Advice
re withdrawal and reduction of neuroleptics:
This advice was posted in response to an enquiry
from a pharmacist. The author, also a pharmacist,
specialised in psychiatric drugs for 15 years
and ran a specialist drug information service
which advised psychiatrists and other health professionals.
The tone is informal because it was never intended
to be read by the general public but this has
been allowed by the author because of the scarcity
of good advice on this subject.
For further advice on withdrawal
from psychiatric drugs, see Your Drug May Be
Your Problem by Peter R. Breggin and David Cohen,
1999, published by Perseus Books.
For discussion of issues around abrupt
withdrawal, follow the link below to the letter
from Dr Murray published in the British Medical
Journal, June 2002. Or read the letter itself
and the emailed reply on our Letters
page.
"Without access to information
technology, people with learning disabilities
will continue to be structurally excluded;
this proposal aims to put that right." The
proposal is called Maximising Capacity and
you can read it yourself by clicking on the
link below. Perhaps you might like to print
it out and send it to your own MP?
•Maximising
Capacity - this 3-page document is in
Word format (907KB) and might take several
minutes to download on a dial-up connection.
A lively and passionate debate on
human rights and autism, started by Michelle Dawson
in Canada:
These 3 links are to some relevant
articles in the British Medical Journal:
Antipsychotic drugs and heart muscle
disorder in international pharmacovigilance: data
mining study
David M Coulter, Andrew Bate, Ronald H B Meyboom,
Marie Lindquist, and I Ralph Edwards BMJ 2001
322(7296): p. 1207-1209
Drug points: Pseudophaeochromocytoma
syndrome associated with clozapine Andrew J Krentz,
Sherine Mikhail, Paul Cantrell, and Gavin M Hill
BMJ 2001 322(7296): p. 1213
To read Evidence of Neuroleptic
Drug-Induced Brain Damage in Patients: A Partial,
Annotated Bibliography from Vera Hassner Sharav,
President CIRCARE (CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBLE CARE
& RESEARCH) in New York, please visit
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