Pharmaceuticals Anonymous

Friday, July 31, 2009

Hepatitis and Vitamin C



Dr. Andrew Saul writes,

"HEPATITIS C

A "Google" internet search for "hepatitis" will get you nearly four million responses; coincidentally, that is the approximate number of Americans with hepatitis C. So it's no wonder I get so many questions about this disease. Let us immediately cut to the chase:

Administered immediately and in sufficient quantity, vitamin C cures the entire hepatitis alphabet, A to E. Intravenous infusion of vitamin C may be necessary to do the job right.

Robert F. Cathcart, M.D., writes at his website, http://www.orthomed.com :

"Since acute hepatitis A, B, C, etc., is easily cured with massive doses of ascorbate, intravenously and with follow-up with oral ascorbic acid, it is tragic that it is not properly utilized. Hepatitis C is a special problem because only about a quarter of cases present as acute (when it would be easily cured). Chronic hepatitis C is more of a problem; however with massive doses of ascorbic acid orally, a no-sugar diet, vitamin E, selenium, silymarin (an antioxidant from milk thistle), and alpha lipoic acid among other nutrients, I have never seen a case to go onto acute hepatic necrosis or cancer of the liver."

I have personally known persons who took oral vitamin C to bowel tolerance and beat hepatitis. I have also seen a person fail with oral dosing alone, so do not take any chances with Hep. Get the IV."

HOW TO ARRANGE INTRAVENOUS VITAMIN C http://www.doctoryourself.com/strategies.html

Link

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Worms infect more poor Americans than thought

Doctors scoff, but Americans may have as many parasites as people in third-world countries do. Sequelae can be neurological, as parasites rob us of needed nutrients, and once in the body, can go to the brain.

Image: Neurocystercosis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cysticercosis
Read a discussion of health care and parasites at Democratic Underground and marvel at America's lack of health care and the billions going towards swine flu while nothing is done about parasites.
You may also find this information of interest.
Link
Link

From truth to fiction....
Colin Wilson's sci fi/horror novel THE MIND PARASITES thrilled us years ago, and we're delighted by this great review: http://realitystudio.org/texts/reviews/mind-parasites/
Wilson's parasites seem to be the sinister love child of
Dow's Scrubbing bubbles... and Cthulu.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

25 Shocking Facts About the Pharmaceutical Industry

25 Shocking Facts About the Pharmaceutical Industry

"Researching and snagging an adequate, wallet-friendly health care plan is tough these days, despite its high-profile presence in political debates. A large part of the controversy over expensive health costs stems from criticism of high-priced medications marketed by powerful pharmaceutical companies. From Medicare fraud to CEOs worth billions of dollars, big drug companies are accused of putting profits above patients, spinning false PR campaigns and more. We've uncovered 25 of the most shocking facts about the pharmaceutical industry in this list.

1. The price of drugs is increasing faster than anything else a patient pays for: Marcia Angell writes in her book The Truth About Drug Companies that "drugs are the fastest-growing part of the health care bill which itself is rising at an alarming rate." Dr. Angell argues that patients are spending more on drugs simply because they are being prescribed more drugs than ever before and that "those drugs are more likely to be expensive new ones instead of older, cheaper ones, and that the prices of the most heavily prescribed drugs are routinely jacked up, sometimes several times a year."
2. Your health care provider may have an ulterior motive behind your prescription: In 2007, the St. Petersburg Times reported that drug reps often give gifts to convince medical professionals to prescribe the medications that they represent. Dr. James P. Orlowski tries to teach his students that interaction with drug reps is not in the best interests of patients. Even though many doctors may believe solicitation from drug reps is unethical or at the very least impractical, gifts like free meals, pens, posters, books, and free samples are offered to physicians in an effort to influence their prescription practices.
3. Pharmaceutical companies spend more on marketing than research: According to ScienceDaily, a "new study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development." Despite pharmaceutical companies' claims that Americans pay such high prices for prescription medications because they're really paying for research and development costs, the industry spent $33.5 billion on promotion costs in 2004...."
From Nursing Online Education Database. Read the other 22 shocking facts at this Link
And using "new media", Pharma is coming up with new ways to influence consumers to buy - all the time. Link
Drug makers cash in on DC lobbying
Politicians seek curb to drug ads
Pharma lobbying, from OpenSecrets; click to see larger version

Are you wondering who's running the show - and the country?
You may find some surprising answers at Congrelate.

CONTACT your Congressperson
here.

Varying the concentrations of substances normally present in the human body may control mental disease.


Science. 1968 Apr 19;160(825):265-71. Links
Orthomolecular psychiatry. Varying the concentrations of substances normally present in the human body may control mental disease.

