Antidepressants Get Suicide Warning From FDA

Young adults face an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior when they first begin taking antidepressants and should be warned about the danger, federal health officials said Wednesday.

The Food and Drug Administration asked makers of the drugs to expand its warning labels to include adults age 18-24. The labels already include similar warnings for children and adolescents.

Eli Lilly and Co., the maker of Prozac, Zoloft manufacturer Pfizer Inc. and other pharmaceutical companies said they would comply with the FDA's request.
Source

I may not be a youth, but I have personal experience of what these people go through.

Most people that suffer from bi-polar disorders only show up at the doctors office when they are suffering from the depressive side of a cycle. It's when they're at their lowest point that they go to their physician, possibly from a family member being concerned, or some aberrant behavior being noticed by a friend.

Most of the time they spend 15 min. with a general practitioner, and then get passed off to a psychiatrist in a few weeks, if they're lucky. The doctor tends to prescribe an SSRI or something in the "pam" family, and then they wait for additional help.

If they do get to see a shrink, it's an hour at most.
They walk away with a prescription for an antidepressant and an appointment to come back in 2 - 3 weeks.
This is when they're most at risk to commit suicide........
After spending a little time exposing the feelings that are causing the depression they walk away with a bottle of pills, and a "see me in a couple weeks".

At their most vulnerable time, and when families think everything is being taken care of by the doctor, they kill themselves. And then the families are surprised when they find the person dead in the weeks following the start of a new medication.


I'll be honest, I'm on new medications right now.
They change the way your mind works, and you go through periods of elation and depression that can cycle within a few hours. It's like being extremely happy one minute, and then you crash into a dark hole with no escape, and the smallest thing can destroy your world.


I don't want anyone to think I'm running for the exit, but I think it's an important point to note. People that are depressed need a bit more support than a doctors visit and a bottle of pills to get them through a tough time.

All antidepressants must carry a "black box" warning, the government's strongest safety alert, linking the drugs to increased suicidal thoughts and behavior among children and teens taking them, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

Because the warnings are primarily seen by doctors, the agency also is creating an information guide for patients to advise them of the risk.
www.cbsnews.com...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today proposed that makers of all antidepressant medications update the existing black box warning on their products' labeling to include warnings about increased risks of suicidal thinking and behavior, known as suicidality, in young adults ages 18 to 24 during initial treatment (generally the first one to two months).
www.fda.gov...

From personal experience, this is a very important issue.


EDIT: bbcode




[edit on 3/5/2007 by anxietydisorder]

Hello,

I am seVenteen and taking novo-venlafaxine xr (effexor xr) at 75+35.5 MG/daily with two capsules prescribed to me by my family doctor and a referred by an experimental school complex council staff member. For two years now, it has done me good I suppose as I've had unusual sparKs of being overfilled with joy. Although, since I am aboriginal, medications are free and paid by the government so that was an asset. I had accidently stopped for a few days without it at one time and had experienced a lot of effects like, nausia, dizzyness, and pending stroke symptoms. Capsules distributed by SHOPPERS DRUG Mart Canada.

/7A

I also live in Canada, and have 100% coverage on medications.
I was on Effexor when it first came out, but had an adverse reaction, but at that time the doctors were really pushing it because of incentives from the drug companies.

I'm not saying that SSRIs are bad, many people have benefited from these drugs. But I want to stress the need for comprehensive support when first starting any of these medications.

I'm 4 days into being on new medication and I'm seeing sparks in my vision, mood swings, anxiety, depression, glee, etc.........

It's a very unstable time for me because I've been off meds for a couple years, and I can see why this warning is going out. It's at this time you need the most support, and thankfully, I have that.


Effexor didn't work for me, but it has for many others.

I'm curious, do you remember what the first couple weeks were like

Originally posted by anxietydisorder
I'll be honest, I'm on new medications right now.
They change the way your mind works, and you go through periods of elation and depression that can cycle within a few hours. It's like being extremely happy one minute, and then you crash into a dark hole with no escape, and the smallest thing can destroy your world.

