Re: My letter to Dr. Tim at ABC

[Guest guest]

Dear Dr. :

I have always enjoyed your viewpoint on medical issues, but this time I am totally outraged and appalled at the following comments you have made.

"Since depressed children are already at a seriously increased risk of suicide, it is hard to know if the drug or the disease is causing suicidal behavior. Also, when people who are depressed start taking antidepressants and begin to feel better they often gather enough mental and physical strength to commit suicide, said.

You seem to have some knowledge of the condition known as akathisia. It is usually this condition which sparks a depressed person to commit suicide, not this magical strength (akathisia is anything BUT magical) that they suddenly get from taking an SSRI. You have obviously never experienced akathisia, but I can tell you from my own experience that compared to suffering with this internal restlessness, death is a better alternative.

You said:

There is some evidence that adolescents - the main group of people under 18 who are prescribed the drugs - may metabolize these antidepressants at a faster rate than adults.

"That means the drugs could disappear from their bloodstream at a faster rate, leaving them with less of the drug in their system," said. "So it's possible the teens are not getting enough of the drugs and that they may need higher doses."

What evidence do you have to back up this theory Dr. ? Let me reduce my premise to the simplest terms: if someone were exhibiting signs of an adverse reaction to penicillin would you double their dose, or get them off the drug immediatley? The very concept that a patient who exhibits aberrant behavior or suicidal thoughts after being prescribed an SSRI should have their dose increased, often doubled, is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. That you are parroting drug company propaganda tells me that you have not done your research into this subject. I have been researching SSRIs drugs exclusively for the last 7 years. I have never once come across any articles that imply that an adolescent metabolizes these drugs quicker and therefore should have higher doses. And wouldn't it be simple to perform a P450 2D6 test to see how a patient metabolizes these drugs? I can speak from experience on this issue. Within two weeks of being prescribed Paxil for chronic pain, I went into a hypomanic rage and threatened suicide. I was taken to the hospital where I was told that the reason I was suicidal was that I had not taken enough of this drug, and my 10 mg dose was promptly doubled to 20, then later upped to 30, then 40 mgs. I was NOT suicidal BEFORE taking Paxil. This drug induced these impulses I had never ever experienced and I will go so far as to say that the thoughts that this drug produced were so frightening that I decided to get off of it two months later only to discover that the withdrawal from Paxil is a fast descent into a Hieronymous Bosch tableau of hell. Remember, I was put on this drug for pain, not a mental illness. Yet this drug MADE me suicidal, homicidal, and completely psychiatrically deranged. The withdrawal from this drug, even after weaning off over a 2+ month peiod lasted more than two years, and resulted in my suffering numerous neurological problems that ultimately totally disabled me. Heroin is easier to get off of than Paxil, Dr. , and I suggest that you do some research into the very substance from which Paxil is derived -- phenylpiperidine.

I am part of a massive movement to enlighten the public and the medical profession about the kinds of effects these drugs (SSRIs) can have on a person's mind. I have more than a dozen friends whose children committed suicide while on these drugs. Children who were only mildly depressed, and a couple of them weren't depressed at all, and yet one minute these children appeared normal and happy on their new medication and the next minute they were either dangling from a shoelace, a bungee cord, put a bullet in their head, or had plunged a butcher knife into their chest. This is the kind of thing these drugs causes you to do!!!! That these drugs are given to children at all is an outrage. They are strictly banned in the UK for the under 18 population. That you advocate an increase in dosage WHEN a child exhibits suicidal behavior makes YOU part of the problem, Dr. . Someone who exhibits the side effects listed in the PIL should not have their dose raised, but rather discontinued. Does that make any sense to you? It does to me, and I'm not a doctor. I'm just another casualty of misinformed and uninformed doctors such as yourself. Please help save our children from this pharmaceutical scourge.

Sincerely,

Trisha Blah-Blah

Paxil survivor, Paxil plaintiff, and author of

Blind Reason

a novel of espionage and pharmaceutical intrigue

Think your antidepressant is safe? Think again.

[Guest guest]

Dear Glitter,

Fantastic letter! This is tremendous. May I put it in our files?

Thank you so much for writing it.

Regards,

[Guest guest]

WHAT! WHAT! WHAT!

Do tell!!! Do tell!!!

What'd Glitter do!

:::excited:::

Kev

> Dear Glitter,

>

>

> Fantastic letter! This is tremendous. May I put it in our

files?

>

>

>

> Thank you so much for writing it.

>

> Regards,

>

[Guest guest]

WOW GLITTER!!!!!!!!!!

I should have read before I posted. sorry

BRAVA!!!!!!! ON YOUR WRITING

I SO hope this makes CATACLYSMIC WAVES against the pharmas.