URGENT request : Make a submission to the Scottish government re: harm done, dependance and withdrawal. You don't even have to be from Scotland.

[Vanora]

To mammaP and powerback, can I ask if you will write something for our petition? We would very much appreciate it if you did. It need only be a few paragraphs but every submission counts. 

[Vanora]

4 minutes ago, nz11 said:

91 submissions

Its going to be over 100

 

 

It's amazing isn't it! Do you see your submission nz, is it published on the website yet? 

[nz11]

No not yet .

[Vanora]

No worries, they'll get round to it eventually. I feel a bit sorry for the clerks, they've been a bit overwhelmed of late!   

[MiguelFreeman]

i have created my acc how do i sigh the petition 

[Vanora]

46 minutes ago, MiguelFreeman said:

i have created my acc how do i sigh the petition 

 

Hi MiguelFreeman,  I'm sorry to say that you are too late to sign the petition but you are not too late to submit an account of your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos and you don't even have to be from Scotland. Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject headline. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 (refers to size of paper) and you can't name for legal reasons any doctors you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. The 15th of February is the deadline. You need only write a few paragraphs if that's all you can manage.

 

If you click on this link you can see previous submissions but be warned they are quite distressing to read.

 

http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651

 

Thank you MiguelFreeman for offering your support. If you can tell the petitions committee about your experiences you will help us enormously by making the point that many of us throughout the world are harmed by prescriptions of antidepressants and benzodiazepines.  

[nz11]

Well done MF

[nz11]

If just half the people i personally invited today at sa do the submission then we will be over 100 submissions!!

That's good going.

nz11

[Vanora]

37 minutes ago, nz11 said:

If just half the people i personally invited today at sa do the submission then we will be over 100 submissions!!

That's good going.

nz11

 

You have blown me away, that's simply amazing. I'm very grateful for all your efforts to help promote our petition. Thank you, you are a star!  ⭐ 

[nz11]

Thanks Vanora 

You are a star too.

[nz11]

@Jorge24

here

[ChessieCat]

Done!  And I managed to keep it to 2 pages. 

[Vanora]

1 hour ago, ChessieCat said:

Done!  And I managed to keep it to 2 pages. 

 

Fantastic ChessieCat, thank you. It's a bit of an effort to keep it to just 2 pages but I'm glad you managed. 😍

[nz11]

1 hour ago, ChessieCat said:

Done!  And I managed to keep it to 2 pages. 

Awesome .. you are the best.

 

[MaryDavid]

Hi Everyone I submitted mine on 23 Jan, its now on the petition page. Yay.

So many of us have suffered and are still suffering and some have yet to go on that journey. Sadly we have lost some too. Our stories are so important

[nz11]

Thankyou MD and data17.

[ChessieCat]

Is this the correct address?  I haven't received confirmation of my email.  petitions@parliament.scot

 

EDIT:  It's all good.  Just forwarded my original email and got an auto response.

 

Edited February 11, 2018 by ChessieCat

[Vanora]

13 minutes ago, ChessieCat said:

Is this the correct address?  I haven't received confirmation of my email.  petitions@parliament.scot

 

EDIT:  It's all good.  Just forwarded my original email and got an auto response.

 

 

Great ChessieCat, thank you for your support. The petition clerks are snowed under so it will take them a bit of time to get round to publishing your submission on their website. It's an understatement but their getting a bit of an education into the dangers of antidepressants and benzos and I think they are quite affected by it.   

[Vanora]

Thank you to MaryDavid and data17, I appreciate it. Whatever is written it provides an overall picture of the harms of prescribed drug dependence.  🙂

[ChessieCat]

1 hour ago, Vanora said:

The petition clerks are snowed under so it will take them a bit of time to get round to publishing your submission on their website.

 

I wasn't concerned about it being put on the website.  I hadn't received an auto response the first time I sent my email so I wasn't sure if they had received.  At least now I do.

 

1 hour ago, Vanora said:

It's an understatement but their getting a bit of an education into the dangers of antidepressants and benzos and I think they are quite affected by it.

