Pharmaceuticals Anonymous

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Dollars for Docs Widget

The Dollars for Docs Widget from ProPublica lets you track which doctors/health care providers are taking Pharma money.

"As part of ProPublica’s “Dollars for Docs” series and interactive news application, we've created a small widget that you can embed on your web site. It will let your readers look up whether their health care providers are taking money from the drug companies in our database. The widget shows the amount of money paid to each practitioner in our database, which company made the payment, and in some cases, what the companies saidthey were paying for: speaking fees, consulting, etc. The widget also lists what drugs each company sells so readers can check their own prescriptions.
We’ll be keeping this data up-to-date roughly quarterly, and the widget running on your site will always have the latest data."

http://www.propublica.org/nerds/item/use-our-dollars-for-docs-widget-on-your-site

We are going to grab this gadget, and hope you do too!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

WikiLeaks cables: Pfizer used dirty tricks to avoid clinical trial payout


"The world's biggest pharmaceutical company hired investigators to unearth evidence of corruption against the Nigerian attorney general in order to persuade him to drop legal action over a controversial drug trial involving children with meningitis, according to a leaked US embassy cable.
Pfizer was sued by the Nigerian state and federal authorities, who claimed that children were harmed by a new antibiotic, Trovan, during the trial, which took place in the middle of a meningitis epidemic of unprecedented scale in Kano in the north of Nigeria in 1996.
Last year, the company came to a tentative settlement with the Kano state government which was to cost it $75m.
But the cable suggests that the US drug giant did not want to pay out to settle the two cases – one civil and one criminal – brought by the Nigerian federal government."

Link at The Guardian

Shades of John le Carre's The Constant Gardener...



You can help fight these crimes - at The Constant Gardener Trust

Friday, December 3, 2010

Welcome! Looking for Information About Getting Off Meds?

You've come to the right place.
Browse through the Links in the right-hand column for a wealth of resources, or use the Search utility to see the articles we have collected by topic.

USA: Desperate jobless pharmacists?


"Do yourself and favor and start looking now," he wrote in the ad. "When you lose your job, you will interview from a position of weakness."
With the U.S. unemployment rate still soaring at 9.8 percent and 6.3 million Americans having been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, employers can now afford to be extremely picky about whom they hire. In addition to seeking very specific skills, degrees, and numbers of years of experience, many employers are specifying in job ads that candidates be "currently employed" elsewhere to be considered for the position.
Inokon, who has worked in staffing and recruiting for almost 15 years, said he has trouble placing jobless pharmacists because the reality of today's job market is that employers "want somebody who's wanted."
"When you show desperation in your face and your tone during an interview, management is going to pick up on that vibe. They're gonna feel it and see it and notice something's off," he told HuffPost. "It's like somebody who hasn't been on a date in a while -- they're awkward, and the other person's gonna be turned off. It's always better for a person to interview while they're employed."


Why would pharmacists be jobless? Who's next? 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/03/employers-wont-hire-the-u_n_791710.html

Friday, November 19, 2010

Vitamin D deficiency may be cause of chronic pain

"There has been increasing interest in determining the underlying cause of chronic pain syndromes, and vitamin D deficiency is currently under the spotlight.

The body uses vitamin D to help with the absorption of dietary calcium from the small intestine, and calcium is used to help with the development of bone. A deficiency in vitamin D means calcium cannot be efficiently absorbed which results in poorly formed bones. In children this can develop into rickets which causes a bowing of the legs, and in adults this causes osteomalacia, or poorly mineralized and softened bones. This has been found to contribute to chronic muscle and bone pain. There are numerous studies that associate vitamin D deficiency in patients who suffer from various conditions such as osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, certain forms of cancer, depression, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, headache and migraine, neuropathies, and chronic pain..."

Click on the link for the full article:
http://www.morningjournal.com/articles/2010/11/19/living/health/doc4ce44996d98ee697127793.txt

Monday, November 15, 2010

Mental Illness and Vitamin D Deficiency

From the Vitamin D Council
Vitamin D has a significant biochemistry in the brain. Nuclear receptors for vitamin D exist in the brain and vitamin D is involved in the biosynthesis of neurotrophic factors, synthesis of nitric oxide synthase, and increased glutathione levels—all suggesting an important role for vitamin D in brain function. Animal data indicates that tyrosine hydroxylase, the rate-limiting enzyme for all the brain's monoamines, is increased by vitamin D. Rats born to severely vitamin D deficient dams have profound brain abnormalities.
Link

Clearly this is an issue that affects us all! We ask about the most vulnerable - how many children, seniors and incarcerated persons are deficient in Vitamin D - and show abnormalities in behavior and thinking as a result?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

From THE ATLANTIC magazine

The Drug Pushers
"As America turns its health-care system over to the market, pharmaceutical reps are wielding more and more influence—and the line between them and doctors is beginning to blur


By CARL ELLIOTT
Back in the old days, long before drug companies started making headlines in the business pages, doctors were routinely called upon by company representatives known as “detail men.” To “detail” a doctor is to give that doctor information about a company’s new drugs, with the aim of persuading the doctor to prescribe them. When I was growing up, in South Carolina in the 1970s, I would occasionally see detail men sitting patiently in the waiting room outside the office of my father, a family doctor. They were pretty easy to spot. Detail men were usually sober, conservatively dressed gentlemen who would not have looked out of place at the Presbyterian church across the street. Instead of Bibles or hymn books, though, they carried detail bags, which were filled with journal articles, drug samples, and branded knickknacks for the office.

Today detail men are officially known as “pharmaceutical sales representatives,” but everyone I know calls them “drug reps.” Drug reps are still easy to spot in a clinic or hospital, but for slightly different reasons. The most obvious is their appearance. It is probably fair to say that doctors, pharmacists, and medical-school professors are not generally admired for their good looks and fashion sense. Against this backdrop, the average drug rep looks like a supermodel, or maybe an A-list movie star. Drug reps today are often young, well groomed, and strikingly good-looking. Many are women. They are usually affable and sometimes very smart. Many give off a kind of glow, as if they had just emerged from a spa or salon. And they are always, hands down, the best-dressed people in the hospital.

