FDA Warns that
Antidepressants Can Increase Depression and Suicide Risks
The FDA this week issued a public health
advisory warning that antidepressant medications can worsen
depression and increase
the risk of suicide. On March 22, 2004 the FDA asked that 10
popular antidepressants carry a label warning that using these
antidepressants can lead to deeper depression and suicide.
The FDA identified these antidepressants to carry the depression
and suicide warning;
Prozac (fluoxetine)
Zoloft (sertraline)
Paxil (paroxetine)
Luvox (fluvoxamine)
Celexa (citalopram)
Lexapro (escitalopram)
Wellbutrin (bupropion)
Effexor (venlafaxine)
Serzone (nefazodone)
Remeron (mirtazapine)
The FDA recommends that health care providers instruct patients,
their families and their caregivers to be alert for the emergence
of agitation, irritability, and the other symptoms described
above, as well as the emergence of suicidality and worsening
depression, and to report such symptoms immediately to their
health care provider.
The FDA also recommends that health care providers closely monitor
adult and children treated with these antidepressants for
worsening of depression or suicidal tendencies, especially at the
beginning of therapy or when the dose either increases or
decreases.
Also this month, the Public Citizen sued the FDA over its failure
to act on a petition by Public Citizen. The national nonprofit
consumer advocacy organization filed this petition over a year ago
requested the ban of the antidepressant drug Serzone (nefazodone).
Serzone has been associated with increased deaths and serious
injuries caused by liver failure.
The lawsuit asks the court to rule that the FDA’s delayed actions
posed a danger to public health, claiming that the FDA allowing
doctors to continue prescribing Serzone is an example of gross
negligence. Canada and Europe have already removed nefazodone from
their market and Australia and New Zealand are in the process of
removing it from their shelves.
In addition to liver damage, deepened depression and suicide
risks, anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability,
hostility, impulsivity, restlessness, hypomania, and mania have
also been reported with antidepressant use.
Antidepressants can also induce manic episodes in patients with
bipolar disorder. The FDA recommends that health care providers
adequately screen their patients to determine if they are at risk
for bipolar disorder before starting antidepressant treatment.
Deprex is an
antidepressant alternative that safe and effective for depression.
Anyone considering antidepressant use, or already taking
antidepressants should consider using Deprex as a healthy
alternative.
Antidepressants are the standard first-line treatment for people
suffering from depression, a disorder common among people with
Attention Deficit Disorder. There were almost 25 million doctor
visits in 2002 for depression. Doctors prescribed medications for
nine out of these 10 patients.
Yet, these drugs are shown to be dangerous, addictive and no
better than a sugar pill in the majority of people who take them.
According to a 2002 report in the International Journal of
Neuropsychopharmacology, a review of 96 separate trials conducted
since 1979 revealed that placebo sugar pills performed just as
well as – and in many cases even better than – drugs for the
treatment of depression. In one documented case, the placebo
outperformed the drugs by 28 percent.
Antidepressant drugs and sugar pills most likely cure depression
in the same way, through a phenomenon called the "placebo effect."
The patient believes they will work so they do. But, this begs the
question of what purpose antidepressants serve, other than to
produce profit at the expense of public health.
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