U.S. Issues Antidepressant Warning

[gldstwmn]

By Elizabeth Shogren, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — The government today told the makers of 10 popular antidepressants to add to their labels the warning that people who take them should be monitored for suicidal behavior.

The Food and Drug Administration warned doctors, patients and their families to closely monitor adults and children taking the medications. And it told them to watch out for other negative behaviors associated with the drugs, including agitation, hostility, severe restlessness, insomnia and mania.

It directed the drug companies to include lengthy warnings on the drug labels of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Serzone and Remeron — drugs taken by an estimated 20 million people each year.

The warnings came after an FDA advisory panel heard emotional testimony last month from dozens of patients and family members who blame the drugs for suicide attempts, suicides and violent acts. The FDA said it was not clear whether antidepressants contributed to the emergence of suicidal thoughts and behavior, but, at the urging of the advisory panel, the agency decided to issue the warnings before it completed a thorough review of the drugs.

http://www.latimes.com/services/site/premium/access-registered.intercept

[Sugar]

This seems like such a quandry. We're talking about people on antidepressants, and I'm not saying that everyone on anti-depressants is suicidal, but might one assume that some people taking anti-depressants might be a bit more likely to commit suicide? I mean is there some sort of data suggesting that there's a higher suicide rate among people taking Rxs's, or taking these rx's specifically vs. than those who aren't? :shrug:

[DrummerDeanna]

Wow...I was just talking with a co-worker about anti-depressants today...I hadn't seen that article...but thanks for posting it, I am going to send her a copy...

Interesting story to go along with it...

I knew this guy who was a nude model in my school's art department. He was really nice, but very very quiet and a little shy and withdrawn...well he got diagnosed with depression so they put him on medication....

He went nuts...seriously...you had to peel this guy off walls!! He was all loopy and weird...then while modeling he got an erection...so he got fired....

Well, to rebel he rode his bike across the entire college campus-competely naked...but I think he was painted white or something...well he got arrested, but resisted arrest, causing more trouble. Then a few weeks later the cops went to his dorm because of a noise complaint, he answered the door naked and proceeded to attack the cops....

They took him off the meds and put him on different ones...he's still in all sorts of legal battles, but at least he is acting less wacked out....

Finally a warning of some kind is being issued!

[Sugar]

Originally posted by DrummerDeanna
Wow...I was just talking with a co-worker about anti-depressants today...I hadn't seen that article...but thanks for posting it, I am going to send her a copy...

Interesting story to go along with it...

I knew this guy who was a nude model in my school's art department. He was really nice, but very very quiet and a little shy and withdrawn...well he got diagnosed with depression so they put him on medication....

He went nuts...seriously...you had to peel this guy off walls!! He was all loopy and weird...then while modeling he got an erection...so he got fired....

Well, to rebel he rode his bike across the entire college campus-competely naked...but I think he was painted white or something...well he got arrested, but resisted arrest, causing more trouble. Then a few weeks later the cops went to his dorm because of a noise complaint, he answered the door naked and proceeded to attack the cops....

They took him off the meds and put him on different ones...he's still in all sorts of legal battles, but at least he is acting less wacked out....

Finally a warning of some kind is being issued!

Ahhh, now that's the sort of thing I'm talking about! No doubt there's all kinds of adverse effects from meds like this. Like nearly all meds.

Just another reason to reel in the pharmaceutical companies and all this rampant prescribing...

Don't even get me started on the findings of that cholesterol study that came out last week...:rolleyes:

[gldstwmn]

Originally posted by Sugar
Ahhh, now that's the sort of thing I'm talking about! No doubt there's all kinds of adverse effects from meds like this. Like nearly all meds.

Just another reason to reel in the pharmaceutical companies and all this rampant prescribing...

Don't even get me started on the findings of that cholesterol study that came out last week...:rolleyes:

Exactly why I posted this Sugar. They're giving this stuff out like candy and the big drug makers are lining their pokcets.

[DownOnRodeo]

I wonder if Stevie ever painted herself white and rode around naked on a bicycle after being prescribed klonopin? I guess we have to wait for the tell-all autiobiography. ;)

[darklinensuit]

Originally posted by DownOnRodeo
I wonder if Stevie ever painted herself white and rode around naked on a bicycle after being prescribed klonopin? I guess we have to wait for the tell-all autiobiography. ;)

No, but once while she modeled nude for me she got aroused, so I had to can her.:laugh:

Seriously, this drug business is out of control scary. What's happening to us?

- Jake

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally posted by darklinensuit
No, but once while she modeled nude for me she got aroused, so I had to can her.:laugh:

Seriously, this drug business is out of control scary. What's happening to us?