Drug reps have been calling on doctors since the mid-nineteenth century, but during the past decade or so their numbers have increased dramatically. From 1996 to 2001 the pharmaceutical sales force in America doubled, to a total of 90,000 reps. One reason is simple: good reps move product. Detailing is expensive, but almost all practicing doctors see reps at least occasionally, and many doctors say they find reps useful. One study found that for drugs introduced after 1997 with revenues exceeding $200 million a year, the average return for each dollar spent on detailing was $10.29. That is an impressive figure. It is almost twice the return on investment in medical-journal advertising, and more than seven times the return on direct-to-consumer advertising.

But the relationship between doctors and drug reps has never been uncomplicated, for reasons that should be obvious. The first duty of doctors, at least in theory, is to their patients. Doctors must make prescribing decisions based on medical evidence and their own clinical judgment. Drug reps, in contrast, are salespeople. They swear no oaths, take care of no patients, and profess no high-minded ethical duties. Their job is to persuade doctors to prescribe their drugs. If reps are lucky, their drugs are good, the studies are clear, and their job is easy. But sometimes reps must persuade doctors to prescribe drugs that are marginally effective, exorbitantly expensive, difficult to administer, or even dangerously toxic. Reps that succeed are rewarded with bonuses or commissions. Reps that fail may find themselves unemployed.

Most people who work in health care, if they give drug reps any thought at all, regard them with mixed feelings. A handful avoid reps as if they were vampires, backing out of the room when they see one approaching. In their view, the best that can be said about reps is that they are a necessary by-product of a market economy. They view reps much as NBA players used to view Michael Jordan: as an awesome, powerful force that you can never really stop, only hope to control.

Yet many reps are so friendly, so easygoing, so much fun to flirt with that it is virtually impossible to demonize them. How can you demonize someone who brings you lunch and touches your arm and remembers your birthday and knows the names of all your children? After awhile even the most steel-willed doctors may look forward to visits by a rep, if only in the self-interested way that they look forward to the UPS truck pulling up in their driveway. A rep at the door means a delivery has arrived: take-out for the staff, trinkets for the kids, and, most indispensably, drug samples on the house. Although samples are the single largest marketing expense for the drug industry, they pay handsome dividends: doctors who accept samples of a drug are far more likely to prescribe that drug later on...."

Continues at Link

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

OCD and Nutrition

We are glad that Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is getting some attention in the mainstream media.
OC87 - The Movie

However, we think the public would benefit from the inclusion of material on nutritional correction of OCD.
Nutrition for OCD

Charles Gant, MD - End Your Addiction Now

Dr. Charles Gant  writes,
"I specialize in molecular health and healing, especially as it supports psychospiritual growth and mental health recovery from problems such as AD/HD, autism, mood problems, addictions, food and carbohydrate compulsions and nicotine dependence.
Most people believe that their psychological well-being has little to do with the molecules in their body.  However, a rapidly growing body of scientific evidence has amassed suggesting that one’s molecular status is the most important factor in causing symptoms such as mood instability, substance and alcohol cravings and inattentiveness,and that it can be altered by 3 kinds of interventions: nutritional restoration, detoxification and hormonal balancing.
Like a weight lifter who takes vitamins and goes into the gym to pump iron, efforts directed at enhancing attentiveness and mindfulness is the "iron pumping" part of psychospiritual growth and mental health recovery.  A successful body builder must have both parts, good nutrition and exercise.  The same is true for psychospiritual growth and mental health recovery, because the brain is an organ just like the muscles.  Good nutrition, detoxification and hormonal balancing, along with mindfulness-directed exercises of the mind/brain get the best results."


Watch the video to learn about Dr. Gant's beliefs of the current status of addictions treatment and what really should be done to effectively overcome an addiction.





 About End Your Addiction Now -
Here is the write up from the publisher about the book:
"Whether it is to alcohol, drugs, smoking, or food, addiction is an overwhelming and destructive force that negatively impacts the lives of those in its grip. While there are programs galore that promise an end to these dependencies, the truth is, far too many “reformed” addicts fall right back into their old habits.
Why?
Because powerful biochemical factors override the psychological will to quit.
End Your Addiction Now is a unique book that not only explores the real cause of this recurring problem, but also offers a proven biochemical approach that can break addiction once and for all.
Written in easy-to-understand language, End Your Addiction Now is based upon the extensive research and medical practice of Dr. Charles Gant and other pioneers in the field of orthomolecular medicine. It both guides readers to physicians and facilities that support a biochemical approach to the treatment of substance-use disorders, and provides step-by-step directions for those who want to quit their addictions on their own.
At the heart of Dr. Gant’s approach is a unique “Quick-Start” program of nutritional supplements. After completing a questionnaire to determine which key brain chemical disruptions are causing their substance cravings, moods, and behaviors, readers are given a targeted list of nutritional supplements designed to jump-start their recovery–supplements that help reduce cravings within twenty-four to seventy-two hours.
The book then walks readers through a natural process of detoxification and additional biochemical testing to establish a complete biochemical profile.
Finally, it addresses the specific nutritional deficiencies that must be addressed for a full psychological and spiritual recovery."


