Posted on 02/07/2009 11:34:08 AM PST by Steelfish
Health care providers should carefully monitor patients receiving antidepressants for possible worsening of depression or suicidality, especially at the beginning of therapy or when the dose either increases or decreases. Although FDA has not concluded that these drugs cause worsening depression or suicidality, health care providers should be aware that worsening of symptoms could be due to the underlying disease or might be a result of drug therapy.
Heath care providers should carefully evaluate patients in whom depression persistently worsens, or emergent suicidality is severe, abrupt in onset, or was not part of the presenting symptoms, to determine what intervention, including discontinuing or modifying the current drug therapy, is indicated.
Anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, impulsivity, akathisia (severe restlessness), hypomania, and mania have been reported in adult and pediatric patients being treated with antidepressants for major depressive disorder as well as for other indications, both psychiatric and nonpsychiatric. Although FDA has not concluded that these symptoms are a precursor to either worsening of depression or the emergence of suicidal impulses, there is concern that patients who experience one or more of these symptoms may be at increased risk for worsening depression or suicidality. Therefore, therapy should be evaluated, and medications may need to be discontinued, when symptoms are severe, abrupt in onset, or were not part of the patient’s presenting symptoms.
In 2007 the FDA updated the above to include suicidality in young adults -
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today proposed that makers of all antidepressant medications update the existing black box warning on their products' labeling to include warnings about increased risks of suicidal thinking and behavior, known as suicidality, in young adults ages 18 to 24 during initial treatment (generally the first one to two months).
Despite warnings against potential serious side effects including suicidality, the US FDA has not gone so far as to ban Prozac use for treatment of depression in children. Great Britain, however, has - the article states that Prozac use for adolescent depression was banned there in 2003 and the prescribing dr is now under medical review.
Do people suffer from serious mental illness? Certainly. Do SSRIs suck for a whole bunch of people in that they produce severe side effects - both emotional and physical - that were never present before? Absolutely.
It's not the medicine that's the problem here, it's the quality of the diagnostic ability of the doctor.
You’ve seen something. Mis-diagnosis continues to be a problem. Wish you and your friends would quit this business of giving incompetent physicians a pass in every case.
I take Prozac. I suffered and I do mean suffered with chronic depression and the physical symptoms for years and years. I just could not afford the medication. When pharmacies and stores began offering the $4 programs the first thing I ‘knew’ I needed was something to stop the suffering.
The only problem I have with Prozac is extreme sleepiness. Otherwise, the aches, pains, constant tension, gloominess, crankiness and impatience have lifted. I suffered with those for years. When the medication began to work it amazed me to wake up in the morning and not feel horrible all the time. I wasn’t bouncing off the walls with joy, I just felt normal.
Do not throw the baby out with the bath water.
This kid had many, many other problems obviously. To single out Prozac is silly.
I’m well aware of the SSRI literature. I’ve also been on Zoloft for many years, and it saved my life.
This kid was very troubled, and was on crack and meth. On top of that, his doctor prescribed double the recommended dose of Prozac, and gave him no counseling.
Blaming Prozac for this attack, when it was misused and coupled with many other factors, is like blaming the car when a drunk driver gets in it and runs someone over.
It’s more like blaming the alcohol. If someone kills someone in a DWI accident but has a past history of drug use do you blame the past history or the current chemical alcohol? I merely use your example.
Remember, to get prozac you need a prescription. To get a prescription you must see a physician.
Start your search with the physician ~ ask him why he thought prozac would control someone into being an axe murderer.
I blame the person who was screwed up enough to get in a car drunk.
I don’t believe in personal absolution with regards to chemical intake. This chemical being prescribed by a physician puts the personal responsibility factor into a gray area however. I am in no way defending or excusing this person’s actions. I think it’s an all around tragedy.
That's what the doctor does ~ not the drug.
This business of leaping to the conclusion the drug had an adverse effect but the doctor is innocent (he's just standing there scratching his head dumbfounded by it all) is like arguing that guns leap off tables and shoot people!
Do your own research on the drug. I could spend days referring you to lawsuits and studies that justify my point. I hope it doesn’t affect a love one of yours like it did mine.
Probably had nothing to do with it....yesiree. It was the Prozac.
And again, the medication was misprescribed — double the recommended dose. This is not the fault of Prozac or its manufacturer — Prozac and other SSRIs help millions of people. This is an all around tragedy for which a very screwed up person and secondarily, probably an irresponsible doctor are responsible.
An allegation made in a lawsuit is NOT evidence.
Even a "win" isn't evidence.
The "most popular" internet sources for information on Prozac are:
Dreamcatchers.com ~ into all sorts of "natural herbal remedies"
Injury-law.freeadvice.com
www.yourlawyer.com
www.pharmatechnologist.com (regarding patent infringement, et al)
www.ghchealth.com (the "Health Begins in the Colon" people ~ they offer "cleansing")
www.lawcash.com
www.traceylawfirm.com
www.legallawhelp.com
www.injury-settlement-guide.com
and so forth and so on.
It pays to advertise.
Eli lily has good lawyers. Out of court settlements are common.
Addressing the first part - do you know that Eli Lilly just settled a class action for over a billion dollars, pleading guilty to illegal marketing for improper use of their most lucrative psychotropic? Eli Lilly has quite a colorful history when it comes to publishing only good trials, downplaying side effects and withdrawal, and settling out of court.
The second part - how do you know? Actually studies show that SSRIs/SNRIS perform no better than placebos. Meanwhile, the side effects (and withdrawal, for many other SSRIs and SNRIs - Prozac happens to be one of the lesser offenders due to its longer half-life) are often worse than the benefits.
According to the FDA, "Anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, impulsivity, akathisia (severe restlessness), hypomania, and mania have been reported in adult and pediatric patients being treated with antidepressants for major depressive disorder as well as for other indications, both psychiatric and nonpsychiatric." I guess the volume of reports warranted their attention, because they've issued multiple advisories in recent years.
And do an internet search for "discontinuation syndrome" - that's what the pharmaceutical companies like to call what the rest of the world would understand as withdrawal. It can be downright horrific.
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