- Jake

: presumes "can" is code for something else : :distress:

What's happening to us? We all want a quick fix for everything. Feel fat? Take a pill. Upset? Take a pill. We are such a fast paced culture it seems we don't want to take time to get down to the root of the problem...we want to glass it over and make it okay and then carry on. We don't want to work toward a solution...we just want the results without everything else. The problem never goes away. Taking a pill for anxiety or for depression isn't correcting the problem...it's helping to cope with something that's there and at the same time, it makes you postal. I know several people who take depression medication and there have been a few family members who have taken the medication as well. It's not a good thing AT ALL and I believe that most of the people who are classified and diagnosed as "manic depressive," aren't. It's ridiculous.

[darklinensuit]

Originally posted by GardenStateGirlie
: presumes "can" is code for something else : :distress:

What's happening to us? We all want a quick fix for everything. Feel fat? Take a pill. Upset? Take a pill. We are such a fast paced culture it seems we don't want to take time to get down to the root of the problem...we want to glass it over and make it okay and then carry on. We don't want to work toward a solution...we just want the results without everything else. The problem never goes away. Taking a pill for anxiety or for depression isn't correcting the problem...it's helping to cope with something that's there and at the same time, it makes you postal. I know several people who take depression medication and there have been a few family members who have taken the medication as well. It's not a good thing AT ALL and I believe that most of the people who are classified and diagnosed as "manic depressive," aren't. It's ridiculous.

I don't mean to sound self-righteous - this certainly doesn't make me better than anybody - but I avoid taking pills unless I absolutely HAVE to. I really don't care for the things & am lucky that so far I've never had such a harsh diagnosis that I really need to take any pills for long.

- Jake

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally posted by darklinensuit
I don't mean to sound self-righteous - this certainly doesn't make me better than anybody - but I avoid taking pills unless I absolutely HAVE to. I really don't care for the things & am lucky that so far I've never had such a harsh diagnosis that I really need to take any pills for long.

- Jake

I'm with you there. I take NOTHING. I don't like taking actual medications unless it's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. And trust me, when you go to the doctor, he's perscribing the same thing to you as he is to all of his other patients because they get a kickback on certain medications. You might have a sinus infection while someone else has something totally different and it's like, "Here, have a Z-Pack" (I get those EVERYTIME I go to the doctor no matter what I have and it NEVER WORKS).

[darklinensuit]

Originally posted by GardenStateGirlie
I'm with you there. I take NOTHING. I don't like taking actual medications unless it's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. And trust me, when you go to the doctor, he's perscribing the same thing to you as he is to all of his other patients because they get a kickback on certain medications. You might have a sinus infection while someone else has something totally different and it's like, "Here, have a Z-Pack" (I get those EVERYTIME I go to the doctor no matter what I have and it NEVER WORKS).

My dad's a pharmacist, so usually I will ask him before I take anything the doctor prescribes.

- Jake

[Sugar]

Originally posted by GardenStateGirlie

You might have a sinus infection while someone else has something totally different and it's like, "Here, have a Z-Pack" (I get those EVERYTIME I go to the doctor no matter what I have and it NEVER WORKS).

Those Z-paks don't work for anyone...:laugh:

(I'm getting myself started) The results of that cholesterol study basically said if you drastically reduce your LDL-c (bad cholesterol) to about 60mg/dl rather than the current 100mg/dl that there are dramatic improvements in heart disease and other conditions. Of course that immediately brought a question to my mind (and maybe yours too) which was quickly answered by a physician on NPR. He said those sort of levels are practically IMPOSSIBLE to achieve by diet alone. Which means WHAT? EVERY single person is going to be put on hyperlipidemia agents now? Don't worry aabout what it's doing to your liver and your muscles, you have no heart disease!

[Alison]

Most of the time I see my naturopathic DR. Which the government is trying to shut down and not cover in this province. If more people did previntive measures when it came to thier health, Canada's health insurance would not be almost bankrupt.
I think most sickness is diet related. I for one only take a prescribed drug only as a last resort.
I am on antidepressants, but only going to be on them for a short times, and I'm on a low dose. It does help me. But you have to deal with the issues in your life at the same time. It does not make the problems go away.

[Livia]

I don't think prescription meds should be advertised on television.

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally posted by Livia
I don't think prescription meds should be advertised on television.

Agreed. :nod:

[Merf]

This is a subject I'm pretty sensitive about, since I took pretty much every depression medication under the sun from the time I was 16 till the time I was 21. I still have periods where I'm pretty down, but it's usually situational and not "just because I'm depressed." My mother, grandmother, and both aunts also suffer from it so I do believe that it is heredity. I will attest to the fact that it is just not right to give these medications to children, especially Prozac. I was on Prozac from the time i was 16 till I was 19 and it made me suicidal. No joke. That medication is dangerous. The only one that actually really helped was Zoloft, but I was also on Celexa and Effexor at other times, as well. I've been on them all. :laugh: I think it's important that the government is coming out and saying this because those meds are just not safe to give to kids. Just my opinion.

[Alison]

I don't think they are advertised on TV in Canada. But most of the stations we get are American, so we get bombarded with them anyway.