FDA warns those on various anti-depressants should be monitored for signs of suicide

[Tony T]

Those on antidepressants or who have family or friends on antidepssants may want to read: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4579108/ The story warns of an inclination towards suicide as a result of taking some, such as the popular Paxil.

 

Extreme care should be used in taking all medications. Dosages and length of time taking them should always be monitored and reviewed by the patient in consult with a licensed medical doctor.

[Darkangelism]

They just figured this out? Isnt it kinda obvious?

[Tony T]

No, it's not obvious at all to millions of people who are prescribed antidepressants by physicians who don't give warnings and to patients who don't read the material on the drug. People can never get too much information. Apparently, the FDA has received even a stronger indication that patients should be closely monitored for warning signs of suicide.

 

You've been around on this forum long enough to know that NOTHING in life is obvious to everybody.

 

You can never have enough information about drugs you are taking, particularly those that are doing a lot of good...but have possible serious side effects.

[HokeyReligions]

I don't need to read the article to know.

 

My husband tried to kill himself last year. It was strange how it came about and at the last minute he called someone and they stopped him. I got him to the doctor who would not let him out of his (or his nurses) sight until he could get into a counseling program and his drugs were changed and out of his system.

 

He came so close to killing himself. No one saw it coming and there is no doubt that it was the drugs which prompted it.

 

Not all depressed people are suicidal - in fact the vast majority of people suffering from depression are not suicidal. My husband was not. My mother (who is bi-polar & has had a death-wish for decades) is not suicidal.

 

But the anti-depressent built up in my husbands system and triggered something that caused him to plan for several days and make preparations for suicide. He had everything ready (he had all the drugs in the house out and two large glasses of milk at the ready) and somewhere a little bit of the real him worked its way out of the fog of that drug and he picked up the phone and called his mother. He then called me and I gave him a game plan for handling this (go to the doctor) and told him it was the drugs he was taking and to not do anything. Once he was actually told that it was the drugs and had a plan of action, he was okay.

 

 

The drugs are great for depression. But people have to be so careful! My husband was not feeling depressed or down about anything. It just seemed like suicide was the right thing to do and he said he felt helpless to change it.

 

He had been planning it for several days and we had no idea at all because he seemed so upbeat and not down or distracted at all.

 

But when I heard he was going to do that I knew it was the drug. Now, I don't know what to look for, but we talk more and I ask him if he's been thinking of it again. So far he is doing well - especially with everything thats been going on lately. Even knowing what may happen, there are often no warning signs to see.

[moimeme]

I got *very* depressed on an antihistamine; Reactine to be precise. When I questioned my pharmacist, he told me that .04% of people were known to have that sort of reaction (forget the term he used; means 'working on the brain')! I knew something was up when I found myself in tears, abject - because I had dishes to do!!!

 

I stopped the pills and the depression went away. Just to see whether it was them or not, I tried them again - boom - down to the pits again.

 

You have to be careful with all drugs!

[Patty]

Thanks Tony.

 

Patty

[yes]

that's scary... anti-depressants, of all things. thanks for the info!

 

-yes

[brashgal]

I wish they said more about what point in treatment these people took their lives - after they had been on the meds a couple weeks, months, years? Just went back on antidepressants this week and was actually starting to feel better...

[Stone]

Thank you for the artical....... my child and several other fam members is on anti-depressants. I will absolutley be following up on this.

[Fedup&givingup]

Anti depressants are the worst!!!! Your contributation is well appreciated, Tony. I already knew about it, but a lot of people do not.

 

Paxil has been classified as the worst one out there. It creates problems, and getting off of the stuff is next to impossible.

 

When I left my first husband, my physician put me on Zoloft. He said it would help with my transition, etc. I slept all the time, and I became more and more like a vegetable. I was starting to feel depressed. I stopped taking that garbage, and then I got on with my life.

 

Like Ellen Degeneres said in her stand up routine mocking the commercials on the there's-a-pill for everything now a days, "Do you sometimes feel sad, lonely, depressed?" Ellen, "Yeah, I'm ALIVE!" NO kidding!

 

I'm not knocking the fact that a lot of people do in fact have a chemical inbalance, but these drugs often work adversely. Think about it...when it comes to working with the brain, it's very, very difficult to measure. It's just not the same as monitoring a diabetic's insulin levels.

[Fedup&givingup]

Originally posted by brashgal

I wish they said more about what point in treatment these people took their lives - after they had been on the meds a couple weeks, months, years? Just went back on antidepressants this week and was actually starting to feel better...

 

They work for some people, Brash. Just not everyone. They can have an adverse effect, and I think it has to do with your brain chemistry. My point with that, is it's next to impossible to accurately monitor the human brain. If they work for you, that's great.

[moimeme]

It's just one more type of drug reaction, I figure. Some people can die from taking Aspirin. You need to be sure that any meds are monitored closely.