Pauling L.
"The functioning of the brain is affected by the molecular concentrations of many substances that are normally present in the brain. The optimum concentrations of these substances for a person may differ greatly from the concentrations provided by his normal diet and genetic machinery. Biochemical and genetic arguments support the idea that orthomolecular therapy, the provision for the individual person of the optimum concentrations of important normal constituents of the brain, may be the preferred treatment for many mentally ill patients. Mental symptoms of avitaminosis sometimes are observed long before any physical symptoms appear. It is likely that the brain is more sensitive to changes in concentration of vital substances than are other organs and tissues. Moreover, there is the possibility that for some persons the cerebrospinal concentration of a vital substance may be grossly low at the same time that the concentration in the blood and lymph is essentially normal. A physiological abnormality such as decreased permeability of the blood-brain barrier for the vital substance or increased rate of metabolism of the substance in the brain may lead to a cerebral deficiency and to a mental disease. Diseases of this sort may be called localized cerebral deficiency diseases. It is suggested that the genes responsible for abnormalities (deficiencies) in the concentration of vital substances in the brain may be responsible for increased penetrance of the postulated gene for schizophrenia, and that the so-called gene for schizophrenia may itself be a gene that leads to a localized cerebral deficiency in one or more vital substances.'
PMID: 5641253 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5641253

Also see
The Healthy Brain - Orthomolecular Treatment of Depression by Jonathan E. Prousky, BPHE, BSc, MSc, ND
Chief Naturopathic Medical O!cer
Associate Professor, Clinical Nutrition
The Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine
Power Point/ PDF Link

No Escape - Prison Rape

MATURE SUBJECT MATTER
Too many of the incarcerated are mentally ill, and institutional treatment in both prisons and hospitals - crowded conditions, bad nutrition, poor or nonexistent medical treatment, indifference and violence - will not improve their health. Rape happens in asylums and mental hospitals as well.

Found at
http://arch1design.com/blog/?p=1571

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Decapitated baby's mother had psychosis diagnosis, left meds behind






Awful things are sometimes done by new mothers who struggle with postpartum depression, but this is yet another case where psychoative meds were involved in a horrible murder. We remember Andrea Yates and our hearts go out to these young women - we all share their loss and grief.
Warning - not for the faint of heart.
Link

Video on stopping the USA's Mothers Act -

OUR LINKS ON STOPPING THE MOTHERS ACT -
Pharmaceuticals Anonymous: Stop the Dangerous and Invasive Mothers Act

'There are now 3,218 cases on SSRI Stories. Are these enough tragedies to compare to a "clinical trial" for SSRI & SNRI antidepressants or as Dr. Joel Kaufman said in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons: Volume 14: number 1: Spring 2009, in regard to SSRIstories.com "Since no clinical trial involving multiple homicides is ever likely to be run, no firmer evidence is likely to be found. Healy noted that much of the evidence for suicide and murder came from the efforts of journalists and lawyers'." - Comment from FURIOUS SEASONS
To read the full article go to:
http://www.jpands.org/vol14no1/kauffman.pdf

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

WSJ: Surgeon Didn't Disclose Company Ties


... a sweet news item ...
"UCLA Says Surgeon Didn't Disclose Company Ties


By DAVID ARMSTRONG

A top surgeon at the University of California at Los Angeles has lost his position as executive director of its spine center and faces an investigation by the school into his research after allegedly failing to disclose he was being paid by several companies whose products he was studying.

Between 2002 and 2008, Jeffrey Wang repeatedly failed to report on forms filed with the state and with the medical school that he was receiving consulting payments, stock options and royalties from five companies on whose products he was conducting research, according to the university. The failure to report these relationships "violated university guidelines," the school said.

"UCLA regrets that in the case of Dr. Jeffrey Wang, associate professor of orthopedic surgery, a pattern of non-disclosure could have persisted without our knowledge," the school said in a statement. "We are committed to examining our processes to determine how, as an institution, we will prevent similar problems in the future."

Dr. Wang didn't return a telephone call to his office seeking comment. He remains on the school faculty.

Dr. Wang was removed as co-executive director of the UCLA Comprehensive Spine Center. A university spokeswoman said the school is considering further sanctions against him.

The university also has appointed a committee to investigate Dr. Wang's work and determine whether the payments from companies affected his research and "if there are any mitigating actions needed to ensure the integrity of the research results." UCLA said it would make the results of that inquiry public, but that so far it has not found evidence of research misconduct. His research involved studying the products in both animals and humans.

UCLA alleges that Dr. Wang failed to disclose financial interests in connection with research projects sponsored by DePuy Spine Inc., a unit of Johnson & Johnson, which paid Dr. Wang $125,900 in royalty and consulting payments from 2002 through 2008; Facet Solutions Inc., a company in which Dr. Wang acquired options for 18,000 shares in 2004; Paradigm Spine LLC, an entity related to another company in which Dr. Wang received options for 20,000 shares; FzioMed Inc., which paid Dr. Wang $144,000 from 2002 through 2008; and medical-device maker Medtronic Inc., which paid Dr. Wang $275,000 in royalty and consulting payments from 2003 through 2008.

In the case of Medtronic, Dr. Wang did report some, but not all payments from the company, according to the school.

Dr. Wang published at least two favorable evaluations of Oxiplex, a product from FzioMed to prevent spinal adhesions. In 2004, he was the author of a study published in Neurosurgical Focus that found Oxiplex "easy to use and safe." That study noted FzioMed provided funding for the study, but didn't cite the payments to Dr. Wang.

A 2008 abstract published in the Spine Journal by Dr. Wang and a co-author found "consistent clinically significant improvement in outcomes resulting from the use of Oxiplex gel in lumbar spine surgery." While the abstract doesn't indicate Dr. Wang had a financial relationship with FzioMed, he is listed as a consultant to the company elsewhere in the journal.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee in July 2008 voted against approving Oxiplex for sale in the U.S. because it wasn't convinced the product was effective.

