to McCullough from the NY meeting 2 weeks ago, he said 96% of physicians took the jab! I am AMAZED, I figured much lower. My patients got a little tired of me getting on my soapbox about NOT taking it, and they sure understood about HCQ & IVM!
Too bad there were not more MDs like you. No offense but my experience with "medical professionals" over the last 60 years is that most are quacks. Covid exposed the medical industry for what it was/is about...greed. Gotta make that Porsche payment.
Yup. Them Porsches attract the chicks for sure!
Never had a Porsche or anything else in that sort of price range 🤣. I don’t have a very high view of most MDs, either. I preferred the engineering students from my undergrad days over most I was in med school with.
One of the problems is that the process of becoming a doc: 4 yrs +/- for undergrad degree (and for some, add’l years in grad school trying to be more competitive as an applicant), 4 yrs in med school, and then 3-4-5+ years in residency & possibly add’l for fellowship. That is a LONG time, and it’s generally spent quite isolated from “normal people.” Then there is the - sort of like a fraternity hazing or gang entry - crap you are put through. I’m surprised I didn’t get kicked out when I argued with residents about “scut work” (go get my charts, slave!) and being yelled at because somebody else yelled at them. Now this wasn’t constant, but enough that I just never WANTED to be like that. I thought I wanted to be a surgeon, but I couldn’t stand most of the general surgery residents. Ortho was more laid back, and they LOVED my engineer mind. The 5 years of every 3rd night on call wasn’t something I (or my young bride) wanted.
All of that stuff is happening in adolescence, which developmentally is prolonged when in a “student” or other “non-adult” role. So there is some psychological impact, and of course there tends to be somewhat of a selection bias anyway (it seemed to me that admission committees unconsciously chose people more like themselves, when other qualifications were comparable.
Realize most get out with MASSIVE debt, so they are committed to maximizing $$. A really bad trend I became aware of is that the income potential of specialty (residency choice) correlates almost perfectly with class ranking. In other words for some years the highest ranking students end up in the residencies for the highest paying specialties. It was NOT like this back in my days!
Hope this adds a little light ... I suppose this is yet another topic I ought to write a post to discuss. But understand, these factors seem to have produced some bad characteristics in these more recently trained docs. Money - bowing to authority - failure to THINK INDEPENDENTLY - fear of “coloring outside the lines.”
It is funny. I calculated the amount “the king of the hill” neurosurgeon in Seattle makes per year. Don’t care. He fixed my Lovely Bride’s neck with very minimal residual symptoms. I estimate he’s clocking around $20m a year. Yes he works his Asz off; and Yes, he drives a Porsche.😁
Edit - I cannot imagine what high risk neurosurgical malpractice insurance costs; so, take that plus 2 neurosurgery P.A.’s, staff and office space costs..off the gross.
My wife, same deal…Me medical background and “dealing” with insurance companies, her’s clocked at $39k. Don’t care…make her not a quadriplegic. Ed
Thanks for the insight. As for hazing, try making E-7 in the Navy or E-4 in the Marines...now that was hazing. Outlawed now.
But seriously, there is a rather crazy process involving ridiculous hours - sleep deprivation OVER MONTHS can have significant effects. I spent 1-1/2 years at a Navy teaching hospital, and honestly I have never seen so many depressed residents in my life. The hours they worked were seriously impacting them.
This does lead to abusing the next generation, just like inter-generational abuse in families. There is a reflexive sense of “superiority” to fend off the truth of being a poorly paid & overworked MD, and a concept Freud called “identification with the aggressor”. You emulate those who abuse you. It was really just a statement of the Stockholm Syndrome before that came into existence.
The sense of entitlement (economic, power, authority, and infallibility) that one sees among physicians has its roots here, in my mind. The training approach was unnecessary, yet it continued. Laws were passed limiting the number of hours residents could work, but I am told it is not enforced.
I was a doc in the Navy, spent most of the time taking care of Marines. I do have a bit of familiarity with
Our standard neuromusculoskeletal evaluation was 1-2 hours. Ever seen a S/P left dominant hand stuck in a machine for 45 minutes. We didn’t miss S-. If You have one, You have none.
Not sure if I got all of that, but yeah - things like EMGs & such take time. Many formal tests or procedures do. What I’m addressing is the general assessment that a competent physician ought to do for a given problem/complaint/disorder.
Our examination form was/is 11 pages long. Everything documented and tested on physical examination. Ed
When an individual falls off a 20’ foot ladder and lives, it is a 2 hour evaluation. Cranial nerves 2-12 right down to EHL and such including the serratus anterior. Evaluation of reflexes and true “rudimentary” sensory and motor evaluation and physical examination appears to be a lost “art” at 10-15 minutes. Ed
Edit - Our initial diagnostic evaluation was 11 pages long with notes made on the back for “those” if necessary. I dictated reports way into the mornings sometimes.
I'm trying to remember the last time a doctor TOUCHED me.... whether to listen to my breathing, or take pulse, or feel for fever or anything....
What is disturbing to me is how basic physical examination is so poorly done by most MDs anymore. I can give an example: a couple of decades ago as a serious bicycle racer I had a devastating accident: plunge over a guardrail down the side of a mountain. Later CT showed multiple cervical fractures (!) and so the neurosurgeon was called in. Guy sees me & does an evaluation, says they look stable, and keeps me overnight for obvservation. When I was discharged the next day, the charge nurse of the neuro unit was disturbed & gave me copies of EVERYTHING & whispered (I'd get a thorough evaluation & follow-up quickly. I had a neuro exam that morning of discharge as well as the previous day, no focal findings.
Three days later when seen by a great neurosurgeon, during the evaluation he REALLY pushed hard on me. What he revealed was a clear unilateral C-7 weakness, that the other guys hadn't ID'd because they didn't push HARD ENOUGH. I was very fit & even with loss of strength, I could equally resist their movements. When the neurosurgeon saw this and reviewed CT images he sent me immediately to the neuro ICU: "this is NOT STABLE!"
That was eye-opening to me, and I realized that many docs either 'go through the motions' or simply don't know what they are doing. I get being a little lax on a routine physical, but when you KNOW you have cervical fractures (including a blow-out of C6) you are obligated to thoroughly assess.
I might also add: it was about 1.5 years later when I actually experienced recovery of the L C-7 motor strength. I had triceps atrophy & "a divot" in my pec, but I kept at the gym & finally began to regain a little strength. The arms are indistinguishable now, and I primarily do dumbbell flies & the like to make sure I am equally loading each side. I do have traumatic arthritis impinging on that area now, and get C-7 paresthesias bilaterally at times. I can apply vertical traction to my head & literally make the 'pins & needles' go away! Hows that for an interesting neuro tale?!
I’ve read that the clinics and hospitals get money from the government for every anxiety or depression diagnosis. I don’t know if it’s true but it would not surprise me. Patients for life!
Money FOE THE GOVERNMENT is in the approval process. It’s a costly endeavor for Pharma, and some drugs never make them any money. Others do ... USUALLY because it does work (not always) or as in the case of statins, it changes a number. That’s probably where (statins) I would demarcate the line from “questionable business practices at times” to “utterly & completely corrupt.”
Of course the jab is an entirely NEW category of evil. Nothing, literally NOTHING IN HISTORY can compare to the manufacture & release of the virus, the lockdowns & associated insanity, restriction of EFFECTIVE TREATMENT, and then mandating the jab. I have been saying that I went to sleep & woke up in an alternate universe.
[raises hand in back of room & quietly says ‘can I go home now? I don’t LIKE this place!]
I suspect this is a myth. I have never heard of such a thing. Realize that these drugs are generic, there is NO MONEY in them!
Last week Dr. Jennifer Brown (substack) sent out 2 different posts with copies of old insurance brochures sent to doctors delineating what and how much reward they got for hitting certain prescription goals. Antidepressants were one of the goals.
