I haven't posted for a while, except for the odd article.
Been pondering my future and what I want out of life.
I DO know that my future is not in the UK. I've had enough of the bullshit bureaucracy that exists, particularly at government level. The legal system is mind-numbingly slow and the regulation of prescription drugs about as useful as a one-legged man taking part in an arse kicking contest.
I gave up corresponding with the UK Medicine's Regulator, the MHRA, last year. Others had tried to get them to see sense long before I came along, people of much higher stature than I, they too became resigned to the fact that the MHRA basically show patient advocates token gestures. A meeting here, correspondence there, just to appease the critic.
Bloggers still continue to write with passion. Articles of personal stories published to the world in the hope that someone in authority will have balls big enough to take the bull by the horns and say, "Enough is enough."
Books are churned out with regular aplomb telling us personal stories of someone's time on antidepressants or new data that has arisen regarding the safety of SSRi's. They are read then discarded at the foot of a drawer - overlooked by the mainstream press because Angelina Jolie has an ingrowing toenail or Cheryl Cole has been seen drinking in London with a mystery man at her side. Meantime, babies are being born with defects, teenage children are killing themselves, marriages are coming to an end because wife or husband have seemingly lost the plot - it couldn't possibly be the medication they are taking, it's supposed to make them better.
It's no better in America, in Canada, in Australia. The powers that be continue to dupe their public with regard to the safety and efficacy of SSRi type drugs.
GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of my particular gripe, Seroxat, continue to deny they have done anything wrong. They throw money at lawsuits to defend their corner... then eventually settle out of court. The claimants being awarded money to go away and say nothing whilst Glaxo admit nothing.
It's not just GlaxoSmithKline - many more pharmaceutical companies throw money in the direction of those they have harmed with their drugs - problem solved.
The DSM's annual update spews out even more ridiculous illnesses to be treated with drugs granted a licence by the regulators. The drugs once touted as shyness and anxiety tablets have become Swiss pocket knives and can be used for practically any form of human normality, a normality that has been turned around, flipped around again and now become an illness.
Doctor's who prescribe these drugs to men, women and children are told they are safe by the pharmaceutical reps whose main aim is to see that bonus written on their monthly pay cheque. Whatever happened to morality? I guess money is the drug in this instance. It's okay to drive around in an expensive car because the rep will have been told what to say to sell, to hard sell. A conscience clear because it's not their opinion but the opinion of the rich pharmaceutical companies that pay their wages, more importantly their bonuses.
I'd like a fresh start. My eldest boy is currently on a months leave from the British Army, he's on his way to Japan then heading to tour Australia. On his return he will hang around the barracks for a while then head off to Afghanistan to fight on behalf of the Afghanistan people, half of which, probably don't want him or his platoon there. Crazy world.
Meantime, the streets of the UK are being poisoned with recreational drugs that once grew in the farmer's fields of Afghanistan - I hear the pesky UK kids are growing their own and exporting it now! That's democracy for you, huh?
I don't fancy being here in 10 years time.
I hear the call of the indigenous people beckoning me and I'd just love to have a crack at another medicine regulator.
We shall just have to wait and see how things pan out.
Fid
ORDER THE PAPERBACK
'THE EVIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS CLEAR...THE SEROXAT SCANDAL' By Bob Fiddaman
SIGNED COPIES HERE OR UNSIGNED FROM CHIPMUNKA PUBLISHING
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