The ten most dangerous psych meds

These Popular Drugs Can Make You Violent – Avoid Them

Posted By Dr. Mercola | February 02 2011 | 172,755 views             

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Some medications have been linked to an increased risk for violent, even homicidal behavior. A recent study identified 31 drugs that are disproportionately linked with violent behavior.
Time Magazine lists the top ten offenders:

1. Varenicline (Chantix): The number one violence-inducing drug on the list, this anti-smoking medication is 18 times more likely to be linked with violence when compared to other drugs
2. Fluoxetine (Prozac): This drug was the first well-known SSRI antidepressant
3. Paroxetine (Paxil): Another SSRI antidepressant, Paxil is also linked with severe withdrawal symptoms and a risk of birth defects
4. Amphetamines: (Various): Used to treat ADHD
5. Mefoquine (Lariam): A treatment for malaria which is often linked with reports of strange behavior
6. Atomoxetine (Strattera): An ADHD drug that affects the neurotransmitter noradrenaline
7. Triazolam (Halcion): This potentially addictive drug is used to treat insomnia
8. Fluvoxamine (Luvox): Another SSRI antidepressant
9. Venlafaxine (Effexor): An antidepressant also used to treat anxiety disorders
10. Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq): An antidepressant which affects both serotonin and noradrenaline

 

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

How legal drugs affect your mental state is a very important issue that is not getting the attention it deserves. In recent years, prescription rates for antidepressants and related drugs have skyrocketed.
About 230 million prescriptions for antidepressants are now filled each year, making them one of the most-prescribed drugs in the United States. But despite all of these prescription drugs being taken, more than one in 20 Americans are still depressed, according to the most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The statistics alone should be a strong indication that what we're doing is simply not working, and that instead, these drugs are contributing to other serious health problems—and play a significant role in senseless acts of violence.
Depression (which from a more holistic perspective can be described as un-repaired emotional short-circuiting) can devastate your health and life. However, using antidepressants as the primary or only treatment option is simply not advisable, especially if the one suffering from depression is a child or teenager.
Whereas severe depression can indeed progress to suicide if left untreated, antidepressant drugs have been shown to CAUSE both suicidal and homicidal thoughts and behaviors.
Now, a study by The Institute of Safe Medication Practices has identified 31 commonly-prescribed drugs that are disproportionately associated with cases of violent acts. Topping the list is the quit-smoking drug Chantix, followed by Prozac and Paxil, and drugs used to treat ADHD.
Chantix is a whopping 18 times more likely to be linked with violence compared to other drugs, with 408 reported incidents.
These figures were collected from the US FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), and it's well worth noting here that only an estimated one to 10 percent of all side effects are ever reported to VAERS. So the fact that 408 acts of violence were linked to the drug and then actually reported is pretty amazing, considering the fact that the vast majority of side effects, regardless of what they are, are blamed on something else and connections are brushed aside as "coincidental."
Time Magazine also makes sure to state that these facts and figures do not mean that the drugs cause you to become violent. Rather we're to believe that depressed people are a naturally violent bunch and they take these drugs to control their destructive moods in the first place, so (apparently) the drug just didn't work for them.
Personally, I believe that's wishful thinking at best and irresponsible justification to protect profits for dangerous drugs at worst.
In all, five of the top 10 most violence-inducing drugs are antidepressants and two are commonly-prescribed ADHD drugs. When you consider that these are among the most prescribed types of drugs in the US, the fact that so many of them are linked to increased rates of violence should be cause for pause...

Antidepressants PROVEN Ineffective—Why are they Still the Go-To Solution?

