internet quacks

Just wondering what you think about these people like Dr. Anne Blake Tracy Phd. who claim that antidepressants are the devil and that they turn people mentally retarded and insane. There are a bunch of these doctors around and they make claims like this in books like Prozac Truth, and Prozac Backlash. Is there any kernal of truth to this because I have been taking Zoloft for 6 years and would be devastated and probably commit suicide if this turns out to be true. Like I mean there have been thousands of studies on these SSRI's and almost all of them indicate that SSRI's are safe. So are the ones that say Zoloft is bad not true? I've talked to around 20 different doctors and they say that all indications of these pro SSRI studies show no sign, not even a hint that SSRI's give people brain damage. I mean these drugs have been around for quite a while now and have been extensively tested. If there was some sort of indication of horrible problems like memory loss then would it not have been caught if you consider the fact that so many people depend on these drugs. I mean are there people out there that take Zoloft for years and retain their brain power? and ability to learn and read complex things? My doctor believes that not only are they not giving the depressed person brain damage but they are improving their chance of any shrinkage in the hippocampus because of the depression.
What do you have to say about these people who post in health forums who claim this and that horrible thing happened to them after taking these drugs. And how about the extreme opposite where people say these drugs have helped them and have no permanent effects. How could the drug cause brain damage in some and not in others. This makes no sense!
I mean what is the agenda of these quack doctors who claim everyone should go off their antidepressants. This is what Dr. Anne Blake Tracy said. Another one of these doctors is supposedly Dr. Joseph Glenmullen.
Why are these people allowed to publish such things and scare the **** out of people taking them?

Please help, this bothers me like a splinter in my mind.

Thanks, crazyness

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

I agree with the other twenty doctors you talked too..its nonsense. The real question is why do you pay any attention to it...you will get the same answer from the next twenty reputable doctors, so why aren't you convinced yet? The answer to that question is the answer you are really seeking.

[looneygirl]

EXCELLENT questions, crazyness!  I have wondered this myself many times.  Looking forward to response from the Dr.!

[Gingin123]

Yeah,I take Remeron (it's not an SSRI but still an AD) and wondered about some of this stuff myself.  Anyone have any input?

[seektolearn]

wow that was sure a good post.  Poses good questions but I think its like anything in the world someone has a bad experience with something and they chose to see it in black or white no grey area.
I will tell you approx 7 yrs ago I was on so many meds (way over medicated) I dont even remember half of them but at one time it was over 16 pills a day some SSRI's and some MAOI's together which they say is very bad along with some benzo's etc and I went off cold turkey (off course in the hospital for safety) and for the last 5 yrs I have been more articulate and even bought my first house all by myself so I am living proof you can take even meds that interact with eachother and still not get brain damage.
I am very interested to see what he dr has to say

[SMSIRL]

It's also useful to consider the damage caused by untreated illness.

Examples

The bipolar patient who comes down off a high, only to find him/herself in another depression which is compounded by having :

1. Lost his/her job due to his/her interpersonal lack of charm while high.
2. Lost his/her family through infidelity caused by his/her hightened sexdrive.
3. aquired a serious STD or maybe even AIDS.

The depressive with self-destructive and suicidal behaviours.

These illness are themselves potentially very dangerous!

It is equally interesting to note how many people with mental illness take alcohol and illegal drugs - sometimes "to deal with their problems" - which are not regulated and frequently do cause "brain damage". Alcohol can damage memory, speech, etc. Drugs like E may cause problems such as Depression!

Yet pharmacuticals that are regulated and supervised are frequently subjected to greater scrutiny by the using community.

Ask yourself have/do you smoke, or drink, or take illicit drugs, and if you have done so or do so, are you really asking the question for fear of brain damage?

Smoking leads to strokes - a great way to damage the little grey cells.

All the best

[Jacksonholenative]

Dr. Anne Blake Tracy is NOT A QUACK!  She has done an immense amount to unravel the horrors that have gone on behind the FDA and the MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR Pharmaceutical industry with regard to anti-depressants like Lexapro, Zoloft, Paxil and a host of others.  It is hard to believe we would fall to this horrifying brainwashing by the glutonously greedy pharmaceutical industry.  It is time for us to wake up and start taking responsibility for our health and realize that WE DID NOT EVOLVE WITH PHARMACEUTICALS.  WE EVOLVED WITH THE PLANTS OF THE NATURAL WORLD and these drugs we have been taking are addictive and not healthy in the long run.  It is a sickness!!  These drug companies and those corporations who create pesticides, herbicides, food preservatives, genetic food alterations and other toxic substances need to realize that they are NOT GOD.  What God has created naturally is incredibly healing.  When people or organizations play God there is an immense consequence and hell to pay in the long run.

Dr. Candice Pert who discovered the opiate receptor in the brain said she was concerned with the effect of these drugs on the intricate workings of the mind and body.  She calls it the body/mind.

I am sick of pharmaceutical drugs.  It sickens me to even think that this industry is making such a killing off of the public and in the process are actually killing us in the long run.  I believe that some drugs have a place only if people have exhausted every other resource.

