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Wikipedia doesn't mention that Ian was apparently adversely affected by psychiatric drugs. Autopsy reveals Debian founder committed suicide (theregister.co.uk)
by tcj_phx 3y ago
Wikipedia doesn't mention that Ian was apparently adversely affected by psychiatric drugs.
Autopsy reveals Debian founder committed suicide (theregister.co.uk) [July 7, 2016] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12050263 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12050263
From the first comment [0] on that discussion: "They found chlordiazepoxide, diazepam, temazepam, and oxazepam in his bloodstream, which could have had some terrible interactions with alcohol. This sounds more to me like a drug overdose that caused a psychological episode than just the alcohol-fueled suicide they make it out to be."
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12050481 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12050481
"Chlordiazepoxide, trade name Librium among others, is a sedative and hypnotic medication of the benzodiazepine class" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlordiazepoxide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlordiazepoxide
"Diazepam, first marketed as Valium, is a medicine of the benzodiazepine family that acts as an anxiolytic." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diazepam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diazepam
"Temazepam (sold under the brand names Restoril among others) is a medication of the benzodiazepine class which is generally used to treat severe or debilitating insomnia." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temazepam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temazepam
"Oxazepam is a short-to-intermediate-acting benzodiazepine." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxazepam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxazepam
That's four benzo's. The whole class of drug is known to be degenerative: they perfectly treat anxiety for 2-3 weeks, then you need to up the dose just to feel normal. Looks like Ian was on a benzo spiral.
The anxiety tragedy is that there used to be a very safe GABA supplement, GHB, in supplement stores, but this supplement got scheduled because it's also useful as a date-rape drug. GABA itself doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier, but GHB does. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Hydroxybutyric_acid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Hydroxybutyric_acid
Allopathic psychiatry is an obsolete tragedy: https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/02/malignant-gooderism/ https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/02/malignant-gooderism/
(minor edits)
- kragen 3y agoi didn't realize that; thank you for the added information psychiatric drugs can have surprising effects, but generally the terrible interaction benzodiazepines have with alcohol is that they send people into a potentially fatal coma, rather than causing suicide attempts or psychotic episodes the hangover, though... withdrawal from ghb doesn't sound like a picnic either, often including delirium that blog post is pretty appalling; the author admits to intentionally submitting his 'friend' to alcohol withdrawal. doesn't he know delirium tremens routinely causes permanent brain damage
- tcj_phx 3y agoGHB is approved for narcolepsy - I understand it helps improve the quality of sleep. My friend ran out of alcohol - we were not aware of how much she was drinking. She lived with her mother at the time - her mother & aunt called the mental health crisis team on the first day of alcohol withdrawal. She was taken to the hospital. I think she was likely tranquilized with haloperidol. This is not an appropriate treatment for alcohol withdrawal, but it's reasonable under the psychiatric standard of care.
- kragen 3y agoi think timely treatment with haldol can in fact significantly reduce or even entirely prevent the excitotoxic brain damage from alcohol withdrawal, but i'm not certain of that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delirium_tremens#Treatment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delirium_tremens#Treatment
- tcj_phx 3y agoHaloperidol is sort-of useful for it's anti-serotonin properties [0]. The Soviets used this drug to induce agony in political dissidents. The physiology of psychosis is now fully described, so there's no need to use haloperidol as a palliative 'anti-psychotic' anymore. Someone responded to my comment yesterday [0] to mention pimavanserin, an antipsychotic that works as an anti-serotonin drug (rather than an anti-dopamine drug). [0] my comment from yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37136792 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37136792