It's interesting to note that while many alternative and complementary medical strategies are currently under heavy fire for being "unproven," we still continue to prescribe drugs that have been scientifically proven to be as effective, or less, than a placebo...
For example, alleged "safety concerns" over herbal medicines and questions about whether or not homeopathic remedies "actually work" have sparked a renewed drive in Europe to get many of these products off the market.
Meanwhile, various studies through the years have found that up to 75 percent of the benefits of antidepressants could be duplicated by a placebo! So not only do these drugs not work as advertised, but the evidence is also quite clear that most of these drugs increase your risk of suicide and violence.
Trying to reason this through logically is futile because it's not based on logic. It's based on money. Depression and ADHD are near limitless gold mines for pharmaceutical companies. There is no diagnostic test for either of these problems, and literally anyone who exhibits, or claims to have, certain symptoms can be labeled depressed or ADHD and be given drugs to treat the symptoms.
This too is a very important point: antidepressants are modifiers, not cures. They do not in ANY way whatsoever treat the root cause of depression. These drugs act as sedatives or stimulants—they're NOT actually "correcting" an underlying imbalance.
Most of you have probably heard that depression is due to a "chemical imbalance in your brain," which these drugs are designed to correct. Unfortunately for anyone who has ever swallowed this marketing ploy, this is NOT a scientific statement.
Medical journalist and Pulitzer Prize nominee Robert Whitaker explained the background of this oft-used but deceptive claim in my interview with him last year:

"The low serotonin theory arose because they understood how the drugs acted on the brain. But it was just a hypothesis borne to try to explain why the drug might be fixing something. They investigated whether people had low serotonin…[But] in 1983, NIMH concluded that there is no evidence that there is anything wrong in the serotonergic system of depressed patients...
So there was never any evidence that people with depression characteristically had low levels of serotonin."

I think that we need to take a step back and remember that when you're facing life's ups and downs there's nothing wrong with feeling blue now and again. It's a part of normal life, and in some cases depression is a sign that your LIFE is unbalanced, not your brain!
Accepting your feelings, whatever they may be, is one of the reasons why the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) works so well.

The Many Dangerous Side-Effects of Antidepressants

Increased risk of suicide and violence are not the only risk factors to take into account when considering taking an antidepressant. They can also harm your immune system, and raise your risk of type 2 diabetes by two to three times in high-risk groups.
Worse yet, they can CAUSE or worsen actual mental illness, and can lead to mental decline with long term use...
Robert Whitaker discussed this at length in my interview with him and you can also read more about this in his new book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America:

"There are two side effects or risks that really need to be addressed, and that everybody should be thinking about, that show up in the scientific literature," he said.
"The first risk is that you'll convert from unipolar depression to bipolar depression.
… One of the things we've seen with the use of the SSRIs is this incredible, extraordinary boom in bipolar diagnoses, and that is definitely tied to the widespread use of antidepressants.
Now, in kids, something like 25 to 50 percent of all kids placed on an antidepressant, who stay on that antidepressant for five years, will convert to bipolar illness. With adults, it seems like about 25 percent of long term of users that begin with a diagnosis of unipolar depression will convert to bipolar.
... The second real risk is that there is a lot of evidence compiling [showing] that if you stay on antidepressants for five, ten, fifteen years, there is some real worry with cognitive decline associated with that long term use."

How to Treat the Root Cause of Your Problem

Like many of you, I have been personally affected by depression. Someone very near and dear to me made several unsuccessful suicide attempts several years ago. It was devastating. Medications and inpatient care were a terrible failure as they never addressed the underlying cause of the depression. This happened just as I was beginning to learn about energy medicine.
I'm quite confident I would have been able to help reach a more favorable outcome, more quickly, if I knew then what I know now.
Ultimately, it was energetic techniques that assisted this person to make a full recovery from depression. A very advanced form of cranial osteopathy was administered by a skilled physician. My favorite tool is energy psychology.
Learning how to use an energy psychology tool like the Emotional Freedom Technique can make an enormous difference if you suffer from depression or any other kind of emotional dysfunction. It's one of the most powerful methods I know of, and really is a crucial element of a successful treatment program.
For serious problems, it would be prudent to contact a health care professional who is trained in the technique.
I strongly believe that energy psychology is the single most important tool to resolve depression, but its effectiveness will certainly be significantly improved if it can be combined with a healthy lifestyle. Overcoming depression is usually a matter of integrating key natural therapies into a treatment program that feels right for you.
Here are four key factors to consider:

1. Optimize your diet—Tailoring your diet to your nutritional type to ensure your body is getting the appropriate nutrition it needs to thrive, along with drastically reducing or eliminating most sugars and grain from your diet will help form a firm foundation for both physical and mental wellness.
   
