Renegade Psych

Hey there again... This week, we're back to give you more information on lithium with one of the world's leading experts on lithium, Dr. Janusz Rybakowski, MD and Polish psychiatrist. Janusz was one of the first researchers in the world to illuminate some of the ancillary medical benefits of lithium, publishing one of the first series of reports with JD Amsterdam on Lithium's ability to directly inhibit Herpesvirus replications, when they saw in their lithium-treated bipolar patients a decrease in the # and intensity of cold sore outbreaks. He has gone on to detail several other medical benefits, including its' dementia-prevention effect, positive immuno-modulatory effects, decreasing the incidence of several respiratory viral infections including COVID, as well as several other less-proven but very intriguing benefits. I hope you enjoy and I appreciate Janusz being so gracious with his time and all the materials he has sent me since our conversation.

If you're passionate about what we do here at Renegade Psych, we're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support our work, you can! Or not... I'll continue putting out content as long as my other jobs pay the bills. Other things you can do: liking, commenting, and sharing our posts also go a long way! https://patreon.com/RenegadePsych.

Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as I'm starting to add graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational. For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/ to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website.

Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Hey all, hope you enjoy this latest episode with Nicole Lamberson, PA with the Taper Clinic, who graciously has shared her story about being over-medicated on psychiatric medications. We discuss why limited duration 'Rehab' and 'Detox' units can be extremely harmful to patients with dependence on certain prescription or illicit drugs, using her own experience with an escalating dose of prescribed Xanax (and several other medications), followed by abrupt withdrawal and persistent protracted withdrawal symptoms that she is still dealing with today. We reference a couple of very influential historical psychiatrists who tried to sound the alarm on how to effectively withdraw patients in the long-term from benzodiazepines, whose professional valid opinions had been dismissed until years after their deaths. Nicole tells her story as a warning to others who may be struggling or in a similar situation, and hopefully, alleviate their distress and move our field forward, focusing on progress over profits. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as I'm starting to add graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational. For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/ to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website.

Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Join me with Cara Hoepner, a San Francisco-based PMHNP, to discuss how we SHOULD be practicing psychiatry. This is a 2-part series and in this 2nd part, we talk more about some of the issues that plague our field. We talk about how our first imperative has to be to rule out any medical cause of psychiatric symptoms, then discuss how Cara individualizes her treatment for each patient, balancing non-pharmacologic necessities for good mental health like diet, movement, and breathing/meditation, with a creative but safe pharmacologic armamentarium, all in an effort to address ROOT CAUSES of psychiatric symptoms. Cara discusses some of the risks of long term antipsychotic use, the importance of sleep and diet, and points out that 98% of Americans are metabolically unhealthy from a functional and integrative psychiatry-perspective. Another interesting part of the discussion is Cara revealing her own journey with MCAS, or Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, and how that allows her to more easily recognize MCAS and refer patients to the appropriate treating clinican. We talk about the common overlap of MCAS with OCD. Lastly, we briefly talk about the benefits and detriments of using acute anti-inflammatory agents, which, of course, leads us to a lengthy detour talking about lithium and its unique anti-GSK-3-beta chronic anti-inflammatory action. Hope you enjoy!

For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/ to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website.

Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Join me with Cara Hoepner, a San Francisco-based PMHNP, to discuss how we SHOULD be practicing psychiatry. This is a 2-part series and in this first part, we will talk more about Cara's background that led her into psychiatric practice, then discuss the inherent problems with the DSM's massive over-expansion of psychiatric diagnoses and the major inherent limitations in modern psychiatry. We discuss how the "guidelines" for psychiatric practice DO NOT promote individualization of treatment, critical thinking skills, and DO NOT typically address the root causes of illness. Cara discusses her number one motion to DO NO HARM, causing her hesitance with using SSRIs and promoting the belief that SSRIs may be contributing to or causing a more rapid cycling between depression, mania, and euthymia (normal mood) in bipolar disorder (formerly manic-depressive illness) patients. We talk about addiction treatment and how our rapid tapers lead to protracted withdrawals, how addiction services create cookie-cutter treatment regimens they try to apply to every patient that walks through the door, regardless of individual factors of duration and amount of use and giving their brains and bodies time to adjust to lower doses of illicit and licit drugs/medications in their treatments. Lastly, we share a disagreement on industry's influence on our current malfunctioning system. Cara points out how the relationship between doctors/providers and industry representatives has shifted over time, and I emphasize the idea that if I don't promote that there are major problems with how industry operates and its lack of enforced regulations, then how will the system ever change? Hope you enjoy!

For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/ to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website.

Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Clozapine is one of the first antipsychotics with a unique chemical structure compared to any other antipsychotic. It is the most effective at treating patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, but is severely underutilized despite its efficacy. It does have a significant side effect profile that needs to be monitored and managed, but can provide relief to patients who have not found relief from other medications. Today, I bring on Jose Rubio, MD, at Zucker Hillside Hospital, who specializes in treatment-resistant schizophrenia and is an expert on using Clozapine. He also trained under John Kane, the original MD and researcher who was tasked by the FDA, which was trying to ban Clozapine due to a string of Scandinavian deaths related to a rare side effect, to bring inpatient treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients in the 1970s OFF of clozapine, and came back to the FDA saying that he wasn't able to find effective treatment for the majority of them and petitioned the FDA to reconsider their ban due to Clozapine being so effective. Clozapine is very cheap and is another example of us prioritizing less effective and more expensive treatments over tried-and-true treatments. It DOES have a severe side effect of agranulocytosis (along with a couple others), which impairs the person's immune system to fight off infections, so it requires a significant amount of monitoring especially early in the treatment. But, for the vast majority of patients, Clozapine is not only tolerated, but provides them relief from their symptoms and a chance to live a more normal life. Hope you enjoy!

