Kelly Brogan, MD: A Mind Of Your Own

[Meimeiquest]

This book comes out next week. Sometimes books are discounted on Amazon prior to the launch (delete if I'm not supposed to say that!). Although she specializes in women's health, I think many parts would apply to men as well. In writing this I'm not saying I agree with everything she teaches, but I do think she is a very important voice to be heard in the natural treatment of mental illness. In a lecture, she said that she treats all mental illnesses in the same way she treats depression.

[Meimeiquest]

I got a link to the first chapter of this book (all the people who do internet summits and such promote each other). You might want this...even if you don't like her. She is a fully-trained psychiatrist who doesn't use psychotropics.

[rapunzel2]

bought it. 

[Rachelina]

Here's a great review by Charles Eisenstein:

http://charleseisenstein.net/mutiny-of-the-soul-revisited/

[nz11]

I have already asked my local library to buy this book.

Went in a week later to ensure they got my request they said yeah they will buy it and there are now 5 people in the que wanting to read it and i will get it first.

 

"Can you imagine a message that psychiatric medication is worse than useless,...."

cant wait to read it..this is music to my ears.

 

$16 is very cheap when you consider a movie ticket is pretty much the same price these days.

[rausmitcha]

Hi everybody~

 

I got this book in the mail yesterday.  IT IS AMAZING SO FAR!!!  She is so on point.  I swear, I'm like air high-fiving her every other sentence.  Get a copy somehow and read it.  I feel badly for all those mislead docs who really do have good intentions but are in a system that's been bought and can't find their way clear.  I FEEL WORSE for the patients, like us, who have been on the front lines of med experimentation.  If I hear one more time that "mental illness X is JUST LIKE DIABETES; you need medicine to keep it in check", I'm going to puke.

 

SO WORTH THE READ!!!

 

be well today!

[btdt]

I just checked it is on sale at Chapters in Canada 

[btdt]

what happened to the video link am I on the wrong thread... here it is again if I am.... need to let people see this

 

http://seancroxton.com/008-kelly-brogan/

[nz11]

ch 1 is available for free....

 

"A good percentage of my practice involves treating other physicians and psychiatrists ".....hey maybe they have been swallowing their own medicine!

 

"wastebasket diagnosis of depression"

 

"The medicalization of distress obliterates meaning and creates profit" ...

 

"The fact that 1 in 4 American woman in the prime of their life is dispensed medication for a mental health condition represents a national crisis"

 

"The truth about prescription based care : weve been duped"

 

"Weve handed over our health to those who seek to profit from it, and we have been buying into a paradigm based on the following notions,

We are broken

Fear is an appropriate response to symptoms

We need chemicals to feel better

Doctors know what they are doing

The body is a machine requiring calibration(via drugs).

I call this set of notions the Western Medical illusion"

 

"Personally i have no intention of ever returning to a lifestyle that involves pharmaceutical products of  any kind"

 

"Before i stopped prescribing i never once cured a patient. Now people are cured every week in my practice"

 

"Depression is not a disease"

 

"Psychiatry is infamous for saying oops It has a long history of abusing patients with its pseudoscience driven treatments and has been  sullied by its shameful lack of diagnostic rigor"

 

Thats all for now..later..

 

nz11

 

KB writes so well ...

[nz11]

One more quotes,

 

"7% of all visits to a primary care doctor end with a antidepressant prescription..and almost three quarters of the prescriptions are written without a specific diagnosis."

 

I like Brogans belligerent and perhaps militant attitude towards her own profession.

[btdt]

"I like Brogans belligerent and perhaps militant attitude towards her own profession."

 

It makes me afraid for her, though I too appreciate it.  

[nz11]

I like the way she calls  bovine excrement what it truly is ...!

[nz11]

Well got the book from the library today. Guess what i read first?

 

Here's some stuff from references to tapering.