   Eating according to your nutritional type and abstaining from sugar/grains will optimize your insulin and leptin levels naturally. Remember that insulin resistance (which is caused by too much sugar/fructose and grains in your diet) is not only a primary factor in diseases like diabetes and heart disease, it’s also a significant risk factor for depression.
   Researchers have discovered a positive connection between higher levels of insulin resistance and severity of depressive symptoms in people with impaired glucose tolerance, even before the occurrence of diabetes. Based on these findings, it was suggested that insulin resistance could be the result of an increased release of counter-regulatory hormones linked to depression.
   According to one 2004 study, sugar suppresses activity of a key growth hormone in your brain called BDNF. BDNF levels are critically low in those suffering from depression and schizophrenia. To learn more, please see my article, The Links Between Sugar and Mental Health.
   Keep in mind that abstaining from sugars and grains also means avoiding sodas, sweetened beverages of all kinds and processed foods of all types as high fructose corn syrup is a staple ingredient in most processed foods and sweetened beverages.
   You’ll also want to avoid artificially sweetened “diet” foods and beverages. Artificial sweeteners like aspartame have also been linked to depression and behavioral disturbances.
   
2. Exercise!—Regular exercise is one of the “secret weapons” to overcoming depression. It works so well because it helps to normalize insulin resistance while boosting “feel good” hormones in your brain. Again and again, researchers have confirmed that physical exercise beats antidepressants in terms of effectiveness and long-term stay-well rate.
3.  Optimize your vitamin D levels—Getting safe sun exposure, which allows your body to produce vitamin D, is a natural mood booster, and vitamin D deficiency has been linked to a significantly increased risk of depression. One study found people with the lowest levels of vitamin D were 11 times more prone to be depressed than those who received healthy doses.
   
   Ideally, you’ll want to optimize your vitamin D levels by getting regular exposure to sunlight, but you can also use a safe tanning bed or take a high-quality vitamin D3 supplement.
   
4. Take high quality animal-based omega-3 fat daily—Not getting enough omega-3 fats is known to change the levels and functioning of both serotonin and dopamine (which plays a role in feelings of pleasure), as well as compromise the blood-brain barrier, which normally protects your brain from unwanted matter gaining access.
   
   Omega-3 deficiency can also decrease normal blood flow to your brain, an interesting finding given that studies show people with depression have compromised blood flow to a number of brain regions. Finally, omega-3 deficiency also causes a 35 percent reduction in brain phosphatidylserine (PS) levels, which is relevant considering that PS has documented antidepressant activity in humans.
   Omega-3 fats such as those in krill oil have actually been found to work just as well as antidepressants in preventing the signs of depression, but without any of the side effects. I can also attest to this, as throughout my years of medical practice many of my patients were able to eliminate their antidepressants once they started taking omega-3 fats.
   

Depression can be a very serious condition, but antidepressants are rarely effective, and the side effects can be just as deadly. I urge you to consider the natural treatments suggested above—ideally with the support and guidance of a knowledgeable natural health care practitioner.
If you or someone you love is currently struggling with depression, I also highly suggest reading Dr. Gordon's book Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression. It is packed with valuable insights to help you feel better and regain control of your physical and mental health.

Source:  Time Magazine January 7, 2011

Source:  PLoS One December 15, 2010; 5(12)

Related Links:

  These Foods and Nutritional Deficiencies Can Make You Depressed or Violent

  The MOST Effective Treatment for Depression Isn't Drugs... But You'll Never Hear That From Your Psychiatrist

  Best Kept Secret for Treating Depression

           

Dr. Mercola

Dr. Mercola is the founder of the world’s most visited natural health web site, Mercola.com. You can learn the hazardous side effects of OTC Remedies by getting a FREE copy of his latest special report The Dangers of Over the Counter Remedies by going to his Report Page.

High Blood Pressure: Important To Take Care

I got the graphic here. The site talks about causes of hypertension and is worth a read.

This was advice to a fellow blogger who is experiencing serious money problems. When will this shit economy resolve? It really is enough to elevate anyone's blood pressure!

Once you can afford it, invest in a self-monitoring cuff and take your blood pressure at home daily. They usually aren't terribly expensive. It may be entirely situational in your case, but chronic high blood pressure can lead to a stroke. This is what happened to my father and the last six years of his life were very debilitated. I don't like to be an alarmist, but I feel very strongly about this matter because of what happened with my father.

