Podcasts about as prescribed

In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Erin Stair chats with Wendy Ractcliffe and Angela Peacock about the documentary film, Medicating Normal. Wendy is a director and executive producter of the film and Angela, a combat veteran, is featured in the film. Angela is also a social worker and part of the film's outreach team. From the website, Medicating Normal is the "untold story of what can happen when profit-driven medicine intersects with human beings in distress." The documentary follows Angela, a Naval Academy Graduate and his wife, a teenager and a waitress as they struggle with unexpected prescription side effects, polypharmacy, dependency and withdrawal symptoms from drugs that were taken as prescribed. This podcast covers what "medicating normal" means, the importance of informed consent, the struggle to be heard and taken seriously, while not being labeled "anti-psychiatry," how people overcame their unexpected struggle with prescription medication, the future of mental health and what optimal, long-lasting healing looks like. Angela also shares her insight on how these topics relate specifically to the veteran community. To get in touch with Dr. Erin Stair, please visit her website, Blooming Wellness.To follow her on Instagram, click here.To find her on Twitter, click here.To follow her health page on Facebook, click here.To read or listen to her new comedic parody on the wellness industry, Yours in Wellness, Krystal Heeling, click here.Or you can listen to it from Google Play or Walmart!To read Manic Kingdom, click here.

In this podcast I interview Josh Fitzmaurice who was a certified public account who was misdiagnosed and in January 2017, became chronically ill after his nervous system was damaged by a prescribed benzodiazepine. He was too ill to continue his job as an accountant and had to move back home with his mother to begin his road to recovery. His life became a constant battle to keep a positive mindset and never give up hope that he would get better. He knew he had to find a healthy distraction to keep his mind busy and that’s when he had the idea to try to learn fashion design, something he had always been interested in. His company SLYKShades.com was born out of his iatrogenic illness. SLYK Shades is the first part of a much bigger lifestyle brand focused on positivity, compassion and kindness. No matter what, find the good. His story will inspire anyone listening. If anyone orders from his website and uses the code: WARRIOR, 20% will be given to the documentary AS PRESCRIBED.

Until I started doing this podcast, I was mostly ignorant to the extent of the harm sometimes caused by psychiatric and antibiotic medications. In spite of my own 2 week experience with disabling withdrawal symptoms from an antidepressant 20 years ago, and contemporary reports of withdrawal symptoms from friends and clients, I still had no idea how pervasive - and sometimes permanent - these brain injuries were. As frightening as that was to learn, the prescriptions for psychiatric medication for depression and anxiety have soared in during the COVID pandemic.  And let’s face it folks, we are still in the early stages of the pandemic - if we get blue skies with double rainbows we may have a vaccine in 18 months, but that’s really wishful thinking - the global economy has taken an unprecedented hit, and that means many people’s jobs and financial security are going to be at further risk. This will only add to the feelings of anxiety -- but let’s be clear, it is normal to feel anxious about how the world is suddenly changing in so many ways. Learning coping skills, having strategies to feel more safe in an unknown future, and using supportive relationships are natural ways to feel better about feeling anxious. In this episode, we hear what happened to Jocelyn Pedersen after taking a benzodiazepine for less than a week. Jocelyn was so physically sick from the benzo brain injury, she had to spend much of the time horizontal on the floor with her baby while her neighbour’s helped with household chores. Jocelyn’s body was a complete mess: she couldn’t sleep, eat, watch tv, read, her bowels were dysfunctional and she was losing weight fast. That’s just the start of Jocelyn’s journey with benzodiazepine medications -- a medication journey, as Jocelyn describes, that goes through madness. Jocelyn’s health care experience is a textbook example of how the medical system pushes psychiatric medications without understanding how the meds can cause brain injury. This often leads to doctors denying side effects or withdrawal symptoms, effectively gaslighting the patient, psychologizing physical symptoms, and pathologizing human emotions. It was a long arduous road for Jocelyn to get back to her usual high functioning self, and along the way she started sharing her experiences and what she learned and now Jocelyn has a large following on social media. On her YouTube channel Benzo Brains, Jocelyn shares real world information about benzodiazepines and strategies on successfully managing the withdrawal symptoms. Jocelyn has just written a memoir about her experiences with benzos and the health care system called “Seeds of Hope: A Journey Through Medication and Madness Toward Meaning”. Available on Amazon: https://t.co/267G0VaBiz?amp=1 Connect with Jocelyn Pedersen: People can pre-order Seeds of Hope: A Journey Through Medication and Madness Toward Meaning through moongladepress.com and when it's released