SSRIs: Unprecedented response to South African T.V. show on SSRIs & SNRIs

[Guest guest]

> SSRI-Research

> Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:04:55 -0400

> [sSRI-Research] SSRIs: Unprecedented

> response to South African T.V. show on SSRIs &

> SNRIs

>

> Paragraph 7 reads: " Derek Watts (Carte Blanche

> presenter): " Response to our programme was

> overwhelming. Our office was truly inundated with

> calls and hundreds of you sent faxes and e-mails. "

>

> Excerpts from letters:

> " .drastic changes started taking place.He changed

> from a calm even-tempered person to a raving mad

> man.

> " I became very aggressive, having dreams of murder. "

> " After taking the medication for three days I became

> very restless and one night almost even harmed one

> of my friends.Tell people.warn them. "

>

>

http://www.mnet.co.za/CarteBlanche/Display/Display.asp?Id=2587

>

> Antidepressants 2

>

> Date : 15 August 2004

> Producer : Odette Quesnel

> Presenter : Derek Watts

> Researcher : Bernadette Cook

> Genre : Medical and Health

>

> Carte Blanche July 2004:

> Case Study: " So I went into the kitchen and turned

> the light on, and she was lying there on the floor -

> and I knew that she was dead. "

>

> Carte Blanche July 2004:

> Case Study: " It actually got so bad, and I was so

> confused that at one point I was sitting in my room

> with a shotgun in my mouth. "

>

> Suicide, aggression and violence - is there a link

> with popular antidepressants, a class of drugs known

> as SSRIs? That's the question we asked in July this

> year. Medical experts from around the world answered

> it.

>

> Dr. David Healy (Dept. Psychological Medicine,

> University of North Wales): " If they are not the

> right drug for you, they can cause a range of

> problems. They can make you suicidal, they can throw

> you into a state of turmoil; people start having

> thoughts of harming themselves or harming others. "

>

> Prof. Christopher Szabo (Clinical Head, Wits

> University): " When you're dealing with someone who

> is depressed, forget the drug that you're treating

> them with. You know that suicidality is always a

> possibility. "

>

> Dr. Joseph Glenmullen (Harvard Medical School): " We

> don't know how these drugs work, we don't know

> exactly what their effects are, both therapeutic and

> [what] the side effects are in the brain. "

>

> Derek Watts (Carte Blanche presenter): " Response to

> our programme was overwhelming. Our office was truly

> inundated with calls and hundreds of you sent faxes

> and e-mails. "

>

> Excerpts from letters:

> " .drastic changes started taking place.He changed

> from a calm even-tempered person to a raving mad

> man.

> " I became very aggressive, having dreams of murder. "

> " After taking the medication for three days I became

> very restless and one night almost even harmed one

> of my friends.Tell people.warn them. "

>

> Derek: " Some of you didn't like our story. "

>

> About eight percent of you criticised us.

>

> Excerpts from letters:

> " I am very concerned about the impact that the show

> will have. It is sometimes difficult to convince

> patients suffering from depression to take the

> medication and now it's probably even harder. "

> " I was disgusted with the way that Carte Blanche

> pounced on the drug companies. I can hardly believe

> the eagerness to embarrass and to ridicule these

> companies. "

> " Without the medication and the knowledge of both my

> GP and the psychologist I might not have been alive

> today. "

> " I must say, ever since I started taking Arapax, my

> life changed for the best. "

> " I was a tad disappointed that you did not bother to

> mention the life saving benefits of antidepressants

> and simply painted a picture of gloom and doom. "

>

> Derek: " For many people, antidepressants are a

> wonder drug. They help millions of people worldwide

> - we're saying it now, and we said it then. "

>

> Carte Blanche 2004:

> Patient: " I really don't know what would have

> happened to me had I not been helped in that way. "

>

> Patient: " I don't know if that very bad next down I

> had would have been the end. "

>

> Patient: " I'm back on my antidepressants and I feel

> a totally different person. "

>

> Professor Szabo believes, without a doubt, that if

> correctly prescribed and carefully monitored, these

> drugs work.

