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Imagine that a virus suddenly appears in our society that makes people sleep 12–14 hours a day. Those infected with it move about somewhat slowly and seem emotionally disengaged.
Many gain huge amounts of weight – 20, 40, 60, and even 100 pounds. Often their blood sugar levels soar, and so do their cholesterol levels. A number of those struck by the mysterious illness – including young children and teenagers – become diabetic in very short order. Reports of patients occasionally dying from pancreatitis appear in the medical literature. Newspapers and magazines fill their pages with accounts of this new scourge, which is dubbed metabolic dysfunction illness, and parents are in a panic over the thought that their children might contract this horrible disease. The federal government gives hundreds of millions of dollars to scientists at the best universities to decipher the inner workings of this virus, and they report that the reason it causes such global dysfunction is that it blocks a multitude of neurotransmitter receptors in the brain – dopaminergic, serotoninergic, muscarinic, adrenergic, and histaminergic. All of those neuronal pathways in the brain are compromised. Meanwhile, MRI studies find that over a period of several years the virus shrinks the cerebral cortex, and this shrinkage is tied to cognitive decline. A terrified public clamors for a cure. Now, such an illness has in fact hit millions of American children and adults. We have just described the effects of Eli Lilly’s best-selling antipsychotic, Zyprexa.
This excerpt from Whitaker's
This excerpt from Whitaker's book and Fleet's article, "American Psychosis" in the last Adbusters Journal, overlook the most critical factor influencing prescribing practices: our laziness.
Clearly, these meds are needed. The demand for them preceded their creation. If anything, depression remains inadequately treated -- as evidenced by the demand for alcohol and street drugs.
But, although depression and other psychopathology remains under-diagnosed, the meds are frequently over-prescribed once a diagnosis is made. The resulting pathology supports Whitaker and Fleet's argument. For example, it's well-documented that if you give a person with mild depression or anxiety a high dose of an SSRI, you can cause acute mania.
Reasons for the over-prescribing are numerous. Drug reps & direct-to-consumer advertising play enormous roles. But so does a culture of desiring (and frequently only paying for) a quick fix. Anyone who is taking psychoactive substances should be in therapy. Therapy, good therapy, should be just as easy to access as Zyprexa, fluoxetine, or a bottle of beer.
After being taken to a
After being taken to a hospital for "drug induced psychosis", which the police made aware to the psych unit doctor, and I did too, explaining that I just did too much drugs and got a little paranoid. I was placed on a 72 hour hold in the locked psych unit to see if I 'cleared up' or what was going on.
At nighttime, I was having trouble sleeping (it was a stimulant I took after all), and plus I normally take a benadryl (otc antihistamine, also sold as otc sleep aid), and asked the nurse for one. She said no, because the doctor never wrote an order for it, but there was an order for Verapamil (which I later found out to be calcium channel blocker). Since I didn't recognize the name as any psychiatric medication (which psychiatrists are all to eager to hand out to people to satisfy there own personal curiosity with no concern for possible risks), and the nurse told me it would help me sleep I agreed.
The next day something was wrong with me but I assumed drug withdrawal or anxiety.
Then another pill at night. The third day my eyelids started blinking uncontrollably, I couldn't breath (or at least consciously control my breath) muscles all over my body were contracting and releasing for no reason. It was unbearably painful. I was waiting for a staff to notice. I had no idea what was happening, and had not even tied it to the meds at this point. I was so embarrassed, I was incapable of talking, drooling on myself, acting severely physically and mentally handicapped- so I stayed in my room for meals. I was unable to swallow, ever bite I choked down would get stuck in my throat.
I had assumed I got some bad drugs, and I was sufferring from drug induced Parkinsonism, and would be dying within several hours. It kept getting worse and was more scary than any bad trip I have ever been on. Finally I decided to check with the nurses (who didn't seem particularly involved or intelligent). One nurse said very casually "Oh yes, that is a very common side effect, known as tardive dyskinesia, she also used another term for it. Many people get it from the meds you are on. Don't worry, there is an antidote for it, but your nurse just went on break (I could see her eating lunch through the window), so when she is done she can help you. One half hour later she slowly got up and admitted that she made a mistake, the medicine she had been giving me was not verapamil it was zyprexa. I instantly knew that name just from hearing people complain about it in treatment, along with things like thorazine ("thorazine shuffle"). She had to call a Dr. for official doctors orders to give me the antidote, so another hour passed before the doctor called back.