June 1st on Amazon.com: https://t.co/267G0VaBiz?amp=1My channel is YouTube.com/c/BenzoBrainsSome other helpful resources are benzoreform.orgbenzoinfo.combenzo.org.uk/manualcouncilforsustainablehealing.org SHOW NOTES:   About Jocelyn Pedersen: After experiencing a severe injury to her brain and body from prescription medications, Jocelyn co-founded the non-profit, Benzodiazepine Information Coalition. She is a speaker at CME's and continuing education courses for doctors and healthcare providers on the dangers of benzodiazepines and how to help patients safely withdraw. Jocelyn is also subject in the upcoming As Prescribed documentary film and the author of Seeds of Hope: a Journey through medication and madness toward meaning. When she's not busy managing her Benzo Brains YouTube channel or serving as an advisor to The Alliance for Benzodiazepine Best Practices and The Council for Sustainable Healing, you can find her rocking out to big band music and forcing her kids to watch MGM musicals with her. 0:06:00 Jocelyn grew up in Pueblo, Colorado and her childhood was mixture of good and bad things, mental and physical abuse - but also grew up with a lot of spiritual support at Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints and it stabilized her and taught her to overcome 0:07:00 Jocelyn got an academic scholarship to Brigham Young University so she moved to Utah and she loved college and graduated with a BS (Bachelor of Science) in childhood educations - college was a way to escape and re-start her life 0:08:00 Jocelyn got married and they moved to North Carolina and they had their first baby, but he passed away, so they decided to move closer to family for support and moved to Utah 0:09:00 Jocelyn started teaching at a local school for 2 years until she got pregnant again - she writes about her experience in her memoir that will be released in June: "Seeds of Hope: A Journey through medication and madness toward meaning" -- a couple of years later she had another baby, a girl to go with a boy 0:10:00 Jocelyn's father was a chiropractor so she grew up with a healthy distrust of allo medicine - but her story really starts when Jocelyn sought out a sleeping pill from her doctor - her baby daughter was in the hospital with meningitis, and then her toddler son was admitted to the hospital twice, so Jocelyn was not getting enough sleep - the economy was bad at the time, her husband was out of work 0:11:00 The doctor prescribed Ambien and assured Jocelyn it wouldn't pass through her breast milk to her baby - Jocelyn doesn't like taking medications, but thought she'd take it temporarily to get back into her sleep cycle 0:12:00 But within a couple of days, Jocelyn could tell her baby daughter was being affected by the Ambien - after 5 or 6 days Jocelyn stopped the Ambien and that's when things fell apart and her insomnia got much worse, she had ringing in her ears, running to the bathroom all the time, couldn't eat, losing weight, couldn't read a book, watch tv, and suddenly also had pain and couldn't even go for a walk 0:13:00 Jocelyn had a bunch of tests done but they all came back normal, so no explanation, except being told 'you have post partum depression', or 'you're having a nervous breakdwon', or 'you have anxiety' - but Jocelyn knew about depression from the death of her first baby, and this wasn't that 0:14:00 After about 4 months of literally lying on the floor with her baby and neighbours coming by to help - Jocelyn had been a high energy person: running, yoga, working out - but then she started to get suicidal thoughts 0:15:00 Jocelyn was told by the doctor she had major depressive disorder and an anxiety disorder and was given Effexor and Ativan - the first day she took the meds she slept well for the first time in 4 months - only later would Jocelyn realize that Ativan is practically the same as Ambien 0:16:00 So the Ativan stabilized the injury from the Ambien - originally Jocelyn was only to take the Ativan for a brief period, but the doctor increased the dose to 2 mg - 'it was like magic', Jocelyn felt better, like her old self, except for the pain, which was diagnosed as Fibromyalgia, and she was given Cymbalta for the pain - so for the most port Jocelyn was able to lead a normal life, she was a believer that she must have needed the meds 0:17:00 Jocelyn had studied and learned a lot about natural medicine and didn't like the idea of continuing to take Cymbalta, and it put weight on her 0:18:00 But the doctor would say, 'don't stop the Cymbalta until you've stopped the Ativan, now Lorazepam - but every time she tried to cut down, her symptoms would get worse, she couldn't sleep - so she stayed on them for another 3 years - but eventually tried to wean off again - she did stop progesterone cold turkey and got really sick 0:19:00 Her blood pressure sky rocketed, she gained a lot of weight, and falling asleep in the middle of the day - so she cold turkeyed it and the first time she experienced full on crazy, shaking all the time, and couldn't function 0:20:00 Jocelyn realized later the Cymbalta had really messed with her blood sugar and that's why she had put on so much weight - Jocelyn successfully weaned of the Cymbalta, but was still taking Lorazepam at night, but she and her husband wanted to have another baby but the literature said that Lorazepam could cause birth defects - they decided to go ahead and try to have another baby and that Jocelyn would try to taper off the Lorazepam 0:21:00 But Jocelyn later learned