OpEdNews - Page 7 of Article: August 24 DC Protest Against the FDA- What's Everybody Mad About?

Pepper believes that "if we will teach them the right ways to take care of their bodies and cut out the things that are addictive, like these medications are, that we can help our youth learn to deal with what is going on in their lives."

Leah Harris tells how much he suffered while taking Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft from age 12 to 18. "I went from being a shy and mildly depressed, but never suicidal kid, to being overcome with thoughts of hurting and killing myself while on the SSRI drugs, thoughts which I acted on," he said.

Since quitting SSRIs over a decade ago, he has never again self-mutilated or had suicidal
thoughts. "The suicidality simply vanished," he said, and "this is clear proof that the drugs must have played a role, and I am one of the lucky ones, I have survived to tell the tale."

Leah believes that "Medical professionals and the public must be informed of the very serious risks that are associated with SSRIs." He noted that warnings may negatively affect sales and not please the industry, but said, "the FDA was created as an independent regulatory agency to serve the interests of the American public, not Big Pharma."

Grieving mother, Lorraine Slater says, "informed parental consent is only possible as long as full disclosure is made by the pharmaceutical companies, the FDA, and the medical community."

Her 14-year-old daughter is dead. "Dominique's life was taken from her as a result of drug-induced psychosis and suicidal ideations, not to mention the probability of experiencing akathisia, extreme agitation," her mother said.

She is having a very difficult time with acceptance. "How can you imagine I feel as Dominique's mother knowing now that I was slowly poisoning my daughter every day as I was dispensing her antidepressant medication including Celexa and which she made her first suicide attempt after being on it for almost one month, and effects of the last medication she was on when she did commit suicide?" she asked.

She explains, "Dominique's mind and behavior were slowly being altered to the point that she became very agitated, irrational, ultimately suicidal, because none of the so-called medical professionals acknowledged the drug's role in her irrational and suicidal behavior or properly withdrew her from their suicidal effects."

"How can teenagers be allowed to be given antidepressants that were never approved for
adolescent consumption, only for adults?" Larraine wants to know, "How come the medical profession doesn't fully disclose the possible harmful and fatal effects of medication as well as watch carefully for diverse effects on its adolescent population?"

Terri Williams' son, Jacob, was an exceptional athlete who participated in football on both the varsity and junior varsity football teams in school. In September 2000 Jacob lost interest in school activities except for his interest in football, but there was a conflict with his grades and his attendance.

As a result of the issue, his parents attended a school conference in October 2000 at which the school administrator suggested that Jacob may be depressed and that they should seek medical help.

Terri contacted Jacob's pediatrician and made an appointment for that afternoon. The doctor prescribed Prozac, and subsequently increased the dosage three weeks later.

Shortly after starting Prozac, "Jacob began to complain of having strange dreams,
which he had said were bad," Terri said, "Shortly after the dosage was increased, I began to notice an aggressive behavior, which had not been there before. Jacob also became destructive and destroyed some of his favorite things," she noted.

His friends later told Terri that they had noticed the same behavioral change, that he had become short tempered and showed a verbal aggression that had not been present before.

When questioned by Terri, Jacob stated "I don't know what is making me do this." Terri wrote it off as adolescent behavior and did not pursue the matter further.

On December 5th 2000, she discovered Jacob's body hanging from the rafter in their attic where he had hung himself with his own belt. He had left a letter on the ladder leading up to our attic thanking his parents for giving him 14 years of a happy life.

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