She came in with an injection, Cogentin I believe, gave it to me in my a** cheek, and within 15 minutes I had returned 50% to my normal self. I left the hospital at 85% mental and physical capacity that I went in with (in other words I would be better off permanently intoxicated on amph.) The nurse later said very nonchalantly , "Oh, it says here you are in the prime demographic for an allergic reaction to this medication, being a mid-20's skinny white male". Oh, great!
It took several months and I would experience flashbacks where I would lose control over swallowing, panic, and choke. After maybe 6 months I was at 95% capacity of my normal self. That was 2 years ago, I haven't noticed anymore improvements, but I have also forgotten what to compare it too. Despite quitting drugs I now get accused of being intoxicated more often than when I was doing them.
This medicine is the devil. I realize some people -may- need it, but seeing as how they knew full well the risks (which, for people on those drugs for months, those symptoms become permanent, and also for those allergic like me, they can be deadly), they should not be handed out like candy. There is no legal reason that should have been a substitute over the time tested and very safe and non addictive benadryl for sleeping.
Some people are born with
Some people are born with defective legs, some people are born with defective eyes, some people are born with defective hearts, etc. Why is it so hard to believe that some people are born with defective brains? Certainly, autistic people are born with brains where the social connection mechanism is defective -- why can't people be born with the emotional regulatory system being defective, i.e., bipolar people (like me).
All of this arguing about whether mental illnesses actually exist, etc., I think takes time and energy away from the more important issue of whether these powerful drugs should be given to people under 18. I take Zyprexa and it has worked for me for the past ten year, but I would not give such a powerful drug to minors -- I don't think I would give ritalin either to a kid.
Being bipolar is really specific and very different from anything 99% of the population ever undergoes -- when you're manic it feels like someone is injecting the purest grade of cocaine directly into your brain for weeks, or even months. It is basically like going on an extended cocaine binge, or maybe cocaine and heroin combined (I've never taken heroin). I think probably most people currently diagnosed (misdiagnosed) as having bipolar illness never have this "Pure cocaine in the brain" feeling spontaneously occurring. They aren't mentally ill. But just because bipolar illness is overdiagnosed for some reason doesn't mean it hasn't happened to me!
Peace to anyone on the Anti-Psychiatry side of things, but I think concentrating on the very bad problem of giving these powerful drugs to minors is the thing you all should be concentrating on, not taking away the drug that I as an adult have chosen to take and that has saved my (and other people's) lives.
Eli Lilly Zyprexa
Eli Lilly Zyprexa scandal
They called it the *Five at Five* (5 mg at 5 pm to keep nursing home patients subdued and sleepy) and *VIVA ZYPREXA* (Zyprexa for everybody) campaigns to off label market Eli Lilly Zyprexa as a fix for unapproved usage.
Big Pharma companies that have relied on fraud to market industry’s worst pharmaceuticals–antipsychotic drugs–which have become industry’s most profitable cash cow. —
Daniel Haszard Zyprexa victim activist
FMI http://www.zyprexa-victims.com
I have been diagnosed with
I have been diagnosed with Paranoid Schizoprenia, I function normally when I get sleep. Loss of sleep due to symptoms have been so severe in the past I had to go to the E.R. for help (of which I received none.) I have been experimenting with psychotropics, three so far. Not a one of them have taken my severe symptoms away, but they sure have given me side effects. I do not battle keeping myself out of psychotic episodes on the drugs, that is the one positive I have from drug taking.
Before my symptoms started I very much felt like our society was pushing the pharma's to the edge, I still do believe we have an overmedicated society especially regarding children, but I now have compassion for those that are experiencing mental illness and related issues.
Condemning the FDA for rush passes and swinging door employment with pharmacology corporations is where the focus needs to be. Attacking persons and entire illnesses as false or over reactions to disorders is not healthy and treats the symptom not the illness, much like the drugs we are condemning.
