Report Raises New Concerns About Antidepressants and Suicide

A recent report in the British Medical Journal indicated that both doctors and thier patients using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors need to have a better understanding of the risk / benifit ratios of these drugs. The report also indicated there was a tendancy to downplay the risks and exaggerate the benifits of such treatment.

As I have said before, you should never ever get these types of drugs from a family practice doc or the like. You need a specialist who is trained in the mental health arena. Im convinced that alot of the problems with these drugs comes from innaproprite prescriptions and a lack of understanding by the MD's regarding the risks etc of them. Patients also have a fundemental responsability to question what thier doctors are getting them to take as well.

FRIDAY, July 7 (HealthDay News) -- FRIDAY, July 7 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors and their patients need a more balanced picture of the risks and benefits of the popular antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a new report contends.

Current practices and research methods tend to exaggerate the benefits and underestimate the risks of suicide posed by the drugs, according to an "analysis and comment" published in the July 8 issue of the British Medical Journal.

Link

Actually, Ive been on Prozac which is a SSRI, and I have never had problems with it. It works great on me. It doesnt make me happy or high, or make me become someone else. It simply allows me to function on a normal level. Its when I dont take it my whole mind and body spiral downward.

This is probably because I have a legitimate condition that was thouroughly checked out before I was put on it. Unfortunately, I am willing to bet that Prozac is so overprecribed for all the wrong reasons, and thus, people who do not have a real need for it, who have normal seratonin function in their brains, are being prescribed a drug that is actually screwing up their chemistry.

Too many doctors, instead of actually checking the pateint throughly, are content just to chalk it all off to depression or mental problems, especially with female patients. Doctors still have a habit of not taking their complaints seriously.

Prozac should only be prescribed to people with chronic, medical depression, not given to people who aqre having bad days, or who suffer depression due to a life changing event such as death or divorce.

I actually got prescribed prozac by a psychiatrist who did a number of tests on me and looked at my family history. He correctly diagnosed chronic depression, and prescribed the right dose, and thus, I am better for it, because I actually need it.

I've suffered from Depression for PROBABLY close to 20 years. I was recently "officially" diagnosed. I've had to stop taking any medicines, because I have no insurance, and no money, but the first medicine they tried me on was Zoloft. After three weeks of that, there was no change in how I felt, and I ended up in the Emergency Room getting 8 stitches put in my wrist, after I cut it open for the 9th (and worst) time. Seven were superficial, 1 required steristrips, and 1 required stitches and nicked the artery in my wrist.

The second attempt was Paxil. Paxil had the exact opposite effect of Zoloft. On the Zoloft I was sleeping 3 hours a night or so. On the Paxil I was sleeping between 10 and 14 hours a day. I finally said I couldn't take it anymore, and just went cold turkey. I still have some horribly bad days, but it's not as bad as it was on the meds.

I know it's just a matter of finding the right one for me, and that some people have had great effect with the ones that I didn't, but for me personally the two they tried were worse than the depression.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
I've suffered from Depression for PROBABLY close to 20 years. I was recently "officially" diagnosed. I've had to stop taking any medicines, because I have no insurance, and no money, but the first medicine they tried me on was Zoloft. After three weeks of that, there was no change in how I felt, and I ended up in the Emergency Room getting 8 stitches put in my wrist, after I cut it open for the 9th (and worst) time. Seven were superficial, 1 required steristrips, and 1 required stitches and nicked the artery in my wrist.

The second attempt was Paxil. Paxil had the exact opposite effect of Zoloft. On the Zoloft I was sleeping 3 hours a night or so. On the Paxil I was sleeping between 10 and 14 hours a day. I finally said I couldn't take it anymore, and just went cold turkey. I still have some horribly bad days, but it's not as bad as it was on the meds.

I know it's just a matter of finding the right one for me, and that some people have had great effect with the ones that I didn't, but for me personally the two they tried were worse than the depression.

I had similar problems with Zoloft and Paxil. Zoloft didnt work and made me yawn alot. Paxil made me too drugged and stoned to get off the couch.

The older anti-depressents were much worse tho. Desyryl made me hallucinate and made me freak out, and this other stuff that gave me turned me into a zombie.

It is a matter of finding the correct medication if you need it. Have you considered herbal remedies as well?

SSRI's have been under scruitiny by the UK NICE for a while now and have been restricted to use in persons over 18 AND prescribed by a Psychiatric physicisan only.There are many court cases in progress in the UK at present.

Originally posted by the doc
SSRI's have been under scruitiny by the UK NICE for a while now and have been restricted to use in persons over 18 AND prescribed by a Psychiatric physicisan only.There are many court cases in progress in the UK at present.

Exactly this is how they should be prescribed IMHO. i watched a new nurse a few years back flirt with a resident who later pulled out his pad and gave he a prozac script. The FDA should set strict guidelines on who can prescribe these drugs.