ADHD and psychiatric meds in children/teens on the rise, and benzodiazepine use increases mortality in adults (including suicide)

Registration for my Anxiety Summit 6: Toxins/Meds/Infections is now open and in the spirit of continuing to share valuable snippets leading up to the summit, here goes for today.

(If you’ve already registered I do hope you find these snippets of value and they help you figure out more about which interviews to tune into first. If you’re only hearing about the summit for the first time, you can register here)

Today I want to highlight some aspects from two of the interviews on psychiatric medications.

In the interview Psychiatric Medications in Children and Teens with Dr. Nicole Beurkens, we discuss these results from a 2019 paper:

• Our study indicates that the rate of presentation to child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient clinics is increasing, and rates of diagnosis and initiation of psychiatry drugs are high among the presented children.
• The prevalence of ADHD shows an increase in males and females in our country, and psychiatric polypharmacy has reached significant rates.

Polypharmacy means concurrent use of multiple medications by a patient. The fact that psychiatric polypharmacy is increasing in children and adolescents is most concerning. There are safer solutions that address the root causes of ADHD, anxiety and depression.

Here is what we cover in this interview:

• Increasing ADHD, anti-anxiety, SSRI and antipsychotic meds and discontinuation syndrome
• Disparities in BIPOC communities;
• Psychiatric side effects of acne, constipation and asthma medications
• Nutritional psychiatry/targeted nutrients/gut, sleep, movement, screen time and play

In the interview SSRIs, Benzodiazepines, Alcohol and Amino acids with Dr. Hyla Cass, she shares how benzodiazepines (a class of antianxiety medications that include Xanax, Ativan, Valium and others) are:

• strongly associated with all cause mortality, including suicide (even when used for short durations of treatment
• the cause of many accidents even if taken the previous day

Here is what we cover in this interview:

• SSRI and benzodiazepine side-effects
• Discontinuation syndrome, pre-taper protocols and tapering
• The harmful effects of alcohol and the impacts on sleep
• The dangers of combining alcohol with benzodiazepines, and the risks of antabuse (commonly used in alcohol addiction treatment plans)
• GABA, tryptophan, 5-HTP, glutamine, DPA, CBD and key nutrient co-factors for medication taper, alcohol addiction, carb cravings and anxiety

Dr. Nicole Beurkens’ interview is focused on children and adolescents, and Dr. Hyla Cass’ interview is focused on adults but both are invaluable resources if you want to learn more about psychiatric medications, discontinuation syndrome, tapering and addressing the root-causes with nutritional other non-medication solutions.

Other related medication interviews of interest would be:

• GABA and Tryptophan vs Meds for Hormone Balance – one of my 3 interviews (I also cover the birth control pill and more about using the amino acids)
• Benzodiazepines: Short-Term Benefits, Long-Term Harms – Catherine M. Pittman, PhD, HSPP
• 5-HTP: Anxiety, Depression, Insomnia and Liver Protection – Michael Murray, ND (he shares studies comparing 5-HTP to SSRIs)
• Neuropsychiatric Toxicity from Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics – Lisa Bloomquist
• Your Brain on Food: Anxiety, OCD and PTSD – Uma Naidoo, MD, PCP (she also shares studies comparing psychiatric meds to NAC and inositol)

In case you missed the first few emails about the summit … as you know, anxiety can be related to your daily life experiences BUT it can also be triggered by:

• foods you eat and what you drink (like wheat, oxalates, alcohol and more)
• environmental toxins (like lead, plastics, fragrances, insecticides, fluoride and more)
• many types of medications (like the benzos/SSRIs, birth control pill, acne medication, fluoroquinolone antibiotics and more) and/or
• chronic infections (like Lyme disease, PANDAS, parasites, candida and more).

Once you identify the root causes and understand anxiety’s mechanisms you can support the liver/gallbladder, detox, address infections, implement targeted and supportive solutions, and get relief!

This is my 6th Anxiety Summit, featuring all new topics and the latest research related to anxiety and toxins, medications and infections.

Over the course of the next 6 weeks you’ll be seeing frequent emails from me with snippets and highlights from various interviews – like this one. I do hope you continue to enjoy them and get excited about the summit! Please do share if you know someone who has anxiety!

You’ve heard me say the Anxiety Summit has been called “a bouquet of hope!”  My wish for you is that this summit is your bouquet of hope!

I hope you’ll join me and these incredible speakers, be enlightened and find YOUR solutions!

Here’s to no more anxiety and you feeling on top of the world again!

If you’re already familiar with some of this information and practice some of this already please share how it’s helped you. That way we can all learn.

If you’d like to ask a question, please post in the comments below.

I’d also love to hear from you once you’ve listened to this interview. Please do come back and comment about some of the highlights of this interview and what changes you plan to make.