For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/ to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website.

Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Enjoy my rant on a healthcare bill. Please send me your rants if you have them and I'll post them.

For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/ to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website.

Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

This series is about encephalitis, or brain infection. This is such an important topic in psychiatry because it is a potential medical cause of psychiatric or behavioral symptoms. I've seen encephalitis patients misdiagnosed and put on the inpatient psychiatric unit, and that delay of care can be disastrous for their brain's chances of recovery. In this series, we welcomed Australia's Philip Britton, MD, a world-renowned expert on childhood encephalitis, then talked to Alex, an old friend of mine with the onset of primarily behavioral changes that was later diagnosed with and treated for viral encephalitis, and in our final installation, my old friend and colleague, Jaime Shoup, MD, returns to give his take on encephalitis. You can watch this entire series on my YouTube channel which includes video; search 'Renegade Psych' on YouTube to find the page. All future episodes will be live video recordings, but we'll still produce an audio-only version as well, so view on YouTube, listen on other platforms, or don't do either, Life is full of choices!

For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/ to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website.

Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

I'm super excited for this first PATIENT EXPERIENCE episode with a live interview with an old friend of mine, Alex, who recently suffered a bout of likely VIRAL ENCEPHALITIS, or brain infection, that led to primarily behavioral changes before any obvious focal neurologic deficits. This is such an important topic in psychiatry because it is a potential medical cause of psychiatric or behavioral symptoms. I've seen encephalitis patients misdiagnosed and put on the inpatient psychiatric unit, and that delay of care can be disastrous for their brain's chances of recovery. In this series, we welcomed Australia's Philip Britton, MD, a world-renowned expert on childhood encephalitis, AND IN THIS EPISODE, we welcome our first patient guest, Alex, to talk about his personal experience with contracting encephalitis, and in our final installation, my old friend and colleague, Jaime Shoup, MD, returns to give his take on encephalitis. You can watch this entire series on my YouTube channel which includes video; search 'Renegade Psych' on YouTube to find the page. All future episodes will be live video recordings, but we'll still produce an audio-only version as well, so view on YouTube, listen on other platforms, or don't do either, Life is full of choices!

For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/ to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website.

Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Hey! Welcome to my next series on ENCEPHALITIS, or infectious causes of encephalopathies, or medical problems that cause altered mentation and behavior. It's such an important topic in psychiatry because it is a potential medical cause of psychiatric illness. I've seen encephalitis patients misdiagnosed and put on the inpatient psychiatric unit, and that delay of care can be disastrous for their brain's chances of recovery. In this series, we welcome Australia's Philip Britton, MD, a world-renowned expert on childhood encephalitis, then we welcome our first patient guest, Alex, to talk about his personal experience with contracting encephalitis, and lastly, my old friend and colleague, Jaime Shoup, MD, returns to give his take on encephalitis. You can watch this entire series on my YouTube channel which includes video; search 'Renegade Psych' on YouTube to find the page. All future episodes will be live video recordings, but we'll still produce an audio-only version as well, so view on YouTube, listen on other platforms, or don't do either, Life is full of choices!

For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/ to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website.

Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Thanks for listening. I hope you've enjoyed this series on the US Drug Epidemic. This week, I am just re-releasing all 6 episodes of the series in one episode, for those who prefer 3.5 hours of drug epidemic talk/information. I recommend watching this entire series on my YouTube channel so you can see several charts/graphics you won't be able to see otherwise; search 'Renegade Psych' on YouTube to find the page. All future episodes will be live video recordings, but we'll still produce an audio-only version as well, so view on YouTube, listen on other platforms, or don't do either, Life is full of choices!

I recorded this series solo on a topic I consider myself very well-versed in, the drug/opioid epidemic, which has taken the lives of millions of Americans, caused medical and psychological complications for hundreds of millions more, and has led to heartbreak in so many others caring for those with substance use disorders, in the last 25 years. While the official overdose fatality figures hover above 100,000 annually as of 2022, there are likely significant numbers of fatal overdoses that get logged as other deaths. The 1st episode of the series emphasized the severity and under-representation of the magnitude of the drug epidemic problem, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th episodes traced the evolution from an increase in opiate marketing and prescribing, primarily initially Oxycontin, to a black-tar heroin epidemic once the US government introduced regulations restricting opiate prescribing domestically, and a massive increase in the number of people injecting drugs, carrying a host of other potential fatal and non-fatal complications, followed by the 3rd wave of fentanyl contamination into the entirety of the US drug supply, causing an even bigger surge of overdose deaths and non-fatal complications related to illicit drug use. Then, we looked at more non-fatal consequences and complications in the 5th installment. And lastly, we talked about solutions to the problem in the 6th installment.

For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/ to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website.

Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.