Episode 6: Mathy and Caroline Downing

01/22/20 • 70 min

In this sixth episode of “Akathisia Stories,” we hear from two amazing women: Mathy and Caroline Downing. Mathy was Candace Downing's mother and Caroline her sister. Candace died 16 years ago this month. Her older sister, Caroline, is now 30 years old. She's been outspoken about drug education since losing her sister in 2004. Just a child herself at the time, she co-wrote and narrated the documentary "Prescription: Suicide?" Winner of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights Award for her advocacy at just 18, Caroline remains passionate about her sister’s legacy. As a young adult, she knows that knowledge is power and encourages others to learn as much as they can about medications and their health before making any major decisions regarding their health care. Her blog, although mostly focused on style, doesn’t shy away from talking about sensitive issues such as mental health and losing a sibling. Caroline works in D.C. and lives in Maryland and hopes to write a book about her experience of losing a sibling to SSRIs. We spend the first half of this episode listening to her story, recorded late last year via Skype.

Currently Mathy Downing is a nonpublic school teacher working with grades kindergarten through fifth grade, in subjects such as math, reading fluency and comprehension, writing, and counseling. She remains an international child advocate, a position she's had since 2005, the year following Candace's death. Advocacy has played a major part in her life beginning the year Candace died. It began with her testifying in front of the FDA in the summer of 2004, which led to numerous television, magazine and newspaper article appearances. She has spoken internationally about the rights of children with informed consent, drug transparency, and over-medication. She has also been heavily involved in numerous documentaries in which Candace's story has played a key part. Mathy is also now a key member of the Know More About Drugs alliance. KMAD alliance is an informative website for parents so that they can make informed decisions about any drug prescribed for their child. Last year we spoke first by Skype and then, when the Internet connection wasn't ideal, by phone.

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Episode 5: Kim Witczak (Part 2)

In this episode, we bring you more from the Kim Witczak interview featured in Episode 4. Here Kim talks about the legal battle she waged in the courts; her work producing the Selling Sickness conference; more about her work with the FDA panel and its involvement with the drug Chantix; and becoming involved with MISSD and the first time she met MISSD founder Wendy Dolin.

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Episode 7: Janet Schiel

In this seventh episode of Akathisia Stories, we hear from Janet Schiel.

In 2016 her husband, Joe, was nearing the end of his 37-year career in the pharmaceutical sales business. But prior to making his own announcement of retirement, his boss had a health scare and retired, and several people at the company were let go, thereby doubling Joe's workload and his regional responsibilities, from half the country to the entire country. Meanwhile, Joe and Janet found their perfect retirement home in the Lake of the Ozarks. But Janet believes the reality of buying and selling homes on top of the workload led Joe to call his doctor. Without talking with him in person, the doctor prescribed the generic version of Lexapro, an antidepressant Joe had briefly been on a decade earlier. When he took the drug then, Janet remembers that he couldn't get a grip on reality.

[Janet Schiel] “We thought he was having a nervous breakdown, and we drove to the hospital and he wouldn’t get out. He said, ‘Just take me home and I’m going to get off all the medicines.’”

In 2016 the adverse effects were significantly worse.

[Janet Schiel] "I watched him change and become depressed and paranoid. And I finally said to him about three weeks into this, ‘What are you taking?’ And I’ve never said that to him in my entire life. And, you know, I don’t even know where the words came from, and he looked at me and he told me and I said, “Don’t you remember what happened the last time?” And obviously he didn’t. And I said, “You can’t take this drug.” I said, “You have got to promise me you’re going to wean off of this. And that’s as much as I knew.”

Janet Schiel is a drug safety advocate who champions policies and practices to stop medication-induced suicide. In 2019, she founded Butterflies for Joe, a nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading awareness about the negative adverse effects of SSRIs, which tragically precipitated her husband's death in 2016. Like many others who have lost spouses to prescribed harm, Janet also lost her best friend when Joe died.

Prior to her husband's death, Janet was the founder and president of Guiding Hand Senior Resources, which helps families navigate the financial challenges of long-term elder care. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado with her dogs Buddy and Annie, and enjoys spending as much time as possible with her two adult children, Luke and Blake, and their partners. We spoke late last year in Chicago.