[tattoomytoe]

i had heard about this. some people shot themselves... but i think they were all in the first few months of their treatments.

 

anitdepressants can also effect you differently if you had stopped and then restarted.

[Arabess]

Maybe I'm missing something.....but if an anti-depressant can cause someone to be depressed enough to commit suicide.....then what in the hell are they FOR????

 

BTW Tat.....your Avitar reminds me of Dave1234. HAHAHA!

[tattoomytoe]

it reacts tragically with their body chemistry, jacking them up further

[brashgal]

I've been on them before and had to switch meds (had terrible problems with Zoloft also). I actually think that they did get my chemicals back in balance - I hadn't taken them for two years and just this January felt like I was backsliding horribly. So I'm hopeful that I won't be on them forever but I had to pull myself out of the hole - the usual regimen of exercise and activities just wasn't curing me.

 

Difference now is I live alone with my young son (ex is gone and other son in college) - hope I recognize the warning signs...

[tattoomytoe]

i heard it on dateline or something...and they were talking of screenings they could do, if they could find out what the correlations with all the victims were. so it is something our doctors hopefully know about, and i always ask my dr,. about things i hear that relate to me or people i know...iafter all they are only practicing, they do not know it all.

[meanon]

As the article says: the warning applies to a particular type of drug, suicide rates have dropped since it's introduction, it is not clear whether those people who have committed suicide have done so because of the drug or the illness and the warning is a sensible precaution until the research proves the matter one way or the other.

 

As with any drug, monitoring and caution is essential. The problem is that many people just stop taking meds they need in reaction to warnings like this. It's happened many times with the pill as well, new research is commissioned, warnings are given, loads of people stop taking it and the number of unplanned pregnancies increases.

[faux]

Hmm. Paxil is etremely dangerous. The withdrawal from Paxil is likened to that of heroin. I have known a few people who had to be hospitalized from not being properly tapered off of it.

 

I skim-read the article, but I already dislike anti-depressants and other psychotropic medications. After being on several different such medications, and combinations of such medications, for a few years in my past I have learned to hate them. In nearly every case I became worse while taking these medications.

[longlegzs80]

So, what is the point of taking antidepressants if it can have very negative affects on people? Just don't get it.

 

Anywho, I just seen this article on msn and I was going to write a thread on it, but you beat me to it TONY. Anywho it is very interesting. Makes me think I will just stick to doing what I got to do without any kinds of drugs.

[moimeme]

longlegz

 

They haven't figured out whether it's the drugs or the state of mind of the people taking them. It doesn't happen to everyone, and monitoring is all that's needed. No need to shun potential beneficial treatment. Do you know how many people develop sudden allergies to ASA every year? Because the media doesn't make a big deal about it, nobody cares.

[Thinkalot]

I had a feeling this thread would discourage those who have been teetering on the brink of taking meds, to step back from taking them, despite the fact that they can do a lot of good.

[ladyangel]

Originally posted by Thinkalot

I had a feeling this thread would discourage those who have been teetering on the brink of taking meds, to step back from taking them, despite the fact that they can do a lot of good.

True. And that's too bad. After all, think about how many suicides anti-depressants have PREVENTED. Of course, since there's no way to quantify it, it doesn't get the same recognition.

 

I think these paragraphs are key in the article:

 

"The agency insists it’s not yet clear whether the drugs actually spur suicide on occasion — or whether the underlying mental illness is to blame. But FDA bowed to pressure from anguished families who, at an emotional meeting last month, blamed the pills for their loved ones’ suicides and pleaded for better warnings.

 

It’s a difficult issue to sort out because depression itself can lead to suicide, and studies clearly show that antidepressants have helped many people recover from depression."

[faux]

Originally posted by Thinkalot

I had a feeling this thread would discourage those who have been teetering on the brink of taking meds, to step back from taking them, despite the fact that they can do a lot of good.

 

This is a very good point, however, medication can also cause a lot of horrors, and the stories I can share would make everyone fear little pills.

[gaia]

There have also been concerns about these issues in the UK - mainly about Seroxat recently (which I think is marketed as "Paxil" in the USA).

 

It is difficult to know whether people commit suicide on these drugs because of the drugs or the underlying illness. However, it's stories like HokeyReligions' that make me think there must be some cases where the drugs are implicated. I heard something about the drugs causing an increase in agitation in some people in the first few weeks, and maybe this has something to do with it.

 

When you compare the number of people who have been helped by these drugs to the number of serious adverse effects, there are still pretty good odds that you'll be one of the lucky ones. I'm on sertraline (??Zoloft) and it has worked for me. No side effects at all.

 

Moi makes an interesting point about all kinds of drugs having really serious side effects. How come there seems to be so much more publicity about those for mental illness. Why are people prepared to put up with a drug with a high risk of seizures to help them stop smoking? Could it be perhaps that there are a large number of people who don't really look upon depression as a "real" illness??