Most medical schools require doctors to report financial relationships and often have rules limiting how much they can receive from companies whose products are being studied. But medical schools often have difficulty verifying whether financial information filed by doctors is accurate.

A handful of states, including Massachusetts and Minnesota, have instituted public-reporting requirements in which drug and medical-device companies must disclose payments to physicians for many kinds of services, including consulting.

Two U.S. senators, Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa and Democrat Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, are pushing for a federal law that would require companies to report payments to doctors of more than $100."

WSJ -What s doctor did that was worth $1M

This is just a little gator - cleaning up the whole swamp will be a big job.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Vaccination: The Hidden Truth



'This is the first half of the shocking but extremely and timelessly informative video documentary "Vaccination - The Hidden Truth" (1998) where 15 people, including Dr. Viera Scheibner (a PhD researcher), five medical doctors, other researchers, and parents' experiences, reveal what is really going on in relation to illness and vaccines. With so much government and medical promotion of vaccination for prevention of disease, ironically the important facts presented here come from the orthodox medicine's own peer-reviewed research, of which a total of well over 100,000 pages has been studied by those interviewed. The result is a damning account of the ineffectiveness of vaccines and their often harmful effects. It shows that parents are not being told the truth by the media, the Health Department and the medical establishment, with a medical doctor, Dr. Mark Donohoe, confessing that "It is a problem for me that I am part of a profession that is systematically lying to people." Find out how vaccines are proven to be both useless and have harmful effects to your health and how they are often erroneously believed to be compulsory. Many people simply refuse to believe the truth regardless of how clear it is, but the impeccable documentation presented in this amazing video has changed the minds of many who have seen it. This first half explains most, but not 100%, of the reason for counterproductive effect of vaccines. The last part of the reason, which also is published in medical research, is in the second half of the video. To view or purchase the whole DVD/video, go to www.vaccination.inoz.com. Please note that this video was very expensive to make and sales and donations support the freely provided Vaccination Information Service, which exists only for the benefit of you and your children.'

Top Ten Noteworthy Lobotomies


Link
Wikipedia entry on lobotomy
We hear that nowadays they use pills instead of icepicks. See "chemical lobotomy".

Hypothyroid and Suicide - an SSRI Connection?

Could the effects of Fluoride-related ingredients in Accutane, SSRI's and other medications that require Black Box warnings, be the cause of thyroid damage leading to suicidal ideation and acts? Could thyroid damage also be the cause of Bipolar disorder that sometimes emerges during antidepressant treatment?
Click on the image to see it in larger size, and on the PDF link to read the article in full.
Hypothyroid Presenting As Psychosis -Link to PDF



Thyroid-Disrupting Chemicals: Interpreting Upstream Biomarkers
of Adverse Outcomes

Monday, July 20, 2009

"We do not have a health care system in the United States; we have a sick care system"



"As the lead Senator in drafting the Prevention and Public Health section of the bill, I view this legislation as our opportunity to recreate America as a genuine wellness society – a society that is focused on prevention, good nutrition, fitness, and public health.

The fact is, we currently do not have a health care system in the United States; we have a sick care system. If you’re sick, you get care, whether through insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, community health centers, emergency rooms, or charity. The problem is that this is all about patching things up after people develop serious illnesses and chronic conditions.
We spend a staggering $2.3 trillion annually on health care – 16.5 percent of our GDP and far more than any other country spends on health care – yet the World Health Organization ranks U.S. health care only 37th among nations, on par with Serbia.

We spend twice as much per capita on health care as European countries, but we are twice as sick with chronic disease.

How can this be so? The problem is that we have systematically neglected wellness and disease prevention. Currently in the United States, 95 percent of every health care dollar is spent on treating illnesses and conditions after they occur. But we spend peanuts on prevention.

The good news in these dismal statistics is that, by reforming our system and focusing on fighting and preventing chronic disease, we have a huge opportunity. We can not only save hundreds of billions of dollars; we can also dramatically improve the health of the American people."

Senator Tom Harkin on the new Health Reform Bill

Joanna Moncrieff: The Myth of the Chemical Cure


"...although ideas like the serotonin theory of depression have been widely publicised, scientific research has not detected any reliable abnormalities of the serotonin system in people who are depressed.
Second, it is often said the fact that drug treatment "works" proves there's an underlying biological deficiency.
But there is another explanation for how psychiatric drugs affect people with emotional problems.
It is frequently overlooked that drugs used in psychiatry are psychoactive drugs, like alcohol and cannabis.
Psychoactive drugs make people feel different; they put people into an altered mental and physical state."


This is absolutely true. Pharmaceutical companies put the information right in their products. Package inserts and patient information on SSRI's and other psychoactive drugs often list "altered mental status" as a side effect.

In fact, altered mental status is listed in the
Merck Veterinary Manual!Dog Gif Pictures, Images and Photos

In some countries physicians are not even required to tell patients about such adverse drug effects; legally, they are permitted to leave that job to the pharmacist who fills the script. Once you have decided to fill a script, it may already be too late.


BBC Link
Dr. Moncreiff's site at University College London
Article from news at UCL
Link to her book

Sunday, July 19, 2009

NAMI Busted - a long way from Mayberry











Did you know that American mathematician John Nash, played by Russell Crowe in the film A BEAUTIFUL MIND, got well on his own and never took drugs for schizophrenia?
Link -NAMISCC
His wife Sylvia Nasar thought Nash's refusal to take drugs "may have been fortunate," since their side effects "would have made his gentle re-entry into the world of mathematics a near impossibility". But worse, if he had, he might not have survived - almost certainly not to become an octogenarian.