An friend of mine has a 22 year-old daughter who is bipolar. She goes through a similar cycle to this. When she's happy, she's giddy and almost unbearable so. When she reaches this high point in the cycle, she believes there is nothing wrong with her, and she stops taking her meds.

When she hits the low point of the cycle, she tends to crash hard and any little thing can set her off. A couple of years ago she attempted suicide by overdosing on her pills. She's alright at the moment, but her family literally walk on eggshells wondering when she may go off the deep end again.

I'm glad the FDA has requested that warnings for these medications be expanded to include young adults.

I'm on my second course of meds after I stupidly stopped taking the first lot unsupervised thinking I was all better.

I'm on flueroxitine and would describe what I am suffering from as moderate depression brought on by a chain of events in my life stretching back over five years.

Anxiety Disorders description of erratic mood swings on his meds almost perfectly describes how I was before I went on to the pills. The only thing I experienced when on them initially was a few low grade anxiety attacks and some acne outbreaks. Luckily the meds seem to work well for me, it was only being on them for a while that made me realise what feeling 'normal' was again and for how long I'd not been in that frame of mind. I'm going to stick with them for as long as I have to.

I still feel embarrassed admitting to this in a general conversation even though I wouldn't wish how I was feeling on my worst enemy.

it's a brave new world.

emotions are there for a reason. look, there's even "motion" as the majority of it.

people are MOTIVated by eMOTION. eMOTIONs are the result of reACTing to your environment. if you emotions are 'off', it is BECAUSE YOUR ENVIRONMENT is OFF.

'chemical imbalance', and 'bipolar' are just WORDS.

menopause is also not a DISEASE, and yet, has been treated like one for decades.

do not take the blue pill, or the red pill. they are both placebos.

these drugs do not help anything. there is something wrong with 'overfilled with joy' when your whole world is in shambles.

people should be depressed, and angry, and reACTive.

a person VERY dear to me, hung herself because she thought she was ugly(and she was, if you think kim basinger is ugly) and a burden(and she was, if you think florence nightengale was a burden). she did so after one week on a new 'anti-depressive'. she had been on various 'anti-depressents' since she was fourteen.
none of the 'doctors' in her teen years considered it might be the fact that she was raped repeatedly by her babysitter when she was a little girl, and her father protected the rapist.
none of the 'doctors' in her final years thought about the cause of her woe, either. you simply write a drug name on a prescription slip, and the 'disease' goes away?

the pharmaceutical/medical scam is a massive crime against humanity.

social disorders are not chemical disorders. these guys are butchers and snake-oil salesmen, not 'doctors'. real doctors find the root of the problem, not just the symptoms.

I have to agree 100% that you are correct, I cant believe that doctors these days are so quick to label a person with ADHD or Depressed. After a 5 minute visit the Dr. whips out his Rx pad, like quick draw McGraw and prescribe these kids and adult alike with these very powerful drugs.
Ive mentioned this before but ill say it again here. About 8 years ago, I had taken my son with me to a Dr appt for myself. My son was very hyper at a young age but he was just a kid that was having fun, he was a good kid that always minded me but he was just very active.
So after my Dr seen my child for less than 5 minutes he labeled him ADHD and wrote out an Rx for a HUGE bottle of ritalin. I showed his mother, (whos now my X-Wife) the prescription she had it filled and brought it home with the intention giving it to him. I took the bottle from her, kept it with me in my truck for a few days while i thought about it. After a week or so I had made my decision to pour the pills out in the toilet. She did not agree with me, she said that it wasnt fair to her because she had to stay home with him everyday while i worked and if this drug made watching him easier then she was all for it. I blew my stack when she said that and our relationship was never the same after that.
My son, who I now have sole custody of, is now a normal very intelligent 13 year old boy.