I would have to see originals of this to believe it, if you are implying payment FROM INSURANCE companies for prescribing of antidepressants. Color me a skeptic on this point. Now PHARMA payoffs are real. Speaking at educational conferences is compensated, and I’ve done some of that over 20 years ago. I always set the agenda & gave my own talk. When they began to say “you WILL use these slides AND make these points” I protested & quit. I have recollections of some very fine MDs presenting under Pharma $$, yet doing legit talks that really had little in support of the specific drug that company sold. Dr John Day mentioned in one of these comments to first hearing of omega-3 oils at one of these. Interestingly enough, that was MY first exposure as well. And the company wasn’t selling them! The speaker did address their drug as one possibility for bipolar disorder, but he covered a bunch of new research inc oils. Great talk, absolutely no bias whatsoever.
That changed, and I haven’t been to one in probably 15 years. Even then I went for a nice dinner - the talk was so-so. I saw no conflict in eating their food & continuing my current practices!
The money is in the government approval process and the time the drug is "on patent". After that, a new wonder drug appears and the cycle starts anew.
I believe that's why the COVID vaccines were pushed so hard - the previous blockbuster psych drugs are starting to be questioned....and are not making the money they once did.
You hit the nail exactly...the medical profession will NEVER find drug-free alternatives for anything.
Try Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture - been around for thousands of years and the main side effect is a feeling of well being!
Dr. Eric Berg ,Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Darrell Wolfe, have some alternative recommendations too. I just heard someone say no one ever died from a chiropractic treatment, and the second causes of death is from medications. I bear witness to that.
That isn’t entirely true: people have been to chiros who claimed they could diagnose with “iridology” & patients did not get timely diagnosis & treatment. My friend (chiropractor down the hall from me) & I have talked about both of our professions. She is troubled by outlandish claims. And people have been paralyzed by injuries during an ‘adjustment.’
Chinese herbal medicine has many positive elements. My difficulty as a follower of Christ is that there is an underlying belief system (in TCM) that is antithetical to Christian faith & practice. It’s a parallel to yoga - the physical part is excellent, but from a Christian view they are teaching a false view of reality & a false concept of God.
I will be delving into these sorts of things on my new Substack - that’s where “truth” comes in. The next couple of posts will hopefully set forth a direction, but I intend to solicit input from subscribers about what they want to hear about. I have such a broad range of interests, I want to write papers that people want to read!
What is exciting is where we have begun to understand the physiologic mechanisms for many of these herbal medicines. The key is keeping regulatory agencies out of it, at least trying to ban or limit. I DO want some oversight of what is actually in the supplements!
The modern practice of Chinese medicine is no longer connected to its shamanistic roots. No need to believe in any doctrine. The one remnant of Taoism is flow, enhancing the flow of energy or Qi on the body, going with the flow of life, not fighting and striving all the time. I think a lot of Americans could benefit from this idea.
Christianity on the other hand is responsible for much of the violence against women in our world as well as the destruction of our natural environment and will lead to the extinction of humans if we don't wise up that destroying nature will lead to our demise.
I would suggest that Biblical doctrines raised the ethical treatment of women higher than any other writings from ancient history. People can claim things are due to 'Christianity' but this is not following from Biblical principals at all. Two thousand years ago the Apostle Paul wrote 'Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.' Christ DIED for His church, husbands are similarly to love their wives in a sacrificial manner. Given the very first instructions of God in the Garden, we are to be His stewards over creation. The idea of destroying the environment and extinction of humans is Satanic, it is antithetical to any rational reading of Scripture.
May I VERY gently suggest that you spend time to actually read the Bible to see what it says, rather than relying on people making statements that proceed from their own worldview and not from Scripture. I had the same mindset as you did 30 years ago, carrying many prejudices based on things said & done by 'Christians'. God led me to actually consider the claims of Christ, to read His Word in its entirety. My mind & heart were dramatically changed.
This idea of Qi is absolutely a pagan idea - it is a metaphysical concept that has no bearing in physiologic reality.
I was injured by an overzealous chiropractor a decade and a half ago and I have had chronic pain since then. Ironically, perhaps, I recently was referred by a friend to a marvelous chiropractor who has gotten to the root of the chronic pain. After two visits I feel almost normal and no longer just managing pain symptoms.
I hope the FDA will not overregulate or ban supplements. They’ve done such a bang-up job with pharmaceuticals and should leave natural products alone. I like to know that what I am using is clean and that I am getting what is on the label.
What is the name of your Substack?
I am so sorry to hear of your experience, but am delighted that you have found some relief. I might additionally comment that MDs do a tremendous amount of damage to backs as well! I have a friend (Orthopedic Surgeon) and we have discussed the state of medicine & how we practice. He WILL NOT do any back surgery. In those rare occasions were spinal surgery is actually needed, he refers to a specialist spinal surgeon. But most low-back procedures don't seem to accomplish what they are supposed to do. I have had patients come to see me after having failed surgeries with resultant pain & depression.
PS I found your Substack and subscribed to it.
Yes there are many alternatives as well as taking good care of ourselves.
I have been harmed by chiropractic. Intercostal neuralgia became inflamed when "crunched," which made my condition worse. (however, he was the first practitioner who pointed out my sensitivity to wheat) Others who submit to certain neck "adjustments" have ended up disabled. There is harm in the practice, albeit likely less than allopathic "treatments."
In the 90's, I was contemplating a career in medicine, and looked at: MD, Pharmacy, DO, physiotherapy, and chiro. The admission requirements for chiro were devastatingly low - I only needed a HS Diploma for admission. The order or difficulty was as follows
Chiro (easiest)
DO (where I was headed)
MD
Pharmacy
Physiotherapy - requirements were the hardest for admission.
There are healers among the chiropractics, but I extremely cautious about them.
Be careful about generalizing, there are many of us providing broad based services for a long time, before “alternative” or “complementary” were even descriptors!
It's disheartening to see how regulatory capture has influenced the FDA's approach to SSRIs & COVID-19 vaccines. We need transparency & accountability from those safeguarding our health. In the midst of this, alternative treatments like ivermectin have faced hurdles. Check ivermectin4sale.uk for more info & let's advocate for a balanced approach to medicine! 💊👩⚕️🙌
If the market demands it, the medical field will capitulate to it.
One of the reasons I am so invested in substack is because since a lot of journalists are making a lot of money on here (while MSM is dying) it's making a lot of established journalists realize they may need to leave their jobs to migrate over here and it's putting the pressure on the legacy media to producte content that isn't garbage.
This is somewhat analagous to Fox now being the most watched newsnetwork, and all the other ones that have lost much of their viewerbase are continually trash talking fox for being bigoted and fake, but simultanously know deep down the viewship is moving and they are losing their job s because those networks push garbage.
My Substack blog is doing much better than my Google blog ever did, and is much better supported by Substack, without the overt and covert censorship Google imposes. I keep the Google blog up as a mirrror, but it is missing 3 posts from the past year, because it took them down for content-violations, basically independence from the imperial-narratives.
:)
I would never support anyone on google.
I am grateful for you.
Yes, the left is very good at demonizing. I am shocked daily, how many people still hang on to their horrible screed of hate and lies.
Truly shocking.
For instance many people even continue to parrot old world war smears and porpaganda form nearly a century ago! That stuff sticks!
and they do not look inwardly at their actions either.
Shameful.
Tucker Carlson is killing it. So are many Substackers and popular alternative media sites like The Brownstone Institute and Epoch Times. The Citizen Free Press is now one of the most-visited Internet sites on earth. So is Zero Hedge ... See a trend?
Enjoy Substack while you can. If the FJB Regime gets this passed free speech will be history.
‘Patriot Act on Steroids:’ Conservatives Slam RESTRICT Act on Social Media
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2023/03/29/patriot-act-on-steroids-conservatives-slam-restrict-act-on-social-media/
The Digital Iron Curtain: How the RESTRICT Act Threatens to Devastate Privacy and Crush Free Speech Online
This is going way past banning TikTok.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4141776/posts
My concern is that Substack is a corral. They know we are here, and they can find us here all in one handy place....
99% of the main street media is still filled with lies and total garbage. They may tell the truth to some extent for a while, but will turn on a dime and can never be trusted.
Much the same has been (accurately) said about the rot presented in schools.
The larger market won’t demand ivermectin because it’s been effectively branded as “horse medicine” by the alphabet agencies and the MSM. Too many people trust those corrupt entities.