it doesn't really cause birth defects, but can cause of miscarriages if stopped to fast - Jocelyn did get pregnant and started to taper by 1/8th 0:22:00 Just cutting an 1/8th of a mg caused intense disabling symptoms: couldn't shower, read, watch tv, losing weight, and anxiety of a whole other dimension 0:23:00 It was torture, and then she had to cut the dose again, and then again - by the time Jocelyn got to half way she was ready to give up and kill herself because she couldn't handle the unending torture - luckily her husband started researching online - because Jocelyn couldn't - and found BenzoBuddies.org and Benzo.org.uk and he found the Ashton Manual, which a lot of people use to withdraw 0:24:00 They realized that Jocelyn wasn't crazy and that a lot of people were having the same experiences - and Jocelyn was probably tapering too fast - Ativan has a half life, so Jocelyn would experience sudden symptom onsets daily - so she switched to a longer lasting benzo to complete her taper 0:25:00 At the time, Jocelyn was too sick to go to the doctor - the next time she saw a doctor was at the ER when she thought she was having a miscarriage - they brought the Ashton Manual and requested Valium to stabilize Jocelyn, the doctor was resistant but finally agreed 0:26:00 The Valium provided some relief, but it was still hell and she didn't feel like she was going to take her own life - her family has seen Jocelyn struggle with Ambien withdrawal a few years before, and hearing the testimonials of others, helped them all to understand 0:27:00 Jocelyn had been drug injured with Ambien, but misdiagnosed with anxiety and depression - Jocelyn's doctor, a friend of the family, did not recognize withdrawal symptoms of Ambien 0:28:00 Jocelyn did have a miscarriage, which she is thankful for in some ways as she wasn't well enough to take care of a newborn at the time - Jocelyn continued to taper 0:29:00 Jocelyn tried various versions of tapering before discovering water titration, which she shows how to do on her YouTube channel - she had learned that in Facebook support groups - Jocelyn did reach out to mainstream medicine, she has a chapter in her book called 'Physician Heal Thyself' - all the doctors thought they knew about withdrawal, but none of them did, and none of them had read the Ashton Manual 0:30:00 One doctor told Jocelyn that she just couldn't handle being a Mom and should take some Prozac - the only doctor who was reasonable was Jocelyn's family doctor, but all he was willing to do was to prescribe the Valium 0:31:00 But when he was gone and Jocelyn had to deal with one of the other providers at his clinic, she was given the 3rd degree every time - it took Jocelyn about 18 months to taper off 13 mg dose of Valium - the newer benzos are many multiples more powerful then Valium, yet its the the Valium doctors are hesitant to prescribe 0:32:00 Jocelyn had to learn to accept where she was during the taper, that she had a brain injury - she also had support with the kids during the day, when her son started back to school... 0:33:00 she reached out to people in her church community and a different family came over each day to help her - Jocelyn does not know how she could have managed without community support because her husband was working 2 jobs 0:34:00 The big turning point for Jocelyn was finding a functional medicine doctor, a ND (Naturopathic Doctor) - she found one in her area and helped her with her benzo belly - he did tests that allopathic doctors don't do 0:35:00 He was able to pinpoint deficiencies - she started on a high protein diet because she was hypoglecemic - after about a week on his protocol Jocelyn started improving a lot, sleeping well 0:36:00 Then her son was prescribed an antibiotic and it injured him - it was like deja vu: once again no doctor is believing them - turns out her son developed an autoimmune illness and is allergic to everything - he was a normal boy, running and playing, then suddenly he's in a wheelchair and crying out in pain every few minutes 0:37:00 The paedeatric allergist said her son always had the autoimmune illness, refused to believe it was caused by an antibiotic - but the functional medicine doctor was able to help cut down on the inflammation and allergic reactions, but they are still figuring it out - he has a lot of trauma from that, and from a Mom who was disabled twice in his life - Jocelyn had to learn not to give power to health providers, and to heal herself 0:38:00 Yoga, meditation, diet, stem cell therapy for trigeminal pain -- nerve pain in her face -- it literally hurt to breath - the stem cell was very helpful, but she has to go back every 4 months or so as the pain comes back 0:39:00 How can someone help you if they don't even believe you? -- some doctors are open, but plenty are just closed minded 0:40:00 During her taper, Jocelyn was asked to be a moderator of a Facebook group, so she helped people find resources - then another friend asked her start another group to help people apply for disability or medical malpractice suits or correct medical records - Jocelyn realized they needed some 'weight' behind them, as they were 'just' sick patients, so Jocelyn suggested they start a non-profit 0:41:00 The Benzodiazepine Information Coalition - but then her son got sick and she had to step back to care for and home school him - but it was toward the end of her taper that she made her first Youtube video, just for her friends in the support group - and it got lots of