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Underground > Laboratory >

Government inquiry to look into concerns over the saftey of SSRIs

Less searchable M0rd4nt

22:35 / 25.05.03

From here:

"A major inquiry is to be launched into the safety of widely prescribed antidepressant drugs, including Seroxat and Prozac, following a spate of suicides and reports of severe withdrawal reactions.
The Government's medical advisers have caved in to pressure to hold a fully independent assessment of the risks associated with the antidepressants known as SSRIs, or selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors.

Recently, there have been reports of suicides among patients taking the medication, as well as users describing nightmares, tremors and feelings of violence."

13:01 / 26.05.03

There needs to be an inquiry into this? I thought these side effects were well known? They are certainly expected in any case where the patient isn't suffering from a seritonin imbalance and the elevated levels are not helping. I mean, SSRIs shouldn't be persribed to anyone, just people suffering from low levels of seratonin. Too much is bad as well as not enough. As well, its normal to go through a number of unpleasent side effects for a month or so until you adjust to the new levels. Why is this being billed like its a suprise? Are people really benig given prozac without warnings that they might experience violent dreams and mood swings? Sloppy.

But this comment really gets me:
Sue Baker of Mind said: 'This is very good news. It seems they have listened to the arguments that peoples' experience of psychiatric drugs are vital and should be taken into account.'

Well, duh. People's experience of the drug is the intended effect of the drug. It amazes me that this even needs to be said.

19:11 / 26.05.03

cusm - these side effects are not well known to the general public - certainly not those who don't read broadsheets or watch documentaries. Many GPs and psychiatrists do not spell out the side effects. SSRIs were widely presented as wonder drugs when they first came on the market. It's taken lawsuits, which exposed flaws in the trialing of Seroxat - even those in the healthy control group became suicidal - to make the drug companies admit there are problems. Another thing to bear in mind is that drug companies have sought to get SSRIs prescribed for a wide range of less severe conditions - even PMS!

Less searchable M0rd4nt

16:35 / 27.05.03

It's my belief that a lot of GPs are honestly unaware of how bad the side effects can be. Bear in mind that there's often a sort of "suicide window" when a severly depressed person goes on any antidepressant, a period where the depression hasn't lifted enough for the person to feel better but has restored enough of their motivation that they overcome the stultifying effect of their disease long enough to jump off a pill-bottle.

The PMS thing strikes a chord with me. I was put on an SSRI called Dutonin for that very thang (many years ago now) and had a perfectly foul time. Felt like a speed comedown x100 plus hypothermia. It turned out that a) the doctor had put me on four times the recommended dose and b) I shouldn't have been on it at all because SSRIs do very funny things to epileptics.

17:09 / 27.05.03

Yea, my mom's been taking Fluoxetine (a generic Prozac) for appetite suppression. She is expectently having a wierd time with it, as she's not clinicly depressed, but at least her doctor warned her of what to expect.

My wife was taking Prozac for migrane prevention for awhile, interestingly enough. Though the only side effect she saw was a brighter mood