The disturbing part is doctors went along with this lie and they new better. Just more proof the majority of doctors don't practice medicine.......they practice GREED.....and are nothing but cowards when it comes to doing the right thing.
The only thing the current health model, allopathy, does that I trust over traditional, natural healing arts is mending broken bones and patching up bullet holes. Trauma from auto accidents and the like. That's it. The only thing it is good for.
The rest is butchery and poisons.
I'm glad to see others voicing their concerns about the current state of our healthcare system. It's important to stay informed about all possible treatments, including ivermectin.We need a more balanced and transparent approach!
America's healthcare system is a disaster. Too top-heavy (administrative/bureaucratic). Who here ever had a non-medical bureaucratic administrator decide your personal health? And charge ridiculous Thousands of $. Doctors are in chains, it is tricky to find a good doc these days. Thanks A Midwestern Doctor for putting your honesty out to the world.
It ain't just America. America's healthcare isn't so much top-down, as entangled with & corrupted by pharma & insurance interests. Australia (and Canada, less so the UK) is top-down. The governmental bodies (as influenced by pharma) produce the algorithm, and doctors who do not perform the algorithm are harassed and delicensed. I actually have hope that the chaos in the USA will create something new, as it did in 1776.
You're right! We must demand better from our healthcare regulators and be proactive in seeking unbiased information. I'll be looking into ivermectin4sale.uk to learn more about ivermectin. Let's continue to push for transparency, accountability, and a well-rounded approach to medical treatments! 💪🏼💡
"We must demand better from our healthcare regulators..." That'll never happen for many reasons and the proof is that it hasn't happened yet.
Being proactive and taking resposibility for our own health may help significantly:
I’m in CA (medical mafioso state). The principle of our high school reported me to Child Protective Services for refusing to allow my daughter to be put on an SSRI. She said she is mandated to report me for medical neglect.
I would report the principal of the high school for child abuse.
https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/pharmaceuticals-whats-in-them/
That's really messed up but not the first time I've heard of this. Did you read the story from a reader I linked to in this post.
Omg. I found it. Unbearable, I can relate. Similar situation here.
That is outrageous. I would get the heck out of that environment.
I would wonder HOW the school even had any knowledge of treatment! What happened to privacy’
Could be the child complained to the teacher. Or could be the in school clinic (I think Killifornia has those.) was the place trying to give out the SSRIs.
Well done! As long as the medicine man is ignorant and avoids testing for nutrient deficiencies, we will continue to go down the wrong road in medicine! Bush was instrumental in getting a $30 million research grant to discredit estrogen for treating osteoporosis. It was called the women’s health initiative which was designed to push Lilly’s chemo drug for osteoporosis. There is a book called confessions of an RX drug pusher by Gwen Olsen that. Tells the story of her niece who was on SSRI’s and kills her self. She was a pharmaceutical sales rep that was pushing those drugs, and she regrets it!
Thank you.
IIRC Gwen Olsen was Eli Lilly, too.
For some reason - survivors question the validity of Virapen's stories - as if - he chose this as a new career, profit motives. I don't remember the arguments now.
But Gwen Olsen had a female relative at Uni who fell into the SSRI trap - again, don't recall the whole story - but the relative died (suicide?) - and Gwen realised how her pharmaceutical sales rep job was maybe not the bees' knees. Her whistleblowing is considered (by survivors) to be more accurate and ethically motivated.
It is not just SSRIs. Estrogens are horrid, cancer, breast cancer, jaw degeneration, and GERD to the point of puking, leading to pre-cancerous Barrett's Esophagus, the next thing you know you have a ruined GI tract and are taking Nexium at 40 Mg a day. Foreto is black-boxed for Bone Cancer. Women die in horrible pain due to them. FRK Jr just a few days ago had an article on it.
Then you have Statins, Crestor made itself #1 via TV ads, #2 is Lipitor, and #3 Whelchol all have horrid side effects.
Congress takes bribes to pass legislation in favor of changing parameters to put you in a new category. You see your doc and they are pleased with your weight, in six months when you go again you are now Obese, even though you haven't gained a half pound. That was done under the Obama administration.
Robert Yoho's Butchered by Healthcare, Government, and Big Pharma is a must-read book, Kindle is just $5.00. It may save your life.
How did we as a nation become so Fat I recommend you watch History's Channel Foods that Built America. The last episode was Frozen Food, which is NO more than Fast Food. Avoid the Snack and Frozen Isles as if they are the Black Plague.
Baby formula and food are over the Toxic limit in Heavy Metals which grows by the year. Ask yourself Why your Newborn needs Nexium?
I wrote on that last year, the comment section has more links as I find them. WHERE IS OUR BABY FORMULA, WHY DOES BABY FOOD HAVE HEAVY METALS, LIKE LEAD IN THEM, STILL ON THE STORE SHELVES.
https://gailhonadle.substack.com/p/where-is-our-baby-formula-why-does
As a doctor, I can tell you I have had patients pissed off at me for PUSHING dietary change & structured exercise plan RATHER THAN prescribe meds. There have been a huge increase in complaints to medical boards from patients who got their feelings hurt when their doc tried to get them to deal with their weight.
At present I tell young people NOT to go into medicine, it’s just too crazy at this point. When people are willing to take responsibility for their own health, it will be different.
It's remarkable what a good job the industry has done conditioning the public.
One author I love, Ivan Illich made the argument that most of the problems in our society stem from 2 beliefs:
•You need a doctor to be healthy.
•You need to be taught to learn.
I'm the one caught in the middle, not a fan of pill pushers, but have health issues that are polar opposites. A Meniere's Vertigo fall damaged my Vagus nerve, causing Gastroparesis which they kept calling Idiopathic IBD, only by eliminating all non-digestible foods did the pain go down. The new diet was too high in carbs, no help in working on a diet plan, I gained weight, and enter Type 2 Diabetes. And I'm reactive or sensitive to most meds. Being Hypothyroid on top of that, my diet got really restrictive. YOU CAN'T EAT THAT became the refrain, this impacted the necessary vitamins/minerals the body needs. I had to figure those out. We don't have Natural Paths in my state. I learned to do my own research. And listen to my body.
Oh heck, there's a Sounds True production by a woman who healed dysautonomia of the Vagus Nerve, also caused by an accident. I think it involves breathwork, this might be it: https://www.soundstrue.com/products/living-well-with-pain-and-illness
Well said. I'm proof you don't need a doctor to beat cancer.
That's because dietary change and exercise takes work. The majority of the population are lazy and want a pill for every ailment. Not realizing every drug has a side effect.
The majority of people today don't go into medicine to "practice medicine". They go into it to make money. Doctors today MUST follow what the government and their administrators tell them or face losing their license and possible jail time..........Another reason I don't trust doctors!!!!
April 4, 2023
Texas Medical Board Suspends Doctor for Choosing to Do No Harm
By Paul Dowling
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/04/texas_medical_board_suspends_doctor_for_choosing_to_do_no_harm.html
Look out, mate. In this Woke World, that could get you sent before the boards.
It's happening at Universities - a professor "offends" some snowflake, and the next thing they know, tenure is not renewed, or they are looking for work as part time adjunct or associate at multiple schools to make a crust.
Courts favour the woke.
To answer your last question, because that lowers the price of production and hence increases sales margins.
"The Biden Admin.Disaster: We can see the obese results of this green food revolution waddling down the aisles of supermarkets and ordering green smoothies and muffins in the food courts.
Green energy will prove a disaster for our economy, and green foods will be a deadly choice for many humans.
Future footpaths will be crowded with mobility scooters and hospitals and care homes will be overwhelmed by unhealthy aging vegans. " https://climatechangedispatch.com/how-greens-are-creating-a-man-made-food-and-health-disaster/
Thank you for all you do. It appears that as long as there are big bucks to be made by Big Harma, humanity will be harmed and sacrificed. Sadly, most people refuse to believe this corruption is anything but a "conspiracy theory" and therefore choose to be harmed. It's blind apathy.
Sadly many people have been like this throughout history.