My brother had to start taking blood pressure medicine at 35. He is in a high stress profession (Firefighter/paramedic.) I started having to take it this year at age 46. My blood pressures had gone from being in the 130's over 70's and 80's to being in the 150's or 160's over upper 80's and 90's. For me, high blood pressure is not asymptomatic. I develop anxiety and tinnitus in conjunction with it. 

I take amlodipine besylate, which is a relatively inexpensive medication because it's been around for a while. Initially I experienced a slight drowsiness, which has long since resolved. Blood pressure meds really aren't "slippery slope" type medications. There are many people for whom that's the only thing they take. 

The "slippery slope" meds tend to be psych meds and sometimes prescription pain killers. With the psych meds, people start by taking one med and have to take another to counter the bad effects of the first one. That can end you up with a box of meds. Blood pressure meds, not so much.

I'm a nurse by profession but I don't believe in polypharmacy either. I see a lot of people in the retirement community where I work with a whole tray of meds, but it can be deceptive. Some of these folks like for us to put their vitamins in their med boxes so they don't forget to take them!

Again, sorry if I come off as lecturing. I just feel strongly about the blood pressure issue after what I watched my father went through. It can lead to atherosclerosis and worsen other problems. I hope you get your money very soon!

Meds are Not One Size Fits All

The cartoon is by funny Bipolar Dude Chato B. Stewart.

The quote I used as a title is from a dear friend.

The post is inspired by a post by Julie Fast on Bipolar Hope about antidepressants and bipolar disorder.

I have bipolar type II, rapid cycling, with sometimes severe depression with suicidal thoughts. I've even had other bipolar people tell me that I *SHOULD* be on an antidepressant. Talk about crazy thinking! The only intelligent thing I've ever heard regarding medications is that "meds are NOT one size fits all." So true. The only time I have ever been manic is when on antidepressants. Otherwise I am "merely" hypomanic. I do not EVER wish to experience true mania again. At one point I jumped up on a kitchen counter and was preaching fire and brimstone at my frightened 13 year old son. I will state that at this point I had not yet been diagnosed as bipolar, since type II is sneaky and the doctor had only seen the crushing depression. He was at any rate a GP, but I had been misdiagnosed by psychiatrists before.

Once again, meds are not one size fits all. For some people, an antidepressant may help. For me, it is a fortunately reversible trip to Loopy Land.

Another Use for Valium

Valium or diazepam is usually thought of as an anti-anxiety medication. It is a benzodiazepine and was originally developed as an anti-seizure drug. While it is often prescribed for anxiety, it may not be the best drug for long-term use because of the development of tolerance in chronic use. However, Valium can be very useful in pain control.

I had a patient today who had a bilateral total knee replacement due to osteoarthritis compromising his knees to the point where he was in chronic pain. Before giving him oxycontin prior to therapy I spoke to the nurse that I was working with and she suggested that I also include his prescribed 5 mg of Valium to help with muscular relaxation. She discussed the value of this medication in pain management. I was grateful for the information.

I recalled reading about Mick Mars' battle with ankylosing spondylitis in Motley Crue's biography The Dirt. Mick had started having severe muscle spasms and his pain was so severe that he was also hallucinating. One doctor suggested that he was depressed and put him on an antidepressant. Mick's response was "well, I've been depressed all my life so I don't see what that has to do with anything, but I'll try it." 

The antidepressant made the hallucinations worse. The doctor then decided that Mick must be schizophrenic. His response was that he might not be the most educated guy or the smartest guy, but he did know a few things and he in no way believed that it was very likely for someone in his 50's to have a sudden onset of schizophrenia. The disease usually manifests in a person's 20's. 

Mick then went to a pain control specialist who prescribed a low dose of Valium along with his pain medication. He said that his initial thought was that he didn't feel nervous, he was just disturbed by the symptoms he was having. The doctor told him to give it a try for a couple of weeks and it worked wonders. He didn't feel any sedative effects but the spasms decreased significantly.

I had a prescription for 6 2 mg Valium tablets following my foray to the ER a couple of weeks ago for a particularly nasty panic attack. I actually never took any of them, but tonight my fibromyalgia was so bad that it felt like barbed wire was wrapped around my arms. I decided to try an experiment.