Click on the link below to order from Amazon:
End Your Addiction Now: A Proven Nutritional Supplement Program That Can Set You Free


Download and read some of Dr. Gant's articles here - free
http://www.charlesgantmd.com/articles.html

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Novartis Paid Doctor Who Urged Use of Seizure Meds on Bipolar Kids

http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-business/novartis-paid-doc-who-urged-use-of-seizure-meds-on-bipolar-kids/6050


Novartis (NVS) gave research funds to a doctor who advocated using the anti-seizure drug Trileptal as an anti-bipolar depression treatment in children — an unapproved use of that drug — the company confirmed to BNET. The doctor, Michael Jay Reinstein, once told a newsletter for parents with bipolar children that “high enough” doses of Trileptal were useful in quelling aggression in bipolar children. Novartis spokesperson Anna Fradle said:
He has done clinical studies on Trileptal on our behalf.
She declined to detail how much money Novartis had paid Reinstein over the years. The use of antidepressants and other pyschiatric drugs in children is controversial. It is not well-established that conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder or mania exist in children, or that if they do the appropriate treatment is a seizure medicine like Trileptal. Yet Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Shire(SHPGY) and AstraZeneca (AZN) have all funded research by doctors who advocate antidepressants for kids, and so did Forest Labs (FRX).
The admission illustrates how a small group of doctors can end up on the payroll of multiple drug companies, triggering illegal “off-label” sales.
Novartis agreed to pay $422 million to end Department of Justice allegations that the company promoted Trileptal for unapproved uses and paid kickbacks to health care providers to induce them to prescribe the drug. In the whistleblower complaint that led to the settlement, former Novartis pharmaceutical sales rep Steve McKee alleged that he and other reps would encourage doctors to ask about off-label uses of Trileptal...

Continues at link

Photo of the doctor

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Statin Drugs Side Effects...


and the Misguided War On Cholesterol is an incredible book (an update of an the earlier book LIPITOR,® THIEF OF MEMORY, no longer available, now includes all statin side effects not just cognitive, hence a new a title and cover). A must read for anyone who is even remotely interested in how our sickness care, billed as health care, system works. Dr. Graveline, like many, obviously a very conscientious doctor, was suddenly faced with a number of dilemmas when he experienced transient global amnesia (memory loss) induced by Lipitor (one of the statin cholesterol lowering drugs). Interestingly the manufacturer even proclaims that there is no connection with its use to prevent heart disease or heart attacks yet the use of this useless drug continuers through slick marketing. For example:
"The Ontario government in Canada spends nearly 50% of its budget on health care, up from approximately 35% twenty years ago. In Canada $1.1 billion is spent on cholesterol lowering statin drugs like Lipitor each year. Ontario taxpayers spent $170 million for Lipitor in 2003-04." From NPI Daily <news@npinewsletters.com> June 21, 2005


http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2005/06/28/statin_drugs_side_effects.htm

More bad news on Statins and why you should avoid them here

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2003/11/07/bad_news_about_statin_drugs.htm

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2003/12/05/statin_drugs_memory_loss.htm

http://www.spacedoc.net/mitochondrial_damage_introduction

http://www.spacedoc.net/lipitor_thief_of_memory.html

Video - Food Matters

Education, not medication
Nutrition and prevention for cancer, mental health and other conditions
http://bjunki.com/Video/115/Food-Matters.aspx

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Canada: Mentally ill prisoners "warehoused" - CBC


"Canadian penitentiaries are becoming the largest psychiatric facilities in the country," said Howard Saper, correctional investigator of Canada.
"The Correctional Service of Canada assumes a legal duty of care to provide required mental health services, including clinical treatment and intervention. In failing to meet this legal obligation, too many mentally disordered offenders are simply being warehoused in federal penitentiaries. This is not effective or safe corrections."
Commissioned by the correctional investigator, the expert report entitled Under Warrant: A Review of the Implementation of the Correctional Service of Canada's Mental Health Strategy was written by John Service, former chief operating officer of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
In reviewing offender access to mental health services, the report found that the intermediate care component of the correctional service's mental health strategy has not yet been implemented due to a lack of funding. Offenders requiring intermediate care fall between those needing primary care and acute inpatient care.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/09/23/mentally-ill-prisons023.html#ixzz10O4Gfhv2

Fortunately, there are often nutritional solutions. Because they require only proper physical screening and appropriate (orthomolecular) vitamins, they are easy and inexpensive. Let's get started!


Alex Schauss - Vitamin C for Hepatitis C and Heroin withdrawal


Information on physical causes of mental health problems, behavior and learning difficulties, and violence

Related symptom checklist

The Extraordinary Walker Exam

29 Medical Causes of Schizophrenia

Some of our previous posts on the prison system


For more information on nutrition and mental health, please see our Links section. 



For further information on Corrections Canada
Ivan Zinger, LL.B., Ph.D.
Director of Policy and Senior Counsel
Office of the Correctional Investigator
(613) 990-2690

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Sugar: The Bitter Truth

Ending sugar addiction....an approach that works from a doctor who has had the courage to speak publicly about what is really happening to our food. Fascinating!


Robert H. Lustig, MD

Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, in the Division of Endocrinology Director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Program at UCSF

Dr. Lustig is a nationally-recognized authority in the field of neuroendocrinology, with a specific emphasis on the regulation of energy balance by the central nervous system. He is currently investigating the contribution of biochemical, neural, hormonal, and genetic influences in the expression of the current obesity epidemic both in children and adults. He has defined a syndrome of vagally-mediated beta-cell hyperactivity which leads to insulin hypersecretion and obesity, and which is treatable by insulin suppression. This phenomenon may occur in up to 20% of the obese population. He is interested in the hypothalamic signal transduction of insulin and leptin, and how these two systems interact. He is studying the cardiovascular morbidity associated with hyperinsulinemia, and developing methods to evaluate and prevent this phenomenon in children. He is also analyzing the contribution of the autonomic nervous system to insulin secretion and insulin resistance in obese children, and the utility of assessing insulin dynamics in targeting obesity therapy.

Dr. Lustig graduated from MIT, and received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. He performed his pediatric residency at St. Louis Children's Hospital, and his clinical fellowship at UCSF. From there, he spent six years as a post-doctoral fellow in neuroendocrinology at The Rockefeller University in New York.

Dr. Lustig has authored over 70 research articles and 35 chapters. He is the Chairman of the Obesity Task Force of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, a member of the Obesity Task force of The Endocrine Society, and on the Steering Committee of the International Endocrine Alliance to Combat Obesity.



Friday, September 3, 2010

Hypoglycemia, mental health and addictions

Hypoglycemia

This is a common condition of an abnormally low level of sugar in the blood. Sugar levels frequently change throughout the day and may be normal sometimes and abnormal at others. Symptoms include weakness, shakiness, excess hunger, anxiety, outbursts, faintness, headaches, passing out, delirium, coma, hallucinations, excess sweating, the appearance of intoxication, marked personality changes, irritability, negativism, mood swings, depression, crying spells, and a panorama of similar mental symptoms.