Thanks for sharing this. My wife has been using SSRI's for decades. Her reasons for starting them have long since been resolved, but I think her continued use has ruined her mentally and physically. I wish there was a published and proven path toward discontinuation. Does anyone know of such a thing?
Many authors have written about this. In the previous part of the series, many comment or share their experiences along with one book specifically written for this approach published by a functional medicine position. Off the top of my head, that comment section is the best place you can go for resources on the subject. I also believe supplementing with lithium orotate, magnesium threonate and a good quality amino acid preparation helps with the process.
Look into the works of Dr. Peter Breggin he wrote the book in 1994 Talking Back to Prozac. He has been fighting with Big Pharma his whole professional life as a psychiatrist who has witnessed the harms of SSRI drugs. He is currently ill. Reach out to Pam Popper@masm.com that is who originally introduced me to Dr. Breggin’s works. Pam owns Wealness Health Forum. She is a great educator, connector and caring Patriot.
Great article, thanks! I am surprised that Dr Peter Breggin isn't mentioned since he did great work on exposing Prozac as the dangerous drug it is back in the 90's. Not to mention, he got lobotomies outlawed in the the 70's. A true hero. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Breggin
I was shocked too that Dr. Breggin’s work was not mentioned I truly hope it wasn’t political as that would be very disappointing as facts are facts and Dr. Breggin’s work deserves acknowledgment as he did much for the nefarious agenda of Big Pharma especially lobotomies. They were so barbaric. When I graduated from Nsg. School they were still being performed. I was horrified!
Dr. Breggin has saved countless lives through his hard work over many decades to get people to understand the dangers of taking psychotropic medications and getting ECT treatments. I'm so sorry to hear that he's ill!
Breggin has presented bogus testimony in court. He claims to have broken ties with Scientology but I have my suspicions (they don’t let people get away, especially if they are wealthy or have influence).I’ve seen transcripts & he has basically said anything to get his fee. Take what he says with a grain ... no, a full shaker of salt!
Hmm ... smells to me like a big pharma-style smear attempt. Is "An old doc" associated with Eli Lily? From Peter Breggin himself, he sounds all right to me, but judge for yourself. From "The Rights Tenet: Autumn" (1994):
"My Real Opinion of Scientology
I am not merely neutral about Scientology. I am critical of Scientology. I became familiar with the group in 1972 when--for a short time--I accepted its offer to work together on some reform projects. As I got to know more about the group, I found myself opposed to Scientology's values, agenda, and tactics. I stopped all cooperative efforts in 1974 and publicly declared my criticism of the group in a letter published in Reason as long ago as January 1975. For two decades I have refused to have anything to do with Scientology and have criticized it hundreds of time to the media, on the air, and in public speeches and workshops.
I have a yet more personal reason for refusing to have anything to do with Scientology. In 1973 I met and fell in love with an idealistic twenty-year-old Ginger Ross; but Scientology officials pressured her to stop seeing me because I was not a member of their group. Ginger and I did not meet again for twelve years. By then she had broken all ties with Scientology and had become a staunch critic of it. We have now been married for ten years and are the co-authors of Talking Back to Prozac and The War Against Children. [CONTINUED, see part 2]
[CONTINUED, part 2]
That Lilly would try to link my views with those of Scientology, when Ginger and I are known, long-standing critics of that group, indicates the giant corporation's desperation to prevent the American public from learning the truth about Prozac and the company's corporate practices in researching and promoting it. Eli Lilly's McCarthy-like tactic of trying to link me with Scientology--when I am in fact opposed to that organization--reflects the extreme lengths to which the company will go to protect its profits at the expense of patients.
From "Joe McCarthy Lives!" (reference #25 on Wikipedia)
https://web.archive.org/web/20061016004227/http://www.breggin.com/Joemccarthylives.html
Thanks for the reply, sounds fairly clear and I accept that it may have been an attempted smear by big pharma. It is interesting that although Ginger has long left Scientology, she and her husband are as anti psychiatry as Scientology is!
I wish more organizations and individuals were boldly and outspokenly anti-psychiatry!
Scientology has made some excellent and accurate films.
Of course, they are heavy on the stabs & dreadful manipulating music - but they are accurate.
Screw their cult - but - I definitely use their films.
"Breggin has presented bogus testimony in court."
Evidence, please.
Oh for Pete's sake.
Interesting that you say he had ties to Scientology, that would explain a lot!!
Please follow up, and do your own research on this, and judge for yourself.
Breggin has been writing & testifying for decades. He sees the problem, however his books do not offer a solution. Please see Joseph Glenmullen's "The Antidepressant Solution" or go to www.survivingantidepressants.org
Mad In America is a great website too for finding all things mental health, including help with discontinuation. My friend Laura Delano who created a website called The Withdrawal Project with a lot of resources.
https://www.madinamerica.com
https://withdrawal.theinnercompass.org
15 ml per day of Carlson brand fish oil is quite stabilizing, in both unipolar and bipolar depression. Depression and bipolar, as well as postpartum and intrapartum depression are much lower (like 30%) in countries like Japan that have high omega-3 dietary intake.
As an ob/ gyn laborist , it is amazing to me , the amount of pregnant women on antidepressants and have positive drug screens for THC. Our country is headed in the wrong direction unfortunately IMO. Thanks Drs. Kory and AMD , great information!
Prescribing antidepressants to pregnant women is malpractice, IMHO
My goodness, in my experience the OB/GYN’s used to put virtually every woman on Lexapro when Forrest Pharma was pushing it so heavily! I’ve seen women and suggested they dial in their hormones before considering an antidepressant, they say their GYN said to get an antidepressant!
Just a note, several antidepressants will cause a false positive for THC as well as other illegal/recreational drugs so they weren't necessarily toking up while pregnant. That being said, I agree pregnant women should not be on anti-depressants, or much of anything else for that matter. However, how are they supposed to withdraw from these horrible meds upon finding out they are pregnant? Shame so many women of child-bearing age are prescribed them in the first place
Actually if one uses the lousy urine dipstick tests (which I stopped because of so many false positives) you get all kinds of things. But a GC/MS will not give a false report. As to women on antidepressants - do you think untreated depression is good for mothering? Even worse, the Social Service ... okay, I won't refer to German fascists from the 1940s) WORKERS seek to use that as an excuse to take children from mothers.
Cost to benefit, once again. Educate the person, let them make their informed decision. As I tell people: I don't charge more or less if you are prescribed a medication or not. I charge for my time.
Yep, we have known Omega-3 fatty acids had significant such properties, as does NAC. What’s funny is Pharma jumped in to produce a “prescription” O-3. I will say patients tend to take more convincing when I ‘prescribe’ supplements! They expect Pharma drugs, sad to say.
It's hard to take a tablespoon of fish oil per day, but people who do, get better (Sounds like Freud, right?) We are similarly old, by the way. :-)
All fish oil becomes rancid before it is processed into pill or liquid.
"...I investigated the high temperature treatment for fish oils, for the purpose of making them keep longer, and killing their fishy taste. I came to the conclusion that these oils do great harm to the entire internal glandular system, as well as to the liver and other organs and are therefore not suitable for human consumption."
-- Dr. Johanna Budwig, Flax Oil as a True Aid Against Heart Infarction, Cancer and Other Diseases
I must disagree with this. Flax oil may be helpful with depression, but high doses are still needed, and it lacks the DHA form of omega-3 which is stabilizing. Flax oil is a good thing, and is vegetatian, but is not stabilizing, which is an important consideration.
If the oil does not taste funny, it is not omega-3. Changing chemical structures of these oils makes them into something else.
"Rancid" refers to chemical changes of oils, which happen slowly, and can be prevented in processing. Fish oil is just fish oil, not "rancid". You can get it with orange or lemon flavor in 500 ml bottles (Carlson brand), but it will taste like fish oil and give fishy belches.
I have used this as a treatment for depression and bipolar disorder since I heard about it from NIH researcher Jerry Cott Ph.D. at a psychopharmacology conference. It helps the people who are already failing on multiple antidepressants, and is profoundly stabilizing in bipolar ("I just feel stronger inside", for instance). Sometimes DHA has to be increased by addition of DHA (Nordic Naturals, and others) to be more stabilizing in bipolar disorder.
