Addiction Medicine Physician in New York City

[hppdmd 1]

Greetings - 

 

I have a solo addiction medicine practice located in New York City.

 

I treat HPPD without benzodiazepines.

 

I use a combination of serotonin reuptake based medications, referrals for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), as well as referrals to acupuncture.

 

Check out my website if this might be of any interest to you.

 

www.stuartklodamd.com

 

 

[chrismo 73]

Potentially harmful medications, referrals for something that can only help in coping with the condition but not actually treat it, and referrals for a treatment that does not have a scrap of evidence for its efficacy regarding HPPD.

 

Boo.

[hppdmd 1]

My experience has been different.

I have had great results with Zoloft, Cymbalta, and Remeron.

CBT is helpful for anxiety and coping skills.

Acupuncture is helpful for anxiety as well.

My treatments with serotonergic based medications and CBT

are based on information from a researcher and expert in HPPD.

He successfully treats a lot of HPPD patients.

Recommending acupuncture is my own personal recommendation.

[chrismo 73]

If you were truly experienced in this condition then you would know the harm that SSRIs (particularly something like Remeron) can do.

 

Also, if the latter two are only helpful for anxiety, maybe change your name to anxietymd?

[chrismo 73]

Way to edit your post.

 

Perhaps you could provide details of the person in question and their research. I'm sure it would be of great interest and help support your claims.

[hppdmd 1]

I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

As I said, my treatments are based on information

from a physician who treats a lot of HPPD patients,

as well as from my own personal experience.

The physician is John Halpern, MD at McLean Hospital in Boston.

Take care and be well.

[chrismo 73]

No, I do not agree to disagree.

 

Is he a physician or a researcher? Or both? And if he is, as you say, an expert on HPPD and has conducted research rather than just treated the condition ad hoc, could you provide his name and details of his work? As it is this all sounds rather sketchy.

[chrismo 73]

Again, good post editing; it makes my responses seem rather silly.

 

Halpern also seems to advocate benzodiazepines, something you seem very much set against. Is he just wrong about that or could he be wrong about other things too? And would it not be responsible, rather that relying on the 'information' of one man, to read some of the studies that detail the ways SSRIs can make HPPD symptoms worse before prescribing them as your default medication?

[Ghormeh Sabzi 92]

Some people do have different ideas on HPPD. Personally, I'd never go near any meds that aim to increase serotonin due the many stories I've read of them either a. making HPPD worse or b. actually causing HPPD type symptoms in the first place. Most hallucinogens also work by increasing serotonin, so this link is logical.

 

John Halpern is indeed a HPPD researcher and has published papers on the subject. Dr Abraham, the so called leading HPPD expert, has also in the past said that he has no problem treating patients with serotonin-based anti-depressants if he feels the situation necessitates it. From what I understand, he also nearly always recommends benzodiazepines to patients, which is a practice that I don't agree with, since it simply replaces one problem with another. I know Dr Abraham has done a lot for the understanding of HPPD, but I do not think as fondly of him as many. Anyway, the point is that different people have different ideas.

 

To Mr hppdmd, perhaps you could provides us with more information as to the symptoms which these medications you describe aim to alleviate? Visual and/or mental and/or other symptoms? Have you actually spoken with Halpern or have you simply read a few papers he has published? How many HPPD patients have you treated and what is your success rate? Do you aim to treat HPPD or do you aim to help people deal with HPPD? These are important questions.

[chrismo 73]

People do seem to have different ideas, but this gentleman seems to have none of his own and is merely going off the information of one doctor. This seems at best naive and at worst downright dangerous.

 

And yes, important questions indeed. I wonder if they will be answered...?

[Ghormeh Sabzi 92]

I hear you Chris. Let's see what the response is!

[hppdmd 1]

Good questions from Ghormeh Sabzi. I have spoken with Dr. Halpern myself, in addition to doing my own reading on the subject. I have treated a handful of patients with HPPD - there are just not that many patients that seek me out for treatment. Visual and psychiatric symptoms have both been improved. I treat HPPD, as well as help patients learn to deal with it. Part, but not all of the treatment for HPPD, is helping patients learn to deal with it. I do not prescribe benzodiazepines. I detox patients from this class of medication, and see the horrible withdrawal syndromes that they experience.

[chrismo 73]

Which papers convinced you that SSRIs are the only medication to treat the disorder with? Do you believe it is simply serotonergically mediated? If you do not use other medications (eg keppra), why not? And, to re-ask Ghormeh's question, what is your success rate? Do you need to help people learn to cope with the condition because their visual symptoms have not improved sufficiently on SSRIs? Or not at all? Have any of your patients responded negatively to SSRIs? Do you help patients deal with the condition in any ways other than the prescription of SSRIs and referring them on to someone else? And, since it is just your personal recommendation, how does accupuncture help people deal with HPPD?

[hppd24years 131]

What happened to the Doc??