Yes, without doubt this drug
Yes, without doubt this drug has severe side effects. Yet it's also very effective at stopping a psychotic episode or a manic episode in people with mental illness. For those people carefully weighing the side effects with the befits is part of life. I agree that too frequently treatment for people with mental illness begins and ends at the pharmacy. Therapies like establishing a support system, building skills to cope with symptoms and lifestyle changes to stabilize moods and psychosis are overlooked with disastrous results, perpetuating a cycle of crisis treatment, crisis. That said, there are times when no amount of therapy can convince someone they can't fly and that's typical of psychosis, a loss of reality.
Unlike a virus, no one is infecting people with this drug. It's prescribed to people suffering from frightening delusions, people who may harm themselves or those around them without medical intervention. This article is trying to compare a medication with a virus and it just doesn't work. None of us are afraid someone will sneak up and inject our loved ones with insulin or antibiotics. Similarly most patients are involved with their treatment and can choose to discontinue the drug whenever they wish. Many do and many experience a return of symptoms. Then the frequently go live under a bridge and beg for food. But again, they are given that option.
Mental illness is real. It affects millions worldwide. It existed long before these drugs so withdraw from them can't be the cause. It is frequently genetic and strikes people of all income levels, races. sexes and religions. It struck me and I know for damn sure it wasn't because I was withdrawing from a psychiatric drug. I take a close relative of Zyprexa and I'm grateful that it exists. Delusions and psychosis suck way more than a little weight gain. If I become diabetic, well, it's better than crazy.
I was on this drug for a
I was on this drug for a period of time as a teenager. It made me gain about 30 pounds in a period of just a few months. I also felt like a tranquilized horse. I slept through classes and at one point was pulled out of school to be home-tutored. I did not need to be on this drug. Whether some people's illness is so bad that this is their only option..I don't know. But I think there are probably safer drugs with less side-effects, even for drastic cases. I think this drug should be pulled off the market.
A pharmaceutical company
A pharmaceutical company cares about making money not about you. Sometimes I even think that some of these billion dollar operations intentionally release pathogens that infect millions into the populations just so they can sell you the cure or treatment. Capitalism in health care is a dangerous thing. A good example of this evil marriage is Thalidomide ( Contergan ). Bayer denied the ill effects for a decade, so when it comes to psycho-pharmica …no thanks. It is self-medication for me when I get the blues. I do not require a quack, insurance or a pharmacist, only a green thumb, sunshine and time, if you know what I mean. Its not addicting, the only negative side effect is that it makes junk food taste even better.
But where do you get the
But where do you get the seeds? And, what if your need & what you've managed to grow are out of sync?
Please don't buy it off the streets. Your money when you do so may go to supporting arms purchases and brutal deaths in northern Mexico. When a domestic source can somehow be assured, the purchase still maintains the profit margin for cartels.
I would also point out that
I would also point out that with schizophrenia in particular, most are unemployable, so capitalism would have more of an interest in not treating them, since people like this should just die off if they cant afford medical treatment, as your hero Thomas Szasz has actually advocated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC9r3Gs8XuU
He also says that even if schizophrenia or other illnesses are real they are the sick persons fault therefore their disease does not need treatment. He says even if it isnt their fault it is a violation of the liberty of rich people to treat them.
Well you can always volunteer
Well you can always volunteer as a lab rat in America to get treatment for a mental illness. Or you can take the route of 68% percent of the uninsured mentally ill in America and go to prison.
*becoming homeless
*becoming homeless
regarding "capitalism would
regarding "capitalism would have more of an interest in not treating them" . Who pays the bill? The Government. Who tells the Government what is medically valid-true? Doctors.
So you have a problem with
So you have a problem with Doctors?
Yes the doctors who treat
Yes the doctors who treat physical disease should divorce themselves from the figurative disease doctors of emotions or feelings. Diseases of over doing it. Overeating=gluttony Oversmoking=lung cancer, Overdrinking, Over angry, Over sad.
All illnesses are invented
All illnesses are invented by pharma then, because someone makes a profit.
Why are you going to
Why are you going to extremes? Where is mental illness in the human brain? Doctors in the past claimed it was in the prefrontal cortex and the operation called lobotomy was the cure. The treatment of E.C.T. says all the brain is diseased, if the electricity passes through the entire brain. Mental illness is not physical and the doctors treat it like it is.