 

The dirtiest little secret of all is the fact that antidepressants are among the most difficult drugs to taper from, more so than alcohol and opiates. While you might call it “going through withdrawal”, we medical professionals have been instructed by Big Pharma to call it “discontinuation syndrome”, which is characterised by fiercely debilitating physical and psychological reactions.                                                                                             p3

 

When Eva was ready to begin tapering off her medication, she did so following my protocol.                            p15

 

 

Special Circumstances Tapering from Meds after the 30 days

 

Judging by the most heavily trafficked articles on my website and my practice’s FAQ, this will be the most important section of the book for many people.

 

It is not easy to get off psychiatric medications once you start. It’s not even easy to get information on how to wean yourself safely from them.

 

You’ll hear “talk to your doctor before discontinuing” and get advice to taper off gradually, and these are reasonable first steps.

 

I’ll be honest: some people who currently are taking antidepressants won’t be able to safely taper and may have to continue using the drugs indefinitely or until medicine has better solutions. Still, what I’ve shared in this book will help you find more relief and you’ll feel better than if you were solely dependent on antidepressants without making any other changes.

 

What has fuelled my fire about the irresponsible prescribing of psychiatric medications is bearing witness to cases of severe discontinuation syndrome. This refers to the months to years of nervous system instability that can result from medication taper. The process of coming off of antidepressants is just that, a process. If you’ve been treated for longer than two months, the process must be slow with small incremental decreases and medication doses and use of liquid preparations and compounds when small increments are not available.

 

Of course this will require the help of a physician – one who supports your willingness to taper and to do so in a responsible, safe manner. The reason you must invest in those  first 30 days of dietary change is to promote resilience before tapering off so that your body will be able to adapt to the change.

 

Each person’s experience in the tapering off process will be different. Sadly, I was taught to dismiss patients concerned about becoming “addicted” to the psych meds and to deny the possibility of protracted withdrawal, describing it only as evidence of the patient’s clear “need” for permanent medication treatment. I was never taught how to taper.

 

A rare instance of clinical documentation on tapering patients is offered by Dr Jonathan Prousky; in one of the seminal papers he describes in detail his approach to complex cases. He supports the patient’s reframing of their experience of mental illness, this self-care, and a careful dosage schedule that involves decreasing medications and use of natural agents such as nicotinamide, botanicals, such as rhodiola rosea, and amino acid such as GABA and L-theanine.

 

He concurs, as  do I, that there is no magic supplement bullet, and that the most important thing to do is to use dietary strategies and supplements known for their antidepression effects and promotion of the relaxation of the nervous system. After all, these effects are the ultimate goal.

 

Giving each reader her unique tapering protocol is beyond the scope of this book. But if you have taken my ideas to heart and have successfully completed the 30 days, then you've already  given yourself the best head start to finding your exit door, and you are ready to start that process with a supportive doctor  who can tailor your treatment.

 

The treatment team partnership is critical, with the most optimal results coming from lifestyle change, careful management of dosage decreases, and strategic support through nutraceuticals. Most patients and their practitioners know that the dosages made available by pharmaceutical companies are not conducive to a successful taper. Liquid preparations, compounding pharmacies, and even meticulous removal of beads from capsules are indispensable work-around tools you can talk about with your doctor.

 

Long-term damage from these medications is a real phenomenon, and one that is poorly understood outside of patient accounts and peer support groups. But patients are rarely wrong.

 

As psychiatrist and activist Peter Breggin has stated, medication withdrawal programs are the most urgently needed intervention in the field of psychiatry.

 

I have few like-minded colleagues. Most of what I have learned about psychiatric drug withdrawal I have learned from patients and from clinical experience.

 

The best way to promote resiliency is to bring back a signal of safety to the mind and body. And that signal comes in the form of simple lifestyle habits via nutrition, a clean environment, an ideal light cycle throughout the day and night, as well as movement: the evidence for the strategies is amassing in the literature.

 

Psychiatrists are driven by fear and a need to control and regulate the emotional experience. As healers, we have the opportunity to meet this fear with compassion and equanimity. We can put aside our obsessive preoccupation with reactive intervention and liability- driven care and learn to tolerate what is uncomfortable about a patient’s distress. Given that the data supports the undeniable fact that the current model of medication based intervention is failing, we must do this.