This is general information, not medical advice.
I am not currently practicing medicine, since being fired for COVID "vaccine" refusal in October 2021. http://www.johndayblog.com/2021/10/go-down-gardening.html
Wait ... you are in TEXAS?!?! I had not heard of any license action ... OOPS! I see “fired” not licensure. Yeah, my friend in Houston can only use a few facilities (does anesthesia) because of jab refusal. The Houston hospitals are really understaffed because they all took that stance.
Go solo - off grid - just work as you please. I treat whom I wish, and it is MY choice as to what I charge & when I discount or do pro bono work.
There is something "in the pipeline" that should work out very well. I cannot afford to do private practice. I'm no businessman. I have done that in the early 1990s, when it was much easier, so Iam certain.
I am contributing to society, and have food to eat.
It really is quite simple. I rented a two room office, screened off the outer part to have a private waiting area, and went to work. No insurance, had a landline but >10 yrs ago I moved it to a cell. One more thing: I do not carry malpractice insurance, stopped that years ago. Lawyers are targeting that policy, it isn't hard to arrange assets to where they cannot easily be attached. And I tell people that up front, the relationship is an agreement between two people. We are partners, and that's that. Yes, they have to trust me, and I them.
You see, we must change our own mindset about this work. I simply have a fee-for-service agreement with my patients, no different than someone cutting your hair. I even decided I wasn't doing the 'premises slip & fall' insurance, that is simply another cost I have to pass on to my patients. Many years ago I discounted for checks vs CCs due to the fees, but almost everybody uses a card these days. Even there, using a 'Square' was cheaper & easier than the old CC machine.
Finally, I am sure that you get unsolicited contacts from headhunters all the time. There is a real shortage, needs are everywhere.
John, THANKS! You saved me the trouble. There are distilled products that look quite good on testing, and the triglyceride conversion of some aids absorption.
I was a serious competitive endurance athlete for years & have spent more time in some years studying supplements than “professional” literature (as there wasn’t so much value for me!). I have pushed NAC forever, and so the attempt to outlaw it in 2020 really irritated me. Quercetin was part of my regimen, along with Resveratrol, for years. I have used red/NIR personally before it was brought up in this community, but given the need for skin exposure it isn’t something I’ve offered patients (need a separate room in my office for privacy which I do not have).
And again - EXERCISE!!! Get out in the sun!!! Living in the south, for half the year I only wear a pair of shorts when I’m home or nearby.
I am truly sorry to hear of your license issues. Living in a free state has its advantages, although we still have massive influence from a huge medical center-research institution. I will check out your posts. Have a look at mine, although I just started last week!
I have not been so "serious" of an endurance athlete, but "steady". I ran one marathon in 1980, when I was 22, and intended to improve my time (3:39:46) but kept getting stress injuries from leg length discrepancy. I ride a fixie in recent years, which is a good workout, and less stressful to my feet and legs.
Life is a log race. Grow vegetables. Be a human. Know Thyself.
Actually I ran my only marathon 10 years after that. 10-15 mile runs were fun, but marathon distance was too hard on my body. At 35 I had (another) knee injury (basketball) and was told to stop running, basketball, volleyball, etc. Hmmm, what to do? Got into mountain bike racing and went pretty much insane with it for many years. I used to post everyone on the 'net using the name MTBDOC, and became sort of a guru on one site concerning training matters. The toughest thing I ever did was a 100mile MTB race in serious terrain, finished within top-10% in my late 40s. What truly irritates me is that I have always stayed in shape, but my joints are reminding me I am on the downswing! DMSO is a lifesaver (I do not ever see ANYBODY discuss it besides me!), although I finally burned through my 3 gallon supply (seriously!) and need to order another gallon. I am going to post on it sometime.
We will have to agree to disagree.
"Fish oil is avoided because there is a high risk of impurities, it is always rancid from heavy industrial processing, and it can dangerously upset the balance of the omega oils further. Dr. Budwig discovered that the body will synthesize omega-3 from flax seed oil in the exact quantity that it needs, and in the proper ratio with other omega oils."
The True Budwig Protocol
https://healthwyze.org/reports/190-the-true-budwig-protocol
Carlson fish oil products are high quality, as are Nordic Naturals. Caveat Emptor. There is good quality stuff available. These are national traditions of quality. https://carlsonlabs.com/blog/do-you-know-where-your-fish-oils-come-from/
Flax oils cannot provide the basis for stablization of manic tendencies.
DHA, the main stabilizing omega-3 fatty acid will be inadequate. That may be helpful in unipolar depression, in high enough quantities. It is certainly worth a try if a depressed person has no family history of bipolar disorder on the side of either parent.
This may be a history of heavy alcoholism in many cases, instead of "Bipolar" diagnosis.
The link you provide is not to data about omega-3 fatty acid therapeutics, but to cancer treatment.
Again, we will have to agree to disagree. I see it otherwise!!! How do you know the Fish oil you purchase is not farm raised?
DDT in Fish Oil Supplements
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/ddt-in-fish-oil-supplements/
Revealed: many common omega-3 fish oil supplements are ‘rancid’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/17/revealed-many-common-omega-3-fish-oil-supplements-are-rancid
Why Men Should Avoid Fish Oil Supplements
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/again-why-men-should-avoid-fish-oil-071113
Fish Oil in Troubled Waters
Michael Greger M.D. FACLM · October 5, 2011 · Volume 5
Major fish oil manufacturers and drug stores are being sued for failing to disclose the PCB pollutants in fish oil supplements.
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/fish-oil-in-troubled-waters/
There are many Facebook groups for antidepressnt withdrawal. Patients share their experiences and tips.
Adele Framer (@Altostrata on twitter) has been running a forum for withdrawal since 2011 at https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/
SurvivingAntidepressants.org offers peer support tapering, and loads of articles (i.e., if you are coherent, you don't need the peers, who are volunteers and limited). If there are multiple drugs involved, peer support can be helpful in untangling the mess.
Here's a summary of what our founder learned from running SA for almost 2 decades:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2045125321991274#bibr117-2045125321991274
Mark Horowitz is starting to document the process of escaping these chemicals well. Still one of the best books on tapering is Joseph Glenmullen's "The Antidepressant Solution." The only caution is that his tapering plan is still a bit too fast.
She can recover, too. I was on for 30 years, yes - I have paid a price for this. I'm not nearly as smart or healthy as I was going into the drugging. But I can see the horizon, and am grateful.
How do you know that they are causing physical deterioration? That’s rather odd...
And realize: Pharma doesn’t make any money from these drugs, they have no control. They have been off patent for years!
Pharma did make money, and by achieving widespread acceptance, they create a future market for new formulations. The fact that the existing antidepressants don't solve people's problems means people will always be in search of a new one that will. Pharma will be there to meet that need.
The physical deterioration might be from the drugs themselves, or from the numbing of the human spirit that might otherwise expend effort to improve their lives through fitness and healthy eating. Our antidepressant epidemic tracks very nicely with our obesity epidemic. Pharma is there to treat that problem too.
"Pharma doesn’t make any money from these drugs..."
Maybe not "these" drugs, but plenty of people in the know have written about the ways Big Pharma has to get around that problem. I believe that Marcia Angell describes it well in her excellent, "The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It".
"How do you know that they are causing physical deterioration? That’s rather odd..."
You have to be kidding; there's nothing odd about it and it's plain to see even with "untrained" eyes. I'm all for scepticism and questioning everything, but some stuff is too obvious to ignore. You may be old, but so am I, and I suggest you make the effort to get up to speed (no pun intended).
Pharma makes money creating drugs to treat the SE log the drugs the create. Have you read the book if not perhaps you should?
