Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Shortly after the birth of her daughter, Rebekah Beddoe was diagnosed with postnatal depression. Two years later she was taking six different drugs, including lithium, a tranquiliser, an antipsychotic and antidepressants. She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, given electric-shock therapy, made numerous attempts on her life and was alternately manic and consumed by crippling despair, when she could barely move. She had a two-year-old daughter she hardly knew and a mother and partner who were at their wits end, unable to recognise the formerly ambitious, vibrant and highly successful woman they loved so much. The global antidepressant market is worth a staggering $20 million, but what do we know about the effect of these drugs? The idea that they correct a chemical imbalance in our brain is by no means proven and, indeed, there is much evidence that contradicts this view. And SSRIs - the new generation of antidepressants - may be thought not to be addictive, but as Rebekah found to her great distress, they are hard to come off and those who manage it may suffer debilitating side effects. This is a powerful memoir of the nightmarish three years Rebekah endured as she was repeatedly misdiagnosed, only to realise that her medication was the cause of her mental deterioration. It is also a story of hope and of triumph over adversity. She is now fully recovered, with an urgent message for all those who take and prescribe antidepressants.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Careful with those meds!,
By
This review is from: Dying for a Cure (Paperback)
Having a close family member whose apparent Borderline Personality Disorder with multiple harming episodes, become her beautiful, normal self after discontinuing her many mood altering medications, I was interested in other people's experiences. This book is one person's journey along similar lines in a different country, Australia. The book is important for us in that it highlights a problem which is much more prevalent than we think and we are diagnosing the increase in violence, self harm and suicide as the result of the breakdown in society, family life, abuse or otherwise rather than perhaps the result of treatment for at least some individuals.
The book is important to those who have afflicted family members, themselves have noticed new problems since starting medication or those interested in what drives medication use in our society. A sister American publication Medication Madness draws an even less happy picture.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Handed out like Candy,
By
This review is from: Dying for a Cure (Paperback)
I have just finished reading Rebekah Beddoe's 'Dying For A Cure' and am in no doubt that she was another victim of misdiagnosis and mismanagement by doctors and psychiatrists.
Basically, Rebekah went to see her doctor because she was having trouble sleeping [she had not long given birth to her first child]. Unbelievably, her doctor prescribed her Zoloft to help her with her sleeping [Zoloft is an antidepressant of the SSRi family]. What followed was three years of hell for Rebekah and her family. Beddoe writes eloquently and 'Dying For A Cure' is like a diary of one persons nightmare that is being controlled by the ignorance and stubbornness of Australian doctors and psychiatrists. The book throws open many questions and as an observer [reader] one has to ask oneself why she was diagnosed with post natal depression when she was merely having sleep problems. From a minor complaint Rebekah endured an horrific journey of mind boggling drugs that included: Zoloft, Prozac, Xanax, Zyprexa, Serzone plus a whole host of others... not to mention the Electroconsulsive Therapy [ECT]. One is left in bewilderment at the lack of education in the field of mental illness. The signs were blindingly obvious that Beddoe's demeanor changed once given her first taste of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor [SSRi]. Quite why the medical profession failed to see this boils down to the way these particular drugs are promoted by pharmaceutical companies. Initially, they were promoted for depression and/or manic disorders. Pharma convinced a gullible world that this was caused by a 'chemical imbalance' of the brain, a theory that has never being scientifically proven and one that today is pretty much used as only a possibility and not an actual cause. Pharma have also convinced the world that SSRis are not addictive. One only has to read 'Dying For A Cure' to dispel the non-addiction label. Time after time Beddoe returned to the medical profession, time after time she was misdiagnosed and more drugs were prescribed to her, plunging her into deeper despair. This is a huge problem and one that I personally feel has been cleverly crafted by pharmaceutical companies. If a drug is touted as being non-addictive then doctors and psychiatrists will ignore the possibility of withdrawal and delve deeper into the so called illness of the patient, this lines the pockets of Pharma and destroys the lives of those who are unfortunately diagnosed on the strength of what Pharma marketing say rather than what patients tell their doctors and psychiatrists. 'Dying For A Cure' should be read by doctors and psychiatrists and should remain in their minds when they next see a patient walk through their door whose demeanor has drastically changed as a result of them being prescribed an SSRi. SSRi withdrawal is clearly an issue overlooked by the profession and by those that regulate medicines in all countries and not just Australia. What saddens me is the fact that there is still ignorance regarding this issue. The benefit/risk factor regarding SSRi's is upside down, there is far more risk involved then any benefit in taking these drugs. 'Dying For A Cure' is proof of that.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Living the nightmare,
By Seonaid (Scotland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dying for a Cure (Paperback)
I have also just finished this book - in 36 hours. I couldn't put it down. It is carefully researched and well referenced.
We have a family member presently living through this experience of misdiagnosis, non recognition of drug side effects and withdrawal symptoms - for almost a decade now. You have no idea how cheering it is to finally see in print what we as a family have argued about with doctors for so many years. Anyone and everyone on SSRI antidepressants should read this book. I agree wholeheartedly with fiddaman64 - this book should be compulsory reading for every member of the psychiatric / medical profession. The ignorance surrounding the SRRIs - and other psychiatric drugs - is frightening. It seems if a symptom is not listed in the DSM, then it doesn't exist. Rebekah, thank you for sharing your horrendous story, helping us further our personal mission and raising awareness of the devastating effects these drugs can have on some people.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