The brain is a physical thing
The brain is a physical thing and therefore any illness affecting it is by definition physical in nature whether it is caused by damage due to an accident, the inability to regulate neurochemicals (too much, too little), "bad wiring" or any other factors that can effect the functioning of an individual's brain. The separation of body and mind in Western culture is a false dichotomy.
I agree. Mental illness is
I agree. Mental illness is actually the result of various engrams reeking havoc on our Thetans.
Lol.
Doctors also used hot irons
Doctors also used hot irons to treat arthritis a long time ago. The fact that the treatments were bad a long time ago does not mean arthritis does not exist.
The side affects of modern arthritis meds arent all good either. For instance some people develope bleeding disorders when taking aspirin. Some women develope facial hair when taking cortizone. Some gain weight when taking cortizone. Using the rational of cchr and whitaker, that means the diseases dont exist and that those treatments should be banned from use.
"should be banned from use"
"should be banned from use" No, no one is saying that. You are saying that. You are saying the illness does not exist. There should be freedom to chose what treatment you want, like there is freedom of religion. If you want drugs, you should be able to take them. No one should be forced to consume drugs.
There is lots of evidence for
There is lots of evidence for it in the human brain.
http://schizophrenia.com/newsletter/allnews/2001/ctmri.htm
Your evidence shows the
Your evidence shows the effects of "medications" on the brain, not the disease. Find me a brain that has no psychiatric help beforehand, and shows evidence of disease or abnormality. If you can, it is no longer mental illness but a neurological condition.
I was on Zyprexa for a year
I was on Zyprexa for a year and gained eighty lbs. My fasting blood sugar has remained 105 and I have to be regularly monitored. This is 3 years after being off the drug. There are antipsychotics that are not as dangerous and I took one of those for a while but now I only take an antidepressant. Mental illness runs in my family and I KNOW these drugs are necessary in some cases. There was a class action suit against Zyprexa and I settled for several thousand dollars. Now I am in a lawsuit against Levaquin (an antibiotic for a torn shoulder tendon. Big pharm may be the new employer of choice. ;)
I am a "paranoid
I am a "paranoid schizophrenic" who does not take any medication.
The reason why schizophrenics go nuts off their medications is because of withdrawal from the medications. Like nicotine withdrawal in Tobacco addiction.
After physical withdrawal ( if it is possible), no one gives the mentally ill the skills to think logically, people had expected a magical pill to make them think rationally.
What medication were you
What medication were you taking when you were diagnosed!
Here is a good critique of
Here is a good critique of Whitiker where it talks about his liberal quotations from scientology sources.
http://mentalillnesspolicy.org/myths/Mad-in-america.html
Here is a link to Whitakers
Here is a link to Whitakers response to critics.
Dr. Andrew Nierenberg
http://www.madinamerica.com/2011/12/answering-critics/
Dr. Daniel Carlat
http://www.madinamerica.com/2011/11/%EF%BB%BFanswering-carlat/
Dr. Glazer
http://www.madinamerica.com/2011/12/answering-the-critics-william-glazer...
Whitiker is a stalking horse
Whitiker is a stalking horse for scientology. It is really unfortunate there is a portion of the left that wants to give credibility to people who bully the mentally ill out of taking meds. All meds have side effects for some people.
While this guy may just be
While this guy may just be another Scientology mouthpiece I will say that there IS a lot of evidence that 'atypical'/new antipsychotics, which were created because 'typical'/older antipsychotics were known to cause many severe side effects that could persist for life, have been found to cause almost the exact same problems. The most common side effect is that people get diabetes; however, my side effects (from Risperdol) that persisted seem to be a severely altered menstrual cycle, irregular heartbeat, and chest pains; I last took the medication over 2 years ago.
Yes, other psych meds do have side effects, but the atypicals, which doctors thought would be the Second Coming, have ended up just trading one problem...for the same problem. : /
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/mental-health-medications/co...
From the National Institute for Health's web site. Yes, Scientologists have infiltrated the government, but I'd think that Big Pharma gives them much more money and 'support,' so the government is more likely to be pro-meds.
Also, I remain on several other meds that I know I would be much worse off with; however, the atypicals (of which Zyprexa is one) are a whole other vile ball of wax.