shares - then when she was frustrated with doctors she made another video and that was picked up by Mad in America, and things just picked up 0:42:00 Her videos help people with brain injuries and their families get the support then needed - her Youtube channel is Benzo Brains - Jocelyn is doing really well. now, living life fully - she does get more stressed out physically 0:43:00 Her body is kind of delicate now, but she is really happy, with peace and joy - but if she doesn't get enough sleep or eat write, a dark blanket descends on her brain, but she knows it is only temporary - but it is painful having a son who is still suffering, but she's not coming from a place of fear 0:44:00 Jocelyn believes the suicidal thoughts that came from withdrawal are product of the medications causing the repeated thought 'kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself' 0:45:00 Most of the people dealing with withdrawal are good people, just doing what your doctor told you - Jocelyn was asked to speak in 2017 at the benzodaizipine medical symposium for doctors 0:46:00 Jocelyn met a lot of wonderful people, including a woman, a benzo survivor, who asked Jocelyn to write a book - initially Jocelyn declined but then thought it could be a good tool to get the message out there 0:47:00 It took a while to write while taking care of kids and her own healing journey, but it will be published June 1st - Seeds of Hope: A journey through madness, medication and meaning - she wants to give people hope that are in the same situation 0:48:00 The publisher approached Jocelyn to write the book - some of her benzo awareness efforts have been black balled by google or facebook or youtube 0:49:00 Obviously there are forces out there they do not want this information in the public spere, but Jocelyn believes there also people out there that know something is wrong - benzo perscriptions have increased 10 fold over the last decade - doctors are just substituting benzos for opiates - so big pharma's profits increased by 10 fold - since COVID, anxiety meds prescriptions have increased 34% 0:50:00 Alliance of Benzo Best Practices is a group of doctors who understand, and researchers who want to do research for the FDA to change recommendations, and to re-educate doctors on these drugs 0:51:00 The stuff pharma puts out, does not warn people about what these drugs can do   Connect with Jocelyn Pedersen:   People can pre-order Seeds of Hope: A Journey Through Medication and Madness Toward Meaning through moongladepress.com and when it's released June 1st on Amazon.com: https://t.co/267G0VaBiz?amp=1My channel is YouTube.com/c/BenzoBrainsSome other helpful resources are benzoreform.orgbenzoinfo.combenzo.org.uk/manualcouncilforsustainablehealing.org   Be a podcast patron Support Medical Error Interviews on Patreon by becoming a Patron for $2 / month for audio versions.  Premium Patrons get access to video versions of podcasts for $5 / month. Be my Guest I am always looking for guests to share their medical error experiences so we help bring awareness and make patients safer. If you are a survivor, a victim’s surviving family member, a health care worker, advocate, researcher or policy maker and you would like to share your experiences, please send me an email with a brief description:  RemediesPodcast@gmail.com  Need a Counsellor? Like me, many of my clients at Remedies Counseling have experienced the often devastating effects of medical error. If you need a counsellor for your experience with medical error, or living with a chronic illness(es), I offer online video counseling appointments. **For my health and life balance, I limit my number of counseling clients.**  Email me to learn more or book an appointment:  RemediesOnlineCounseling@gmail.com Scott Simpson:  Counsellor + Patient Advocate + (former) Triathlete I am a counsellor, patient advocate, and - before I became sick and disabled - a passionate triathlete. Work hard. Train hard. Rest hard. I have been living with HIV since 1998. I was the first person living with HIV to compete at the triathlon world championships. Thanks to research and access to medications, HIV is not a problem in my life. I have been living with ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) since 2012, and thanks in part to medical error, it is a big problem in my life. Counseling / Research I first became aware of the ubiquitousness of medical error during a decade of community based research working with the HIV Prevention Lab at Ryerson University, where I co-authored two research papers on a counseling intervention for people living with HIV, here and here.  Patient participants would often report varying degrees of medical neglect, error and harms as part of their counseling sessions. Patient Advocacy I am co-founder of the ME patient advocacy non-profit Millions Missing Canada, and on the Executive Committee of the Interdisciplinary Canadian Collaborative Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Research Network. I am also a patient advisor for Health Quality Ontario’s Patient and Family Advisory Council, and member of Patients for Patient Safety Canada. Medical Error Interviews podcast and vidcast emerged to give voice to victims, witnesses and participants in this hidden epidemic so we can create change toward a safer health care system. My golden retriever Gladys is a constant source of love and joy. I hope to be well enough again one day to race triathlons again. Or even shovel the snow off the sidewalk.