 

This is both good and bad.  Good that they are being told about it, bad because of the reason they need to be told about it.  Hopefully every time our voices our heard somewhere, more of the medical profession is made aware of what is happening.

[Vanora]

6 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

 

I wasn't concerned about it being put on the website.  I hadn't received an auto response the first time I sent my email so I wasn't sure if they had received.  At least now I do.

 

 

This is both good and bad.  Good that they are being told about it, bad because of the reason they need to be told about it.  Hopefully every time our voices our heard somewhere, more of the medical profession is made aware of what is happening.

 

I'm glad you've had confirmation that they received your submission ChessieCat the question next is what the petition committee members make of it. Yes I think they have had their eyes opened to the level of suffering that prescribed drug dependence and withdrawal in particular causes. The Scottish Minister for Mental Health and her principle medical officer and psychiatric adviser did their very best to downplay/dismiss the whole issue - they used words like "unusual" or "rare", and "the petitioner feels that it has happened in some cases". Oh, and apparently we can go back to our original prescriber if things get difficult. It's almost laughable if it wasn't so serious. I can tell you that for some in the medical profession, patients' anecdotal evidence doesn't amount in their minds to a hill of beans - it's psychological, its relapse - but I think that the level of responses we've had can't be so easily dismissed. I'd also like to think we are bringing the whole subject to the attention of the general public. Bear in mind that a lot of them have been brainwashed into believing they have a chemical brain imbalance. A family member of mine was told this only a few years ago and despite knowing I'd been made ill by antidepressant withdrawal - he never saw me at my worst - he has happily accepted a prescription for antidepressants. I can't tell you how very bad that makes me feel. 

 

We have a long way to go yet and it all depends on the reaction of the Scottish government but I don't think they can keep up the pretence that this isn't a serious problem. That's what I hope.

 

 

  

 

[nz11]

9 hours ago, Vanora said:

It's an understatement but their getting a bit of an education into the dangers of antidepressants and benzos and I think they are quite affected by it.  

Is that your opinion or is there a leak! So what you are saying is you  have insider contacts.

[Vanora]

Hi nz,  Here's a quote from the Convener in the last meeting of the petitions committee: "I am sure that I speak for everybody on the committee when I say that reading through the submissions in preparation for the committee had a significant impact. We are genuinely grateful because we know that people are not writing about something theoretical; they are writing about their own direct experience."  Lets just say we are getting feedback that our submissions are making an impression! Yeah, I think the committee have been educated one way or another and a number of us are on twitter and that helps.

[ChessieCat]

1 hour ago, Vanora said:

for some in the medical profession, patients' anecdotal evidence doesn't amount in their minds to a hill of beans - it's psychological, its relapse - but I think that the level of responses we've had can't be so easily dismissed.

 

That was one reason why I was determined to get my submission in.  I want it known by anyone who will listen that 3 weeks after going from 100mg to 50mg Pristiq I was unable to type - and I make sure they know that I've been a typist for 40+ years - but after taking additional Pristiq (thanks to advice received here) after about 4 hours I was able to type again.  There is no way in the world that it was psychological.

[nz11]

If only we had another 10,000 cc's on this site. 

......and another 10,000 Vanora,s.

[Vanora]

25 minutes ago, ChessieCat said:

 

That was one reason why I was determined to get my submission in.  I want it known by anyone who will listen that 3 weeks after going from 100mg to 50mg Pristiq I was unable to type - and I make sure they know that I've been a typist for 40+ years - but after taking additional Pristiq (thanks to advice received here) after about 4 hours I was able to type again.  There is no way in the world that it was psychological.

 

That's what I'd call compelling evidence cc. There is something truly sinister happening I feel in psychiatry today. We have diagnostic guidelines in the DSM-5 and ICD-II and within those guidelines there is such a thing as somatoform disorders where physical symptoms are ascribed to anxiety and depression. They are very keen on using terms like MUPS or Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms but there is a current move to simplify this into Bodily Distress Disorder. It is a catch-all term that covers conditions like ibs, ME/CFS (there is a lot of parallels between the prescribed harm community and ME/CFS community), interstitial cystitis, fibromyalgia, and much else besides - note how many of these conditions can be caused by prescribed psychotropic drugs. A lot of our doctors are now being trained to recognise MUPS and persuade their patients into accepting psychiatric treatments. We see this as a deliberate policy of hiding the damage of prescribed drug dependence. It seems they will do just about anything from keeping us from the truth but we know otherwise cc. Thank you again, you and everyone else able to submit their story are doing a fantastic job.    

