Wellbutrin Increases the Risk of Suicide.
Wellbutrin cause some people (3 to 5
percent) to experience a suicide related side effects. These
suicide side effects include suicidal thoughts, suicidal gestures
(typically cutting of the body), suicide attempts and actual death
by suicide.
People being treated with antidepressants like Wellbutrin have
become violent and suicidal. Others have complained of severe
withdrawal reactions.
The FDA in March 2004 issued a warning for Wellbutrin and other
antidepressants, stating that the drug can cause suicide and
violence in children and teenagers. This FDA public health
advisory places doctors, patients and families on notice to be
particularly vigilant for signs of worsening depression or suicide
thoughts at the beginning of anti-depressant therapy or whenever
the dose is changed.
The drugs listed in the FDA warning are all newer antidepressants:
Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor, Celexa, Remeron, Lexapro, Luvox,
Serzone and Wellbutrin.
The FDA action follows Britain's version of the FDA citing in
December 2003 evidence of a twofold to threefold increase risk of
suicide and suicidal thinking in children and adolescents with
antidepressant drugs like Wellbutrin.
These two agency actions follow 16 years of long-standing
controversy about the possibility that antidepressants like
Wellbutrin might induce suicide tendencies in some patients.
Reports of unusual and severe reactions with
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) began shortly
after Prozac, the first SSRI, was introduced in 1988.
In 1990 two Harvard researchers and psychiatrists published an
article entitled: “Emergence of Intense Suicidal Preoccupation
During Fluoxetine Treatment.” This article, which appeared in the
American Journal of Psychiatry reported that persistent,
obsessive, and violent suicidal thoughts emerged in a minority of
patients treated with fluoxetine (Prozac).
Yale psychiatrist Dr. Robert A. King researched SSRI-induced
suicide risk in1991. His peer-reviewed article, “Emergence of
Self-Destructive Phenomena in Children and Adolescents during
Fluoxetine Treatment,” stated that “self-injurious ideation or
behavior appeared de novo or intensified during fluoxetine
(Prozac) treatment.”
Antidepressant manufacturers and the medical community have been
aware that certain antidepressant can cause people to kill
themselves for a long time. Despite the numerous studies linking
increased suicide risk with antidepressant like Wellbutrin, drug
manufacturers continued to refute these claims.
As the suicide debate bubbles, so does the debate among doctors
and researchers about the effectiveness of antidepressant like
Wellbutrin.
Most studies find that antidepressants are no more effective in
fighting teenage depression than sugar pills. Even in adults,
antidepressants have been found to offer only modest benefits. In
about half of all adult tests, the drugs prove no more effective
than placebos.
These modest benefits are found in published studies. Researchers
have not been able to analyze a large amount of the data because
unfavorable studies are not made public.
GlaxoSmithKline, for instance, acknowledged that just one of its
nine studies of Paxil in children and adolescents has been
published. The one published study made only passing mention of
suicide and concluded that the drug was effective against
depression. According to the FDA, the combined results of all nine
trials show that the drug is not effective against depression in
patients under 18.
Unpublished studies of Effexor, for example, suggested the drug
increased suicide-related events such as suicidal thoughts or
attempts by 14 times compared with placebo.
Other drug companies similarly have withheld negative studies of
antidepressants, claiming that the studies are “trade secrets.”
With negative results not disclosed, physicians often believe the
drugs are more effective and safer than they actually are.
Antidepressants like Wellbutrin have been found to increase the
risk of suicide. Antidepressants like Wellbutrin are found to be
no more effective than a sugar pill. In addition to that, all
pharmaceutical drugs cause
side effects ranging from mild to life-threatening.
In addition to the increased suicide risk, Wellbutrin can cause
serious side effects. Wellbutrin can also cause addiction and
subsequent withdrawal symptoms.
The natural antidepressant Deprex safely
and effectively relieves depression symptoms without side effects
commonly associated with pharmaceutical medications.
*This antidepressant drug information does not
endorse Wellbutrin, diagnose patients or recommend therapy. The
information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible
warnings, uses, precautions, drug interactions, allergic
reactions, or adverse side effects of Wellbutrin. If you have
questions about the drugs you are taking, check with your health
care provider or pharmacist. The information provided should not
be construed to indicate that Wellbutrin is safe, effective or
appropriate.
Do not stop taking Wellbutrin without first talking to your
doctor. Your doctor may need to gradually reduce the dose before
stopping Wellbutrin completely. Suddenly stopping bupropion
hydrochloride may cause unpleasant and potentially serious side
effects.