This week on MIA Radio, we present a special episode of the podcast to join in the many events being held for World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day, July 11, 2018. In part 1, we chat with W-BAD Lead Operations Volunteer and Virginia Representative Nicole Lamberson who talks about the events being held for W-BAD. We hear from psychiatrist Dr Josef Witt-Doerring, who talks about a recent paper he co-authored entitled “Online Communities for Drug Withdrawal: What Can We Learn?”. We also hear from therapist and campaigner Chris Paige who discusses his own experiences taking and withdrawing from benzodiazepines. Finally, in part 2 of the interview, we get to chat with Robert Whitaker, science journalist and author of the books Mad in America and Anatomy of an Epidemic. First, I am very fortunate to have had the chance to talk with Nicole Lamberson. Nicole is Lead Operations Volunteer and Virginia Representative for W-BAD and she has kindly taken time out of her busy preparations to talk about how she became involved with W-BAD, some of the events and campaigns being held around the world and how people can get involved. Nicole has an immense passion for benzodiazepine awareness and its victims and hopes that her efforts ultimately spare many others from taking this painful, senseless, and totally preventable iatrogenic “journey”. We discuss: How Nicole first became involved with W-BAD. How discovering personal testimonies encouraged her to reach out to find out more about an awareness day held on the birthday of Dr Heather Ashton - July 11. What it feels like to be part of the benzodiazepine community. How there is is still no medical consensus about the effects of both taking and withdrawing from benzodiazepines. The W-BAD T-shirt campaign, which was organised in partnership with the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition and As Prescribed, an in-production documentary by Holly Hardman. Pamphlet distributions happening in Auckland, Paris, Boston and Torrington. That Wayne Douglas, W-BAD founder is on the Dr Peter Breggin hour on July 11 at 4pm New York time. That people can visit W-BAD events to find out more. That on social media, people can follow events using @WorldBenzoDay and the hashtag #WorldBenzoDay. That people can participate in many ways and that one of the most important ways to participate is to submit reports of adverse effects and withdrawal reactions to the appropriate regulator, links to which can be found on the W-BAD website. How important it is to share stories and personal experiences. That W-BAD is for anybody, not just those who are damaged by the drugs but also for families and friends and those recovered too. Relevant links: W-BAD [IN]VISIBLE T-shirt campaign How to participate in W-BAD Benzodiazepine Information Coalition As Prescribed by Holly Hardman (documentary film in production) International Task Force on Benzodiazepines Dr Heather Ashton The 2017 W-BAD podcast featuring Professor Malcolm Lader, Jocelyn Pedersen and Barry Haslam. Next, we chat with psychiatrist Dr Josef Witt-Doerring. Josef trained in Queensland, Australia before becoming a psychiatric resident at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. He co-authored a paper published in Psychiatric Times entitled “Online Communities for Drug Withdrawal: What Can We Learn?” which received praise for openly addressing the issues of dependence and withdrawal and identifying the support activity that goes on in forums like Benzo Buddies and Surviving Antidepressants. We discuss: What led Dr Witt-Doerring to become a psychiatric trainee after attending medical school in Queensland, Australia. How reading Anatomy of an Epidemic led to an awareness of some of the consequences of psychiatric drug use from a critical perspective. What led to his research into online support forums for those who are seeking support for psychiatric drug withdrawal. That Josef was surprised at the amount of support activity in online forums like Benzo Buddies and Surviving Antidepressants. How the paper that Josef co-authored on learning from online communities found a great deal of support both amongst colleagues and patient advocacy organisations. How he feels that there is a general lack of awareness of dependence and withdrawal issues because the messages can be drowned out by more strident communications in marketing or promotional material. That the idea of ‘treatment resistant’ conditions is probably much more on a general doctors mind than adverse reactions or protracted withdrawal experiences. How Josef’s experiences have influenced his approach to prescribing central nervous system drugs. That he would like to think that if a doctor and patient can talk frankly and openly about the pros and cons of treatment, then that is likely to lead to a better relationship and a better outcome. That there is a dearth of support services for people struggling with the drugs, particularly at the end of treatment. How academic detailing programmes could help raise awareness and disseminate information that would lead to doctors being more confident about de-prescribing. How the language of addiction and dependence can sometimes be a barrier to recognition of drug withdrawal issues. That it may be better to look through a neurological injury lens rather than an addiction lens both in terms of understanding experiences but also to enable better treatment and support options. That the community of those affected should continue to share their stories and to raise petitions with professional organisations, such as the boards that licence psychiatrists and OBGYN’s. How, because of the huge variation in patient experience, it would be very difficult to mandate short-term prescribing. Relevant links: Online Communities for Drug Withdrawal: What Can We Learn? Benzo Buddies Benzodiazepine Information Coalition Surviving Antidepressants Malcolm Lader: Anxiety or depression during withdrawal of hypnotic treatments Our next guest is Chris Paige. Chris has a bit of an 'inside' perspective to add to the conversation for World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day in that he is a licensed therapist of over 20 years who was iatrogenically injured by a prescribed benzodiazepine. Chris has practised in a variety of settings including hospitals, schools, and foster homes and has taught at the undergraduate and