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These days, the antidote looks more like the poison than the cure. At least, that was the case for Kim Witczak’s husband who, while struggling with insomnia, was put on antidepressants. He ultimately lost himself and ended up committing suicide. Kim and Dr. Liz Mumper discuss the details, today, on ‘Good Morning CHD.’

While many have bought into the simplistic idea that availability of firearms is the cause of mass shootings, a number of experts have pointed out a more uncomfortable truth, which is that mass shootings are far more likely the result of how we’ve been mistreating mental illness, depression and behavioral problems Gun control legislation has shown that law-abiding Americans who own guns are not the problem, because the more gun control laws that have been passed, the more mass shootings have occurred 97.8% of mass shootings occur in “gun-free zones,” as the perpetrators know legally armed citizens won’t be there...

David Boulware, who submitted the EUA for fluvoxamine, argues the agency is "behind the times"The FDA rejected an emergency use authorization (EUA) application for the use of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluvoxamine to treat COVID-19 on Monday. In a brief summary of their decision, attached to their detailed analysis of the evidence for the rejection, the agency noted that "the data are insufficient to conclude that fluvoxamine may be effective in the treatment of nonhospitalized patients with COVID-19 to prevent progression to severe disease and/or hospitalization." When David Boulware, MD, MPH, an infectious disease physician and researcher at the...

The drug, which costs roughly 29p per tablet, was trialled on nearly 741 people who tested positive within seven days and had underlying health conditions. Patients were given a daily course of two pills for 10 days. Of those given the medication, 79 (10.6 per cent) needed hospital care compared to 15.7 per cent in the placebo group. Writing in the paper, the researchers said their analysis showed the pills cut the risk of hospitalisation by 32 per cent. Fluvoxamine works by boosting the amount of serotonin in the brain, which can help to boost someone's mood. But the hormone...

Caption -- New research suggests people with chronic pain would rather use cannabis over their recommended medicine. Chronic pain sufferers and those taking mental health meds would rather turn to cannabis instead of their prescribed opioid medication, according to a new study. "This study is one of the first to track medical cannabis use under the new system of licensed producers, meaning that all participants had physician authorization to access cannabis in addition to their prescription medicines," says UBC Assoc. Prof. Zach Walsh, co-author of the study. The study tracked more than 250 patients with prescribed medical cannabis--people treated for...

With lithium prices skyrocketing beyond wildest expectations, talk heating up about acquisitions and mergers in this space and a fast-brewing war among electric car rivals, it’s no wonder everyone’s bullish on this golden commodity that promises to become the ‘’new gasoline”. Moreover, land grabs, rising price predictions, and expectations of a major demand spike are leaping out of the shadows of a pending energy revolution and a new technology-driven resource era. For once, we have agreement across the board on a commodity: Demand for lithium will continue to rise throughout the year--and beyond--spurred by the rise of battery mega/gigafactories and...

Pills used to treat depression also help mend ailing hearts, a study has found. Seroxat, a widely-used anti-depressant, worked ‘far better’ than the standard treatment for heart failure. The so-called happy pills not only stopped the heart from deteriorating further – they actually helped mend it.

Prozac may not be the only way to get rid of your serious blues. Soil microbes have been found to have similar effects on the brain and are without side effects and chemical dependency potentials. Learn how to harness the natural antidepressant in soil and make yourself happier and healthier. Read on to see how dirt makes you happy. Natural remedies have been around for untold centuries. These natural remedies included cures for almost any physical ailment as well as mental and emotional afflictions. Ancient healers may not have known why something worked but simply that it did. Modern scientists...

Certain types of antidepressants may put people at an increased risk for developing a deadly superbug infection, a new study suggested. Researchers from the University of Michigan revealed that individuals who suffer from depression and those taking antidepressants such as mirtazapine and fluoxetine had a much higher chance of contracting Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) – a life threatening infection that can cause severe diarrhea and inflammation of the colon. One of the most common infections acquired by patients at hospitals, C. difficile has been occurring with more and more frequency, resulting in the deaths of 14,000 individuals in the United...

AP BUSINESS WRITER TRENTON, N.J. -- The maker of Zoloft is being sued in an unusual case alleging the popular antidepressant has no more benefit than a dummy pill and that patients who took it should be reimbursed for their costs. --snip-- He said Pfizer produced two studies showing Zoloft worked better than placebo - the FDA's requirement for approval - but most Zoloft studies showed its effect was the same as a placebo. Dr. Michael Thase, who heads the mood and anxiety disorders program at the University of Pennsylvania's medical school, said research by others using the same unpublished...