Numerous patients given psychiatric diagnoses have actually turned out to have hypoglycemia, including those classified with depression, manic-depressive disorder, and schizophrenia.

http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/causesofschizophrenia.htm#Hypoglycemia

What is hypoglycemia?

Questionnaire to help determine what ails you. From Blake Graham in Australia (PDF)

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Zombie Drug Rep




Pharmageddon 2012 – the end of an era for pharmaceutical marketing?
"According to a story from MedAdNews, Pharmageddon 2012 is an experimental lab on social medias where communications agencies Friday Morning and S+R Medical Communications expose – in a very unusual and somewhat anonymous way – the findings of a round-table discussion they have had with doctors in early 2009. It’s meant to shed a light on the state of the relationship between healthcare professionals, the pharmaceutical industry and the marketing efforts behind pharma products by using an analogy to “2012“. They use the social media with apocalyptic scenarios to tell that story in quite an entertaining way."
Link

Pharmageddon 2012

More fun videos are here
http://www.youtube.com/user/pharmageddon2012

Friday, August 20, 2010

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Kafkaesque interrogation at Vienna court: Are the Baxter charges behind this?

Bird flu whistleblower Jane Burgermeister defends herself against proceedings designed to strip her of her civil rights in Austria

Judges are supposed to make their decisions on the basis of evidence, documents and facts, But in the court Döbling in Vienna, this is clearly not a requirement.

An email from an unknown person appeared to be set to be the basis of the decision to appoint a legal guardian and strip me of all my civic rights at top speed when I went at 10 am this morning to the court in Döbling, Vienna, for my interrogation by judge Dr Hannes Winge.

I was told the interview would probably last only 15 minutes and not to bother bringing any documents along as they were all.

To my surprise, Dr Winge’s first question to me in his spacious office was about an email from a person I have never heard of called „Christina Braun“, writing apparently about my role in the swine flu pandemic.

He clearly wanted to focus on this email from this Christina Braun and seemed intent on appointing a legal guardian for me without delay, even asking me to name a representative. I refused because the whole procedure is not justified by the law.

He seemed to have absolutely knowledge at all or even the slightest interest in the copies of the appeals I had handed in one month ago with documents proving that Judge Michaela Lauer’s reasons for appointing a legal guardian in connection with my Dad’s inheritance are all false even though this should have been the focus of our interview.

A copy lay on his desk. But the pristine pages betrayed that they had come straight out of the photocopy machine and had lain untouched ever since - and that even though Dr Winge is making such a weighty decision about my future and is supposed to be studying the evidence.

I had to insist that Dr Winge look at the proof, documents, bills, emails and evidence that Judge Lauer is pushing to appoint a legal guardian for me on the basis of false accusations and in order to bury evidence of her corruption.

In the end, I had to spend two hours in the office as I laid out all the evidence to Dr Winge – evidence so strong he could not ignore it. At some point, even the most capricious justice system has to take account of reality.

Dr Winge graciously agreed at the end to look at the files and study the evidence. Foolish me! I had been under the impression the examination of evidence also happened before the interview – and not only after.

He said he would need about a month and would then make his decision about whether to drop the case or not.

I pointed out to him that he would have to give reasons for his decision and that the reasons had to have some basis in facts and that appointing legal guardians etc for me just to silence me is actually a criminal offence.

Instead of a fair hearing , Dr Winge appeared to wish to discuss only an irrelevant email from a person I have never heard of and to move forward to appoint a legal guardian immediately.

That remainds of the fake criminal charges created by the corruption state prosecutor Katja Wallenschewksi out of letters of protest about my persecution by Heiner Lohmann and Christine Cote.

It seems any, „false flag“ email or criminal charges will serve as a happy excuse not to look at the facts at hand and to continue with framing me.

I have to ask myself: why is the Austrian government so desperate to silence me? Why do they risk such a scandal to strip me of my rights? Anyone who reads the appeals and criminal charges on the internet can see that the accusations made against me are trivial or lies.

Being stripped of your civil rights because you allegedly have not done things like pay the insurance of your Dad’s house when you have the bill proving you paid — and when it was the job of the Judge Lauer and solicitor Hutz anyway to do this is the first place — is like a black, black comedy. Knowing you could be detained forever because Judge Lauer falsely claims I “made ever new demans for the evaluation of various properties” is like a twist in a Stephen King novel.

What the judge says about me amounts to defamation.

One reason the Austrian government could be so deseperate to remove me is because the Council of Europe report by UK MP Paul Flynn on the swine flu pandemic hype is set to be debated in the Austrian parliament, along with all other parliaments in Europe, in the next session. Also, 220 MEPs demanded an investigation into the swine flu at the European Parliament, though this has been blocked for now.

Maybe the Austrian govenrment fears that the upcoming debate will highlight once more the incident where 72 kilos of seasonal flu was contaminated by Baxter in February 2009 in Orth an der Donau. Because the deadly bird flu virus has to be kept in a biosecurity level 3 lab, an accidental contamination can be virtually ruled out. The material was sent to 16 labs in four countries. Only an alert lab technician in the Czech Republic detected the virus after testing it on ferrets.

I filed charges against Baxter on April 8th after there was no meaningful investigation by the authorities. A vet was sent to inspect the lab. The state prosecutor did start an investigation which was dropped in September 2009.

Baxter could have sparked a global bird flu pandemic, triggering mass vaccinations, in Februrary 2009. These pandemic vaccinations can even be made compulsory under the pandemic level 6 declaration by WHO.

A few days after I filed charges, the swine flu mysteriously appeared in Mexico.

That the swine flu virus was hyped by WHO and by the pharamceutical companies for profit has been confirmed, in the meantime, by evidence presented reports by the Council of Europe and studies such as have appeared in the BMJ.

It could well be that Baxter and the international corporate crime syndicate that I accused of deliberately starting a pandemic for profit in April 2009 is feeling less confident about ist ability to withstand scrutiny.