It is time that the physicians of this country took seriously the words of the man who wrote the oath that they take "PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF"!!
Hippocrates

[SMSIRL]

Cigarettes derive from plants - They are addictive and bad for us although we evolved with plants.
Cocane - comes from plants ditto.
Pot - comes from plants ditto.
Cholestrol comes from "natural" products but is bad for us.
Lithium is absolutely natural we evolved with it - first used some 2000 years ago in Italy to deal with mood disorders. People used to go to a particular lake and take the waters. The thing is the waters were rich in Lithium. The advantage today is that the lithium is purified and is of a known dosage so that the sympthoms of excess are avoided.
A plant - something natural that we evolved with - used to be used for period pain and effectively dealt with the pain. However eventually people noticed that people were dying and eventually realised that it was those people who were using this plant that were dying. The reason why people died was because the plant contained a lowish dose of a poison and with repeated use it killed them, however it had an adequate dose of the chemical found in asprin and this was what was helping the pain. Today thanks to "un-natural" method - a stupid concept as everything in nature is natural - we can extract the asprin and use it without those murderous effects of "Natural" traditional cures.

It should always be kept in mind that natural things are frequently poisonous and bad for us because they evolved with us and found it necessary to avoid being eaten out of existence by us.

Yours

Shaun

[buttacup]

shaun  awesome respond. the comments the other person had about being unatural and brainwashing  would scare anyone who wasnt sure or didnt know the truth  once again thank you

[Sam Hall]

It is well known fact that the companys producing the major ssris with held placebo test results that would have shown tha the difference between them was statistically insignificant. Neuroleptics have caused Tardive Dyskanesia in millions of people world wide,who now shuffle around with lolling tongues.Benzodiazepans have caused (and still are) insurmountable addiction problems. The quacks are the psychiatrists who attempt to treat symptoms of disorders about which they know little or nothing of the cause. Do you home work,
how the hell do you think the research is done for these drugs. Where are the cured? Don't take it on face value there are many differing and rational views about mental health.
Sam Hall

[SMSIRL]

Sam Hall says:

It is well known fact that the companys producing the major ssris with held placebo test results that would have shown tha the difference between them was statistically insignificant.

Response :

It is known that recently some pharma companies have been selectively releasing research THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. Many, including myself shout this to the heavens. However, the data though ommited does not of itself invalidate other contradictory data which asserts the opposite. I have seen several well performed pieces of research that support the hypothesis that SSRI can be effective relative to placebo. Furthermore, I have met many a person who find them helpful. Some of these people had been through suicide attempts etc. before. So, I think what ever the pro's and con's these people benefitted and shouldn't be denied access to medication which appears to be of benefit to them.

Sam Hall says:

Neuroleptics have caused Tardive Dyskanesia in millions of people world wide,who now shuffle around with lolling tongues.

Response :

Until the advent of Neuroleptics, Schizophrenia often left people in a degenerative spiral that lead to permenent institutionalisation. Untreated, people with schizophrenia have entered states that make Tardive Dyskenesia look glammerous. A very good friend of mine on neuroleptics has managed to complete a PhD. Before the medication he had little or no contact with reality and was living under a bridge. He used to be unwashed, hair in a lice infested mat, and drooled incessantly between the gaps in his teeth left by the teeth he removed - "the voices which told him to remove them"!

Sam Hall says:

The quacks are the psychiatrists who attempt to treat symptoms of disorders about which they know little or nothing of the cause. Do you home work how the hell do you think the research is done for these drugs.

Response :

Yes, there is a lot to be learned about mental health issues. But, I won't be waiting on the results of unscientifically evaluated musings of the ill informed to shed any light on the issue. Some of us are very aware of how this research is performed, and understand that whatever the failings, the scientific peer reviewed process will untimately provide the soundest knowledge obtainable. We are also very aware of the sophistry and lack of validity in the approach of those who are selling food stuffs at exorbitant and exploitative prices claiming wonderous properties for nothing more than modern day snake-oil. It so easy to point out other's failings - it makes it so easy to hide ones own.

Sam Hall says:

Where are the cured?

Response :

I've pointed out an example of a person whose life has turned around thanks to treatment. So the underlying condition is there. But look at how many diabetics today are alive for decades after once they would have been dead. The underlying condition is still there, but the treatment makes life possible and wonderful for so many. But as this is NOT a cure maybe we should just take away the insulin. It would be so much better for them to die than be treated.

Sam Hall says:

Don't take it on face value there are many differing and rational views about mental health.

Response :

Agreed totally, and that includes your analysis.

Yes, I've seen incorrect and useless treatments in medicine, but I've also seen many benefits. I've seen even a greater number of abuses by snakeoil salesmen, but not much of a benefit. I do believe many need talking therapies rather than drugs. I do believe that many would benefit from support in dealing with the practical stresses of life that often antcipate a psychiatric condition. However, I also believe that certain conditions are best helped at this moment by certain drugs. I hope overtime that as science continues to progress, such treatments will improve and maybe even cures will be found. Until then there are certain things that can be done to mitigate against abuses by the pharma industry.

1. People should stop looking for less taxes. As these taxes used to fund the kind of independent research that allows greaTEST CONFIDENCE.
2. A lack of state funding makes universities dependent on industrial finance.
3. Pharma Research should be registered in advance on a statuary basis, so that its results are expected and are sought to be filed on completion.
4. Funding should be provided to allow for independent confirmation of results.

The same rigour should be applied to any alternatives.

It still amazes me that people cannot accept that the brain, like any other part of the body can get sick, and to fix/treat it will require medicine and possible surgery

[Suez5]

Just wondering. I heard Dr Blake Tracy on NRP the other day. The announcer stated that she has a PH.d from Georgeworth College in Cedar City, Utah. Can this be true? I don't know of a college there other than Southern Utah State University. I'm sure her background can be legitimate but would love to know if this is true or not.