Lying about mental health for profit is wrong. NAMI - and Ron Howard - sure are a long way from the simple truths and decency of Mayberry.

Bruce Levine follows this pharma money trail at Huffington Post.

If you have dislosures to make about NAMI's ties to Pharma, please contact Senator Grassley's office.

Is the Schizophrenia Mortality Study in The Lancet CREDIBLE?

Is the Schizophrenia Mortality Study in The Lancet CREDIBLE?
Friday, 17 July 2009
Unless the overall treatment and services provided to schizophrenia patients in Finland is unique and especially protective—which the authors do not suggest—their claimed findings of lowered mortality rates for antipsychotic drug users are belied by a consistent body of evidence.

A study purporting to analyze mortality rates of 66, 881 schizophrenia patients in Finland (1973 to 2005) was published in the prestigious journal, The Lancet. [Abstract below]

The study has received much media attention because the authors claim—contrary to well documented previous reports about spiraling mortality rates among schizophrenia patients treated between the 1970s and 2000 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]—that the use of the second generation antipsychotic drugs in Finland was associated with lower mortality rate compared to no drug treatment.

What’s more, the authors claim that Clozaril (clozapine) among all antipsychotics was associated with the lowest number of deaths, and its restricted use should therefore be reassessed for use a first-line treatment. Unless the overall treatment and services provided to schizophrenia patients in Finland is unique and especially protective—which the authors do not suggest—their claimed findings are belied by a consistent body of evidence.

To whit, an eight year study of FDA MedWatch adverse drug reports (between 1998 to 2005) found that Clozapine was linked to 3,277 deaths, making it the third most dangerous prescribed drug in the U.S. Clozapine was also linked to over 4,300 adverse drug events that led to disability or required serious medical intervention. [7]

A critical analysis by psychiatrist, Grace Jackson, MD (below), identifies fatal flaws in the study design and numerous methodological artifacts that introduced bias which minimized the detection of drug-related mortality.
AHRP Link

Saturday, July 18, 2009

The Swine Flu Fiasco

Read about Archie Kalokerinos's book on death through vaccination - EVERY SECOND CHILD here


Pigs fly Pictures, Images and Photos



THE SWINE FLU FIASCO

Archie Kalokerinos M.D.

"In 1976 I was working in the far north of Australia amongst Aborigines. I observed, in one community of only a few hundred people, when they were given the flu vaccine (probably the Victorian strain but this detail does not really matter because nobody outside a few selected individuals really knows what is in any particular batch), six men died suddenly soon afterwards. They were not all 'old’. One was in his early twenties. A few weeks later, in another community I found that individuals with heart or potential heart problems or diabetes were particularly likely to drop dead soon after being given the vaccine.

Obviously, there was a problem with some batches of the flu vaccine.

A few months later I was in America. President Ford had been told by his health advisers that there was going to be a huge epidemic of ‘swine flu’, that this could kill may thousands and the only way to prevent this catastrophe was to vaccinate the entire population of America – every man woman and child - with a specific vaccine.

So the vaccine was manufactured and the biggest vaccination campaign in history was begun. I was concerned because the vaccine could not be properly tested in a short period. None of the recipients would know anything about what they were being injected with and the chances were that many would die suddenly. Furthermore, it was extremely unlikely that an epidemic of swine flu would occur. So I spoke out. At first the newspapers got hold of what I said and headlined, ‘Australian Physician Call It Mass Murder’. Then I appeared on Kathy Crosby’s television program.

Watching that was a man in New York who did not like a gentleman named Gambino the Mafia boss. Gambino was about 70 years old and had a history of heart problems. It was a simple matter to get someone to persuade Gambino to have the flu shot and Gambino obliged by dropping dead. The newspapers got it right when they stated, ‘Mafia Flu Jab Conspiracy’.

People were dropping dead in the buildings where they received their shots. Others became paralyzed. The whole program ground to a halt.

President Ford decided to settle the matter quickly. In front of the whole world, on television, he rolled up his sleeve and ‘had his shot’. I claimed at the time that he was given a ‘dud’ shot and I am certain that this was actually done. Then President Ford invited all the news media men and women who were milling around to line up and have their shots. Only one man volunteered and he happened to be the White House press secretary. All the others refused the invitation.

There was not a single case of swine flu. There never was going to be an epidemic of swine flu. How was it that the world’s most powerful man with the world's greatest department of health got it all so wrong? No one really knows the answer but what ever it is it is certainly not clean and tidy."
Link


Something's definitely not right with Cherie Blair - perhaps political pork or a bad case of PR - but we doubt that the problem is Swine Flu.

Updates -
NEWS (AP) -US vaccine makers to be immune from lawsuits Link

UK - (Independent) Safety questions over swine flu jab - Link

Baxter vaccine patent oddities

CLG Pandemic News and Action Alerts

What is Guillain-Barré_syndrome?

The Swine flu vaccine's dirty little secret - Squalene



Friday, July 17, 2009

How Big Pharma Bribes Doctors to Hook Your Kids on Drugs



Methyphenidate/Ritalin at Wikipedia





Cocaine at Wikipedia










From Alternet:
"For decades, the majority of American doctors, mental health professionals, the media, and the general public have yielded to the disseminations of Harvard psychiatrist Joseph Biedeman who successfully evangelized for more children -- and younger children -- to be medicated with powerful psychiatric drugs.

