2002-Antidepressant Seroxat (Paxil) tops table of drug withdrawal symptoms

[Guest guest]

SSRI-Research@

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 13:45:12 -0000

[sSRI-Research] 2002-Antidepressant Seroxat (Paxil) tops

table of drug withdrawal symptoms

 

 

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,764192,00.html

 

 

Antidepressant Seroxat tops table of drug withdrawal symptoms

 

 

Sarah Boseley, health editor

Saturday July 27, 2002

The Guardian

 

Seroxat [Paxil], the British-made antidepressant which outsells

Prozac, causes more people distressing withdrawal problems when they

try to stop taking it than any other drug in the UK.

 

The committee on the safety of medicines, which receives reports of

drug side-effects from doctors and pharmacists, has received an

avalanche of complaints about Seroxat, one of the class of drugs known

as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). The SSRIs,

including Prozac, have always been marketed as safe medicines which

are supposed not to cause the dependence problems that emerged with

older drugs such as Valium and Ativan.

 

Seroxat - known generically as paroxetine - leads the top 20 table of

drugs causing withdrawal problems, with 1,281 complaints from doctors

under the " yellow card " scheme set up for the reporting of medicines'

side- effects.

 

More reports have been filed about Seroxat than about the rest of the

top 20 put together. In the top six, five of the drugs said to be

causing withdrawal problems are SSRIs - second after Seroxat comes

Efexor (venlafaxine), with 272 complaints.

 

The figures were obtained from the medicines control agency, the

regulatory authority which takes advice from the CSM, by the

campaigning group Social Audit.

 

Charles Medawar of Social Audit has complained to the MCA and the CSM

about the patient information leaflet supplied with Seroxat which he

says is misleading and wrong. " These tablets are not addictive, " the

leaflet states, adding that the withdrawal problems some patients

experience " are not common and are not a sign of addiction " . However,

many people in the UK have consulted lawyers over the unexpected

problems the drug caused them when they wanted to stop taking it.

 

Mr Medawar drew to the MCA's attention the hundreds of postings on the

group's website from people who have suffered and continue to suffer

distressing symptoms as a result of trying to give up Seroxat. They

complain of sensations that feel like electric shocks in the head,

dizziness, mood swings, upset stomachs and unpleasantly vivid

dreams, all of which are only alleviated by going back on the drug.

 

" I've been on Seroxat for about 10 years, " wrote one woman in

January, " and have tried to come off them on many occasions, only to

find myself back to my original dose of 30mg because of the horrible

withdrawals ... I was assured when talked into taking anti-depressants

in the first place (that they) were one of the mildest and non

addictive so-called 'wonder- drugs' in modern psychiatry! "

 

The SSRIs are commonly prescribed by GPs - not psychiatrists - to

people who consult them with mild depression and sometimes other

conditions, such as ME, anxiety and phobias.

 

Mr Medawar points out that the GPs are not warned of the withdrawal

problems the drug can cause and often think the symptoms their patient

suffers when stopping the medicine are just a return of their original

ailment.

 

In a letter to Keith Jones, director of the MCA, he said that " the

categorical and repeated assurance that Seroxat/paroxetine is not

addictive seems to me completely unwarranted and highly likely to

mislead and confuse patients and doctors alike. My view is that the

MCA and CSM have failed the public and continue to fail the public - a

gross dereliction of duty and responsibility to users, I would say " .

 

In its response, the MCA acknowledges that the UK yellow card data

shows a similar pattern to that of the World Health Organisation

adverse drug reaction monitoring centre in Uppsala, Sweden, which put

paroxetine at the top of the list and venlafaxine second in a table of

withdrawal problems.

 

June Raine, who has responsibility at the MCA for the safety of

licensed medicines, gave a clear indication that the agency may break

with tradition and take into account complaints that come from

patients as well as those from doctors and pharmacists.

 

 

 

 

 

--- End forwarded message ---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drug-Free School Zone? Just Say NO to Prozac for Children.