"Had I know that this was a potential side effect, suicide," Terri said, "I would have never allowed my son to take the drug Prozac."
And the fact is, the FDA could have warned Terri about the drug, because by 1998, Prozac alone had already accumulated over 40,000 adverse reaction reports, including more than 2,100 deaths, under the FDA's adverse reaction reporting system, more than any other drug in history.
Glenn McIntosh introduces his 12-year-old daughter, Caitlin, with a photo because it is all he has left. Caitlin committed suicide, 8 weeks after being prescribed Paxil and Zoloft.
She was a straight "A" student, a talented musician, artist, and poet, who loved animals and wanted to be a veterinarian.
With the onset of puberty, this bright, sensitive girl who had once loved going to school, started having trouble coping, as many kids do. She was also having problems sleeping due to a mild seizure disorder, her father said, "We wanted to help, of course, so we took her to our family physician, who prescribed her Paxil."
Caitlin didn't do well on Paxil, so the doctor took her off it. A week later they saw a psychiatrist and he put her on Zoloft. "She then started having strong suicidal ideations, along with severe agitation known as akathisia and hallucinations, and she was put in the adolescent ward of a mental hospital to "balance her meds," Glenn said.
There things got worse as she was put on other psychotropic drugs to treat the symptoms that Glenn now knows were caused by the SSRIs.
"Let me be very clear about something," he said, "the dramatic and severe symptoms that led to my daughter's suicide manifested only after she started taking antidepressant drugs."
The downward spiral continued until Caitlin hung herself with her shoelaces in the school bathroom. "We were told that antidepressants like Paxil and Zoloft were wonder drugs, that they were safe and effective for children. We were lied to," Glenn said.
"The pharmaceutical companies have known for years that these drugs could cause suicide in some patients. Why didn't we?" he wants to know.
Delnora Duprey is a grandmother who described how it had been over two years since she had seen her grandson Chris play ball, ride a bike, talk on the phone, or run in to say, "Hey, grandma, what's for dinner?"
Chris is a tall, thin boy, quiet and well liked and respectful to everyone, "who loved his family dearly, and had hopes and dreams for a future," Delnora said.
The family's nightmare began when Chris was diagnosed with depression, and "placed on medication that was never tested on children and never meant for their use," she said. He was first put on Paxil, but was switched to Zoloft a short time later.
The doctor increased the dosage to 200 milligrams and within 48 hours, Chris had shot and killed his other grandparents while they slept and burned their house down.
Today Christopher is sitting in prison facing incarceration for life, "a child that does not even know what has happened to him," his grandma said.
According to Delnora, he was a sweet boy who never hurt himself or anyone else before.
As the parent of someone who committed suicide within 7 weeks of begining to take an antidepressant, I would like to express my appreciation to Ms Pringle for her in-depth article about a problem so huge we have only begun to scratch the surface. In the decades to come antidepressants will be spoken of as the new holocaust. Our young people are being systematically put on these and other mind-altering drugs, like ADD/ADHD medications, and their minds and spirits are being forever broken and changed. We would love to attend the upcoming protest in DC, but finances will not allow that at this time. Our support and prayers are with those who will take our story with them to Capitol Hill and try to open the eyes of the FDA and congress so these drugs can be banned. It's the only way to stop the suicides and murders being committed by these kids. We trusted the doctors and drug companies to know "what was best" for our son and from the minute he took the first pill, he changed and was on a downhill slide into oblivion...this must stop.
by
Terry Bearden (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Friday, August 12, 2005 at 4:18:49 PM
If mental health abuse is reported, we can help! If you or someone you know is a victim of abuse by a mental health practitioner, click on the box to the left.
The first step to correcting injustices and mental health abuse is to report them because something can be done about any situation. Your rights can be upheld, as our organization has shown over and over again.
On the left are links to 20 booklets documenting mental health abuse, and the background of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR).
STEVEN SHARFSTEIN President of the American Psychiatric Ass
STEVEN SHARFSTEIN LIED
http://www.cchr.org/lied/liars/sharfstein.htm President of the American Psychiatric Association; Clinical Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland; President of Sheppard Pratt Health System, Baltimore.
The Sheppard Pratt [psychiatric] Hospital conducts clinical psychiatric drug trials, funded by at least 6 pharmaceutical companies. Antipsychotic drug trials on children will be conducted with the view to obtaining FDA approval for pediatric use. The facility also delivers electroshock.
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KevinOwen (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Friday, August 12, 2005 at 5:58:13 PM
