Given that October is filled with awareness days focused on health literacy and mental well being, we wanted to take a moment to again share our annual highlights and thank you for your support. Together, we are saving lives.

It’s great to see Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring, a Board Certified Psychiatrist, former FDA Officer and drug-tapering expert highlighting akathisia. “Everyone needs to know the word akathisia,” says Witt-Doerring. Listen and learn at https://x.com/wdpsychiatry/status/1714739709015212519?s=20.

October is Health Literacy month and an appropriate time to integrate akathisia education into professional development.

Akathisia can cause self-harm, violence, and iatrogenic suicide.

See MISSD.co & take our free accredited course at MISSD.LearnUpon.com.

For valid reasons, MISSD accepts no money from the pharmaceutical industry. A new study finds that pharma-funded patient advocacy groups may be compromised which can lead to skewed priorities, biased information and dissemination, and recommendations that favor the industry’s interests over those of patients. Read the full article at http://Pharma funded patient advocacy groups is an oxymoron phrase… –advocacy efforts may be compromised –this could lead to skewed priorities –biased information dissemination, and –recommendations that favor the industry’s interests over those of patients.

When it comes to drug-induced problems ”like protracted withdrawal, PSSD, or drug induced akathisia, which we have known about for 7 decades but still don’t understand, for instance, it’s difficult to see how there can be experts.” — Dr. David Healy

In the case of akathisia in particular, groups like MISSD are doing extraordinary work explaining the problem, offering helpful suggestions and raising the profile of a problem that takes so many lives you’d have thought we be working all out to make sure people knew about it. MISSD are doing the kind of work you’d figure the experts or professionals in psychiatric associations like the Royal College of APA should be doing but aren’t. Read the full article at https://rxisk.org/treatment-complications-good-expert-needed/.

October is Health Literacy Month and a good opportunity for healthcare professionals and consumers to learn more about akathisia and medications that can cause self-harm, violence, and suicide. See our educational resources at MISSD.co and take our free accredited course at http://MISSD.LearnUpon.com. Knowing the causes and symptoms of akathisia can save lives.

“There isn’t data that clarifies how common akathisia and late onset akathisia is in people who stop taking these drugs, but I saw it fairly often. Too often to be able to say that this is very rare and unlikely to happen.” –Dr. Stuart Shipko, psychiatrist and author of Xanax Withdrawal

Read the full article at https://www.madinamerica.com/2023/10/ten-years-later-still-shooting-the-odds/

They wanted to lose weight, but instead some lost their lives.

“Some medications can certainly trigger a depressed mood and even suicidal thoughts,” Dr. Costakis, psychiatry director residency training at Northwell Staten Island University Hospital. Read the full article at https://tinyurl.com/49hrdd4.

“More than half of the narrative summaries describe suicidal thoughts appearing shortly after the person started the medicine or increased the dose.” About two-fifths said symptoms ceased after they stopped taking the drug or lowered the dose.

Read the full article at https://www.aol.com/news/wegovy-other-weight-loss-drugs-100452113.html. Dawn Heidlebaugh (below) felt trapped in a disturbing pattern while taking Ozempic, the popular drug used to treat diabetes and obesity.

People suffering from akathisia often report new and/or worsening feelings of anxiety & agitation. Some describe skin crawling & tingling sensations. Others note they never felt suicidal until akathisia. Our video shares some reflections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibCOhnmM608.