I have had experience with these psychotropic drugs. I took prozac for about 10 years after my divorce as I was depressed. Finally I decided there was no need to be on it and came off it.Then about 10 years ago my gynecologist put me back on one drug after another to try and stop severe hot flashes in conjunction with an over the counter natural pill from Europe. It would work for about 6 months and then we would have to change to a different anti depressant. Finally my primary doctor changed my medication not telling me that what she was putting me on was not an anti depressant and not telling me that I had to wean myself off that anti depressant. Well gees I wonder why? About 6 weeks later I was crashing and suicidal. I was forcefully admitted to a psychiatric hospital for 72 hours and the psychiatrists put me on Zoloft. This happened about 5 years ago a year or so after my husband Bart died. He said I was suffering from unresolved grief. Finally last year I talked with another doctor about coming off Zoloft as I didnt like how it was making me feel. I felt as though I was only half alive and had no emotions at all. I took my last dose on Aug 31st last year. I feel so much better now. I had not cried for years, but I do now. It is coming up on 7 years since Bart died and I am now able to grieve him. I will never take any of these drugs again. Big Pharma is evil to the core. The only thing they care about is money.
If you get the chance, please read this article: https://amidwesterndoctor.substack.com/p/a-primer-on-medical-gaslighting
I had a similar experience with Zoloft. I’m glad you are doing better now. It’s a nasty drug.
"Big Pharma is evil to the core. The only thing they care about is money."
Indeed so.
https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/2022/11/14/vaccination-industry-in-a-nutshell/
'Uh a malpractice' is anagram of 'Pharmaceutical'.
https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/pharmaceuticals-whats-in-them/
Let me tell you a brief story of Canadian socialized medicine. We moved to the US from Canda just before the turn of the milennium. My wife had a lump in her breast. And her closest friend in Ottawa also had one around the same time.
Now, here is a tale of two cities/healthcare:
From the time they found my wife's lump, biopsied, assayed and gave a clean bill of health (thankfully!) it was about 28 hrs; our friend, in contrast *** they took THREE FREAKING MONTHS to get the clean bill of health back.
Now, imagine both were malignant. HOW in Heaven's name is waiting 3 months "compassionate??" And what if it were malignant, and spreading everywhere in that three months? And what about the added costs to the system for the three months of metastasis?
Truth is, as Bastiat wrote, socialist is the great fiction, whereby everybody endeavours to live off of everybody else. Has never worked, and never will
In my eyes, the bigger issue is that the country with socialist medical systems impose heavy restrictions on what type of alternative care you can get. For example in many socialist countries, no doctors willing to treat Lyme disease for fear of being targeted by the government, so instead those patients fly to the United States to be seen in clinics my friends operate.
When we moved to the US, the premier of Newfoundland had just gone to the US for heart surgery. I.e., there already IS a two-tier healthcare system. But then we see this two tier system with the Hollywierd Learjet leftists, in Venezuela, etc.
The story goes that Leonid Brezhnev had his 100 yr old grandmother visit him in Moscow in the 1960s. He proudly took her around his offices as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. showing her his Italian marble private bathroom with solid gold sink handles and the like, showed her his multiple well appointed dachas, all outfitted with the latest in Parisian fashion, the 10 Zil limousines he had waiting for him at all times; showed her the giant mahongany desk with solid gold handles, the chandeliers which incorporated real diamonds, and proudly boasted about the 20 attendants he had at his beck and call for every and any whim.
Finally, the end of the day came, and he dismissed his servants.
His ancient granny, born before the Bolshevik Revolution, frantically and furtively looked around to make sure absolutely NO ONE was around. She then, very, very carefully, sidled up to Leonid and, in sotto voce, whispers so no one else could hear:
"This is all very well Leonid. But... WHAT IF THE COMMUNISTS COME????"
Great story.
The truth is cancer is not what it seems. We have been misled. I was misdiagnosed.
https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/2022/11/19/sodium-nitrite-e250-the-poison-in-your-food-and-how-to-remedy-it/
https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/2022/02/04/world-cancer-day/
"We have been misled."
Naw...! ; )
I am English. I can be understated. I could have said 'We were bucking fuggered'.
We trade in £ but in the states it is $. A fug is a stuffy atmosphere. So we got stuffed for money. Other interpretations are available. :)
For cancer also read vaccination, and vice versa.
https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/2022/11/14/vaccination-industry-in-a-nutshell/
And I'm American and can be a smart-a__....just like my wonderful, but sadly recently departed, English bro-in-law.
Durn that guy was great!!
Thanks. Yes read your article on this a while back
Apologies for repeating, I try to remember who has seen my articles..
I had a friend from Denmark (may she rest in peace), who's grandfather was functionally blind from cataracts and was on a surgery waiting list for 2 years before dying, blind.
Yes, "something for nothing" is just wunnerful...and "universal health 'care'" is the epitome of compassion. Bollocks!
In fact, United States' life expectancy has plummeted from Number 3 in 1960 https://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IB_17-22.pdf to Number 46 today https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/. How much is big pharma involved with this? Well, Dr. Barbara Starfield, MD’s article on iatrogenic disease, US Healthcare Third Leading Cause of Death is a start point. https://ahrp.org/us-healthcare-third-leading-cause-of-death_barbara-starfield-md/ Fake news? Sorry, try another cliché -this was originally in JAMA. See also 05/05/2023: Medical error are the 3rd leading cause of death in the US at https://www.wgbh.org/news/2016/05/05/boston-public-radio-podcast/dr-don-berwick-medical-error-third-leading-cause-death-us and 05/03/2016: Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US at https://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2139.full. The highly regarded substacker El Gato Malo also discusses iatrogenic realities here.
Ironically, Starfield may herself have died from a medical error. https://nutritionfacts.org/2017/09/21/how-doctors-responded-to-being-named-a-leading-killer/ Has everyone forgotten Ignaz Semmelweis, who was drummed out the medical business in the 1800s for insisting his doctors wash their hands between procedures, and died in ignominy? (Perhaps they had him use Calumel for his health after he left. Calumel… aka mercury! In fact, Lewis and Clark had state of the art medicine with them on their trip west, taking “Rush’s Thunderbolts” – mercury laden laxatives. They know this because archeologists traced their route by looking at their latrines, laced with mercury. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/historic-latrines-help-archeologists-retrace-the-lewis-and-clark-trail.htm
We do have wonderful docs, like Midwestern; also, if I get in a car accident, I definitely want a good ER doc. But after that, most of us now are using a combo all allopathic and other modalities. And if you use Canadian healthcare, like I did for half my adult life, well.... bonne chance. Truth is, is is subpar care, and it is NOT FREE. Ever hear of "taxes?" And check out the cost per hour to park! Brain surgery would be cheaper than 4 hours of parking. At Ottawa's Riverside Hospital, I used to park many blocks away, then walk. Then, to gouge patients, they put up no parking signs all over, even up to perhaps a mile away.
And might I add, if you are stuck with a lousy insurance plan, DEFINITELY look into Heath Sharing Plans. I actually got BETTER care for 1/3 of the price, literally. We used Liberty Health Share, but there are others like Medishare, Samaritans, etc. Most of the have zero drug usage, zero smoking, limited alchohol, and a lot require church attendance. They also don't pay the "rack rate" for services, e.g., that $75 for the nurse to give you an aspirin, they negotiate down. We literally were paying $1,000/month on COBRA when I left to consult, and that dropped to about $350 - for MUCH better service and care. Why people don't look into this is beyond me.
I am always amazed at how much cobra costs. The project I think we all need to move towards helping people understand which things they do need to get conventional medical care for.
There seems to be a push to see a doctor for everything (15 min appts!!!!) but in my non-medical opinion, much of the time a visit is not necessary. I’ve never gone to a doctor for cold or flu in my life but know many people who do, even for mild symptoms. And then Covid...
For the life of me, I have *no* idea why people won't look into health sharing plans. I slept thru jr high math class, but MUCH better coverage for 1/3 of the price? Even **I** can do that kind of math!
Sometimes they're super strict about who can join and what is covered.
Yes, that is true. But still, seems almost no one knows about it.
They have to be strict to keep costs down; viz., if they have smokers and drug users in, premiums would skyrocket of course
People MUST take responsibility for their health. If they would (1) PUT THE FORK DOWN, (2) Exercise, (3) No alcohol, or very little, (4) No smoking => 60-75% of health care costs would go away. There are certainly far too many errors, but I’d they weren’t in the hospital or doctor’s office BECAUSE OF (1-4 above) they would not end up gettin bf the wrong drug or bad procedure.