Only about 3% to 4% of the Austrians took the swine flu vaccine in spite of the gigantic media hype and the exhortations of the health minister Alois Stöger. About 40% take the seasonal flu shot every year as a matter of routine. The authorities clearly anticipated that 60% to 70% would take the swine flu shot.

But the Austrians did not believe the hype. And the government must be worried about its ability to give its spin to the whole swine flu pandemic and Baxter bird flu incident.

As pharamceutical companies and government gear up for unprecedented vaccine campaigns, any scrutiny of the Baxter’s contamination in February 2009 may be seen as a increasingly big threat.

Indeed, if Baxter were ever convicted in a court of law of deliberately attempting to start a global bird flu pandemic, it could well deal a death blow to the whole pharmaceutical industry and vaccine complex around the world.

Getting rid of me though a legal guardianship under false and trivial accusations and also by framing me by fake criminal charges may seem a better option given the possible repercussions of a substantial investigation into Baxter.

The sheer amount of publicity my case is getting will, however, make it impossible for them to remove me. The legal basis is non existant and there is only so much caprice and eccentricity a justice system can allow itself in the age of the internet before it discredits itself totally in the eyes of the general public.

As soon as the court guardianship is dropped, I can and will file for compensation because this unjustified legal guardianship actually boils down to an attempt at an illegal detention and the silencing of a whistleblower.

The longer this drags on before it is finally laid to rest as it must finally be, the higher my compensation claims can be and the more publicity this case will generate.

The Baxter case is once more already in the spotlight along with the corruption of the Austrian justice system that failed to investigate the contamination of 72 kilos of seasonal flu vaccine material with the bird f u virus that could potentially have endangered people all around the globe.

On a personal note, the last few weeks have made me understand what the word “Kafkaseque” and “surreal” really means. Being hounded by a malevolent state is no joke at all.

Nightmarish as this time has been, I have been overwhelmed by the amount of support I have had from people all over the world.

I don’t have time to answer all the emails, alas , as the likes of Dr Winge force me to go on filing documents etc, though I try to answer as many emails as I can.

But the support of so many people, also from Switzerland and from We Are Change Austria, has been truly amazing, and I feel humbled and grateful to have experienced so much generosity, kindess and good will from so many people around the world.

Link

Video and petition

PriceWaterhouseCoopers bankers tell Pharma that they bungled public trust on antidepressants and that vaccines shall be the new cash cow.

WHO reveals names of secret committee: Nancy Cox of the CDC and other experts admit to pharma industry ties

Third of WHO advisers on the swine flu epidemic that never was received support from drugs firms

By Sophie Borland

Daily Mail

A third of the experts advising the World Health Organisation about the swine flu pandemic had ties to drugs firms, it has emerged.

Five of the 15 specialists who sat on the emergency committee had received funding from pharmaceutical giants, or were linked to them through their research.

The revelation will prompt speculation that the ‘pandemic’ was wildly overestimated and largely fuelled by the drugs industry who stood to benefit from the panic.

Read more at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1302505/Third-WHO-swine-flu-advisers-received-support-drugs-firms.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#

Link

The Hidden Tragedy of the CIA's Experiments on Children

Mary is only five years old. She sits on a small, straight-backed chair, moving her legs back and forth, humming the same four notes over and over and over. Her head, framed in a tangled mass of golden curls, moves up and down with each note. For the first three years of her life, Mary was thought to be a mostly normal child. Then, after she began behaving oddly, she had been handed off to a foster family. Her father and mother didn't want her any longer. She had become too strange for her father, whose alcoholism clouded any awareness of his young daughter. Mary's mother had never wanted her anyway and was happy to have her placed in another home. When the LSD Mary has been given begins to have its effects, she stops moving her head and legs and sits staring at the wall. She doesn't move at all. After about ten minutes, she looks at the nearby physician observing her, and says, "God isn't coming back today. He's too busy. He won't be back here for weeks."


From early 1940 to 1953, Dr. Lauretta Bender, a highly respected child neuropsychiatrist practicing at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, experimented extensively with electroshock therapy on children who had been diagnosed with "autistic schizophrenia." In all, it has been reported that Bender administered electroconvulsive therapy to at least 100 children ranging in age from three years old to 12 years, with some reports indicating the total may be twice that number. One source reports that, inclusive of Bender's work, electroconvulsive treatment was used on more than 500 children at Bellevue Hospital from 1942 to 1956, and then at Creedmoor State Hospital Children's Service from 1956 to 1969. Bender was a confident and dogmatic woman, who bristled at criticism, oftentimes refused to acknowledge reality even when it stood starkly before her.

Despite publicly claiming good results with electroshock treatment, privately Bender said she was seriously disappointed in the aftereffects and results shown by the subject children. Indeed, the condition of some of the children appeared to have only worsened. One six-year-old boy, after being shocked several times, went from being a shy, withdrawn child to acting increasingly aggressive and violent. Another child, a seven-year-old girl, following five electroshock sessions had become nearly catatonic.

Years later, another of Bender's young patients who became overly aggressive after about 20 treatments, now grown, was convicted in court as a "multiple murderer." Others, in adulthood, reportedly were in and of trouble and prison for a battery of petty and violent crimes. A 1954 scientific study of about 50 of Bender's young electroshock patients, conducted by two psychologists, found that nearly all were worse off after the "therapy" and that some had become suicidal after treatment. One of the children studied in 1954 was the son of well-known writer Jacqueline Susann, author of the bestselling novel "Valley of the Dolls." Susann's son, Guy, was diagnosed with autism shortly after birth and, when he was three years old, Dr. Bender convinced Susann and her husband that Guy could be successfully treated with electroshock therapy. Guy returned home from Bender's care a nearly lifeless child. Susann later told people that Bender had "destroyed" her son. Guy has been confined to institutions since his treatment.