graduate level. He has presented papers at national and international conferences, appeared on Dateline NBC for his work with children of divorce and had his own national magazine column called 'On The Couch with Chris Paige'. Chris is on the board the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, a non-profit organization that advocates for greater understanding of the potentially devastating effects of commonly prescribed benzodiazepines as well as prevention of patient injury through medical recognition, informed consent, and education. Chris currently resides and practices in Florida. We discuss: How Chris first came to be prescribed a benzodiazepine in 2000. His recollections of being prescribed Klonopin (Clonazepam) for anxiety, taking between 1 and 2 milligrams per day. How, after three years use, he started to notice tremors and memory loss. That a neurologist explained that his symptoms may be medication related and advised a taper but gave no specific instructions. How Chris came off the Klonopin fairly rapidly but didn’t find it too difficult at the time. How, some years later, he was given an antibiotic for a prostate infection but rapidly developed psychiatric symptoms including anxiety, agitation and insomnia. That this led Chris to consult a doctor for some Klonopin tablets to manage this and that he took a total of 16 milligrams over the next 10 weeks. That he understands now that the antibiotic and the Klonopin compete at the same receptor in the brain, leading immediately to a tolerance to the drug. That because of this tolerance he became more sleepless, more agitated and more anxious and working was becoming increasingly difficult. How he came to be in a five-day detox programme in Vermont, where they took him off one and a quarter milligrams of Klonopin in just five days. How Chris realised that the detox approach was not right and wanted to leave. How the detox programme decided to replace the Klonopin with four different psychiatric drugs, two of which he has now ceased with two still to taper. That he felt that his brain and nervous system were severely shocked by making such rapid medication changes. How this led to Chris being admitted to psychiatric hospital which he describes as “possibly one of the most humiliating experiences he has ever endured.” How Chris felt when experiencing akathisia which was a relentless compulsion to move and gave him a feeling as if his whole body was being electrocuted and that he had been lit on fire. That he initially felt supported by friends and family but that quickly eroded when he didn't get better or accept harmful and dangerous treatment advice. That this led to the misunderstanding of his injury and it being mislabeled as an addiction problem. That ultimately the only places he found validation and support were online support forums. The losses that Chris endured during his struggles including his health, his psychotherapy practice and even his reputation. That Chris’s message is that there is hope for the future and the importance of reconnecting with the simple things in life. The lack of acknowledgement of the impact of trauma on a person’s life. Relevant links: Benzodiazepine Information Coalition Chris's profile at BIC In part 2 of this podcast, we will hear from science journalist and author Robert Whitaker.

For the uninitiated, Rx'ing a CrossFit workout means completing it "As Prescribed". It means you perform the WOD (workout of the day) exactly as it's written - weight, reps, movement standard etc. To be able to Rx a workout becomes an early goal for many as they embark on their CrossFit journey. However, for the novice CrossFitter (and even some experienced ones), Rx doesn't readily convey what the intention of the workout is. And intention is a critical component of every WOD. In this episode Greg and Belinda dive in to the sometimes touchy subject of Rx. Whilst both agree that it can be a useful motivator, it can also be a double edged sword when the desire to Rx a workout trumps common sense and overshadows the intent of the workout. 99.9 percent of folks when they walk in to a CrossFit gym just want to be fitter. And CrossFit delivers. However, somewhere along the way some folks lose sight of that initial goal and they become obsessed with the pursuit of Rx at the expense of all else. On the flip side of this are the folks who forever underrate themselves and their ability. They pigeonhole Rx as being some unobtainable, mythical place that "everyone else" reaches but they cannot. They fear failure, fear looking silly or have a host of other (often irrational) thoughts about their capability. If there is one thing CrossFit does well, it's to take you out of your comfort zone. It will challenge you physically. It will challenge you mentally and it will challenge you emotionally. And you can emerge out the other side a better, more capable human being. If you let it.

This week, we have a special episode to join in with the events being held for World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day. World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day seeks to raise global awareness of iatrogenic benzodiazepine dependence, the dangers of its adverse effects and the associated withdrawal syndrome, which can last for years. To give some context around the issues with Benzodiazepines, we have three interviews in this episode. Firstly we talk to Professor Malcolm Lader who is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry from Kings College London and is globally recognised as an expert on Benzodiazepines. Following that we talk with Jocelyn Pedersen. Jocelyn is a US based campaigner who shares her own experiences with Benzodiazepines and talks also about her views of the medical response to the issues of dependance and iatrogenic harm. Finally, we talk to Barry Haslam. Barry is a veteran UK campaigner who shares his experiences and also what we should be doing to help those dependant or damaged from use of these medications. Barry has been instrumental in raising awareness and taking action for last 30 years and is well known in political and medical circles. Interview 1, Professor Malcolm Lader In this interview we discuss: ▪Professor Lader’s training in medicine and how he specialised in psychopharmacology and psychiatry ▪That he went on to become involved in research, particularly around tranquilliser dependance