Chris Paige: Overcoming Iatrogenic Injury And Akathisia
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Iatrogenic injuries are injuries caused by the healthcare system. Chris specializes in working with people who suffer from the protracted withdrawal syndromes that may occur when a person stops taking psychiatric medications.
Benzodiazepine withdrawal is particularly difficult for many people, including long-term symptoms such as akathisia, depersonalization, derealization, insomnia, gastrointestinal upset, and anxiety. Chris Paige has personal experience with the trauma of iatrogenic injury caused by withdrawing from benzodiazepines.
How is it possible to help someone who has been injured and traumatized by adverse reactions to medications? Doctors tend to treat symptoms with more medications.
Adding more psych meds can be like adding fuel to the fire. Additionally, doctors may misdiagnose a person suffering from iatrogenic injury with psych illnesses that they do not have.
People have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, ADHD, social anxiety disorder, and more, when the real problem was caused by prescribed medication. Sometimes the best treatment is to acknowledge that a person is experiencing iatrogenic injury from medications, and to stop giving them additional medications.
Doctors, family members, friends, and coworkers can make things worse by gaslighting victims of iatrogenic injury. They may even stage an addiction intervention for a person who has no issue at all with addiction.
Accusing a person suffering from psych drug adverse reactions or protracted withdrawal from substance abuse, or telling them to simply "snap out of it," makes matters worse. It is critical that we understand that iatrogenic injury from medications is a real condition, and it can be extremely difficult to live with.
Akathisia is one of the most troubling adverse reactions of all. It is characterized by severe restlessness, where the person feels that they are unable to sit still. They tend to walk around, persistently moving their arms in distress.
People who suffer from akathisia are unable to sleep, and they describe the sensation as having crawling skin. They may state that they feel as if they need to peel their skin away and jump out of it.
Some people describe akathisia as a vibration originating from the spine. Others say it feels like an internal pain that is difficult to describe.
Chris Paige has personal experience with akathisia, suffering from a debilitating course of three years of around-the-clock akathisia symptoms. Today, he is able to live with his iatrogenic injury, and he has helped many people to have hope for healing.
He also provides effective therapies. These include coaching, counseling, as well as EMDR and the revolutionary Safe & Sound Protocol.
I hope you find this podcast episode useful. You may find Chris Paige, LCSW on his website here.
10 episodes