>

> Prof. Szabo: " The truth of the matter is these are

> powerful medications and it would be sad if a class

> of drugs was tarnished on the basis of a number of

> case reports. "

>

> Derek: " But the vast majority of you thanked us for

> doing the programme. More than 70% of you said that

> you or your loved ones had experienced severe and,

> in some cases, lethal side effects. "

>

> Excerpts from letters:

> " We were given no warning about the side effects. "

> " He was acting so violently that I actually had to

> lock him in the bedroom, away from me and the

> children. "

> " And totally unlike her, she had bouts of

> aggression, and two months ago my lovely and

> vivacious wife, only 35 years old, committed

> suicide. "

> " I'm writing to thank you from the bottom of my

> heart for your programme.. "

> " Yvonne clearly showed signs of agitation and

> agitation before she committed suicide. She left

> behind a 10 year old daughter. "

> " When I told my GP that I was feeling murderous and

> agitated, he told me not to look for sinister things

> and promptly increased my dosage. "

>

> Derek: " Thank you for sharing your stories. We

> listened. But the fact is that they are regarded as

> anecdotal evidence that most of the medical world

> does not take seriously. "

>

> Carte Blanche July 2004:

> Navin Singh (Glaxo Smith Klein): " There is no

> clinical evidence that shows Arapax causes suicide

> or aggressive tendencies or introduces patients to

> homicide. "

>

> Nevertheless, regulatory bodies from around the

> world are beginning to sound alarm bells.

>

> In March this year, America's FDA issued a warning

> about SSRI antidepressants - saying healthcare

> providers should be aware that " . worsening symptoms

> could be due to the underlying depression or might

> be the result of drug therapy. "

>

> It's a warning that you won't find on package

> inserts in South Africa. In our last programme we

> asked drug manufacturers why.

>

> Frans Korb (Eli Lilly): " No directive has come from

> the MCC (Medical Control Council) in South Africa

> for all companies that manufacture antidepressants

> to put that warning in. "

>

> It appears now that that directive is in the

> pipeline.

>

> Dr Shabir Banoo (Medicines Control Council): " The

> fact of the matter is that the MCC has now resolved

> that these warnings need to be included in

> information for these products. "

>

> Dr Shabir Banoo of the Medicines Control Council

> says they take their mandate to protect the public

> seriously and that they are taking action.

>

> Derek: " If we speak to you in, say three months, do

> you think that warning will be in place? "

>

> Dr Banoo: " Absolutely. In fact what we would require

> applicants to include in their product information

> is the contra indication for use in children, as

> well as the fact that there are reports relating to

> suicidal ideation. "

>

> Derek: " Something else that many of you said in your

> letters is that you had serious problems trying to

> get off your medications. "

>

> Valerie Beatts: " The most bizarre symptoms were the

> nightmares. They were horrific. "

>

> Valerie Beatts is among the 10 percent of our

> viewers who complained that withdrawal was hell.

>

> Valerie: " You almost imagine that this medicine is

> saying to you, 'I got you and I'm not going to let

> you go'. "

>

> Valerie was being treated for depression and

> prescribed Efexor - which is not an SSRI. It worked

> for her, but medical aid stopped paying and she

> asked her doctor to start weaning her off.

>

> Valerie: " And I really struggled. for months I was

> ill. This nausea was worse than morning sickness 24

> hours of the day; tears at the drop of a hat. "

>

> Cathy Gallick: " You get, like, vertigo, and you get

> a slushy feeling in your head - like electrical

> impulses in your head. "

>

> Cathy Gallick says withdrawal from Efexor - even

> under medical supervision - very nearly killed her.

>

> Cathy: " I think the withdrawals are like the kind a

> person coming off heroin goes through. "

>

> After months of agony, Cathy's psychiatrist admitted

> her to hospital.

