Originally posted by Salander
reply to post by Lucid Lunacy
I assume you are aware that many youngsters in grade school and high school are administered such psychoactive drugs. That is the age group I'm
talking about when I say 'youngsters'.
Pick any of these SSRI type drugs and see if the label use is approved for youngsters. I'm betting none of them, or very few, are approved for use
with children and young adults.
If I'm right, then when they are administered to youngsters, all such use is "off label", and a violation of some rule or the other.
The reason for it is simple--the company bringing it to market NEVER tested it on youngsters.
So to answer your question, I'm not claiming that they "do anything" to anybody. The point I'm making is that NO research has been done on the
effects of the drugs on youngsters, and that such OFF LABEL prescribing is against the rules and possibly grounds for a lawsuit.edit on
22-1-2013 by Salander because: (no reason given)
You are quite correct in stating that SSRIs (and many psych drugs, MAOIs, etc) are not approved for pediatric patients. As I stated a few pages back I
have degrees in psych/neuroscience and a masters in pharmacology. I'm currently enrolled in medical school and fairly close to finishing, so this
subject is of great interest to me. We're taught ad nauseam that "pediatric patients are not merely little adults" from a pharmacological aspect
(peds, pregnant pts and geriatric pts all have their own categories pharmacologically because of differences in things like liver function, water
percentages, fat percentages, kidney function, etc). That said, take a drug like paroxetine (Paxil). If you look it up in Medscape under peds dosing
you'll find that it simply states, "safety and efficacy not established." However, if you look it up in Epocrates you'll find dosing for OCD in
peds set at - Dose: 10-60 mg PO qam; Start: 10 mg PO qam, may incr. by 10 mg/day q1-2wk; Max: 60 mg/day; Info: taper dose gradually to D/C (PO means
"per os" or "by mouth" and qam means "every morning"). Now look up something like fluoxetine (Prozac) in Medscape and you'll see peds dosing at
10-20mg PO qDay for Major Depressive Disorder, OCD and "orphan" usage for Body Dysmorphic Disorder and autism. However, if you look under
Warnings/Contraindications it clearly states, "This drug is not approved for use in pediatric patients." The dosages are listed for >7 and >8 years
of age, but still clearly pediatric ages. (I should say that Medscape and Epocrates are simply two of the tools we use on iPhones, iPads, etc. to
quickly look up medical reference material.)
I could go on and on with many more drugs and the same findings. As I stated in my earlier post, I consider these drugs dangerous and feel that they
are FAR too widely prescribed.
A book was mentioned earlier in the thread - Anatomy of an Epidemic by R. Whitaker. I downloaded the Kindle version and read it over the weekend.
While not without faults I would encourage everyone participating in this thread to read it (very quick read at only 360 pages). I'm still parsing
through about 40 studies either cited in the book or tangential to the initial studies, but it's raised issues I wasn't aware of and is forcing me
to further come to grips with why we need to severely limit the use of these drugs.
There is great blame to be laid at the feet of both Big Pharm companies and physicians, but we all need to educate ourselves as well. I realize this
is a controversial topic and for some reason one that many people who use the drugs take to heart (almost like you're attacking their kids - I've
seen it often in the debates both in the real world and online). Ultimately, I simply want to help people and give them the best care. I'm
unconvinced that psych meds in a great percentage of the population would fit the definition of "best care." Further, I think there is a significant
link to these drugs sequela and violent actions (see my previous post).