and adverse effects ▪How Benzodiazepines were created in the 1950s, replacing Barbiturates because they were generally safer in overdose ▪That the first Benzodiazepine created was Librium (Chlordiazepoxide) soon followed by Valium (Diazepam) ▪That for a time, Valium was the most widely prescribed drug on the planet ▪That the advantages are that Benzodiazepines are relatively safe in overdose but they can result in dependance (likely a 1 in three chance) at therapeutic doses ▪That by 1975, Professor Lader’s Addiction Research Unit at the Maudsley hospital in London were becoming increasingly concerned by the number of people who were being referred to them for specialist help ▪How this led to Professor Lader’s famous quote on a BBC Radio 4 interview that it was “easier to withdraw people from Heroin than from Benzodiazepines” ▪That Opioid withdrawal caused an acute, very unpleasant withdrawal experience but Benzodiazepines caused a protracted withdrawal that was actually more difficult for many people to deal with ▪How they were left with patients who had successfully withdrawn from Opioids like Heroin but were still having trouble with the Benzodiazepines like Ativan ▪How the British Medical Association have only recently become engaged in the issues of dependance and withdrawal to give advice to their members (General Practitioners) ▪That the regulators don’t have sufficient influence to get doctors to prescribe Benzodiazepines in a more responsible way ▪That much of the long term use of psychiatric medications comes down to lack of monitoring of patients by doctors ▪That there have been cases where long term prescribing of Benzodiazepines has been seen to be negligent on the doctors part and that this has led to some out of court settlements ▪That the treatment of dependance is not simple or straight forward so it is much better to educate GPs upfront to intervene before people have the chance to become dependant ▪How we are now repeating some of the same mistakes made with Benzodiazepine prescribing with Opioid analgesics and antidepressants too ▪That the increase in prescribing of psychiatric drugs is partly down to greater recognition of mental health difficulties but also that we do not have enough people trained in non pharmacological interventions ▪That Pharmacists can play a pivotal role in monitoring, advising and supporting patients ▪How Professor Lader became involved in the educational resource the Lader-Ashton organisation ▪That Professor Lader welcomes this second Benzodiazepine Awareness Day because knowledge and education about the related issues is important ▪That people who are currently taking a Benzodiazepine should make themselves aware of the risks and benefits and talk to their prescriber if they are concerned ▪The concerns around the lack of research in this area and that we need ring fenced money to better understand how best to help and support dependant patients ▪That the prediction of the efficacy of psychiatric drugs from biochemistry to animal experiments to human treatment is very poor, so the Pharmaceutical industry is losing interest in psychotropic drugs ▪That psychiatric drugs largely offer symptomatic relief and so their usefulness is limited and we also need to focus on the safety issues Interview 2, Jocelyn Pedersen In this interview we discuss: ▪How Jocelyn first came into contact with benzodiazepines, having had family illness difficulties and finding that she suffered with insomnia but wanting something that was safe to take while pregnant ▪How her doctor recommended the nonbenzodiazepine tranquilliser Ambien (Zolpiden) which Jocelyn used for less than a week because she felt that it was affecting the baby ▪How Jocelyn, after stopping the Ambien even after such a short usage period, found that she couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat or even do basic things like reading or watching TV ▪That Jocelyn, in trying to explain the wide range of symptoms she was experiencing had a range of physical examinations and tests that all came back negative ▪That doctors explained away her constellation of symptoms as postpartum depression ▪How doctors then prescribed the Benzodiazepine Ativan at 1mg and Effexor, telling her to only take the Ativan until the Effexor ‘kicked in’ ▪That, for Jocelyn, the Effexor never did ‘kick in’ because she was suffering Benzodiazepine withdrawal ▪That upon doubling the dose of Ativan, Jocelyn felt better but she knew that it was only meant for short term use ▪How she found that every time she tried to reduce, even by a small amount like 0.25mg, she was unable to function ▪How three years later, Jocelyn decided it was time to get off the Ativan because she was suffering other health issues ▪How Jocelyn realised that Benzodiazepines like Ativan are teratogens and dangerous in the first months of pregnancy and that being pregnant, Jocelyn had no option but to withdraw ▪That on starting her tapering, Jocelyn was unable to do much else but writhe on the floor in agony, describing even a small reduction as “descending into hell” ▪How Jocelyn’s husband, having found online support groups like Benzo.org.uk realised that what was happening was Benzo withdrawal ▪That Jocelyn, then suffering a miscarriage, ended up in the ER, begging the ER doctor to switch her over to Valium ▪That Jocelyn then spent the next year and a half tapering from Valium ▪How Jocelyn then started to join online support groups, learning how to do a proper taper like that recommended by Professor Heather Ashton ▪That it is very difficult to communicate to friends and family members what is happening, with many assuming it is merely depression or anxiety ▪That it is important to avoid the use of addiction terminology, because people struggling with withdrawal have more in common with those that have a traumatic brain injury or neurological damage ▪That often the only thing between someone and even more suffering is the Benzodiazepine, so it’s not as simple as just wanting to get off ▪That it has been just over two years since Jocelyn finished her taper and there has been considerable improvement but there are still lingering effects ▪That changing her diet made a significant difference to Jocelyn’s health and wellbeing ▪How Jocelyn became involved with campaigning and started her own YouTube channel BenzoBrains ▪How she wanted to be able to add some validity when approaching