The blowback from ADHD drugs is reported in the current July 2009 Scientific American Mind article "Do ADHD Drugs Take a Toll on the Brain?" a comprehensive report of the long-term dangers of ADHD drugs such as Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall, and Vyvanse.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated in 2005 that 9% of boys and 4% of girls in the U.S. were taking ADHD stimulant medications; and according to a 2007 study, ADHD-drug prescriptions rose by almost 12 percent a year between 2000 and 2005.

ADHD drugs are either the "amphetamine-like" methylphenidate (e.g., Ritalin and Concerta) or actual amphetamines (e.g., Adderall and Vyvanse), so it should not be surprising that long-term use is associated with many hazards. The current Scientific American Mind piece, authored by Edmund S. Higgins, clinical associate professor of family medicine and psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina states, "Methylphenidate has a chemical structure similar to that of cocaine and acts on the brain in a very similar way." In February 2009, neuroscientists at the Rockefeller University reported cocaine-like structural and chemical alterations in the brains of mice given methylphenidate."
Link



ADVERTISING... AS LONG AS PEOPLE DON'T THINK, IT WORKS!!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Stop the Dangerous and Invasive Mothers Act





Mothers Act Fuels Multibillion Dollar Drug Industry - Evelyn Pringle
Link
FDA Throws Lifeline to Antipsychotic Pushers - Evelyn Pringle
Link
Mothers Act Disease Mongering Campaign - Evelyn Pringle
Link

Want to contact your congresscritter? Find out what to do at Unitedforlife's Action Page

Cats - and E. Fuller Torrey


Do cats cause schizophrenia? - an interview with E. Fuller Torrey
Pet Theory
Do Cats Cause Schizophrenia?

by Stephen Mihm
The New York Times Magazine on the Web
"I THINK CATS ARE GREAT," says E. Fuller Torrey. His office decor would seem to confirm this statement: A cat poster hangs on one wall; a cat calendar sits on his desk; and a framed picture of a friend's cat leans against the windowsill. He even admits to having a "cat library" at home. But Torrey's interest in felines is a bit different from that of your typical cat lover. That's because Torrey, a psychiatry professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Science and the enfant terrible of mental health research, believes that Felis domestica may carry infectious diseases that could cause schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. "My wife thinks I'm going to be assassinated by cat owners," says Torrey with a sigh. "In fact, I like cats. Unfortunately, if we are correct that they transmit infections..." Here his voice trails off, and he pensively fingers his closely cropped beard.

Torrey often speaks in a self-deprecating manner of his "delusional" notions, but he's dead serious about the cat connection. He thinks "typhoid tabbies" are passing along Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that causes brain lesions and, if Torrey is right, schizophrenia. Torrey first made the argument nearly thirty years ago. "It was considered psychotic," he admits. But since then, his ideas, though still outside the mainstream, have attracted converts, most notably the Johns Hopkins virologist Robert Yolken, with whom he now collaborates. Together, they're trying to prove that toxoplasmosis is but one of several infectious diseases that cause most cases of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It helps their case that previous explanations -- bad mothering, bad genes -- have proven deficient to varying degrees. But Torrey and Yolken have also uncovered some hard evidence to support their claims, and they are about to put their theory to the test with clinical trials of drugs that are new to the psychopharmacological arsenal: antibiotics and antivirals similar to those used by AIDS patients. If the duo finds that such drugs alter the course of schizophrenia, Yolken observes, their results "would represent a major advance in the treatment of this devastating disease as well as in understanding its basic etiology."

"SCHIZOPHRENIA is a cruel disease," Torrey has written, with considerable understatement. Although it affects only 1 percent of the population, schizophrenia is among the most debilitating forms of mental illness. Trapped in a world of private delusions, a schizophrenic might cling, for example, to the belief that he is Jesus Christ, or that the government has implanted a monitoring device in his mouth during a routine dental procedure. Visual and auditory hallucinations can range from the terrifying to the merely strange: gigantic spiders, voices that insult or instruct. Some schizophrenics withdraw, becoming mute or catatonic; others remain communicative but incoherent, jumping from one topic to another without logical connections."

Link
More on Torrey here:
from Washingtonian
Parasite mind control
Torrey bio with legal center links
Treatment Advocacy Center (Psychlaws)
Treatment Advocacy Center Blog

Wikipedia on Torrey
PDF - Biederman deposition includes information on the Stanley Foundation, source of Torrey's funding
Link
Torrey, Stanley Institute linked to illegal theft, resale of 99 brains
Link

Treating the 29 KNOWN and PROVEN causes of schizophrenia instead of chasing a theory would help a lot of sick people.
It wouldn't fund research, help keep jobs or sell drugs. But a theory that cats are behind madness apparently does... and to quote Torrey, though in a different context, "that is a definition of insanity".

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Bill Moyers & Michael Winship: Some Choice Words For "The Select Few"

Image from TRUTHOUT


From Bill Moyers' site:

"If you want to know what really matters in Washington, don't go to Capitol Hill for one of those hearings, or pay attention to those staged White House "town meetings.” They’re just for show. What really happens – the serious business of Washington – happens in the shadows, out of sight, off the record. Only occasionally – and usually only because someone high up stumbles -- do we get a glimpse of just how pervasive the corruption has become.

