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ADMIN NOTE Also see Injured by True Hope Truehope's EmpowerPlus vs an ordinary multivitamin Brain scans - fMRI, QEEG, PET, or SPECT - for psychiatric problems Genetic testing: "Personalized medicine," liver enzymes, genotypes, GeneSightRx, Genomind, etc. Alternative to Meds Center (ATMC) in Sedona, Arizona? Is there anyone out there that has tried the True Hope program? Has anyone had success on it and what were your experiences? I am currently on it but went off the drugs much too quickly.

This story is intended to be published elsewhere as a human interest article. The author is an occasional freelance writer. I asked for them. That's the part of my 12-year journey with antidepressants and their fallout that really sticks in my head. I asked for them. The drugs that would have such a devastating effect on my life were something that I asked for. I believe in personal responsibility. But then I have to remind myself. When you walk into a doctor's office with a few issues – in my case a touch of anxiety and mildly obsessive thoughts – there's only one adult in the room and that's the person with the expensive embroidered degree on the wall. In 2011, I was encouraged by a counsellor to ask my general practitioner (GP) for antidepressants. The counsellor informed me I would be facing an uphill battle for life if I didn't use them. A 5-minute consult with my GP followed with a few vague questions. 'Are they addictive?' I ask. 'No, not at all' was the response. I was prescribed a low dose of 10 milligrams of citalopram, an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor variety (SSRI). It stimulates neurotransmitters in the brain to allow serotonin to linger a lot longer. 'Here's your script, the chemist is next door' I was told. Us New Zealanders can be a trusting lot. We live at the bottom of the world, we stick to our own and tend to go with the flow. As an aside, we have major housing issues, social inequalities and a mental heath crisis, but tell us we can't go to the beach for a few weeks due to a pandemic – then we riot! The pills worked for about 6 months, then the old issues cropped up. Fast forward about a year, I'm back in front of my trusted GP, who told me to up the dose to 20 milligrams. It was at this point I was informed that I would likely be on these drugs for life due to my tendency to 'worry'. After this, things settled down for a bit and I sank into my medicated heaven. Now the side effects started creeping in. Some of these were deeply personal (Google it). But the biggest one for me was the jaw clenching or 'bruxism' and to this day I still have the cracks in my teeth from this. Back to the GP. I was told it wasn't bruxism but an ear infection and with a patronising air was given Flixonase nose drops. Yeah, they didn't work. After this, I decided to just accept things and put up with my lot. But by 2018, enough was enough. More side effects were creeping in and I didn't want to be a slave to the jagged little pills anymore. I decided to come off. With only some limited knowledge of tapering and no advice from anyone I reduced dose to 10mg. Big mistake. My world fell apart, my days became nights and I sank into a deep depression. Arguments and confrontations with family and friends became a thing that year. A few weeks later, back to my old friend the GP – you'd think I'd learn by now. I asked about using a different drug with less side effects. Another 5 minute consult. 'Are they addictive!?' I asked 'Nah, not to my knowledge!' I was prescribed Buspirone, a different class of antidepressant. Two days after taking these I was almost housebound with paranoia, agoraphobia (fear of outdoors) and obsessive thoughts. I tossed the latest pills in the bin and reinstated back up to 10mg citalopram, a lower dose than I was originally on. Things improved somewhat and life limped on for a few more years, but still with side effects. 2020 arrived, with all its pandemic issues. My old GP decided to retire. I decided to see my new GP to sound her out about some of my drug side effects. This time I had better luck. She told me the bruxism and other issues were in actual fact a known side effect of antidepressants and she had quite a few patients who experienced it while taking them. Did my old GP not have patients with these effects, or did he not read their notes or listen to the words coming out their mouths? It was at this point I decided I wanted out. No more, never again. I sought advice online about how to taper off SSRIs – I was told by my GP to merely 'take it easy'. I started to take it easy by literally shaving the pill, month to month. Not exactly the most scientific way of doing it. The chemist offered to convert my pills to liquid form to allow for easier dosing – but wanted a 100 dollars a pop to provide this service. Good old New Zealand health system, here's to 30 years of neoliberalism – how's it working out for us? September 2020 arrived and I started experiencing my first withdrawal effects – a visual migraine. Not too bad, I thought. I can deal with that. The tapering and shaving of the pill continued over the next year, all throughout the lockdowns and the world going bonkers. I hit July of 2021 with another lockdown, and my shaving of the pill had got to the point where I couldn't do it anymore. The last crumb was just too small for the knife to go through, so I jumped off. Nuclear level mistake. I didn't know it at the time, but I had just launched a missile a year into the future. These days I know all about how antidepressant withdrawal works. There's an acute phase, where you get a bunch of short-acting symptoms. Then there can be the post-acute phase where new symptoms develop some time later as your brain tries to rebalance itself. That last tiny dose is the one you're supposed to hang around on the longest. Anyway, this next phase of withdrawal crept in, and it was my first experience with chronic pain. Blinding, piercing headaches that wrapped like a band around the base of my skull. Ever had a red wine hangover? This felt like a permanent version of that. This came and went over the next year and seemed to be made worse by certain prescribed drugs, some types of alcohol (hoppy beer) or supplements, but could also pay a wee visit for no apparent reason. Then August of 2022 arrived and all hell broke loose. The missile landed. Sudden widespread chronic pain was delivered to my doorstep. This affected my back and joints. For my sins I also added migraines, exercise intolerance, chronic fatigue, nausea, depression and the intermittent return of bruxism. My first post-pandemic overseas holiday to Sydney happened that month and my wife was dragging a living corpse around with her. No painkiller touches it, you just have to accept it. As of January 2023, after a year and half off the drugs these issues are ongoing. It's important to understand, this is not a relapse of the original diagnosis as many health professionals 'gaslight' this as. This is new, and reflects the experience of tens of thousands of people who are currently withdrawing from antidepressants. These people provide anecdotal evidence and their experiences are supported with a lot of emerging peer-reviewed literature. After discovering a great deal of anecdotal evidence and doing my research my conclusion is this. I got off light. Ironically, thanks to the pandemic, an understanding employer and being able to work from home 4 days a week, I still have my job and can support myself. I came off these drugs because they didn't work as promised and had side effects I wasn't informed of. Staying on them was a bit like a junkie who could no longer get high – staying on heroin just to keep to their version of normal. I've since learned that going back on them may not even be an option as there's no guarantee it will resolve my symptoms due to how the central nervous system has been sensitized. For the record, I believe that antidepressants have their place. If you are actively suicidal or have extreme chronic depression they can be a game-changer. I had none of these issues. I have some of them now, although to reassure everyone I am currently not, nor have I ever been, suicidal. In my other life as I now call it, I was a dedicated martial artist, yogi and rock musician. All this is now gone. I'm now medically retired from everything I love and down to a single 4 kilometer walk per day and I'm only 49 years old. My biggest fear is these issues will now never resolve and I'm stuck with the fallout of bad advice, gaslighting medical health professionals and a hemorrhaging health system. My trust is in ashes. My heart is broken. In January 2023, I discovered this website.

