Posted on 09/14/2007 11:14:57 PM PDT by neverdem
Last week, leading psychiatric researchers linked a 2004 increase in the suicide rate for children and adolescents to a warning by the Food and Drug Administration about the use of antidepressants in minors. The F.D.A. warning, the researchers suggested, might have resulted in severely depressed teenagers going without needed treatment.
But the data in the study, which was published in The American Journal of Psychiatry and received widespread publicity, do not support that explanation, outside experts say.
While suicide rates for Americans ages 19 and under rose 14 percent in 2004, the number of prescriptions for antidepressants in that group was basically unchanged and did not drop substantially, according to data from the study. Prescription rates for minors did fall sharply a year later, but the suicide rates for 2005 are not yet available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There doesn’t seem to be any evidence of a statistically significant association between suicide rates and prescription rates provided in the paper” for the years after the F.D.A. warnings, said Thomas R. Ten Have, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania.
In the report published last week, the authors analyzed data on suicides and antidepressant use over several years in the United States and the Netherlands. They argued that drug regulators may have created a larger problem by requiring pharmaceutical companies to place warnings on antidepressants, scaring away patients and doctors. The F.D.A. warning label says that a potential side effect in young people is an increase in suicidal thoughts and behavior.
“The most plausible explanation is a cause and effect relationship: prescription rates change, therefore suicides change,” said Dr. J. John Mann, a psychiatrist at Columbia University and a co-author of the study.
But Dr. Ten Have and other experts, while noting that it may...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Most Science Studies Appear to Be Tainted By Sloppy Analysis
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Please, please, please!! Be careful before you EVER take any of these “Anti-depressants” or any drugs your doctor pushes on you! If you had asked me two years ago about all of these teenagers (and adults) that blamed the drugs for their psychotic behavior (suicides, murder, ect) I would have rolled my eyes and say B.S.! “Lock ‘em up and throw away the key!”
After a personal and terrible experience with prednisone (prescribed for bronchitis) I became a serious believer in “Chemical imbalance”. You won’t realize it because it takes several days after you start taking the medication to start having an effect... Worse yet, it takes several days after you stop taking it to have the worst of the side effects (it’s not like you pop a pill and 30 minutes later you’re high and a couple of hours later you “Come down” and realize the drug’s effects). You don’t even realize what’s happening to you.
My doctor didn’t warn me about the HORRIBLE and DOCUMENTED side effects. I liken it to being “Slipped” ACID without your knowledge. I thought I was going insane. I said (screamed) terrible/angry things to friends that I can never take back or undo. I ruined relationships I can never get back. I can say (’till I’m blue in the face) “The drugs made me do it” and I’ll always be met with the same attitude that I had... two years ago... “Bull-Sh*t”. For some reason, at the hight of my “Insanity” I looked at the empty pill bottle on the bathroom counter and searched prednisone on the internet and found:
“May cause convulsions, and psychiatric disturbances. The psychiatric disturbances include depression, euphoria, insomnia, mood swings, personality changes, and even psychotic behavior.”
Guys/Gals, I didn’t sleep for FIVE DAYS STRAIGHT! Talk about “Psychotic behavior”! I haven’t even touched on what really went through my mind on this post.
Please, research and scrutinize ALL drugs your doctor gives you. Look up the side-effects and be aware. If I had just known what was happening to me, I would have been able to rationalize my feelings and have stood a better chance of controlling them.
I’ve been a long time reader of Free-Republic (Love it!) but I registered and made my first post just because of this topic. Sorry about the long-winded response, but I now hesitate hard before I visit the doctor for anything any more. I’d rather die than go through an experience like this again! The point is, know EXACTLY what they’re prescribing you, and what it’s effects are. Follow ALL instructions for the medications. All I had was bronchitis. I got prescribed a whole lot worse.
Andy
The bottom line, so far as there is one in psychiatry, is that over a period of many years, increasing antidepressant use in young people was definitively correlated with a decline in suicide. Gee whaddasupprise. Treat depression and you get fewer suicides. Who'd'a guessed.
Take away hope, trust, and a better future from teenagers (by feeding them nothing for 14 years but liberal garbage and false environmental threats that “we’re all gonna die - and it’s your fault). Add years of no “Faith” being permitted. Toss in a solid stream of “mainstream” filth on TV/radio/movie for 24 hours a day.
Then prevent them from praying, and ridicule them for believing in God.
Sure.
With nothing to live for, why not die?
“It’s better for the planet.”
As long as we have these lying drug companies lying about their products,just remember, BUYER BEWARE.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/329/7467/641
http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/casualties.htm
http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/introduction.htm
Didn't you go to the doc asking to be treated?
After a personal and terrible experience with prednisone (prescribed for bronchitis) I became a serious believer in “Chemical imbalance”. You won’t realize it because it takes several days after you start taking the medication to start having an effect... Worse yet, it takes several days after you stop taking it to have the worst of the side effects (it’s not like you pop a pill and 30 minutes later you’re high and a couple of hours later you “Come down” and realize the drug’s effects). You don’t even realize what’s happening to you.
My doctor didn’t warn me about the HORRIBLE and DOCUMENTED side effects. I liken it to being “Slipped” ACID without your knowledge. I thought I was going insane. I said (screamed) terrible/angry things to friends that I can never take back or undo. I ruined relationships I can never get back. I can say (’till I’m blue in the face) “The drugs made me do it” and I’ll always be met with the same attitude that I had... two years ago... “Bull-Sh*t”. For some reason, at the hight of my “Insanity” I looked at the empty pill bottle on the bathroom counter and searched prednisone on the internet and found: “May cause convulsions, and psychiatric disturbances. The psychiatric disturbances include depression, euphoria, insomnia, mood swings, personality changes, and even psychotic behavior.”
Guys/Gals, I didn’t sleep for FIVE DAYS STRAIGHT! Talk about “Psychotic behavior”! I haven’t even touched on what really went through my mind on this post.
Please, research and scrutinize ALL drugs your doctor gives you. Look up the side-effects and be aware. If I had just known what was happening to me, I would have been able to rationalize my feelings and have stood a better chance of controlling them.
Forget chemical imbalance. The correct term is adverse drug reaction, ADR, which can happen with any drug. If the doc explained all possible ADRs, then the doc would justly charge another $200 for the pharmacology lesson, and the patient probably would ignore the recommended treatment. All drug have ADRs.
Beware of what you find on the Internet. Determine the original source as best that you can. MedlinePlus is a good place to start looking up medical information.
I'm a doc who had an unrecognized ADR myself. BTW, welcome to Free Republic.
Some years ago, I was given Zoloft for depression. I have suffered from depression since I was a child, and I thought, finally, something that will help.
Well, it didn't really help. Yes, I stopped having the severe mood swings; but, instead I was just "flat" emotionally, all the time. It completely killed my sex drive, which I do not think ever recovered. And, then, I started to hear voices.
I had never experienced that before, ever. It scared the hell out of me and I stopped taking the stuff and I refuse to take any other, even though it is always pushed at me. I get the doctor's explanation that --- "you just didn't get the "right" anti-depressant for you".
Well, they can keep it. I have gotten this old without it, and I just grit my teeth and deal with it as I have all my life. It may not be the most pleasant way to live ones' life; but at least I don't have some voice in the back of my head screaming at me. (And, yes, that voice went away as soon as I stopped taking the zoloft.)
My wife had similar reactions to Prednisone. You are not alone.
I took Zoloft and it literally nearly drove me insane. It made my thoughts race, gave a lot of nervous energy. Combined with the fact that I had no outlet I quite nearly had a nervous breakdown.
I’m sick of meds being forced on me.
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