Case in point: Katharine Weymouth, the publisher of THE WASHINGTON POST – one of the most powerful people in DC – invited top officials from the White House, the Cabinet and Congress to her home for an intimate, off-the-record dinner to discuss health care reform with some of her reporters and editors covering the story.

But CEO’s and lobbyists from the health care industry were invited, too, provided they forked over $25,000 a head – or up to a quarter of a million if they want to sponsor a whole series of these cozy get-togethers. And what is the inducement offered? Nothing less, the invitation read, than “an exclusive opportunity to participate in the health-care reform debate among the select few who will get it done.”

The invitation reminds the CEO’s and lobbyists that they will be buying access to “those powerful few in business and policy making who are forwarding, legislating and reporting on the issues…

"Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No." The invitation promises this private, intimate and off-the-record dinner is an extension “of THE WASHINGTON POST brand of journalistic inquiry into the issues, a unique opportunity for stakeholders to hear and be heard.”

Let that sink in. In this case, the “stakeholders” in health care reform do not include the rabble – the folks across the country who actually need quality health care but can’t afford it. If any of them showed up at the kitchen door on the night of this little soiree, the bouncer would drop kick them beyond the Beltway.

No, before you can cross the threshold to reach “the select few who will actually get it done,” you must first cross the palm of some outstretched hand."


Link

Update: Moyers reveals insurance industry's secret plan to attack Michael Moore and "Sicko".

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Michael Jackson: "They keep feeding him pills like candy"



If good can come out of the death of Michael Jackson, it may be through raising awareness that medications may not be our friends. Link (Globe&Mail)
As we read this chapter from a new book on Michael Jackson, we are struck by how many of his traits - anorexia, pain, eccentricity and isolation - resemble nutritional deficiency conditions called Pyroluria and Histadelia.

This bizarre story after the death of MJ reminds us in a different way that meds are not our friends -
Seroquel murder-suicide

Mad People's History: Professor Geoffrey Reaume

Disability historian explores 'mad' people's history
Not until he was 27 did Geoffrey Reaume come out of the closet. The York critical disabilities and health ethics professor, now 44, disclosed to his thesis supervisor that he had been in a psychiatric hospital during his teens. It added credence to his proposal to do a PhD on life in a Toronto asylum – from the patients’ perspective.

Until Reaume came along, historians had documented life in asylums in Canada based solely on doctors’ points of view. Doctors’ accounts of patients "were grossly stereotypical," says Reaume, who also took offence at fellow historians who dismissed patients’ accounts of their asylum experience as rambling and semi-literate, who ignored their humanity. "It was insulting to call them that when they were just trying to express themselves," says the Faculty of Health professor. "That’s why I felt it was important to tell their stories."

He applied under the Freedom of Information Act for access to patients’ records at the Toronto Hospital for the Insane between 1870 and 1940. As he combed the medical files, he began unearthing the authentic voices of "mad" patients from snatches of conversation doctors and nurses had recorded in their notes, and patients’ letters confiscated by asylum staff. Gradually, he formed a picture of what daily life in an asylum was like from patients’ points of view. It was groundbreaking research and Oxford University Press Canada published his PhD thesis as a book, Remembrance of Patients Past: Patient Life at the Toronto Hospital for the Insane, 1870-1940, in 2000.

- Excerpt from article - York U.


Photo - Professor Geoffrey Reaume
Listen to an interview here
Chapter from one of his books
Psychiatric Survivor Archives of Toronto
The Secret Handshake group (schizophrenia)
Mad Pride Week
Mad Pride Toronto

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Response to Medicines

"RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN
RESPONSE TO MEDICINES: TOWARDS
INDIVIDUALIZED PHARMACEUTICAL
TREATMENT

Valentine J. Burroughs, MD, Randall W. Maxey, MD, PhD, and Richard A. Levy, PhD
Washington, DC and Reston, Virginia

It is now well documented that substantial disparities exist in the quality and quantity of
medical care received by minority Americans, especially those of African, Asian and Hispanic
heritage. In addition, the special needs and responses to pharmaceutical treatment of these
groups have been undervalued or ignored. This article reviews the genetic factors that underlie
varying responses to medicines observed among different ethnic and racial groups. Pharmacogenetic
research in the past few decades has uncovered significant differences among racial and
ethnic groups in the metabolism, clinical effectiveness, and side-effect profiles of many clinically
important drugs. These differences must be taken into account in the design of cost management
policies such as formulary implementation, therapeutic substitution and step-care protocols.
These programs should be broad and flexible enough to enable rational choices and individualized
treatment for all patients, regardless of race or ethnic origin. (J Natl Med Assoc. 2002;
94:1–26.)

