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Antidepressant

Antidepressants; Billions of Dollars for a 2.7% Improvement

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There are some treatment approaches that sound good at the onset; find a neurotransmitter that helps to elevate mood and just synthetically increase the level of the neurotransmitter with a drug.

Conduct a few biased trials with the deck stacked in favor of a benefit and start marketing the heck out of the drug.  Prosac was launched in 1988.  There was a 600% increase in the use of SSRIs during the 90’s and the cost to the US in now well into the billions of dollars per year.

But, once we take out the biased research, what are we left with?

How ’bout a 2.7% sustained improvement according to this particular article?

Do you think PCPs are looking their patients in the eyes as they hand them the script with a smile and saying “you’re going to feel almost 3% better as soon as you start taking this!!”  At least until you get bone loss, become obese or develop diabetes.  Then you’re more upset than before you started.  Compare this improvement to use of fish oils, St John’s wort, 5-HTP.  Throw in some exercise and we’re not even in the same ballpark.

I truly think that if the public knew the sordid details about how little benefit we derive from most drugs, the entire industry would fall like a house of cards.

INCREASED RISK OF SUICIDE WITH ANTIDEPRESSANTS – (08-04-03)

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Antidepressant prescribing and suicide

There is a debate in the medical literature about the effect of antidepressants on suicide. It is beginning to show that there is no effect, and possibly and increased risk, of suicide with antidepressant use. Now, I’m not a counselor (and I would refer someone out if I thought it was necessary), but this would sure put a damper on my idea of having ANY patient put on antidepressants. I really do think that, in the psychiatric arena, we have thoroughly botched up the handling of patients with mental disorders. There is never any evaluation of whether or not there is a causative physiological imbalance (underactive hypothyroid, B12 deficiency for depression, heavy metal toxicity, imbalanced antioxidant status for schizophrenia….by the way, if anyone would like to argue that last point…I’d love to send you a ton of medical literature to back it up….) and even less of an attempt to correct the problem w/o drugs (exercise, therapy, fish oils…).

bmj.com Ankarberg 327 (7409): 288-c

Read entire article here

Will Antidepressant Use in Pregnancy Harm My Baby?

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The developmental time in the womb is very susceptible to any foreign chemicals. The brain is particularly sensitive.

Many pregnant women have concerns over the use of pharmaceutical drugs during pregnancy.  Drugs like Tylenol and ibuprofen are already known to be unsafe.  Given the wide use of antidepressant in society today, this class of drugs obviously comes up.

As far as I’m concerned, the use of ANY drug during pregnancy is a time bomb waiting to happen.

This particular study evaluated the potential outcomes of antidepressant use during pregnancy.  The results were a little scary as it relates to the outcomes of the pregnancy:

  •  Of the women who had a prescription for an antidepressant prior to getting pregnant, 75% of them did not fill the prescription in the second or third trimesters of pregnancy
  • 10.7% of them used antidepressants throughout pregnancy
  • Filling antidepressant prescriptions during the second trimester was associated with shorter length of pregnancy (1.7, 2.7 and 4.9 days for 1, 2 or >3 prescriptions filled)
  • Third-trimester SSRI use was associated with 490% increased risk of infant convulsions for having ≥3 prescriptions being filled

Another thing to consider that is not mentioned here.  In any situation, anytime the developing baby is exposed to artificially higher levels of some hormone (insulin from gestational diabetes, cortisol from increased stress, serotonin from SSRI use, etc…) his or her physiology becomes used to this higher level of hormone.  After birth, the baby’s “normal” level of hormones is essentially lower than what he or she was used to and this child essentially has a deficiency that they can now have a problem with.

Overall, we need to accept that there are significant risks associated with antidepressant risk during pregnancy.  This needs to be fully explained to you by your OB so that you can make a truly informed decision. Anything less is malpractice.

What other drugs or exposures did you have concerns about during your pregnancy?

ANTIDEPRESSANT RISKS TYPE 2 DIABETES DISEASE – (10-23-06)

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Antidepressant use associated with increased type 2 diabetes risk

As if people on antidepressants don’t have enough to worry about…. The risk of developing diabetes was 3 times greater. This is no light contribution. While I would have many (if not most) psychotherapists down my throat for this one, this may be not only a physiological association, but also an “attitude” association as well.

Mainstream medicine, intentionally or not, promotes a “victim” mentality. The problem is not within, it’s without so take this med and you’ll be fine. There’s no more personal responsibility here then with obese people suing McDonald’s.

So you find many chronic diseases tracing together. This association between diabetes risk and antidepressant treatment would just be yet another in a long list of treatment for one chronic disease increasing the risk for another.

Great for the drug companies but not so much for the patients… Depression symptoms, antidepressant medication use, and risk of developing diabetes in Diabetes Prevention Program participants. American Diabetes Association 2006 Scientific Sessions; June 9-13, 2006; Washington, DC. Abstract 896-P.

Read entire article here