What Help?

Help! I need somebody

Help! Not just anybody

Help! You know I need someone

Help!

Lennon & McCartney 1965

--

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends

Mmm, I get high with a little help from my friends

Mmm, gonna try with a little help from my friends

Lennon & McCartney 1967

British newspapers were, once again, leading the way today with information regarding the latest brain pellet study that delivers a swift kick in the gonads to drug companies, regulators and prescribers.

The Sun and The Daily Mail ran with headlines, "‘Rare but serious’ risk of suicide for patients on antidepressants, new findings reveal" and "New health alert over antidepressants as study finds a 'rare but serious' risk of suicide for patients on pills."

The Mail's article was penned by Ben Spencer (Medical Correspondent for the Daily Mail), whilst The Sun's piece was written by Gemma Mullin (Digital Health Reporter for The Sun)

Whilst I'm always grateful to the British media for highlighting the suicide risk when taking brain pellets, I still get irked by journalists who take quotes from the Royal College of Psychiatrists on good faith.

Both articles feature a direct quote from Wendy Burn, who is President of the Royal College. Her quote seems to be the trump card played by spokespersons speaking on behalf of the industry but it is rarely questioned. This is where the mainstream media are failing. No pressing questions just an acceptance.

Burn's quote left me thinking that the media have almost come to accept the word of psychiatry as a congregation would of a priest delivering a sermon.

"It is vital that people prescribed antidepressants are monitored closely, made aware of possible side effects and know how to seek help if they experience them.", Burn proclaimed. This after Study leader, Dr Michael Hengartner, of Zurich University in Switzerland, said: "We can be confident that these drugs are producing an excess rate of suicides, beyond the depression itself." He added, "There is no doubt that this must be a response to the pharmacological effect of the drugs themselves."

Burn was never asked by either journalist whom patients should seek help from or, indeed, how, when one is feeling suicidal because of the inducement of akathisia, they can actually think straight, lift up a phone receiver and dial a number for help, on the proviso, of course, that there is such a number to dial. Quite how Burn and other spokespersons from the college get away with such comments leaves me bewildered.

In the past, Burn & Co have recommended that patients speak to their doctors. I find this perverse, don't you?

According to Burn's logic, those who have been prescribed brain pellets that are causing suicidal thoughts should go back to the very same person who prescribed them!

In 1978 more than 900 Americans – members of a San Francisco-based religious group called the Peoples Temple – died after drinking poison at the urging of their leader, the Reverend Jim Jones. Let's imagine for one minute if a spokesperson for a toxicology department had said back in 1978, "If you feel you have taken a substance that has caused you toxicity, we recommend you talk to the Reverend who will be able to help you."

Flippant of me yet you can't deny the facts here.

The media need to ask Wendy Burn exactly what plans are in place to help those suffering at the hands of these mind-altering brain pellets, be it those who are suffering severe withdrawal problems or those who are feeling suicidal because of them.

Wendy Burn is offering false hope to those she and her colleagues prescribe to. What she is saying is 'some people' may have difficulty but, hey, don't worry if you are one of those unfortunate souls who gets the urge to kill yourself "help" is just around the corner. The thing is, Burn and her colleagues have been standing on these street corners for years, first handing out the drugs, secondly, to send people to other corners when they complain of brain pellet withdrawal or feelings of suicidality. Sadly, all the corners are taken by her colleagues who are ready with their prescription pads to hand out yet more brain pellets to help with the suicidal thinking caused by the original prescription they handed out.

Quite why the media cannot see through her 'trump card' is beyond me.

Maybe one day a journalist with good investigative skills will probe the comments from the Royal College. You know, ask for evidence or perhaps the street address of any specialist in the UK who deals with brain pellet withdrawal and suicidality.

As I said at the top of this post, I'm grateful for the British media highlighting the risks of brain pellets but allowing throw away comments without following up those comments is poor journalism.

Wendy Burn blocked me on Twitter some months ago. Last week she had a change of heart and unblocked me. As I don't play to the tune of the piper, I immediately blocked her. I don't wish to correspond with anyone who will only address important issues when they are in a "good mood", least of all a President who, it has to be said, couldn't run a bath.

Maybe one day, the College will apologise to the families of all those who, through no fault of their own, have had to bury loved ones and suffer continuous heartache? I'm not holding my breath.

Michael P. Hengartner and Martin Plöder's study, Newer-Generation Antidepressants and Suicide Risk in Randomized Controlled Trials: A Re-Analysis of the FDA Database, can be read, in full, here.

Bob Fiddaman

I'll Just Leave This Here

I salute everyone involved in the making of 'Letters From A Generation RX', the filmmaker, the parents and children featured throughout the movie, the narrator.

"These are vital issues that speak to our morality as a nation, as a people. How can you turn your back on this?" ~ Kevin P. Miller -  Award-winning filmmaker

I really don't know what else to say other than watch and share this powerful segment.

I am in tears...again.

Bob Fiddaman

BBC Fail on Antidepressant Mythology

Every time there's a chance to air the truth about brain pellets we fail, and we fail miserably.

Take a radio interview on the BBC2 radio show hosted by Jeremy Vine as a classic example.

Guests included Sarah Vine, Daily Mail columnist and wife of Conservative Member of Parliament, Michael Gove and also TV and social media health spokesperson, Dr Sarah Jarvis.

Sarah Vine has been quite vocal of late about her struggles with depression, moreover, with her prescription brain pellet, Cymbalta, prescribed to combat her depression.

Yes, it's great when a high profile name discusses the difficulties of withdrawing from a particular brain pellet, but it's not so great when that person doesn't really have a clue about the history of the said brain pellet. Quite who made Sarah Vine a spokesperson for the prescribed harm community remains a mystery. No doubt having a husband who is a high-profile politician helps.

Sarah Vine is not the right person to be talking about brain pellets, let's just make that abundantly clear. Her performance on Jeremy Vine's (no relation) radio show proved this.

I feel for her. Her withdrawal sounds bad, particularly with a brain pellet that comes in capsule form with beads of a toxic substance. Quite how she tried to withdraw is unknown as Cymbalta is particularly difficult to taper from as it has no liquid version nor can you cut it in half due to the capsule being full of beads reminiscent to the hundreds and thousands one places on top of an ice-cream.

Sarah Vine experienced brain zaps, tinnitus, joint pains and irritability when trying to stop Cymbalta - her tapering regime is, however, unknown as she never went into detail about this. She did, however, claim that Cymbalta helped with her depression. Speaking with Jeremy Vine and Sarah Jarvis, she told them, "I understand depression is chemical as well as circumstantial and I think that they (brain pellets) do redress the chemical imbalance."

I can only assume that Sarah Vine lives in a posh part of London with her MP husband and not in some hut on the planet Zog. I would assume that she has done her research on these brain pellets by trawling through drug company or psychiatry-based websites.

Hey Sarah, guess what? You're so wide of the mark?

Sarah Vine went on to say that, "For the majority of people the benefits outweigh the risks". Again, this is the mantra of drug companies and psychiatry.

Be nice to know if this journalist/columnist has evidence of this?

The resident doctor, Sarah Jarvis, played down the claim regarding a recent study that highlighted how the majority who take brain pellets have withdrawal effects by stating, "That was a study which was ONLY (her emphasis) identifying patients through a questionnaire.

The host, Jeremy Vine, never once asked the resident doctor if she had ever seen the full safety data for brain pellets.

Memo to Jeremy Vine - talk to people who can, at the very least, put the professionals in an uncomfortable position.

Journalism - a fucking dying art.

The interview can be heard approx halfway through the Jeremy Vine show.


Bob Fiddaman