New to the community. Joined after reading Schizor's (forum member) story. I'll try & make this short. Hospitalized twice. (For "psychosis"). Once for a month in psych ward (Oct - Nov 2016), second time for a few weeks. (Feb 2017) For the first time, forced to take Risperidone & Abilify. Approx 10mg. After complaining it was gradually decreased down to 1mg. Upon release from ward, through trial & error, stopped one drug, tried the other & vice versa. Eventually went cold turkey off both drugs. Second hospital stay was given a shot of Invega. It seems you guys know the drill .... Zombie like feeling, loss of balance, stomach pain, pounding headache, face numbness, involuntary muscle movements, aches, sore eyes, insomnia etc ... After constant arguments, battles & calls to local pharmacists ... Decided to go off the drugs cold turkey. Again it seems you guys know the drill .... After constant nights of bad withdrawals ( a few weeks or so), kinda - sorta made it through only to still have major insomnia, lack of motivation, no energy, weird thoughts, sensitivity to lights & noise, jerky movements, aggression, a bit of sexual dysfunction & so on. Ladies & gents ..... What now ??? I feel exactly like Schizor did. Only wanna sleep but can't really, only wanna eat but don't feel satisfied, lack of emotion & stone cold thoughts, loss of character etc ..... On top of all this I have legal issues & may face jail time. A nightmare is almost an understatement when it comes to these drugs. It's also caused me to become completely paranoid of any doctor diagnosis, (psychosis !?? ... More like psychosis induced) psychiatrist, hospital, medical help of any sort. Thanks for reading (if ya did).