I took my normal OTC Naproxen sodium but this time I also broke a Valium in half and gave myself 1 mg. It did seem to help relax my muscles and it's such a low dose that I have had none of the Valium dopiness. I don't like to take drugs. Currently the only prescribed medication I take is 2 mg of amlodipine besylate, or Norvasc, which is a calcium channel blocker to control my blood pressure. It's a very mild medication and I've had virtually no problems with side effects after the first 2 weeks of taking it. The initial side effects were mild and resolved within 10 days. I will probably stay on this medication for life. My Lithium is Lithium Orotate, which is available without prescription.

Now, my problem is getting the doctor to listen to me and allowing me to have a few Valium on hand for times such as this. I wouldn't want to take them every day, only when the fibro pain gets as bad as it was today, which is not only compromising physically but negatively effects my mood. Like many health care professionals, my doctor is worried about the addiction potential of Valium and the fact that every time I've had an anxiety crisis I request it has lead him to believe that I am addicted to it. I'm not. It's simply that it's the only sedative type medication that does not give me a rebound effect. I only take it rarely. I suppose if my doctor won't hear me on this I can go to a pain clinic and try to discuss the matter with them. It isn't as if I need this medication to survive, but knowing how helpful it can be, why not have some on hand for situations of this nature?

Unhappy about weight gain

I said I wouldn't talk that much about my weight, and I didn't let a gain of nearly 8 pounds since December make me unleash a diatribe against myself. But I am not happy to be at 278 pounds. This does not mean I am saying that nobody should be at 278 pounds--or heavier--or that nobody should accept themselves at this or any other weight. Far from it! I am only saying that I was not happy to see that number on the scale for myself. 

This blog would never be able to be on the Fat Acceptance list because of the fact that sometimes thoughts about my weight do creep in. It's a personal issues blog. But I reiterate that I am pro Fat Acceptance, and will be Adipositive no matter my own weight.

I believe that I will be able to lose some weight (which is important to me--it doesn't have to be important to anyone else and in the long run it doesn't fucking matter) when I am through with the nursing program. Right now it is something that I can't even focus on. I will never do any hard core dieting and I will never be one of those people that discusses nothing but my caloric intake. I find such people dull as dirt. But just like it would be a terrible time to quit smoking (although I wouldn't be allowed to smoke prior to clinicals if I did smoke--if people show up to clinicals smelling like cigarettes, they're sent home) it is a terrible time to make any drastic changes to my eating habits.

Here is what I am in the middle of.

Working, of course.

Going to school/doing clinicals

Cleaning up the back of my water damaged house. I won't go into details but it has been BAD TIMES. I've been the only one working on it and its been slow going.

I work graveyard shift. The clinicals are during the day. I think this is the primary reason that my blood pressure is elevated.

My blood pressure is normally in the 120's over 70's or 80's. Currently it is up in the 150's or 160's over high 80's and 90's. This is not good and I plan to call the doctor on Monday.  Not to mention that unlike a lot of people I am not asymptomatic with hypertension. The constant tinnitus alone is driving me bat shit. I sometimes get headaches and I'm sometimes anxious as well.

My father's quality of life was severely compromised by a hemorrhagic stroke. He had hypertension, possibly caused by atherosclerosis. The two fed each other. I refuse to allow such a thing to happen to me if it is at all possible to prevent it. His life was nightmarish during his last few years.

The one thing that I fear happening is the doctor giving me the Lardass Lecture like he did the last time my blood pressure was elevated--which happened, by the way, because he put me on Thyroxine and then elevated the dose over a period of a few months because I wasn't responding to it. It put me into a state of artificial hyperthyroidism. I'd rather be a quart low and testing has shown that I don't actually have primary hypothyroidism. The problem seems to be related to my pituitary rather than my thyroid. I've been taking a natural supplement and my thyroid readings normalized.

No, Friends, my hypertension is unrelated to the adipose tissue on my caboose and other body parts. It is 100% due to stress, particularly to the flip-flopping sleep schedule. Because of what happened to my father, I'm not going to play around. I am also going to be very assertive regarding what medication I take. When my blood pressure went up previously the doctor put me on a beta blocker. I cannot take beta blockers. They tank my energy levels to the lowest depths and also suppress my respirations. I don't like feeling like I'm breathing under water.

I also don't want to try a "pril." I am the queen of side effects. Prils, or ACE inhibitors, have the common side effect of making people cough. When my mother was taking Lisinopril, she coughed so hard that she almost passed out. My mother and I tend to have similar negative reactions to drugs--she can't take Thyroxine either. I'm not even going to go there. I can't be having to leave the room every 5 seconds during clinicals to cough uncontrollably. 