[Vanora]

2 hours ago, nz11 said:

If only we had another 10,000 cc's on this site. 

......and another 10,000 Vanora,s.

 

Thank you nz, you're too kind.  😍 

 

[Vanora]

IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH: I have good news. I've just discovered that as long as the committee sits - and at this rate it's unlikely that this will be their last meeting -  people can continue to send in their submissions.  So please, please, keep sending in your stories, the more the better. You don't even have to be from Scotland. 

 

If you have had problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos please send your story by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 (refers to size of paper, for Americans/Canadians that's roughly 2.5 pages) and you can't for legal reasons name any doctors you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous.

 

You can read previous submissions at this link but be warned they are pretty harrowing:  http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651  

 

Thank you in advance.

 

 

[ChessieCat]

On 16/02/2018 at 1:58 AM, Vanora said:

I have good news.

 

Yes that is good news.  Thanks for letting us know.

[Vanora]

I'm going to row back on my last post but for a very good reason. While people can still send their submissions we would ask that they hold back for the present time. We're hearing that due to the large quantity of submissions they've received particularly in this last week the clerking team are feeling the strain. We have to be careful to keep their good will and not create so much work for them that they can't process it. Until further notice let's have a pause in submissions but I will keep people posted on any new updates.   

[ChessieCat]

Woohoo!!!  Happy dance.  My submissions is going to be published!!!  Anonymously but titled 60 year old female - 25 years on ADs.

 

I posted it in my Intro:  

 

Edited February 25, 2018 by ChessieCat

[Vanora]

Whoopee cc, well done!! I'm so pleased for you. It feels great doesn't it.

[ChessieCat]

Thanks Vanora.  I hadn't expected to be, so it was a nice surprise.  Yes, it does feel great.

 

Leading up to me writing it whenever I thought about it my anxiety increased, but I knew there was a deadline and know how quickly time goes so I made myself sit down to type it up.  When I was writing it I felt okay.  I think that may be a sign of some healing happening.  Not withdrawal healing but mental/emotional healing.

 

I would really like to read some of the others but not sure if I would be able to handle it.  I might go and have a look at one and see how I feel.

[ChessieCat]

I've just started reading through some of the submissions.  If you are able to it is well worth reading them.

[DrugfreeProf]

I don't suppose we can still submit testimony?  I'd love to submit Lexi's story and my experiences as her carer. Unfortunately, I was off SA for  much of the period of time when there was a window to submit.

[ChessieCat]

You could always submit it, if they don't accept it they don't.  I've only just started reading some of them.

 

They need to hear about the people who have had bad reactions.  I imagine that many/most of them will be about side effects and withdrawal issues.

 

On 16/02/2018 at 1:58 AM, Vanora said:

IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH: I have good news. I've just discovered that as long as the committee sits - and at this rate it's unlikely that this will be their last meeting -  people can continue to send in their submissions.  So please, please, keep sending in your stories, the more the better. You don't even have to be from Scotland. 

 

If you have had problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos please send your story by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 (refers to size of paper, for Americans/Canadians that's roughly 2.5 pages) and you can't for legal reasons name any doctors you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous.

 

You can read previous submissions at this link but be warned they are pretty harrowing:  http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651  

 

Thank you in advance.

 

 

 

On 19/02/2018 at 12:02 AM, Vanora said:

I'm going to row back on my last post but for a very good reason. While people can still send their submissions we would ask that they hold back for the present time. We're hearing that due to the large quantity of submissions they've received particularly in this last week the clerking team are feeling the strain. We have to be careful to keep their good will and not create so much work for them that they can't process it. Until further notice let's have a pause in submissions but I will keep people posted on any new updates.