Posted on 01/31/2013 6:11:39 PM PST by neverdem
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anxiety disorders program at the University of Pennsylvania's medical school, said research by others using the same unpublished studies concluded antidepressants have "a modest effect over placebo," on average about 15 percentage points...
Destroying a drug that has actually helped people with real problems will f**k up those peoples’ lives and the lives of those around them. What are you going to do for these people that need this drug? Tell them to do without, like elder care under Obamacare? Is there any medication that doesn’t have risks?
"Sertraline shares the common side effects and contraindications of other SSRIs, with high rates of nausea, diarrhea, insomnia, and sexual side effects; however, it does not cause weight gain, and its effects on both cognition and vigilance are relatively mild. In pregnant women taking sertraline, the drug was present in significant concentrations in fetal blood, and was also associated with a higher rate of various birth defects. Similarly to other antidepressants, the use of sertraline for depression may be associated with a higher rate of suicidality."
You know, little things like that ... makes one feel so much happier ...
I guess if it was on 60 minutes it must be true. /s
It is about time to start class action lawsuits against these parasite lawyers. Anyone whose loved one dies because they stop taking the drug after hearing about this crap ought to sue the hell out of this attorney and his client.
'Super' enzyme protects against dangers of oxygen
Scientists trick iron-eating bacteria into breathing electrons instead
First-Ever Guidelines for Children With Diabetes (type 2!)
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Anyway, you'll notice that your passage lists insomnia as one of the side effects. Might surprise you to know I have been plagued with insomnia ever since stopping Zoloft, and was troubled beforehand. This isn't particularly unusual and it is difficult to find another drug to treat the insomnia without introducing other side effects/hazards. This isn't particularly unusual and I've seen other patients discuss this beneficial side effect.
The increased incidence of suicidal ideation/attempts is due to energizing of the depressed patient. The patient who can't get out of bed finds it difficult to commit suicide. The patient who has not yet experienced the primary therapeutic effect but is experiencing increased energy is at increased risk. This is one of those unfortunate consequences of drug intervention for depression.
LOL duplicated a sentence preamble. Must be tripping out with SSRI discontinuation syndrome.
I think when you see the harm and loss of life that these horrific drugs cause you may have a different view.
“I suggest you read “Prozac, Panacea or Pandora” and or “Your Drug May be Your Problem”
I think when you see the harm and loss of life that these horrific drugs cause you may have a different view.”
Let me guess, written by someone from the Church of Scientology or a holistic medicine quack?
If a person is being treated for depression with a drug, and if they’re at the point where they are energized by the drug, but not yet at therapeutic levels, maybe they should be kept in the hospital during that time. Or just keep them under close observation when they first start taking the drug.
Just identifying it for those who are aware of the role of SSRIs in PTSD suicides, rage-induced rampages, etc. -- which effects are usually not spelled out; as well as the tendency toward hard-to-shed dependencies.
The increased incidence of suicidal ideation/attempts is due to energizing of the depressed patient.
This is an interesting insight on depressive response. About 40 years ago, I was in such a state, but essentially pulled out of it with the comfort of family/friends, a brief vacation from daily responsibilities, and the passage of time. Seeing what has happened to others with SSRIs and benzodiazepines, I am eternally grateful that my experiences were at a time when the population was not yet soaked in psychotropic drug dependency.
Let me guess, someone who depends on drugs because coping is just so damn hard to do?
If I was born in the "modern" world, no telling how drugged up I would be and how much of me would still exist. I had combinations of OCD/ADDS and even some hints of what may be Tourettes as a child growing up in the '50s. Kindergarten teachers told my folks to test me because my drawings resembled something Picasso might render, I was very anal about how things were organized, and had "nervous tics" which caused me to make constant squeaking noises in my throat, screw up my face, and even blurt out things I could believe I was saying as it occurred.
In today's world I'd be diagnosed and "treated" until I truly was handicapped. In the "crueler more backwards times" of the '50s, I learned to be self aware and to get a handle on what was going on. Rebelled in high school, but passed all the NY Regents and graduated a year early, spent 24 years in the military, got a college degree with a 4.0 GPA and have gotten along in life rather well. Never would have happened in a world where they "design" a drug, determine that it "appears to affect" certain "maladies" and then market it by saying it helps with never before diagnosed "maladies" and urges people to "ask your doctor if this drug with 87 known bad side effects and possibly 1 or 2 "benefits" is right for you"...
I grew up in rural Nebraska, in an area that was very resistant to the drug pushers. In grade school, I was a wiggle worm and couldn’t sit still.
My kindergarten teacher would have me run laps around the school to “burn it off”. No matter what the weather. It worked. Today I would have been drugged to the gills and labeled a “special” case.
Oh, it works, all right. Don’t take it for 3 days, and it gives you the “brain zaps” (bursts of heightened anxiety with a physiological tingling effect in the head). Someone very close to me experiences it.
I agree - I was fortunate to be able to get my idiosyncrasies under control. I know too many folks who have children that the schools insisted needed to be medicated and where the schools turned out to be wrong. They use the medication of kids as a convenience and believe that they also have a broader and more nefarious plan as far as control goes.
You are correct. It has been observed and noted since at least the early seventies that when an antidepressant begins to work, suicide risk goes up. This is true of all antidepressants, not Zoloft in particular. Conscientious practitioners know this and monitor their patients accordingly.
Every FReeper should listen to this podcast on Big Pharma.
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/11/angell_on_big_p.html
Angell’s left of center, but Roberts holds her to reason. Her biggest revelation is the capture of the FDA by Big Pharma.
They no longer have to show all their study results and research universities sponsored by them cannot even see the results. That’s not good at all.
We need more transparency and an end to regulatory capture.
The other issue she brings up is that the government pays the same for a drug prescription as they do for talk-therapy. Talk-therapy is as effective as the drug, yet a psychiatrist can write 4-5 scrips in the time it takes to have a single session. Government has messed up all the incentives in the system.
Yhanks — very thoughtful of you to send this on!
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