legislators and lawyers so she founded the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, a non profit organisation ▪How these and other groups help to educate medical professionals, particularly in terms of avoiding addiction terminology but also to provide guidance on the right approach to take with someone who is dependant ▪How Jocelyn observes some mistakes in how doctors treat those who are iatrogenically harmed, particularly doctors who suddenly stop prescribing because they are worried about the legal aspects, this can leave a dependant person in a very difficult place ▪Secondly while doctors may be cautious about Benzodiazepines, they still readily prescribe other psychiatric medications and even recommend them to treat Benzodiazepine withdrawal effects ▪That a total ban or strict regulation and control of prescribing is an approach which would harm many people who are dependant ▪That what patients need is the proper information to help them successfully and safely get off the drugs ▪That people taking Benzodiazepines shouldn’t be scared by the horror stories but should take time to educate themselves and to accept that the path to being drug free might not be easy but healing is a journey and takes time ▪Jocelyn’s involvement with the forthcoming documentary film: As Prescribed directed by Holly Hardman ▪That much of the funding in this area of research goes to addiction services rather than specifically to help someone who is dependant ▪The difficulty that some people have in accepting that they may be dependant on a prescribed medication ▪The disempowering nature of the message that someone has to take a medication for life and that they have a chronic health condition ▪The message that Jocelyn has for people is that they are capable of more than they know and they can get through the experiences of withdrawal and be stronger for it Interview 3, Barry Haslam In this interview we discuss: ▪How Barry came into contact with Benzodiazepines in 1976 when he had a stress related breakdown due to the combined pressure of working full time  and studying ▪That Barry has no memory of the period 1976 to 1986 and he has had to piece together what happened from medical records and the recollections of family members ▪How a doctor put Barry firstly on Librium (Chlordiazepoxide), followed by a number of antidepressants and also Valium for a time ▪How Barry ended up on a huge dose of 30mg of Ativan (Lorazepam) per day ▪This happened because Barry was experiencing withdrawal effects because of tolerance to the drugs but the doctors didn’t recognise these effects so increased the dosage in response ▪That Barry suffered such powerful daily headaches that he ended up taking 12 opiate painkillers per day in addition to the Ativan ▪That in December 1985, Barry, suffering uncharacteristic aggression, felt that enough was enough and he had to quit the drugs ▪That he had some psychological support when he first started to withdraw but for the majority of the time he did it alone ▪How he dropped from 30mg to 2mg of Ativan in 9 months as well as stopping the opiate painkillers ▪For the last period he transferred to Valium (Diazepam) which took 5 months to come off ▪He did this with no guidance and very little support because the doctors had abandoned him ▪How he experienced many unpleasant physical symptoms including violent daily vomiting, hallucinations, feeling of things crawling under his skin and lost half of his bodyweight ▪How Barry feels that it was the love and support of his wife and family that got him through that 15 months of hell ▪That there is virtually nowhere for people struggling with withdrawal to go to get help and support ▪That these issues receive far less attention and funding than alcohol or nicotine dependance ▪That Barry feels that the health services are too frightened of litigation and that prevents them from directly addressing theses issues ▪How Barry joined an organisation called Oldham Tranx, a peer support group run by drug dependant patients and how Barry became chairman ▪How the local paper, the Oldham Chronicle supported Barry in his campaigning ▪How Addiction Dependency Solutions (now called One Recovery) started to help people in 2004 and is the first NHS funded facility in the UK ▪That we should get Government policy makers in the Department of Health to issue guidance to all local Clinical Commissioning Groups to ensure that similar services are set up across the country and in other parts of the world too ▪We should introduce peer support groups based on the model already in place in Oldham ▪How Professor Heather Ashton ran a withdrawal clinic in Newcastle for twelve years and learned a great deal from the patients experiences ▪That putting these services in place would save lives, Barry estimates that in the UK alone 20,000 lives have been lost since 1960 due to suicide, poisoning and road traffic accidents related to Benzodiazepine use ▪How Barry missed out on his daughters growing up because of the memory loss caused by the drugs up but now can enjoy seeing his three grandchildren grow into adults ▪How Barry has met so many good people in the community of those who needed help and support and that gives him the drive to continue campaigning ▪That even many years after the drugs have been stopped, they can continue to cause a range of health problems ▪That we need hard, clinical evidence of the damage cause by Benzodiazepine drugs as part of the evidence base for future legislative action ▪That this is national problem and needs to be tackled by national governments ▪That dependant patients should continue to put their experience back into the system and that will help society ▪Barry’s wish to have recognised the selfless and tireless work of Professor Heather Ashton including her withdrawal protocols that are used worldwide and that the British Government have never formally recognised her great service and the lives that she saved ▪That every doctors surgery should have a copy of Professor Asthon’s Benzodiazepine withdrawal manual ▪That Barry wants to pay tribute to all of those who have taken their own lives because of Benzodiazepines, either because the horrors of withdrawal or the increased suicidal thinking To listen on Mad in America: https://goo.gl/tyyLmt Podcast show notes: https://goo.gl/QU9XLU To get in touch with us email: podcasts@madinamerica.com © Mad in America 2017