 

Once you have completed the first 30 days to a T, there is a strong possibility that the original driver of your symptoms habits have been addressed. You may not have the same need for your medication or be deriving much benefit from it.

 

Employ the power of the Internet as well: visit my website for more updated material and go to places like the support forums on www.madinamerica.com to connect with others and access a variety of resources.

 

I believe in transferring a sense of empowerment to my patients. I talk to them about this process as being one of rebirth – of rising from the ash – and a deliberate step in the direction of wholeness and radiant life.

(Excerpts from p267-273)

 

nz11

Well I guess it is not what has been said it’s what has not been said that is disappointing.

It is disappointing she did not provide a reference for Dr Prousky’s paper.

If it’s the one that I think it is then no wonder because it was very substandard and left a lot to be desired. imo.

Doctors are clueless but talk to your doctor; Its not about supplements and diet but do my 30 day supplements and diet and she'll be right.

 

There is something else that was very disappointing as well…

Can you guess?

[ChessieCat]

All sounds very nice and is very well written but there doesn't seem to be any real passion in it.  She seems to pussyfoot.  Maybe doesn't want to upset her cohorts.  Then again softly, softly catchee monkey ...

 

Yes, it's a shame SA isn't mentioned.

 

and NZ11 no marking the new book!

[nz11]

never really stopped to browse the madinamerica site.

So thought i might take a brief tour.

 

I cant see any peer support withdrawal/tapering  group here. What there is is links to other sites shown here...

http://www.madinamerica.com/psychiatric-drug-withdrawal/#/page/helpful-websites

 

Hold on a minute.....are you not seeing what i'm not seeing!

 

nz11

[nz11]

and NZ11 no marking the new book!

okay i admit i lightly penciled in the margin beside the madinamerica reference;

'for tapering refer ...'  i'll give you a clue start and ends in the same letter ....an 's' can you guess.

 

Just thought of something the library actually bought 4 of these books. I should return my one immediately and put my name on the list for another and 'repeat' ...

[ChessieCat]

 

and NZ11 no marking the new book!

okay i admit i lightly penciled in the margin beside the madinamerica reference;

'for tapering refer ...'  i'll give you a clue start and ends in the same letter ....an 's' can you guess.

 

Just thought of something the library actually bought 4 of these books. I should return my one immediately and put my name on the list for another and 'repeat' ...

 

 

Only lightly???  And in pencil???  I would have written it in pen and highlighted it.  Well maybe not the highlight but definitely pen.  And 4 copies.  That's fantastic.

 

Think of it this way, you are doing people a HUGE favour.

 

BTW I've just emailed Mad In America requesting SA to be included on their Helpful Websites list.

[nz11]

cc You are just the best lol!!

Let us know what they say in reply....

 

Hey if its good enough for Healy then come on...

 

How do you get photos loaded up here apparently jpg is not allowed.

 

Later edit...no problem i cut the pagein half and now data within limit.

[nz11]

Hows this

Its best if i do pencil i already have library fines.

Ill do pen when others have had it and then they wont know who did it.

[nz11]

One down three to go!!!

 

1.5 million people in Melbourne wait on was it Cape Foulwind no thats right it was Sydney...and currently 4 books in library circulation.

[nz11]

Hey look what i found

 

http://nypost.com/2016/04/05/are-antidepressants-making-women-sicker/

 

In particular look at the last paragraph

Things are picking up ..

 

All you have to do is spend a few minutes on SurvivingAntidepressants.org, BeyondMeds.com, or SSRIstories.org to appreciate that we have created a monster. Millions of men, women and children the world over are suffering side effects, including complicated withdrawal routinely dismissed by their prescribing clinicians. Contrary to what Big Pharma would have you believe, weaning off antidepressants is extremely difficult, so choosing to take them could be signing up for a lifetime of medication use that creates and sustains abnormal states in the brain and entire nervous system. As a clinician who once believed in these medications, I have been humbled by what they are capable of. In fact, even when I have tapered women off of Celexa at extremely low increments of .001mg a month, it can be hard to imagine another class of substances on Earth so potentially complicated to discontinue.

