Share this page!

Get vaccinated 💉-- yes, you! Profile picture
Twitter logo
1 Jan, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Lewis, et al. respond to letters to the NEJM editor, demonstrating they do not understand basic concepts of #antidepressant withdrawal @ANTLERtrial

Maintenance or Discontinuation of Antidepressants in Primary Care | NEJM nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
@ANTLERtrial Some in non-discontinuation group were taking their drugs inconsistently. Lewis, et al. missed potential withdrawal symptoms in that group: "but participants reported some new & worsening symptoms while continuing to take #antidepressants"
@ANTLERtrial Lewis, et al. claim "an increase in depressive symptoms might lead to an increase in “new & worsening” symptoms that are recorded as withdrawal symptoms" EXCEPT they also recorded physical withdrawal symptoms, failed to identify who had both, & did not exclude them from "relapse"
Lewis, et al. have not released ANY of the data they collected from the Discontinuation-Emergent Signs & Symptoms (DESS) questionnaire they had all subjects repeat over 52 weeks. Not a whisper in their published 2021 article. This calls up a cloud over that article's conclusions.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Get vaccinated 💉-- yes, you!

Get vaccinated 💉-- yes, you! Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Altostrata

Get vaccinated 💉-- yes, you! Profile picture
4 Nov 21
@sanilrege @markhoro @SenadHasanagic1 Not at all, Sanil. Among my site members, many people come off #antidepressants & other drugs with slight or no withdrawal symptoms except an emotional anesthesia, which they may describe as depression, anhedonia, various kinds of malaise, even "relapse" but.... /1
@sanilrege @markhoro @SenadHasanagic1 ....it's a "relapse" unlike anything they've experienced before. While they may use #psychiatry's vocabulary, because that's all they've got, this emotional anesthesia is actually a result of long-term psychotropic exposure, not "relapse"..../2
@sanilrege @markhoro @SenadHasanagic1 Post-drug emotional anesthesia is well known among those who have gone off psychotropics classified as addictive & considered a feature of those protracted withdrawal syndromes. There is no reason to think chronic #psychiatric psychotropics are exempt..../3
Read 10 tweets
Get vaccinated 💉-- yes, you! Profile picture
6 Oct 21
With all due respect to the fine @awaisaftab, these are the varieties of #antidepressant withdrawal syndrome:

1) WS with only physical, no emotional symptoms
2) WS with both physical & emotional symptoms
3) WS with only emotional symptoms
4) WS manifested as emotional anesthesia
@awaisaftab Of the above, types 1 & 2 are WS, not "relapse", even if "depression" is present. Emotions such as those that compose "depression" do not exist apart from experience. Emotional reaction to feeling neurobiologically out of control should not be diagnosed as "depression".
@awaisaftab Type 3 may include the waves of intense anxiety, fear, & "black holes" characteristic of WS. Characterized by intense sensations with interludes of relative calm. Typically, these very gradually abate over months.
Read 14 tweets
Get vaccinated 💉-- yes, you! Profile picture
6 Oct 21
$10K cost per patient: "In late 2012, when the team finally had 6 months of data on 90 patients, the depression-score reductions....[were] essentially matched by the control group, who after 6 months with inactive devices had 17% hitting the improvement target & 7% in remission."
"As expected, it failed to help many....1st year, 10/90 patients left the study (& 4 had their devices removed), for reasons ranging from worsening depression to a suicide attempt. Eventually, of the 90 patients, 37—most of those who’d felt no benefit—had the devices removed."
"Also as expected for a surgical intervention in so depressed a population, some experienced side effects & complications....at least 9 ppl reported increased depression, 6 got infections, & several more suffered side effects such as headaches or postoperative discomfort or pain"
Read 7 tweets
Get vaccinated 💉-- yes, you! Profile picture
5 Oct 21
"One of Freeman's youngest [lobotomy] patients is today a 56-year-old bus driver living in California. Over the past 2 years, Howard Dully has embarked on a quest to discover the story behind the procedure he received as a 12-year-old boy." npr.org/2005/11/16/501…
"As those who watched the [lobotomy] procedure described it, a patient would be rendered unconscious by electroshock. Freeman would then take a sharp ice pick-like instrument, insert it above the patient's eyeball through the orbit of the eye...."
"....into the frontal lobes of the brain, moving the instrument back and forth. Then he would do the same thing on the other side of the face...." npr.org/2005/11/16/501…
Read 7 tweets
Get vaccinated 💉-- yes, you! Profile picture
26 Jun 21
Dystonia from #psychiatric drugs since 2014: "I have worked so hard over the years to increase my physical activity after WD, so I am extremely proud of the 2 or 3 times a week that I manage to shuffle up & down the block, and manage to lift tiny weights." survivingantidepressants.org/topic/7485-wig…
"If I "walk" (a.k.a. limp/amble/shuffle) too far or for too long, the D (dystonia) will flare. If I do too many reps with my small weights, the D will flare. If I have a cold or flu, the D will flare....I try maintain a balance of being lightly active so I can feel happy."
From her history: "-Dual cold turkeys off TCA & Ativan in Oct 2014. Prescribed from 2011-2014
-All meds were Rxed off-label for an autoimmune illness. It was a MISDIAGNOSIS, but I did not find out until AFTER meds caused damage. All med tapers/cold turkeys directed by doctors"
Read 8 tweets
Get vaccinated 💉-- yes, you! Profile picture
13 Jan 21
@sash_andy @samwoolfe @lisa63artist @jonathanstea @bmj_latest @hrw @C4Dispatches @gmcuk Sam, please note 3 Blind Psychs whining that there are real, serious flaws that need attention in #psychiatry but they are prevented from addressing them because dings from "anti-psychiatry" patients (on Twitter, no less) hurt their feelings. What does this say about the doctors?
@sash_andy @samwoolfe @lisa63artist @jonathanstea @bmj_latest @hrw @C4Dispatches @gmcuk The epithet "anti-psychiatry" directed at patients is nothing but ad hominem from clinicians who have no intention of bringing patients into the discussions of improving clinical care. (This is #psychiatry we're talking about, the science of human emotion.)
@sash_andy @samwoolfe @lisa63artist @jonathanstea @bmj_latest @hrw @C4Dispatches @gmcuk The argument that people are dissuaded from necessary #psychiatric treatment by purported "anti-psychiatry" is intellectually dishonest on so many levels.

1) #Psychiatric prescribers report being swamped by demand for their services; they plead for additional prescribers. /1
Read 18 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @Altostrata has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @Altostrata!

Read all threads by @Altostrata

:(