Empirical evidence about recovery and mental health | BMC Psychiatry | Full Text I haven't completed reading this. It's a long article: 8568 words = ±18 pages = ±40mins reading time. But much shorter than a book. It appears to be quite an excellent summary / response to the status quo and accepted narratives, with a solid social grounding. The focus is largely schizophrenia, but it applies generally to other states. While many seasoned members here may know the content of the article all too well, it's a good refresher at the very least. At best I've already found a few nuggets which - when put together - joined some dots (aka neurons) in my head that needed joining. My target audience for sharing this (apart from here) would be the occasional "psychiatric footsoldier" - members of the public who have read the marketing hype, and can be quite coercive and destabilising. I think this article could potentially turn them into allies Authors: Professor Mike Slade Mike Slade (0000-0001-7020-3434) - ORCID | Connecting Research and Researchers You searched for mike slade - Mad In America Amazon.com: Mike Slade: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle Dr Eleanor Longden Eleanor Longden, PhD, Author at Mad In America Amazon.com: Eleanor Longden: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle Abstract Background Two discourses exist in mental health research and practice. The first focuses on the limitations associated with disability arising from mental disorder. The second focuses on the possibilities for living well with mental health problems. Discussion This article was prompted by a review to inform disability policy. We identify seven findings from this review: recovery is best judged by experts or using standardised assessment; few people with mental health problems recover; if a person no longer meets criteria for a mental illness, they are in remission; diagnosis is a robust basis for characterising groups and predicting need; treatment and other supports are important factors for improving outcome; the barriers to receiving effective treatment are availability, financing and client awareness; and the impact of mental illness, in particular schizophrenia, is entirely negative. We selectively review a wider range of evidence which challenge these findings, including the changing understanding of recovery, national mental health policies, systematic review methodology and undertainty, epidemiological evidence about recovery rates, reasoning biased due to assumptions about mental illness being an illness like any other, the contested nature of schizophrenia, the social construction of diagnoses, alternative explanations for psychosis experiences including the role of trauma, diagnostic over-shadowing, stigma, the technological paradigm, the treatment gap, social determinants of mental ill-health, the prevalence of voice-hearing in the general population, and the sometimes positive impact of psychosis experience in relation to perspective and purpose. Conclusion We propose an alternative seven messages which are both empirically defensible and more helpful to mental health stakeholders: Recovery is best judged by the person living with the experience; Many people with mental health problems recover; If a person no longer meets criteria for a mental illness, they are not ill; Diagnosis is not a robust foundation; Treatment is one route among many to recovery; Some people choose not to use mental health services; and the impact of mental health problems is mixed. Full Text Versions Empirical evidence about recovery and mental health | BMC Psychiatry | Full Text Empirical evidence about recovery and mental health (PubMed version) The empirical evidence about mental health and recovery: How likely, how long, what helps? (PDF Download Available)

A live interview last night about PSSD awareness on Juliemadblogger Radio. It has been recorded and widely available for free on demand at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/juliemadblogger/2017/10/22/guest-from-uk-pssd-sexual-dysfunction-from-psychiatric-drugs You can also download the mp3 version that can be listened to offline by clicking the download icon at the top too... (top right) Please share and distribute as widely as possible on social media and websites. And help spread PSSD Awareness.

Hello everyone! I'm only interested in full recovery ( mental and physical wise ) and wanted to ask You all a question concerning this. Hope somebody more experienced can help me. It's been 34 days since I got out of the hospital ( entered 2017-06-16, got out 2017-07-07, so overall 21 days, hospitalized for the first time in my life, before that I was in perfect physical and cognitive shape, morphology before administering drugs also great ). The "medicine" I took was ( max dosages for a day ): Haloperidol 50 mg, Relanium 1 capsule ad hoc, Depakine Chrono 600 mg, Pernazinum 75 mg and, as a bonus, Captopril ( no dosage specified ). The side effects for present are as follows: NEUROLOGICAL Quite big loss of hearing, especially lower tones, tinnitus ( noticed it got gradually worse, day by day, after quitting all medication "cold turkey" style, since I'm against any type of drugs ), lack of concentration, memory, spacial orientation, trouble having to walk in a straight line, bouncing off of objects, weird smell sensations OTHER Loss of libido, urine pressure, probably something with pancreas, because my stool is smelly, sticky after mixing fats with carbohydrates, color brown or a little darker brown. Are those changes with hearing and brain permanent? ( not worrying about lower parts for now like intestines and testicles ). Is 20 days ( 20, because first didn't count ) long enough to make serious damage with these drugs/dosages? I'll be very grateful for any feedback or advice.

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