To their credit, some of Dr. Bender's colleagues considered her use of electroshock on children "scandalous," but few colleagues spoke out against her, a situation still today common among those in the medical profession. Said Dr. Leon Eisenberg, a widely respected physician and true pioneer in the study of autistic children, "[Lauretta Bender] claimed that some of these children recovered [because of her use of shock treatment]. I once wrote a paper in which I referred to several studies by [Dr. E. R.] Clardy. He was at Rockwin State Hospital - the back up to Bellevue - and he described the arrival of these children. He considered them psychotic and perhaps worse off then before the treatment."

Continues here

Monday, August 9, 2010

FSD: Sex for our pleasure or their profit?

FSD - "Female Sexual Dysfunction"

Challenging the Medicalization of Sex

WELCOME

The New View Campaign was formed in 2000 as a grassroots network to challenge the distorted and oversimplified messages about sexuality that the pharmaceutical industry relies on to sell its new drugs.

The pharmaceutical industry wants people to think that sexual problems are simple medical matters, and it offers drugs as expensive magic fixes. But sexual problems are complicated, sexuality is diverse, and no drug is without side effects.

The goal of the New View Campaign is to expose biased research and promotional methods that serve corporate profit rather than people's pleasure and satisfaction. The Campaign challenges all views that reduce sexual experience to genital biology and thereby ignore the many dimensions of real life.

The New View Campaign is devoted to education, activism, and empowerment. We invite you to benefit from the information on this website, and we invite your support and participation.


Link

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Western fast-food diet could be major cause of ADHD

Western fast-food diet could be major cause of ADHD

Attention deficient disorder (ADHD) is a growing problem, afflicting around 5 per cent of children. Now researchers say they have pinpointed one of its main causes. Adolescents who eat a Western diet of fast food - processed, fried and refined meals – are twice as likely to suffer from ADHD as those who mainly eat healthier fare. A processed, fast food diet is very low in fatty acids, and high in total fat, saturated fat, refined sugar and sodium. Omega-3 fatty acids, folate and fibre - which can be found in fish, whole grains, fruits and vegetables – help develop mental health, and aid optimal brain function. Researchers at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth, Australia studied the diets of around 1800 adolescents aged up to 14 years. Of these, 115 had been diagnosed with ADHD. Prof Wendy Oddy, who headed up the research, said that the fastfood diet also wasn’t providing enough micronutrients that can aid attention and concentration.

Source: Journal of Attention Disorders, 2010; doi: 10.1177/1087054710365990

Monday, August 2, 2010

Book Review: Natural remedies for psychiatric conditions

Handbook of Psychotropic Herbs

by Ethan Russo, MD

The Haworth Press, Inc. 10 Alice Street, Binghampton, New York 13904 USA; 800-429-6784; sales@haworthpress.com

Softcover, 2001, $29.95, 352 pp.

In the late 1980s the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) burst upon the psychiatric landscape, and fueled by massive advertising campaigns, these new "miraculous" drugs for depression began to generate enormous profits from the ensuing parade of pharmaceuticals: fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil), fluvoxamine (Luvox), and citalopram (Celexa). A major change in the treatment of psychiatric disorders came with the new drugs: family doctors began to prescribe them--to children as young as four--and today we are seeing the sequelae of suicidal ideation in young people taking these drugs, as well as aggression (most of the school shooters, such as Columbine, were taking one of the SSRIs)

Now that we know the deadly side effects of these drugs, it seems imperative to find alternatives to the SSRIs. Although many people use herbs occasionally, most are unaware of a number of well-researched herbs found to be effective in treating depression, insomnia, dementia and cognitive impairment, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Ethan Russo, MD, author of several books on psychotropic herbs, and a well-known neurologist with vast clinical experience, has remedied this lack with the Handbook of Psychotropic Herbs.

Dr. Russo's books are solidly rooted in scientific data. His analysis of herbal remedies for psychiatric conditions includes history of usage, botany, preparation of extracts, and the newest research, making his Handbook of Psychotropic Herbs a unique and reliable resource for practitioners.



Continues at link

Friday, July 30, 2010

Mental health experts ask: Will anyone be normal?

The APA started the DSM as a fundraiser. Now look where it's got us.


Mental health experts ask: Will anyone be normal?

By Kate Kelland

LONDON | Tue Jul 27, 2010 5:23pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - An updated edition of a mental health bible for doctors may include diagnoses for "disorders" such as toddler tantrums and binge eating, experts say, and could mean that soon no-one will be classed as normal.

Leading mental health experts gave a briefing on Tuesday to warn that a new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is being revised now for publication in 2013, could devalue the seriousness of mental illness and label almost everyone as having some kind of disorder.

Citing examples of new additions like "mild anxiety depression," "psychosis risk syndrome," and "temper dysregulation disorder," they said many people previously seen as perfectly healthy could in future be told they are ill.

"It's leaking into normality. It is shrinking the pool of what is normal to a puddle," said Til Wykes of the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London.

The criteria are designed to provide clear definitions for professionals who treat patients with mental disorders, and for researchers and pharmaceutical drug companies seeking to develop new ways of treating them.

Wykes and colleagues Felicity Callard, also of Kings' Institute of Psychiatry, and Nick Craddock of Cardiff University's department of psychological medicine and neurology, said many in the psychiatric community are worried that the further the guidelines are expanded, the more likely it will become that nobody will be classed as normal any more.

"Technically, with the classification of so many new disorders, we will all have disorders," they said in a joint statement. "This may lead to the belief that many more of us 'need' drugs to treat our 'conditions' -- (and) many of these drugs will have unpleasant or dangerous side effects."

The scientists said "psychosis risk syndrome" diagnosis was particularly worrying, since it could falsely label young people who may only have a small risk of developing an illness.

"It's a bit like telling 10 people with a common cold that they are "at risk for pneumonia syndrome" when only one is likely to get the disorder," Wykes told the briefing.

The American Psychiatric Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The scientists gave examples from the previous revision to the DSM, which was called DSM 4 and included broader diagnoses and categories for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and childhood bipolar disorders.

This, they said, had "contributed to three false epidemics" of these conditions, particularly in the United States.

"During the last decade, how many doctors were harangued by worried parents into giving drugs like Ritalin to children who didn't really need it?," their statement asked.

