hi Mike,
A British study showed alarming evidence that the Prozac class of
antidepressants can make healthy men, women and children with no
history of depression feel suicidal. The study, conducted by David
Healy, director of the North Wales Department of Psychological
Medicine, revealed the real dangers for some of the SSRIs (selective
serotonin reuptake inhibitors), such as Prozac and the like. It found
that two out of 20 healthy volunteers on an antidepressant in the
Prozac class called Lustral (or Zoloft in the USA) became dangerously
suicidal, compared with none of them when they were put on an
antidepressant of a different class called reboxetine.
This disturbing evidence was brought to light in the "The Guardian"
newspaper in the article "Happy drug Prozac can bring on impulse to
suicide, study says " (May 22, 2000). In one case, a 30-year-old woman
who took part had a nightmare about having her throat slit after one
week and by the end of a fortnight, was suicidal. "She felt hopeless
and alone. It seemed that all she could do was to follow a thought
that had been planted in her brain from some alien force. She suddenly
decided she should go and throw herself in front of a car, that this
was the only answer. "It was as if there was nothing out there apart
from the car, which she was going to throw herself under. She didn't
think of her partner or child," says the study, published in the
journal Primary Care Psychiatry. Later she completed a diary entry,
describing herself as jumpy, anxious and suspicious. "Hermind was
racing and spiralling out of control. Then it went blank except for
the clear thought that she must kill herself violently by throwing
herself beneath a car or a train." Dr Healy says the results of the
research should be a warning to GPs prescribing any SSRIs. "They may
not all be equally the same," he told the Guardian. "But the risk
holds for the whole of the group. Generally the findings would
indicate that women and children and those who are least ill may be
most at risk."
.
The study's findings emerged at a time of acute embarrassment for 'Eli
Lilly'. Its patent on Prozac (fluoxetine), was soon to expire, but it
had recently bought the licence for a second version of the drug,
called R-fluoxetine. The patent for the new drug, which had just been
revealed in the US, stated that R-fluoxetine was an improvement on
Prozac specifically as it was less likely to cause "suicidal thoughts
and self-mutilation". Eli Lilly argued that the patent was filed by
the American scientist Martin Teicher and the company Sepracor which
devised the new drug. Mr Teicher, in 1990, was the first to warn that
patients on Prozac were becoming suicidal, but Eli Lilly has always
dismissed his study on the basis that those patients were suffering
chronic depression.
Dr Healy, the UK's leading historian of antidepressant medication who
has given evidence against Lilly in litigation in the US, has
frequently taken issue with the major study commissioned by the
company to persuade the US Food and Drugs Administration that Prozac
carried no suicide risk. Dr Healy had argued there has never been a
prospective study and that the retrospective 1991 Beasley study, as it
is known, included only a small selection of the trials that had taken
place on Prozac. An internal memo released by Eli Lilly during recent
litigation appears to support Healy's argument. In one of a series of
memos, dated August 27, 1990, a UK-based clinician told Eli Lilly
management in Indianapolis that critics will be suspicious of the fact
that not all the trials were included and concluded that it gave "the
impression that the question of whether fluoxetine provokes suicidal
thoughts or not, has not been properly considered."
.
Case A: 30-year-old woman
After a few days on sertraline, she experienced agitation and anxiety,
racing thoughts and restlessness, says the study. "Over the first
weekend she had a nightmare about having her throat slit so that it
gaped open and she imagined she bled to death in the bed." Other
versions of the nightmare recurred during the next two nights. At the
start of week two, she remained restless,withdrawn and preoccupied. By
Wednesday she was tearful and did not seem herself. "She described
swings of emotion, with misery predominating but she was not
depressed. "She was advised to stop taking the drug and agreed to do
so. She did not stop. In retrospect, it was almost as if she could not
stop herself from taking the tablets."
On Thursday, the study monitors stopped her medication but the effects
persisted. "That night she was seriously suicidal... On the Friday she
telephoned early in the morning, distressed and tearful after the
previous night. Her conversation was garbled. She described almost
going out and killing herself." She described feeling hopeless and
alone and becoming obsessed with the idea of throwing herself under a
car or perhaps a train. "This clear thought appeared irresistible and
its appearance seemed to put an end to the anxiety. It was trance-like
and only broken by a telephone call, which came when she was about to
act on the basis of this idea." She remains very disturbed by what
happened.
.
Case B: 28-year-old woman
Within a few days she noticed she had become snappy and more assertive
but she was liable to mood swings from cheerfulness to withdrawal. She
also reported feeling restless. She described finding herself in a
state where she did not think through the consequences of what she did
or said. She did not appear to feel afraid. Driving home in a car with
her mother, she saw a group of teenage boys beside the road who were
making obscene gestures. She stopped the car in the middle of moving
traffic, went over to them and grabbed one of them, telling him if he
did anything like that again she would 'deck' him." Her mother
reported that she was extremely frightened. On two consecutive nights,
"while awake or lucidly dreaming" she spent a long period lying in her
bed fantasising about hanging herself from a beam across the bedroom
ceiling. She was aware that these thoughts were accompanied by an
abnormal lack of concern as to whether her partner, mother or any
others might find her. She is not aware of having comparable thoughts
before. The reason she did nothing, she explained afterwards, was
because she was a coward and had a vestigial concern about being found
by her son. The episode repeated itself the following night. "There
was a strong feeling that while on the drug that in some way she was
being controlled and that suicide might happen."
Source - "The Guardian"
"Happy drug Prozac can bring on impulse to suicide, study says"
by Sarah Boseley, health correspondent
Monday May 22, 2000
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,223570,00.html
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related sites:
"The Lily Suicides" by Richard DeGrandpre
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:V3edRG23QLEC:prozacspotlight.org/lilly/lilly_suicides.pdf+study+%22psychiatric+drugs%22+%22developed+psychosis%22+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
"What You Should Know About Psychiatry and Psychiatric Drugs"
http://www.outlookcities.com/psych/
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Search strategy used:
study "psychiatric drugs" "developed psychosis"
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hope this helps you! |