"People MUST take responsibility for their health. "
They would do well to take responsibility for that and many other things as well. It'll never happen, but in general, people would do well and just plain grow up and quti looking for the quick fix, some messiah, or some "authority" to take care of this, that and practically everything.
exactly.
Hear, hear!!!!
**Ever hear of "taxes?** I totally agree, a Universal Health Care system ("Medicare for All") as seen in Western European countries is not free. But at least you won't go bankrupt from a medical crisis:
"11. feb. 2019 — Two-thirds of people who file for bankruptcy say medical bills or other issues related to illness contributed to their financial downfall."
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/this-is-the-real-reason-most-americans-file-for-bankruptcy.html
Also, the mental calm of simply having to not worry about health insurance is immense. Huge.
Regardless, the challenge under both a Universal Health Care system as well as a capitalistic, rapacious US style system, is to avoid over medication. The difference is that at least you don't go bankrupt under Universal Health Care. after a medical crisis.
And do you know how impoverished Canadians are vs. Americans. Go look up house prices in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, or heck, even Regina. I repeat. Canadian healthcare is NOT free. Not even close. Great. So now your care is free. My wife had a lump in her breast when we moved to the US same time as her friend back in Ottawa. From time of discovery to it biopsied, reported on, and clean bill of health was 28 hours. Our friend in Ottawa, same risk factors? FREAKING THREE MONTHS. What if both had been malignant and spreading, the latter for THREE MONTHS to the liver, pancreas, liver etc?????? How is that compassionate? How does that save money where you now have to treat the person for metastasized cancer. Ever wait to even FIND a doctor in Canada? Rural? Good luck ever finding one. And bankruptcy in the US? First of all, we are not even close to rich. And I have had cancer. That is why we had insurance!!!
And please do not cite fake news CNBC. Most thinking people are now long past the fake news.
Finally, it is true: the medical industrial complex is now larger than the military industrial complex, and utterly corrupt. THAT, mon ami, is the issue. In fact, it is no longer capitalist, but crony capitalist, which has nothing to do with real capitalism.
"Not having to worry about health insurance" was a staggering comment. No, you just worry about ever finding a doctor to begin with, then waiting THREE freaking months to get a report about possible cancer, where if it IS cancer, it has been metastasizing all that time, or waiting for a CT scan for a year (when we left, it was that time frame where in the US, I could get it that week). -But hey, it's "free."
The US system is not capitalist, and needs to get the incestuous insurance medical cabal broken out. No doubt. But your contention about socialized medicine is utterly absurd. I hope you get to experience it first hand someday, or see as it is in the US.
Meanwhile, when I had cancer, it never "bankrupted us," because that is why we had INSURANCE. And if people want to gamble with getting low end coverage, then complain they aren't covered, then that is what they chose.
Finally, there are all kinds of solutions to Big Pharma, but people are too intellectually lazy to do even a modicum of research, change diet, stop smoking/excess drinking, get off seed oils, take vit D etc. If people want to be lazy and stupid, that is there choice. Just don't blame the system. But when our $31 trillion in debt comes home to roost, you will then understand, as Frederick Bastiat wrote 150 years ago "socialism is the great fiction, whereby everybody endeavours to live off of everybody else. " Didn't work, can't work ,and will never work.
And don't even get me started on vile, corrupt Trudeau. My wife's cousin was his nanny, and we used to be personal friends with his health minister, who left over his corruption.
"Universal Health Care system..."
Oh, that old "panacea" again. How would something like that not be corrupted like so much else?
Besides, we already have what should be a universal health care system. It's called using ones' head, taking care of oneself, and somehow stopping the spewing of poisons in and on the air, water, land, food, medications, and jabs to name just a bit of it.
So called "universal health care" systems seem to turn out to be little more than subsidies to big pharma, big health "insurance," and bureaucrats. The US military has one of those systems, yet look at how many of them have injuries from various jabs, for instance.
One size fits all gives me fits and the last thing we need is more centralization of something else. Harsh, but true.
Exactly right. the person you are responding to had no clue, other than old bromides that sound nice, but have never worked, and CAN never work. But they will keep spouting it until they, like those in Venezuela, Zimbabwe, the USSR, or even Greece today, see their savings disappear and the slide into poverty. They may then wake up, but for many, even then they are too drunk on the Kool Aid (actually, in Jonestown it was Flavour aid
Funny you mention Greece. The Greek people are generally conservative and quite realistic yet their savings were stolen despite the promises of the politicians voted inspecifically to avoid that.
Have you read Varoufakis' book, "Adults in the Room"? It describes what went on and how corrupt the world banking systems are. They are at least as bad as our medical systems and other institutions are.
The story is so obvious that it's a wonder people cannot yet see through the scams. I don't know what it'll take.
Thanks for your excellent commnet!
From my 40 years experience, I would say I have seen a few people who had significant issues occurring quickly with an SSRI, but that’s why we FOLLOW OUR PATIENTS! It is inexcusable to prescribe ANYTHING and not monitor. The discontinuation syndrome is quite real, which is why fluoxetine is preferable. It basically does an auto taper due to the half life of the primary drug (~3 days) and 7-10+ for nor-fluoxetine which is also active. Citalopram has been the absolute worst.
Prior to SSRIs, tricyclics were used but have such high rates of sedation, constipation, & the like that compliance was not good. The drugs are also toxic in that 10x effective dose is roughly the LD50 => most docs tended to under dose them. I remember a study that showed suicide rates her HIGHER when the drugs were underdosed.
Precipitation of an agitated depression or hypo manic state can happen, I have seen patients literally have one dose & stay up talking all night. But again, I have always “caught” this & responded. Never had any problems BECAUSE I monitored patients.
These drugs have been WIDELY overused. People have issues in life, and they have been led to believe they need a pill. It’s the same frustration when dealing with parents of kids who just KNOW their kid needs an antibiotic.
It’s also tough when people refuse to consider lifestyle changes. 30 years ago I wrote a Wellness column for a hospital newsletter, but even there I could generate little interest in exercise, for example. Trying to get outpatients to workout, change to a healthier diet, utilize sleep hygiene, and the like is largely an exercise in frustration.
In the psych drug arena, far more aggressive marketing has been the “atypical antipsychotics” which have been MARKETED into “preferred first line” for people struggling with Bipolar Disorder. Type II diabetes is a very real side effect.
Finally I would add this: beware that there has been a lot of sensationalizing SSRIs by the “Church” of Scientology. They of course can cure any mind problem (and teach you to levitate if you progress far enough)! The reality of these issues is that they are multi factorial. Having watched someone very dear to me struggle with OCD, who had 90%+ symptom resolution on fluoxetine and no significant side effects (in 20+ years), I have a true respect for what these agents can do.
We cannot simply talk to patients for 5 minutes, write a prescription for 3 months, and have no follow-up. Any adolescent receiving psych meds needs parents or other caregivers ACTIVELY involved so that everybody is up to speed & communicating about what’s going on. And if you have ever seen someone with severe postpartum depression come back to life after a week or two of these agents, you appreciate having this tool.
Also - the PATIENT is ALWAYS an active part of treatment decisions. No mandatory jabs or SSRIs. I tell everybody that we are embarking on a research study N=1 subject! People are individuals, so we weigh the pros & cons, assess progress & complications, and the patient has the final decision on whether we continue or make a course correction.
Every psychiatrist I've talked with believes that the monoamine oxidase inhibitors are the safest anti-depressants, even though we are constantly told to vilify them due to the tyramine reaction.
That's sad, I think you hit the nail on the head. It's not appropriate to use SSRIs if you cannot do a detailed examination of the patient and follow up on them…which in most cases is not realistic for the physicians to perform.
MAOI’s can be awesome agents, but the tyramine-free diet is “hard to swallow” (pun FULLY intended) for patients. I would add that I have personally reviewed some documents in the past that were embarrassing. There was a lawsuit against Lilly by a man (a deputy sheriff) who claimed Prozac turned his wife into a nymphomaniac (this was before the issue of delayed orgasms had come to light; I imagine that you, like me, were not trained to ask female patients about such things as part of a general ROS!). He blamed Prozac for his wife sleeping with other men.