By the way, good post billybob

Originally posted by billybob
it's a brave new world.
you simply write a drug name on a prescription slip, and the 'disease' goes away?

the pharmaceutical/medical scam is a massive crime against humanity.

social disorders are not chemical disorders. these guys are butchers and snake-oil salesmen, not 'doctors'. real doctors find the root of the problem, not just the symptoms.

[edit on 4-5-2007 by Kr0n0s]

And this is going to stop doctors/ shrinks from prescribing the pills how? All this label does is protect the manufacturer from lawsuits, and doctors from malpractice claims.

There are cancer warnings on tobacco products and all that has done is prevented tobacco companies from getting sued.

Mother: "My son killed himself because of your pills!"
Pill Maker: "Sorry, ma'am, didn't you see the warning?"

Brother: "Your cigs killed my brother!"
Cig Maker: "Thats too bad, but we did warn him."

See any similarities?

My mom is a counseler at a middle-school, but she has her PhD in phsycology. The only reason she didnt go into private practice (and big bucks) is because she would ultimately be forced to prescribe pills to kids. Parents dont want to work to help their kids, they want a quick fix. At least at the school she can talk and suggest things to do instead of writing a ticket for a pill.

I'm maintaining my view that the FDA/Big Pharma is continuing it's drug-inducing agenda against the public. This admission by the FDA is nothing but a little pacifier to shut people up. They fully intend to keep pushing these dangerous drugs on the public and if they lose any revenue from the loss of "clients" from this little PR campaign, they will just find another back-door way in.

Like the pushing of drugs on children:
Mass drugging of schoolchildren remains dark secret of public education, psychiatry

and the pushing of prozac on dogs: Prozac approved for misbehaving mutts

Here's a little something that may or may not surprise you.....

The Ontario Teachers Pension Fund has some interesting investments in the portfolio.

Pfizer $370.1 million

GlaxoSmithKline $98 million

Novartis AG $80.5 million (makers of Ritalin)

Shoppers Drug Mart $75.9 million


Every kid that gets put on a medication puts money into the pockets of the teachers, and every prescription filled at the drug store also puts money in their acct.
If you doubt the truth in this feel free to read their entire portfolio here:
www.otpp.com...

Is anyone surprised teachers recommend student be put on medication

Well, Im not sure its a teacher conspiracy. Look at any major large cap mutual fund or retirement program and most hold drug companies. Most hold Phillip Morris as well.

Its about time that such warning were included with these medications. They should IMHO go another step however and restrict the abilites of MD's to prescribe them unless they are qualified in the field. A GP may not have enough experience to really spot adverse effects.

Originally posted by billybob
it's a brave new world.

emotions are there for a reason. look, there's even "motion" as the majority of it.

people are MOTIVated by eMOTION. eMOTIONs are the result of reACTing to your environment. if you emotions are 'off', it is BECAUSE YOUR ENVIRONMENT is OFF.

'chemical imbalance', and 'bipolar' are just WORDS.

I do want to point out that many of these drugs have been a benefit to countless people, and have saved lives that would have been lost without intervention.

Some people have a serious need for medication when their emotions get out of their control.
Not everyones mind is healthy, and I don't understand the stigma attached to mental illness just because it doesn't have the same symptoms as influenza ???

www.abovetopsecret.com...'

I guess it don't matter. But, this is another thread I started on this subject the same day. 2:50am.

4 pages long and 6 flags as well.

[edit on 5-5-2007 by Shar]

I'd say the increase for suicidal behavior is due to the "sugar pill" effect and lack of genuine interest. Someone seeks aid, gets this little pill that's supposed to make everything all right. Then, nothing.

If you're very depressed and try to get help, and run into this wall of "magic" prescriptions, it can cause a person to sink even further.

Already here:

FDA seeks antidepressant suicide warning


Please add any further posts in the other thread.


Thread Closed