.......................//.....................

Goodness me she really did mean one thousand of a mg per month(ie 0.000001g)....how on earth is she measuring that.

[compsports]

Hey look what i found

 

http://nypost.com/2016/04/05/are-antidepressants-making-women-sicker/

 

In particular look at the last paragraph

Things are picking up ..

 

All you have to do is spend a few minutes on SurvivingAntidepressants.org, BeyondMeds.com, or SSRIstories.org to appreciate that we have created a monster. Millions of men, women and children the world over are suffering side effects, including complicated withdrawal routinely dismissed by their prescribing clinicians. Contrary to what Big Pharma would have you believe, weaning off antidepressants is extremely difficult, so choosing to take them could be signing up for a lifetime of medication use that creates and sustains abnormal states in the brain and entire nervous system. As a clinician who once believed in these medications, I have been humbled by what they are capable of. In fact, even when I have tapered women off of Celexa at extremely low increments of .001mg a month, it can be hard to imagine another class of substances on Earth so potentially complicated to discontinue.

.......................//.....................

Goodness me she really did mean one thousand of a mg per month(ie 0.000001g)....how on earth is she measuring that.

This is great news NZ11.

 

However, I would be happier if this book was featured on mainstream sites like the Washington Post, New York Times, and NPR.   But I am living in fantasyland, particularly since I call NPR, National Psychiatric Radio.

[nz11]

Probably because the book is blacklisted. (not quite sure what that means but it doesnt sound good...maybe means we refuse to have anything to do with it.)

One cannot offend the hand that feeds you.

nz11

[ChessieCat]

Hows this

Its best if i do pencil i already have library fines.

Ill do pen when others have had it and then they wont know who did it.

 

 

Good idea about waiting a bit.  However, I suggest you change it to survivingantidepressants.org tapering information and peer support (and erase CC - and Fresh? - please!)

[ChessieCat]

cc You are just the best lol!!

Let us know what they say in reply....

 

Hey if its good enough for Healy then come on...

 

How do you get photos loaded up here apparently jpg is not allowed.

 

Later edit...no problem i cut the pagein half and now data within limit.

 

I mightn't be able to go the legal route, but I am doing what I can.

 

Good news.  I've had an email reply and he said he has been reading Brogan's book.  They will be revamping their Withdrawal Resources soon and he has passed my suggestion on to the person responsible for Helpful Websites.

[nz11]

oh no i just returned the book!

 

Just kiddin!!

no problem....done.

 

Hey thats great news ...lets keep a watch out and see if they do it.

[nz11]

 

 

I mightn't be able to go the legal route, but I am doing what I can.

 

You are saving the world one email at a time and that is more than most and outstanding stuff !

[nz11]

Well i take it all back KB mentions SA on pg 61.

 

"All you have to do is spend a few minutes on SurvivingAntidepressants.org ...to realise we have created a monster."

[nz11]

This was interesting page 153

 

Warning: breakfast cereals

Don't be fooled by so-called natural cereals. The cereal aisle in your grocery store is one big display of some of the most packaged, processed products around.

 

Recent reports have exposed the dirty secrets behind popular brands, including Kashi [must be some american named cereal i guess] these boxes of whole grain goodness are anything but: they are commonly contaminated with genetically modified ingredients and associated herbicides/pesticides. Most of the cereals also contain gluten, dyes, industry secret flavour enhancers, and myriad sugars. The effect on your body is a setup for abnormal hunger inducing stimulation, insulin spiking, and cognitive clouding within an hour or two, throw away your cereal boxes today.

If you can shake off the cultural conditioning of needing to eat "breakfast" food, and instead just regular food – greens, some fish, broth, and so on upon rising – your options will expand exponentially. 