Somehow he couldn’t explain how her taking Prozac had HIM sit in the closet with a camcorder 🤪
Back in those days Lilly seemed reasonably honest - well, I had two reps I dearly loved & they were straight shooters. But Zyprexa was a nightmare, and when Cymbalta came out I passed out samples to a few patients. It didn’t seem to work, and the (new) rep said “well you NEED to try it on more patients!” I never had him in my office again.
Again, I would also recognize that the Scientologists have had lots of sketchy groups (various names such as the Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights) spreading their version. Just go pay them money to be “audited” and HOPEFULLY you won’t be kidnapped.
There is no excuse for doctors not to BE DOCTORS. It’s been that way since the 80s for me ... which is why I haven’t dealt with insurance or “systems” in 30 years. We evaluate & educate our patients. We provide full disclosure & do NOTHING without informed consent (absent a true emergency). But it’s all lost. They can’t even do a competent exam, just order tests & practice checklist medicine.
That sure isn’t what I signed up for.
I’m an old doc too and psychiatrist and agree with much that you say. It’s all about following up with your patient and acknowledging side effects and risks, and monitoring for them. Prozac and all antidepressants can cause increased libido by triggering mania or hypomania so the husband could have been right!
My wife’s doc is a lovely lady, and a conscientious practitioner who does adequate follow-up, but she “treats the numbers, not the patient”. She focuses solely on labs— eg, the lab said her HbA1c was 5.9, but this was impossible because her lab serum glucose was never above 95 and her home-test was never above 100 (she’s not diabetic but we test every few days for shitzengiggles). She would not consider another explanation, such as the lab had a bad lot of reagents or that her RBC’s stuck around longer than 90 days. Doc wanted her on metformin, wife said no way. Anyway, “checklist medicine” made me think of that.
Ha! Actually metformin is a drug with a lot of positive benefits. It has been demonstrated effective in cancer, but it’s too cheap so little follow-up research has been done.
My wife had symptoms of hypothyroidism (cold intolerance, 15# weight gain with great workouts & good dietary management; fine, slow growing hair, brittle nails, etc) but her GYN (her primary care) said “you are in the normal range.” She shrugged, came home, & I gradually titrated her up clinically (no numbers). If you get sweaty or palpitations, it’s too much! She felt much better on a modest dose.
The problem is these numbers are population statistics, but each person is a single day point. The lack of individualization of care makes me crazy! Personalize the care, why is that concept no longer valid in medicine? Even IF the jab was safe & effective, you only target those NEEDING the benefit, not everybody.
I’m sure when we’re being seen by AI virtual practitioners we’ll receive very personalized care!
Probably not much worse than ADDD (artificially dumbed down docs) practitioners we're burdened with today! ; )
Incredible. I called Vanderbilt university hospital today, to speak with somebody in infectious disease, regarding a patient. The outgoing message, from the hospital, was all about 'getting your booster.' I’d rather see witch doctor.
If you want to read a more in depth account of the deleterious effects of drugs like Prozac, Dr. Peter Breggin was onto Big Pharma and the the harms of psychiatric medications look no further then Dr. Breggin and Ginger Breggin’s book Talking Back to Prozac copyright 1994. ( it was not easy to find but well worth the effort. It is just another gross illustration of the cooperative evils btn. The FDA and Big Pharma. DR. Breggin is a psychiatrist that has been calling out the harms of psychiatric meds. How come history keeps repeating itself and no one especially our so called leaders does a darn thing about it. The fact multiply and divide and yet nothing changes. Big Pharma and the FDA continue to play out the same scenarios over and over again, different day, different year different medications but it always points back to greed and power, our health be damned. They want us sick and dependent on medications for our entire life. Dr. Breggin has been a warrior back then and now. Their other book, The Global Predators We are the pray is another illustration of the excellant research and connecting the dots that seem obvious yet most people are oblivious. Is it because as Dr. Toby Rogers says, “we are all brain injured due to vaccinations.” Clearly some more then others. I am very grateful to the courage, intellect and warrior like energy the Breggin’s have illustrated over the years will little support or progress against the behemoths Big Pharma and the FDA. Please pray for Dr. Breggin he is in his late 80’s and is fighting COVID. When his time comes we will have lost a great man for his efforts to live my example and honor his Hippocratic Oath.
Amen to that! Dr. Breggin is a great hero of mine! A treasure! He's written so many excellent books: Medication Madness; The Anti-Depressant Fact Book; Your Drug May Be Your Problem; Brain Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry; Guilt, Shame and Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming Negative Emotions; The Heart of Being Helpful, and many more. He's made many educational videos and he's fought hard against Big Pharma's lies and deceptions. He's been leading the way for decades.
We are Human. We cannot be reduced to a series of biochemical reactions. Yet, this is the antidote to All Ills. The reason they have not worked is because we are so much more complicated. Beyond biochemistry. My Dad was a Biochemistry PhD, his best friend over a lifetime was an alchemical Theoretic Physics PhD, and poet. Blessed to be sitting in on the conversations of these two as a child. Dad's best friend challenged me to think beyond the Normal. I didn't realize it until now, it was a gift.
I believe our medical system focuses on the bio chemical reactions because those are very easy to make patentable drugs for, whereas many of the other important aspects of human physiology (e.g., biophysics) lend themselves towards treatments that you cannot monopolize and sell on a repetitive basis.
THIS!!!👆👆👆👆👆
The medical industry doesn't understand the bio chemical reactions.
Or if is does it exploits them to create harm and them repair the harm enough to keep people deluded that biog pharma is doing a great job.
https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/pharmaceuticals-whats-in-them/
https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/2022/11/14/vaccination-industry-in-a-nutshell/
You mean like taking a drug, to take a drug, to take another drug?
Exactly!
Or one takes so many drugs, one shakes (from neuro-toxins affecting nerves), rattles (from all the pills inside one) and rolls (as your eyes roll up into your head as one's brain degenerates to mush or one dies!).
But not before big pharma have made a seriously large amount of money.
This is a very IMPORTANT Article. God Bless all of you who published and are an essential part of this outstandingly truthful information, that is now FINALLY coming forward. All my love and support to each and every one of you ツ
Thank you.
Chantex smoking deterrent drug.my cousin taking this drug, shot himself in the head and died
I’m so sorry. I took it when it was new& quit because I had 2 episodes of suicidal thoughts from out of nowhere!
One time I was in the shower and heard in my head “ jump out the window “.
The other time I had an urge to crash into a tree driving home from work. I don’t have a history of suicidal thoughts at all.
I’m sorry about your loss.
I am sorry to hear about your cousin. I still can not believe the FDA in an unprecedented move removed the blackbox warning that was put on after people in the real world started having issues. Only then when Pfizer settled all 2700 lawsuits did they approach the FDA about removing it. The issues with this drug still exist, just no warning. I still can't believe the media never reported on this but Alan Cassels who wrote the below article.
https://www.namd.org/journal-of-medicine/1930-white-washing-a-black-box-warning-what-went-wrong-with-chantix.html
Chantix has a weird, PCP like depersonalizing effect on some people. People who get hyper-real dreams on it at the low starting dose should just stop. That is the warning. If these susceptible people drink alcohol on Chantix, they can kill themselves and/or somebody else, not comprehending the actions their bodies are taking.
This has been known since shortly after the drug came out (maybe before, right?).
It is otherwise impressive for smoking-cessation...
I always warn people about the hyper-real dreams, and to stop if they get them.
That's very sad. I hope you appreciate Kim's story about her time on that committee.
Yep, I used it with a few patients WITH WARNING & DISCUSSION. Only one had the intense suicdality & it came the first day or two. She knew it was a possibility, we had contacts by phone for reassurance & it passed quickly with discontinuance. She said “I knew this wasn’t me as we talked about it [and she did plenty of reading, something I encourage my patients to do] and you were there for me. It went away.”
Smoking will kill them eventually, and this drug does help IF they don’t have this odd reaction. Generally I prefer tapering nicotine replacement (patch, gum, lozenge).