>

> Cathy: " She said to me, 'You have got Serotonin

> Syndrome. Your pupils are dilating, your speech is

> slurred, your muscles are twitching.' She said, 'You

> are very sick. I cannot believe that you allowed

> yourself to get so sick before you came to

> hospital.' Then I just looked at her, and said to

> her, 'I'm not leaving this hospital before I get off

> this drug.' "

>

> Cathy's case is extreme, but according to Dr Joseph

> Glenmullen of Harvard University, discontinuation

> symptoms are common.

>

> Dr. Joseph Glenmullen (Harvard University): " It can

> take months to get off these antidepressants. They

> cause a combination of physical symptoms of

> withdrawal like dizziness, headaches, 'flu-like

> aches and pains, nausea, vomiting, tremors, and very

> strange sensory abnormalities. People will describe

> these electric shock-like zaps in their head. "

>

> The problem, says Dr Glenmullen, is that many

> doctors don't know how to help patients off of their

> medication.

>

> Dr. Glenmullen: " Because 70% of prescriptions for

> antidepressants are written by family doctors, it's

> very important to be aware that a lot of family

> doctors do not have enough experience of tapering

> patients off antidepressants, so it's very important

> to bring to their attention the need to slowly and

> carefully taper people off the drugs. "

>

> Cathy was being tapered off. So, when withdrawal set

> in, she went to her GP, psychiatrist, pharmacist and

> even a neurologist. None of them, she says, could

> help her. So, she spoke to a doctor from Wyeth

> Pharmaceuticals - the manufacturer of Efexor.

>

> Cathy: " And I just said to her, you know, 'Please, I

> am on this drug, it's giving me severe migraines, I

> desperately want to come off it. Can you please just

> give me some help?' She said, 'I'm very, very sorry.

> It is our company policy that we do not discuss the

> scientific facts of this drug with consumers.' "

>

> Their policy is that they will talk to doctors, but

> not to patients.

>

> Our efforts to speak to Wyeth were equally in vain.

> They denied our requests for interviews, sending us

> a written response instead. They referred to the

> package insert saying that discontinuation symptoms

> have been reported, the dosage should be tapered and

> the patient monitored.

>

> The insert also says that the majority of

> discontinuation reactions are mild and resolve

> without treatment. Not in Cathy's experience.

>

> Cathy: " Another thing that you go through, besides

> the night sweats and vomiting, is your lack of

> coordination. So suddenly your arms and legs aren't

> doing what you're telling them to do, so I had my

> husband helping me to just get out of bed and go to

> the toilet. "

>

> We were provided with Wyeth documents which are not

> for promotional use. They reveal that some patients

> - about 0.4 % of them " experienced prolonged or

> severe symptoms upon discontinuation or taper " .

>

> Cathy: " Okay, maybe there is a small percentage, but

> then what about us small percentages? Don't we

> count? "

>

> The Internet is littered with stories from people

> calling to be counted. Thousands upon thousands tell

> of agonising and horrific withdrawals. Then there

> are the many, many calls for help - people who are

> trying to get off Efexor and can't.

>

> Derek: " So, is Efexor addictive? That is one of the

> issues we wanted to ask its maker. "

>

> It's an issue they did not directly respond to in

> their letters. They did say that " Efexor is a

> prescription schedule 5 medication and treatment

> must accordingly be supervised by a medical doctor " .

>

> Les Aupias (Carte Blanche presenter): " Were you ever

> warned that the drug could be addictive? "

>

> Valerie: " No, never. If someone said to you, 'I'll

> give you this happiness in one hand, and in the

> other hand, I'll take it away and make it really

> difficult for you to come off the tablets, what

> would you do?' I cannot answer that question; that

> was how bad that withdrawal was. "

>

> Withdrawal from antidepressant medications can be

> severe.

> Do not under any circumstances attempt to stop

> medication without expert medical supervision.

>

>

> IMPORTANT