Drug Makers Want Women of Childbearing Years

The old line that there’s no difference between taking insulin for diabetes and taking SSRIs for whatever, has apparently been replaced with an equally overly simplistic line – as Jami explained, "People get glasses, people get braces, and now there's something for anxiety."

Some experts view it differently. "Drug makers have been trying to get a better deal with pregnant women for ages," Dr Healy says, "by saying they are under a lot more stress than most people realize, so this is now the easiest of marketing for drug companies."

"The trouble is," Dr Healy points out, "it’s almost too easy for drug companies here because lots of people are cooperative."

But it gets worse. The SSRI pushers in Illinois, have convinced Jami to start taking an SSRI the moment she even thinks of becoming pregnant again. "My psychiatrist said when my husband and I want to have another baby," she told the Sun, "it might not be a bad idea to get on something low-dosage before we even start trying."

"And I'm OK with that," says Jami. Apparently Jami’s psychiatrist didn’t tell her that she could be placing her unborn child at risk for birth defects, persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN), neonatal withdrawal syndrome and other potential life threatening defects and disorders.

Attorney Karen Barth Menzies, who represents more than fifty mothers who were taking Paxil and whose babies were born with birth defects, commented, “I wish Jami could talk to any mother who has watched her infant undergo open-heart surgery and then decide if she is willing to take that risk.”

According to psychiatrist, Dr Grace Jackson, author of, "Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide for Informed Consent," prescribing SSRIs as a preventative measure during pregnancy is a terrible idea. The major reason why preventive use is so dangerous, she says, is that there is research suggesting that the SSRIs exert a direct effect upon the early embryo.

For example, she notes, researchers in France published a paper in 2005 that suggests that serotonin exerts an impact on developmental processes of the embryo much earlier than previously believed. "It was already known in the 1980s and 1990s," Dr Jackson says, "that the administration of SSRIs to embryonic cultures of rats and mice leads to craniofacial and cardiac defects."

Experts critical of SSRI use during pregnancy, all agree that in the absence of any proven effectiveness of treatment with SSRIs, no potential harm to the fetus can be justified.

"Even if women are depressed or anxious during pregnancy," Dr Healy says, "there is no good reason to prescribe antidepressants, because only 1 out of 10 people are likely to respond to the drugs rather than to attention and support."

"So in essence," he notes, "nine out of 10 pregnant women will be subject to the risks of the SSRIs for the one person who might benefit."

Other experts agree. The July 2005, British Medical Journal, published a report on a review of SSRI data by Moncrieff & Kirsch, that said, SSRIs have no clinically meaningful advantage over a placebo and considering the risks, recommendations for prescribing the drugs should be reconsidered.

It's worth noting that there is not a single word in the Sun article that would indicate that Jami is aware of any of the serious birth defects now known to be associated with SSRI use during pregnancy. This concerns Harvard trained psychiatrist, Dr Stefan Kruszewski. “Informed consent," he says, "requires full disclosure."

"In every case in which a doctor writes a prescription for a drug," he explains, "the person receiving the prescription must be fully and understandably provided a statement of the risks associated with treatment."

"This is never more serious," he warns, "than when two lives are potentially at risk, such as the pregnant mom and her fetus.”

 1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5