Key words: race l ethnicity l
pharmaceuticals l
pharmacogenomics

The recent report of the Institute of Medicine
(IOM), “Unequal Treatment: Confronting
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare,”
illustrates in eloquent scientific detail that racial
and ethnic disparities in health care do
exist and are prevalent in both the treatment of
medical illness and in the delivery of health
care services to minorities in the United States.1
Of greater significance is the finding that these
disparities still exist even after adjustment for
differences in socioeconomic status, insurance
coverage, income, age, comorbid conditions,
expression of symptoms, and access-related factors.
These disparities are not confined to any
one aspect of the health care setting, and can
even be found in the delivery of pharmaceutical
services, which are under increasing cost
control measures.
Implicit in this transaction is the ultimate
outcome of increased morbidity and mortality
for African Americans and other minorities.
This is mostly due to a diminished quality of
medical care and health services, but also due
to a predilection to avoid using better quality

© 2002. From the Health Policy Committee, Board of Trustees, National
Medical Association, Washington, DC; and Scientific Affairs,
National Pharmaceutical Council, Reston, Virginia. Requests for reprints
should be addressed to Dr Richard Levy, National Pharmaceutical
Council, 1894 Preston White Drive, Reston, VA 20191.
JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION VOL. 94

PDF




NAMI has a plan in place to "treat" Natives - and people in other nations of non-white ethnicity.
"Chapter Four Evaluating Your Outreach Efforts 127 Materials adapted from Outreach to African Americans and Hispanic Families: A Manual for NAMI Affiliates. Currently, Mental Health and Social Services......"Link



NAMI's "Eliminating Disparities" pdfs - various ethnic groups targeted

Shouldn't any plan which mentions "eliminating" and "Natives" be immediately suspect?

If "losing your mind" is a normal response to having your culture, community and country destroyed, what then?
Has much really changed since the days of the Hiawatha Asylum?

TV: Celebrity Rehab

About Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew | Season 1

"Celebrity Rehab" is the first television series to chronicle the real life experiences of a group of celebrities as they make the life-changing decision to enter themselves into a drug, alcohol, and addiction treatment program. They each have the sincere desire to achieve rehabilitation and recovery.

Leading the groups' efforts at recovery is renowned addiction expert Dr. Drew Pinsky, Medical Director of the Department of Chemical Dependency Services at Southern California's Las Encinas Hospital, and host of the long-running radio and television advice series "LOVELINE".

This inspirational journey begins inside one of Southern California's private addiction and recovery treatment facilities, the Pasadena Recovery Center. Each member of the group has committed themselves to a course of supervised medical treatment for a period of several weeks. At every step in this challenging process, viewers at home will witness the struggles of these celebrity patients, who reveal themselves to be regular people in need of a helping hand as they strive for recovery, health, and future happiness.


Not sure what to think of this yet, but here is the link.

Elvis animated gif Pictures, Images and Photos

The Amy Winehouse REHAB video is here

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Video: Get Past Your Addiction To Prescription Drugs


Dr. Gary Kohls explains how he helps patients get off their addictive psychiatric medications.
One of a series of videos featuring this compassionate doctor; to see more, go to the site. Recommended.

UK: Swine flu epidemic plan 'is muddled and contradictory'



A leaked UK memo warns that emergency plans for dealing with a predicted surge in swine flu are muddled and contradictory. From The Times Link

Separating Science from Promotion, Evidence from Propaganda


An indictment of Pharma from the Alliance for Human Research Protection. A must-see. PDF

Image: Vera Hassner Sharav (tres chic) and AHRP logo

Medical Journal Decries Airing of Conflicts



Wall St. Journal
Nonprofit Hits JAMA, Seeks Inquiry - AHRP speaks out
Link

Image: A JAMA cover we'd like to see.

Can You Trust Your Psychiatrist?

Article from the Huffington Post. Link

"Like all doctors, psychiatrists are marketing targets where mind boggling amounts of pharmaceutical money are spent in two important ways. The first is advertising directed at psychiatrists in professional journals, at meetings and by "drug detailing" which is sending pharmaceutical representatives to doctors' offices. The second is kind of different because it is advertising directed at you because you can increase doctor prescriptions for specific products, and thus profits. This is called "DTC" -- direct to consumer advertising -- known to be far more effective than just working on doctors. DTC are the ads you see on TV, hear on radio and see in magazines. Drug companies have substantially redirected ad money from doctors to consumers because the returns are much greater. Think about the ads you have seen for depression, bipolar disorder, erectile dysfunction, and social anxiety (rivaled only by ads for gastrointestinal, heart and diabetes medications). If you go into your psychiatrist's office and say I want to try this or that medication the doctor is quite likely to give you what you want. Psychiatrists, thus, are targeted to prescribe by the Pharma companies and their patients -- a powerful duo. We psychiatrists have our work cut out for us if we are to better filter and manage these demands.

What can you do? First, be an informed consumer. Just like with a car or washing machine you can learn about medications and other treatments for mental health problems. Turn to websites like your state mental health agency or the National Institute for Mental Health, the National Mental Health Association and the National Alliance for Mental Illness. Google key words about what you want to know, as you would for breast or prostate cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Ask others who have successfully navigated the mental health care system and taken medications. As has been said, caveat emptor -- let the buyer beware -- and be prepared.

Second, ask questions of your doctor and other health professionals. Rather than being a marketing arm of the pharmaceutical companies, be a prudent buyer. Don't be shy -- you are your best advocate. When you visit your doctor ask two questions: why are you suggesting this treatment for me and what alternatives do I have? When in doubt get a second opinion: any doctor who does not welcome a second opinion is not worth keeping.

Finally, recognize that medications for mental disorders often help but generally are not sufficient. Great reliance on medications has fostered inattention to individual and family therapy and skill building programs."