Whatsamatter, buddy? Winter blahs got you down? Having a hard time focusing on work? Can’t quite clear your head after those interminable PowerPoint presentations? Sick & tired of being sick & tired? What you need, my friend, is a little Recoil Therapy because nothing chases away the blues like a .44 magnum. Wouldn’t You Like to Get Away? When I was a full-time care provider for a family member with Alzheimer’s, it used to surprise people when I would make use of my relatively rare respite care breaks (when someone else would come care of my charge) to go out...

A drug that failed to fight the blues could be the female answer to the little blue pill Viagra, the lead North American investigator analysing tests of the drug said Tuesday. Women who took the drug flibanserin when it was being tested as an anti-depressant said it didn't help them beat the glums, but did give them "an increase in libido that they liked," John Thorp, one of the investigators analyzing data from three clinical trials of the drug, told AFP.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Use of antidepressant drugs in the United States doubled between 1996 and 2005, probably because of a mix of factors, researchers reported on Monday. About 6 percent of people were prescribed an antidepressant in 1996 -- 13 million people. This rose to more than 10 percent or 27 million people by 2005, the researchers found. "Significant increases in antidepressant use were evident across all sociodemographic groups examined, except African Americans," Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University in New York and Steven Marcus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia wrote in the Archives of General Psychiatry. "Not...

Gadfly or Watchdog? by: Bethany Stotts, July 15, 2008 Some controversies never die. As Accuracy in Academia recently reported, Dr. Alan Schatzberg and around thirty medical researchers are now under investigation by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for financial conflicts of interest. In Dr. Schatzberg’s case, the conflicts reach as far back as 1998, when he co-founded the company that purchased a patent for mifepristone from Stanford University, his then (and current) employer. To this day Dr. Schatzberg continues as the principal investigator on Stanford’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to study the anti-depressant effects of mifepristone, an abortion drug....

The Medicated Americans: Antidepressant Prescriptions on the Rise Close to 10 percent of men and women in America are now taking drugs to combat depression. How did a once rare condition become so common? I am thinking of the Medicated Americans, those 11 percent of women and 5 percent of men who are taking antidepressants. It is Sunday night. The Medicated American—let’s call her Julie, and let’s place her in Winterset, Iowa—is getting ready for bed. Monday morning and its attendant pressures—the rush to get out of the house, the long commute, the bustle of the office—loom. She opens the...

The makers of antidepressants like Prozac and Paxil never published the results of about a third of the drug trials that they conducted to win government approval, misleading doctors and consumers about the drugs’ true effectiveness, a new analysis has found. In published trials, about 60 percent of people taking the drugs report significant relief from depression, compared with roughly 40 percent of those on placebo pills. But when the less positive, unpublished trials are included, the advantage shrinks: the drugs outperform placebos, but by a modest margin, concludes the new report, which appears Thursday in The New England Journal...

Parents of clinically depressed children often find themselves in a troubling quandary, forced to weigh the mood-lifting benefits of antidepressants against the small but very real risk of suicidal behavior that may occur in young people who take these drugs. The Food and Drug Administration requires a black box warning on antidepressants (including Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft) concerning the possibility of suicidal thoughts, attempts, and behaviors in anyone under 25 who takes the drugs. But a new study, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, indicates that the drugs' benefits outweigh the risks. Researchers examined 27 clinical...

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The suspected gunman in the Virginia Tech shooting rampage, Cho Seung-Hui, was a troubled 23-year-old senior from South Korea who investigators believe left an invective-filled note in his dorm room, sources say. The note included a rambling list of grievances and ended with the words "Ismail Ax" in red ink on the inside of one of his arms.

Close window Published online: 7 August 2006; | doi:10.1038/news060807-1 Club drug finds use as antidepressantPsychedelic ketamine hits the blues surprisingly fast.Erika Check Pills popped in a nightclub are potential therapeutics too.© Punchstock The 'club drug' ketamine may be the fastest-acting antidepressant ever tested, researchers report today. A team based at the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, Maryland, studied ketamine in 17 people with major depression. All the subjects had failed to respond to treatment with standard antidepressant drugs or more drastic methods, such as electroshock therapy. But 71% felt better the day after taking ketamine,...

A British diplomat went berserk after a drinking binge on his flight home from tsunami aid work in Thailand, a court heard today. Colonel Peter Roberts, the British defence attaché in Thailand, hurled obscene abuse at other passengers in business class, threatened to kill cabin staff, grabbed at women, and struggled free of the plastic ties binding his wrists and ankles to subdue him, it was alleged. He was arrested when his flight landed at Heathrow and then tried to punch and kick police officers, Isleworth Crown Court in London heard. As fellow passengers and cabin staff tried to restrain...