I am going to insist on a calcium channel blocker. They are the newest of the antihypertensives and reportedly have fewer side effects than either beta blockers or ACE inhibitors. They are also more expensive--but of course. I'm going to ask about amlodipine (Norvasc) because it seems to be the one least likely to cause bradycardia as a side effect. When I was on propranolol (a beta blocker) it tanked my heart rate to the 40's. 

I also intend to try and stop taking the medication once nursing school is over and see if my blood pressure goes back to normal. I would rather not take any medication (except for my Lithium) if at all possible.

I am also going to remind the doctor, although he put it in my chart, that I am extremely sensitive to medication and need to be given the lowest dose possible.

Mental Mastication

Wasted, wasted, wasted day. Spent the day avoiding doing this fucking training work that I have no love for but that could help me advance in my j.o.b. Ya-hoo. Also, ruminating on the all important question. Now that Nomde Plume has taken over the task of writing The Next Dark Tower Series (hah!) should Sue Donym even bother to write any more? Sue has a pretty big following on FB, so I'm not going to completely get rid of Sue. There are a few people that know that Sue and Nomde and the Queen of B.S. and Ms. Steria are all me, Faycin A Croud. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens with Sue. We'll probably keep Sue's blog. But what name do I publish the NaNoWriMo novel under once I finally finish it?

Shit, I even pulled out a new name today, a real normal sounding name, specifically for writing these fucking articles for sites like Constant Content and Life 123, who require the kind of writing that makes me feel like I have to shove a corn cob up my ass in order to do it properly. Real stiff, straight-facts stuff. No first person. Now, this kind of writing is really necessary and I reference it all the time. But as far as being such a writer, it's the most boring thing going. I consider this part of the freelancing category rather than the writing category because I feel like it's about as creative as reciting from the dictionary. I'm not saying it doesn't take skill because it takes plenty of skill. I just don't find it very interesting or inspiring. But it's a potential buck, and I can be a slag. Not that most people who do this sort of writing are slags. Just those of us who do it even though we don't enjoy it. Got it?

At any rate, the pen name I created for doing this kind of writing is a combination of my middle name and my mother's maiden name. And it sounds really normal. It sounds like a bookkeeper or a librarian, not like a nut case whack job who sits around communing with the spirit world, doing ceremonies to gain blessings from ancient deities, and writing shit--and fretting about whether or not Sue Donym should even publish again. What a stupid, stupid, mentally fucked soap opera! Only me, folks. Only me.

Guess I forgot to take my evening pills. I mostly control my mental shit using natural stuff like 5 HTP and herbal formulas. The lithium I take is available legally without prescription. Me and prescription drugs do not mix. Antidepressants fuck me up like nobody's business and prescription tranquilizers make me suicidal. I know this stuff works for some people but for me it's a ticket to Loopy Land. And not the good part of Loopy Land either. The part of Loopy Land where I turn into some kind of psycho preacher and scare the crap out of my kid. Thanks, Effexor, you bastard! Even though I still get hella depressed sometimes, with the Lithium I'm on a more even keel and my offspring doesn't have to wonder if he should call the people in white coats to haul my crazy ass to the funny farm.

Doing the rewrite of the Next Dark Tower Series as Nomde Plume has been really exciting and I think The Muse has been enjoying it too. We are so much more free doing it the new way. The other way was stagnating things even though it was ever so much more idealistic and all. Idealism doesn't work in this world. This world is just too fucking evil.

The Inner Bitch-Cunt says this is only because I'm too much of a wuss to be truly honest and to stick to my guns. It is true that I am so full of self-doubt that I am crippled by criticism. It wasn't just because of that one asshole who criticized Sue and Muse, but that troll made me realized that the more publicity Sue's version of the Next Dark Tower got, the more of these shit suckers we'd have to deal with. So we pulled publication and Nomde became the revisionist, with Sue pulling back and becoming an auxiliary figure, a "consultant" on the project.

I was always raised that honesty is the best policy. But sometimes complete honesty ends up making your life miserable. I've been told if it isn't something you can be completely honest about, then you shouldn't be doing it.

Mostly that's true. But there are exceptions to every rule.