Does your psychiatrist check
for these medical problems?
From the great site of mental health advocate Pat Risser -
http://home.att.net/~LetFreedomRing/

Vitamin D and Mental Health











"I've been wondering how vitamin D and mental illness are related,
so I did a search and found that vitamin D does, indeed, play a role in mental illness based on these reasons from the Vitamin D Council's website:

Epidemiological evidence shows an association between reduced sun exposure and mental illness.
Mental illness is associated with low 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels.
Mental illness shows a significant comorbidity with illnesses thought to be associated with vitamin D deficiency.
Theoretical models (in vitro or animal evidence) exist to explain how vitamin D deficiency may play a causative role in mental illness.
Studies indicate vitamin D improves mental illness."

From the Huffington Post.
Link

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Video: Generation RX


"For decades, scores of doctors, government officials, journalists, and others have extolled the benefits of psychiatric medicines for children. GENERATION RX presents "the rest of the story" By employing the expertise of internationally respected professionals from the fields of medicine, ethics, journalism, and academia, GENERATION RX investigates collusion between drug companies and their regulatory watchdogs at the FDA and focuses on the powerful stories of real families who followed the advice of their doctors - and faced devastating consequences for doing so. GENERATION RX is a film about families who confronted horror and found nowhere to turn for help - and how scores of children have been caught in the vortex of mind-bending drugs at the earliest stages of their growth and development. This powerful documentary also questions whether we have forced millions of children onto pharmaceutical drugs for commercial rather than scientific reasons."
Link to the rest of the film - a series of 8 videos

Antipsychotic Use Spiralling in Children -
"Medical research out of the University of British Columbia suggests the number of children taking medications known as atypical antipsychotics has increased tenfold over the past decade, CBC News has learned.

The drugs — a class of medicines used to treat psychosis and other mental and emotional conditions — can have potentially serious side-effects, and are linked to increases in stroke and sudden death in adults.

Health Canada has not approved atypical antipsychotics for children.

"None of the atypical antipsychotics approved in Canada [Risperidone, Quetiapine, Olanzapine, Clozapine, Paliperidone, Ziprasidone] are indicated for use in children," Philippe Laroche, a Health Canada spokesman, told CBC News in an email on Thursday."

Link - CBC

None of this is news to us. Finding Normal, CBC

Friday, July 3, 2009

Times Online: Hooked on Prescription Drugs



"...for many people I think the problem is that they were prescribed by a doctor in the first place. You feel terrible, and the doctor says you should take this drug to make you feel better. You do what the doctor says. The drug does this, and you can’t stop taking it because if you do you will feel terrible again. I don’t blame doctors — you can understand why their approach is to prescribe drugs to alleviate symptoms. Unfortunately, they don’t have the time or resources to get to the deep root of the problem."
Link

Such an addiction can happen to anyone. A "peace-and-love" folk singer, Stevie Nicks' lyrics created the vibe that helped propel '70s supergroup Fleetwood Mac to fame. Nicks speaks out on her addiction to Klonopin here
Video of Nicks' STREET ANGEL, a song about that addiction

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Taking It Global Tackles Substance Abuse in Youth

"Substance abuse, also referred to as drug addiction, has been described as the continuous use of a harmful or potentially harmful substance for the purposes of sensory (i.e. your senses) or mood alteration that overtime may reinforce its permanent consumption (www.who.int). One of the factors most often associated with predicting one’s risk of future drug addiction is age. From childhood to young adulthood, people tend to be most susceptible to experimentation with drug use, however as we grow older, continued drug use begins to reflect future addiction. Yet even mild drug use can disrupt a young person’s life by negatively influencing their ability to relate with others (family, peers, etc.), maintain a sober composure over long periods of time, and it can even result in temporary memory loss depending on the type of drug and the length of use."

Link

And not all drugs people use that get them into trouble come from illicit sources.
from
http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2k7NSDUH/2k7results.cfm

Exploring Vaccines

Image: THE NEW MAN, by Salvador Dali

From the site:
"Exploring Vaccines takes an indepth look into vaccines, the diseases, and the issues that surround it.

Making an informed decison is based on the pros and cons of the vaccines and the diseases.

It is not an ‘anti-vaccine’ blog nor is it the purpose nor the intention to be. The first and foremost purpose and intention is:

*To educate the basics of the diseases and the vaccines.

*A resource for people to understand the law(s) in relationship to vaccines-the mandates and exemptions in the U.S.

*History of where we’ve been, where it has led, where we are now, and where we are headed.

* If you want all ‘pro-vaccine’ information just go to the pharmaceutical drug companies websites and read. Then come back here and read what they don’t tell you. Without both, you won’t have full informed consent.

*Our intent and purpose is for people to take ownership of their choice, whether it is to fully vaccinate, not vaccinate, or selective/delay.

*There are also articles on nutrition, vitamins and minerals, holistic alternatives and treatment for the diseases, if that is of interest to the reader.

DISCLAIMER: Natural Remedies and/or Vitamins and Minerals Section is used for educational and information purposes only, based on research done by the author. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be substituted for your own doctor’s medical advice.

FAIR USE NOTICE: The following information may contain quotations/excerpts from copyrighted (©) material or information from the FOIA or other sources and images. Quotations and/or excerpts will be linked to the original author. Material is made available for educational purposes, scientific, ethical, social, human rights issues, research, comments, and/or other issues. The author’s quoted statements are of ’fair use’ as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US intellectual property law."

Link

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