[What! ...greens for breakfast! I thought only cows eat greens for breakfast...but what about 'fruit loops' cereal?]

 

If you feel like you need something that reminds you of dessert, try my smoothie; it will keep you satisfied well into the afternoon.

 

 

I think I'll check out the smoothie recipe its on page 282...i am definitely a smoothie fan.

 

The KB Smoothie

serves one

 

half a cup of frozen organic cherries or other berries,

8 ounces coconut water, or filtered water,
3 tablespoons collagen hydrolysate (as a protein base; see note following recipe),
1 tablespoon sprouted nut butter or sunflower seed butter,
3 large pastured egg yolks,
1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil,
1 to 2 tablespoons grass-fed ghee,
1 to 2 tablespoons raw cocoa powder.

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Note: collagen hydrolysate is a protein food supplement high in the amino acids glycine, proline, and lycine. It comes as a dry powder.

 

...............

Well the last few days i have started eating rolled oats for breakfast. With a handful of frozen blueberries-picked them myself at the pyo place. (Luckily they only weigh my bucket and not me.)

 

I'm on the learning curve here ...what are 'pastured eggs' ? I'll have to google it.

'Butter' in a smoothie.....really! Ive never heard of that....perhaps she ,meant ice-cream?

And never heard of a ghee either .

 

I would like to give this smoothie(?) a go though ...!!

If anyone has tried it id love to hear what you think.

 

Hey what about ice cubes?

I really wish America would 'get metric'!!

 

I think there is a video of KB making this...

later....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPF1udpUmfU

 

nz11

Lets do it.

Heading out to catch myself a ghee!...then i'll make the KB smoothie...hope these ghees can fit in the blender.

I wonder if you need a free range ghee or would a caged one  be okay?

[ChessieCat]

It will depend on how big "a ghee" you buy.  It's actually clarified butter.  Just down try and use the whole cow!  Just realised she has grass-fed ghee.  That made me giggle because I hadn't seen it before I typed about the cow.

 

I've been eating raw quick oats with a grated granny smith apple and chopped dates for a while now.  Sometimes I also add about 1/6 of a serve of a soy protein isolate (because I don't eat a lot of protein).  When I've run out of the extras, I have now found that I don't mind eating just the raw oats with soy milk of course (ie not dry).  And I've found them very filling and good for the "other end" too.

[nz11]

Was out today trying to get the ingredients...i gave up.

Several of them i couldnt get hold of but i have now come to the conclusion that this is one top shelf $moothie.

[compsports]

Was out today trying to get the ingredients...i gave up.

Several of them i couldnt get hold of but i have now come to the conclusion that this is one top shelf $moothie.

This one looks like it wouldn't spike my prediabetes blood sugar.   I think i am going to try it at some point.

 

NZ11, why not see if you can substitute some of the ingredients such as grass fed butter for grass fed ghee?  Or just use plain butter.

 

Regarding the nut butters, I would simply use smooth peanut butter.    Sorry, I don't think it is that evil that it is worth spending about 4 times the amount on the butters she recommends.

 

CS

[nz11]

Hi Compsports

Yeah i learnt ghee is a kind of butter.

Have you priced that collagen stuff gee that is perhaps one of the most expensive supplement i have seen....its like gold dust.

I thought the same about using peanut butter too.

Dont sure i can bring myself to putting 'butter' in my smoothie ...is that healthy??

It sure sounds like a glassful  of fat!

Doesnt that defeat the purpose....hmmm.

[nz11]

Here's a great KB interview about her book .she talks a bit about tapering.

Andy found it and so i put a copy here.

 

http://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/medication-tapering-withdrawal-kelly-brogan

[bubbles]

NZ11, you could also try just using a good double cream in the smoothie. (We have it here in Aus, so I imagine you can get it in NZ.) Not thickened cream, double cream. As far as I know all dairy in NZ will be good grass fed.

B

[ChessieCat]

Ice cream sounds better!!!