This blog addresses the damage caused by the off-label use of the sleeping pill, Halcion/Triazolam, as a dental sedative, and the harm dentists are doing by routinely overdosing the drug.
Patients with head injury and other serious health problems should not be treated with this drug at all, much less overdosed with it – or subjected to an off-label (improperly tested) use.
The drug’s ability to cause brain damage was illustrated most clearly in the death of John Coleman in Missouri, after his dentist dosed him with a total of 2 mg. The maximum recommended dose (per FDA) is .25 mg.
My daughter, about half Mr. Coleman’s weight, was overdosed with 1 mg, and she has never recovered from the adverse, rebound effects of that drug. Minor “mental” effects from the head injury she suffered prior to the overdose, were clearly and markedly exacerbated by the Halcion.
Now, people in the so-called health care business, clearly uninformed about treatment and diagnosis of brain injury, are further damaging her with brain-damaging antipsychotic drugs.
This trend to ignore brain injury as a cause for what appears to be “mental illness,” and treating the symptoms with drugs that cause more damage and threaten death should be investigated immediately and reversed asap.
Psychosis and other altered thought symptoms resulting from TBI are NOT supposed to be treated the same as those not resulting from TBI, and failing to understand this can be very detrimental to one suffering TBI.
Arcinegas at Univ of Colorado has published a paper on psychosis due to head injury in which two conditions, (one being psychosis caused by head injury), both resembling schizophrenia, are distinguished from one another.
Also the info below explains why the CAUSE of the changed thought patterns should be determined (with brain injury definitely ruled out with neuropsychological and other testing) BEFORE drugs are used.
I have seen recovery using homeopathics and the orthomolecular approach to my daughter’s serious symptoms following a head injury and a Halcion overdose by a dentist.
I have seen very little improvement with benzos and antipsychotics, and witnessed SEVERE and life-threatening reactions to the latter, with a worsening in anxiety and post traumatic stress symptoms.
Whatever the cause, the least toxic approach to healing should be considered first, and the Brain Bio Centre and the Orthomolecular Society info consulted by ALL MENTAL HEALTH facilities everywhere before they resort to any chemical treatments in non-emergency situations.
“Patients who have had a TBI are more vulnerable to adverse effects of medication and are less likely to show evidence of benefit. Symptoms will often improve spontaneously. Furthermore, there may not be an indication for the symptom that the drug is being used for. It is prudent to continue drug treatment of behavioral, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms after TBI only if there is good evidence that the patient is benefiting.”
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/trauma-and-violence/content/article/10168/1534138
” Many drugs given to brain injured persons have undesirable cognitive side effects and cause more harm than good. Certain antiseizure medications cause attention and memory problems, and choice of medication often does not reflect this awareness. Minor tranquilizers (such as Valium) which may calm anxious or tense persons without brain damage, may cause memory problems, poor judgment, and emotional control problems in head injured persons. Major tranquilizers, which organize psychotic thinking and calms agitated behavior in schizophrenics, can have the opposite effect after brain damage. The dampening of the neurotransmitter systems (which helps the schizophrenic) after brain injury decreases cortical functioning, worsens cognitive deficits, leads to more confusion and disorganization, and thus poorer thinking and increased agitation.”
http://www.getrealresults.com/tenmyths.html
DEBUNKING TEN MYTHS OF “RECOVERY”
“Risperdal® should be a drug of last resort. The adverse event profile is so significant, you don’t want to use it except as a last resort. There are many alternatives to these kinds of drugs. But ‘big pharma’ and the FDA have failed to protect the public” – Stephen Sheller on The American Law Journal.
Click to access GraceJacksononRisperdalIrreparableHarmAffidavit.pdf
Click to access JacksonOnNLtoxicity.pdf
“In view of these considerations, risperidone should be prescribed in a manner that is most likely to minimize the risk of TD. As with any antipsychotic drug, risperidone should be reserved for patients who appear to be obtaining substantial benefit from the drug. In such patients, the smallest dose and the shortest duration of treatment should be sought. The need for continued treatment should be reassessed periodically.”
The aim of this paper was to systematically review the research published in English language on the effectiveness of drugs for the treatment of neurobehavioural disorders in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). A literature search using Medline, Pre-Medline, Embase, Psychlit and Cochrane Library databases between 1990 and January 2003 as well as a hand search of Brain Injury since 1996 were carried out. Phrases such as ‘head injury’, ‘brain injury’, ‘drug treatment’, ‘drug trials’ and ‘randomized controlled trials’ were used. Sixty-three papers were selected for data synthesis. Of these, 13 were randomized controlled trials, eight were prospective observational studies, four were retrospective studies, 25 were case series and 13 were single case studies. There was a dearth of type I-III evidence. There was no strong evidence either way to suggest that drugs are effective in the treatment of behaviour disorders in patients with TBI. However, there was weak evidence, primarily based on case studies that psychostimulants are effective in the treatment of apathy, inattention and slowness; high dose beta-blockers in the treatment of agitation and aggression; anti-convulsants and anti-depressants (particularly SSRIs) in the treatment of agitation and aggression, particularly in the context of an affective disorder; and possibly a specific neuroleptic methotrimeprazine in the treatment of agitation in the post-acute stage of Acquired Brain Injury. Some drugs that are effective in some patients have been shown to be ineffective in others. Some drugs, particularly lithium and dopaminergic drugs could cause adverse effects and deterioration in some patients.
http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0269905031000110463
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