Millions of people across the world, many of them children, take ADHD drugs including Novartis' Ritalin, which is known generically as methylphenidate, and similar drugs such as Shire Plc's Adderall and Vyvanse. In the United States alone, sales of these drugs was about $4.8 billion in 2008.

Wykes and Callard published a comment in The Journal of Mental Health expressing their concern about the upcoming DSM revision and highlighting another 10 or more papers in the same journal from other scientists who were also worried. DSM 5 is due to be published in May 2013.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

'Angel-faced monster': A case of Pyroluria?

From the DAILY MAIL:

'Angel-faced monster' - Boy, 8, hit teacher, set fire to family home, pushed his grandfather down stairs and tortured the dog

"Kieran was permanently excluded from Northbrook Primary School in Leyland last October.
Teachers wrote to his parents warning that his behaviour 'posed a serious threat to the welfare, health and safety of fellow pupils, staff and not least himself'.
He has since been attending a short-stay school where staff are trying to deal with his behavioural difficulties.
His diet has been changed and he has been treated with drugs for ADHD, but to no avail.
A Lancashire county council spokesman said its priority with young children with behavioural difficulties is 'always to support them to return to a mainstream setting as soon as possible'."

This sounds like a case of Pyroluria, also known as the Mauve Factor. It is a disorder that leads to a deficiencies of essential brain nutrients. Fortunately it is easy to correct.

What are the effects of Pyroluria?
http://www.nutritional-healing.com.au/content/articles-content.php?heading=Pyroluria

Dr. Kaslow on Pyroluria
http://www.drkaslow.com/html/pyroluria.html

How can you tell if you have Pyroluria? Here is Blake Graham's checklist
http://www.nutritional-healing.com.au/content/questionnaire.pdf


Dr. Woody McGinnis PDF on identifying and treating the Mauve Factor
http://web.mac.com/autismprotocols/Site/Pyroluria_files/woodymcginnis.pdf





Our previous posts on Pyroluria are here


http://pharmaceuticalsanonymous.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-lsd-leads-to-mental-illness.html

http://pharmaceuticalsanonymous.blogspot.com/2009/03/charles-mansons-biochemistry.html


http://pharmaceuticalsanonymous.blogspot.com/2009/10/that-smell.html

http://pharmaceuticalsanonymous.blogspot.com/2009/07/michael-jackson-they-keep-feeding-him.html

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Humor: Wonder Drug Inspires Unwavering Love of Pharma

From the irrepressible ONION


Wonder Drug Inspires Deep, Unwavering Love Of Pharmaceutical Companies
MARCH 6, 2006 | ISSUE 42•10

NEW YORK—The Food and Drug Administration today approved the sale of the drug PharmAmorin, a prescription tablet developed by Pfizer to treat chronic distrust of large prescription-drug manufacturers.

Pfizer executives characterized the FDA's approval as a "godsend" for sufferers of independent-thinking-related mental-health disorders.

Enlarge Image

PharmAmorin, now relieving distrust of large pharmaceutical conglomerates in pharmacies nationwide.
"Many individuals today lack the deep, abiding affection for drug makers that is found in healthy people, such as myself," Pfizer CEO Hank McKinnell said. "These tragic disorders are reaching epidemic levels, and as a company dedicated to promoting the health, well-being, and long life of our company's public image, it was imperative that we did something to combat them."

Although many psychotropic drugs impart a generalized feeling of well-being, PharmAmorin is the first to induce and focus intense feelings of affection externally, toward for-profit drug makers. Pfizer representatives say that, if taken regularly, PharmAmorin can increase affection for and trust in its developers by as much as 96.5 percent.

"Out of a test group of 180, 172 study participants reported a dramatic rise in their passion for pharmaceutical companies," said Pfizer director of clinical research Suzanne Frost. "And 167 asked their doctors about a variety of prescription medications they had seen on TV."

Frost said a small percentage of test subjects showed an interest in becoming lobbyists for one of the top five pharmaceutical companies, and several browsed eBay for drug-company apparel.
Link

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Video: The Beautiful Truth


The cancer societies tell us that no diet has ever been devised that can cure cancer. Is that true?
Link

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The biggest drug dealers are listed on the stock exchange

(Reuters) - Abuse of prescription drugs is growing rapidly around the world, with more people abusing legal narcotics than heroin, cocaine and ecstasy combined, the United Nations global drugs watchdog said on Wednesday.


Read the article here

Monday, June 21, 2010

Medicating Children: A “Whistleblower’s” Lawsuit Raises a Novel Legal Question

calvinhobbesritalinjpg


From Robert Whitaker's Blog, MAD IN AMERICA, at Psychology Today

"In the past few years, a number of pharmaceutical companies have admitted to federal charges that they illegally
marketed psychiatric medications for non-approved uses, with the companies paying large sums to settle the cases.
Now, a legal complaint filed by the Law Project for Psychiatric Rightsin an Alaskan federal court is raising a
related question. When healthcare providers bill Medicaid for prescriptions of psychiatric drugs to children for non-
approved uses, are they committing Medicaid fraud?
The case, United States ex-rel Law Project for Psychiatric Rights v. Matsutani, was unsealed earlier this year, and
legal papers were recently filed that have brought this novel question -- which obviously has profound implications
for the prescribing of psychiatric medications to poor children and adolescents -- into sharp focus.
The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights (PsychRights) , which is headed by Alaskan attorney James Gottstein, filed its
whistleblower complaint in April 2009. Known as a qui tam lawsuit, PsychRights sued on behalf of the federal
government under the False Claims Act, which allows private individuals to pursue legal complaints against
individuals or companies that are allegedly defrauding the government. In December, the federal government
declined to join PsychRights in the case.
PsychRights named Alaskan state officials, hospitals, mental health agencies, psychiatrists, and pharmacies as
defendants. In its complaint, PsychRights argues that the federal government has agreed to provide Medicaid
reimbursement only for those outpatient drugs that are prescribed for an FDA-approved use or for a use supported
by a medical compendium (such as the DRUGDEX Information System.) PsychRights maintains that the defendants
defrauded the federal government when they billed Medicaid (or the federal Children's Health Insurance Program)
for outpatient drugs that didn't meet this standard.
As part of its complaint, PsychRights identified 16 commonly prescribed psychiatric medications that have no
"medically accepted indication" for youth under 18 years old, and it also identified the limited number of "medically
accepted indications" that exist for 32 other psychiatric drugs. PsychRights compiled this list of "approved" uses by
methodically going through the drug compendiums, and it serves as the evidential heart of the complaint, for it
reveals that psychiatric medications are regularly prescribed to poor children for non-approved uses. PsychRights is asking the federal court to stop this practice (which it argues is harmful), and to pay hefty financial penalties for the fraudulent claims made to date."


Riveting! Thank you, Robert Whitaker.

Read the rest at
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mad-in-america/

Some of our previous posts on Robert Whitaker's views and anti-psych meds articles -

http://www.thestreetspirit.org.
This site is owned by The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC),
a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice and peace.

http://www.thestreetspirit.org/August2005/mad.htm

http://www.thestreetspirit.org/August2005/madinterview.htm

http://www.thestreetspirit.org/August2005/leonards.htm

http://www.thestreetspirit.org/August2005/zyprexa.htm

http://web.archive.org/web/20071119112008/http://www.namiscc.org/newsletters/February02/JohnNashDrugFreeRecovery.htm

http://pharmaceuticalsanonymous.blogspot.com/2009/12/us-kids-represent-psychiatric-goldmine.html

http://pharmaceuticalsanonymous.blogspot.com/2008/05/royal-recovery-from-schizophrenia.html

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

DSM: The Truth About Mental Health Disorders - Dr. John Breeding


Do you think the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) is based on science? Listen to this presentation by Dr. John Breeding and learn.
Dr. Breeding's site is Wildest Colts
There are 29 known and documented physical causes of schizophrenia. Look for them in the DSM, and get back to us if you see them there.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Benzo survivor: Gurli Bagnall

Gurli Bagnall's Story
The Birth of The Bounty Hunters

My Experience

In her book "Benzo Junkie", Beatrice Faust tells how one of the fears she used to experience, was sustaining some sort of injury that would leave her brain damaged. In the benzodiazepine experience, she said, the thing she feared most, had happened. It happened to me as well.

I had been married for twenty-one years when, in 1975, my husband and I called it quits. It was a traumatic time and I was not sleeping. My friendly doctor prescribed Ativan, a drug that I had never heard of. Thankfully it worked – but only for a few weeks. "Never mind," he said. "We'll simply double the dose." And from there on, it was all downhill.

I lost a home, a teaching career, financial security, friends and much more. I could only read hesitantly and by the time I got to the second line, I had forgotten what the first was about. I carried a dictionary in my handbag everywhere I went, because I could no longer spell, and when I tried to express myself verbally, the brain would not release the words. I am writing things today, that I could not have read, let alone understood, while I took benzos.

Teaching was out of the question and trying to earn a living by other means – any means – was part of the nightmare and I welcomed the times when I felt so sick, I had to stay home.

In 1983, presenting the typical picture of a benzo addict, I sought the help of another doctor. "I'll give you something that's much better for insomnia," she said as she scribbled out a prescription. "Take these with the Ativan." I had never heard of Halcion either. The nightmare continued with a vengeance.

Apart from work where I was considered to be slow, quiet and withdrawn, I lived in total isolation. My home was my refuge. There I closed the door against the world that judged by what it saw, and dealt with my misery as best I could.

In 1985, with no answers in sight, I tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose. In 1986, I feared that I would lose my job and therefore the small flat I now called home, so the doctor prescribed an anti-depressant – Doxepin. It did nothing except make me put on weight fast and my face became so bloated that I couldn't recognise it in the mirror. "Tut tut!" said my doctor. "You really must exercise self control!"

By May 1989, although still very confused, I felt I had to come off the drugs. I raised the subject fearfully with my doctor who, to my surprise, agreed it would be a good thing to do. But I was shocked when she referred me to the drug and alcoholic clinic of the local hospital. "Why is she sending me there?" I agonised. "I'm not a drug addict. All I've ever taken are the pills she prescribed." Exactly!

I only attended a couple of sessions because even in my befuddled state, I realised the counsellors hadn't a clue what they were dealing with. A social worker took me to a TRANX meeting and I met Vicky, a recovered victim, who made herself available for telephone counselling. She has my life long gratitude.

I dropped the Doxepin straight away; the Ativan took four weeks, but that once-a-day low dose Halcion tablet took me another five months during which it was substituted with Valium for "easier" withdrawal.

In the three years the doctor prescribed Doxepin, my weight had increased by 50%. I now know that excess weight gain and facial oedema are the adverse effects of that drug.

Symptoms of toxicity, withdrawal and post-withdrawal are listed in some medical journals but they are only words. Nowhere are they translated into terms that reflect the human suffering.

In those early days, I learnt that whatever frightening crisis arose (and they came thick and fast), my chances of surviving each event were greater if I rode it out at home alone, for during the first year of being drug free, I nearly died three times due to medical intervention.

During this period I drew a lot of cartoons. They took the dignity from those who claimed respect, but who deserved only contempt. It gave me something to laugh at and helped to defuse the anger.

In 1991, a specialist diagnosed the ongoing post-withdrawal syndrome as the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I'd never heard of that before either, but he acknowledged it had been triggered by the benzos. It didn't take long to discover that this diagnosis was like jumping from one very hot frying pan straight into another.

This poorly understood disease has had many names – such as Yuppie Flu which is as trivialising as the CFS. Currently, there is a move afoot to use Myalgic Encephalomyelitis as the official title but that is hotly contested by certain people – particularly within the psychiatric community. They want to claim CFS and all those who suffer it, as their exclusive property.

The WHO categorises it as a disease of the nervous system which, in the benzo context, is no surprise. Nevertheless, just as the medical establishment denied iatrogenesis, so most still deny the disease simply because they do not understand it."

Read more of Gurli's story here
Ordering details for THE BOUNTY HUNTERS are here