Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea
See book keywords and concepts |
 Yet another ssri, Celexa, placed seventeenth in sales, grossing $1.5 billion. SSRIs were also third in prescription activity, 140 million in 2002, up 12.6% from 2001.
It is generally believed that SSRIs are effective in the treatment of depression. Prescriptions are easy to get and millions of Americans take them. But, in this book, we repeatedly ask the question: Do they work? That is, are SSRIs effective treatments for depression?
In the early 1990s, SSRIs were tested against so-called tricyclic antidepressants (TCA), the drugs they replaced. |
| The balance between benefit and harm of ssri for depression in childhood has yet to be shown to be favorable."41
We would rephrase: In the treatment of childhood depression, SSRIs do more harm than good. Harm, of course, includes many outcomes— one of which may be the worst of all. Does the use of SSRIs lead to suicide? Unfortunately, the research findings are confusing and contradictory. Still, we can come to three conclusions. In reverse order of causality, they are:
First, there does not seem to be any relationship, or at least "no clear relationship," between SSRIs and suicide. |
| Patients in this group knew that they were receiving the real ssri, as did their physicians, a condition which surely created expectations of maximum benefit—and made comparison with the other groups less meaningful. "The data do not support the TADS authors' optimistic conclusion. The balance between benefit and harm of ssri for depression in childhood has yet to be shown to be favorable."41
We would rephrase: In the treatment of childhood depression, SSRIs do more harm than good. Harm, of course, includes many outcomes— one of which may be the worst of all. |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
See book keywords and concepts |
 The most common medication recommended for PMS/PMDD of moderate to severe intensity is an ssri. These medications can be used just on the severe-symptom days each month. They are effective the day they are taken, which suggests that SSRIs in this case are not helping by increasing neurotransmitters. They seem to work in PMS by altering the neurophysiology and electrical conduction in the brain. Several SSRIs have been used. Suggested doses are fluoxetine (20 mg a day) or the once-weekly tablet sertraline or paroxetine controlled-release (12.5 to 25.0 mg per day). |
John J. Ratey, MD
See book keywords and concepts |
 Twenty years later, it's evident that Prozac and its ssri daughters don't work for everyone, nor do antidepressants that target norepinephrine, dopamine, or any combination of the three. One of the issues is side effects. To take an example, a good portion of my patients on SSRIs develop problems with their sex lives after a few months. Some estimates suggest that more than 50 percent complain of sexual side effects, ranging from lack of interest to lack of functionality. (It says something that SSRIs are often used as a treatment for premature ejaculation and for sexual offenders. |
Mehmet C. Oz., M.D. and Michael F. Roizen, M.D.
See book keywords and concepts |
 And many classes of drugs—especially beta-blockers and the ssri class of antidepressants—list erectile dysfunction as one of the major side effects. (How's that for a trade-off? Take a drug to improve your mood, but risk cutting off your sexual interest and capabilities at the same time.) If you or your partner experience ED while taking a drug, tell your doc so she can switch you to another class that may not have as powerful an effect. For example, switching from an ssri to Wellbutrin (bupropion) seems to help alleviate arousal and interest issues that are common in people who take SSRIs. |
Bottom Line Health
See book keywords and concepts |
| For the first part of the study, more than 700 adults who had not responded to Celexa or who could not tolerate this drug were randomly assigned to receive instead either sustained-release bupropion (Wellbutrin, not an ssri), Zoloft or venlafaxine (Effexor, not an ssri) for up to 14 weeks.
Approximately 25% of the participants in the trial achieved total remission, regardless of the drug used.
"Three different 'switch' medications were tested," says Dr. A. |
Marshall Editions
See book keywords and concepts |
 No one ssri seems to be more beneficial than another, but the atypical ssri mirtazapine has the side effect of increasing appetite.
Lifestyle modifications: Eat a high-protein diet that excludes processed foods and is low sugar and caffeine. This can help to increase the effectiveness of other therapies. Winter holidays, or in extreme cases, relocation to a sunnier area may be advisable if possible. St. |
Mehmet C. Oz., M.D. and Michael F. Roizen, M.D.
See book keywords and concepts |
| For example, switching from an ssri to Wellbutrin (bupropion) seems to help alleviate arousal and interest issues that are common in people who take SSRIs. So does switching from a beta-blocker for high blood pressure to an angiotensin receptor blocker such as losartan or valsartan.
YOU Tip: Drink This. Research shows that Rhodiola rosea, when consumed as a tea or with a light alcohol like vodka, can aid with erectile dysfunction and improve prostate function.
To make tea: Cut fine 5 grams of Rhodiola rosea roots. |
Shannon Brownlee
See book keywords and concepts |
 The other confounding factor here is the fact that not everybody responds in the same way to an ssri. Studies in healthy volunteers, people who have no signs or symptoms of depression, have found that some people feel terrific, even better than well, on an antidepressant. Many feel little or nothing. For others, SSRIs can trigger akathisia and suicidal thoughts. t Eli Lilly, the maker of Prozac, has data showing that 38 percent of people who take the drug become "activated," a term that includes varying degrees of agitation. |
Gary Null and Amy McDonald
See book keywords and concepts |
 DATA EXTRACTION: Appropriate information from all reports obtained was included, with specific attention directed toward patient age, gender, primary psychiatric diagnosis, total daily ssri dosage, dosage escalation strategy, and concurrent psychotropic medications. DATA SYNTHESIS: Reports of EPRs associated with ssri use have been accumulating in the medical literature for several years. More commonly associated with high-potency antipsychotics, EPRs can have an adverse impact on medication compliance and hospital read-missions. |
Benjamin H. Natelson, M.D.
See book keywords and concepts |
 When someone with medical symptoms other than pain also has depression, I usually start with drugs in the ssri class, such as esc-italopram (Lexapro). An added benefit of this particular ssri is that it can also relieve anxiety and sometimes improve sleep. When widespread pain and depression coexist, I choose to prescribe duloxetine (Cymbalta), a drug that alters both serotonin and norepinephrine. I will discuss Cymbalta further when I talk about how I manage severe nonmalignant pain in chapter 7. |
Gary Null and Amy McDonald
See book keywords and concepts |
| This case report shows that EPS can and does occur in youth with ssri. Clinicians should be aware of the SSRIs as a potential causative factor for EPS.
Fluoxetine-induced tremor: clinical features in 21 patients. M. Serrano-Duenas - Servicio de Neurologia del Hospital Carlos Andrade Marin, Insti-tuto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social, Facultad de Medicina de la Pontificia, Universidad Catolica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador. Parkinsonism & Related Disorders Volume 8, Issue 5, June 2002, Pages 325-327
We report a cohort of 21 patients (12 females and nine males), with a mean age of 42. |
| The proposed hypothesis for EPRs occurring with ssri use involves serotonin's inhibitory actions on extrapyramidal dopamine activity. Other possible contributing factors include pharmacokinetic interactions or drug-disease interactions. EPRs may include dystonias, dyskinesias, akathisia, parkinsonism, exacerbations of Parkinson's disease, and possibly the neuroleptic malignant syndrome. The majority of SSRI-related reactions appear to occur within the first month of treatment. |
| DATA SYNTHESIS: Reports of EPRs associated with ssri use have been accumulating in the medical literature for several years. More commonly associated with high-potency antipsychotics, EPRs can have an adverse impact on medication compliance and hospital read-missions. The proposed hypothesis for EPRs occurring with ssri use involves serotonin's inhibitory actions on extrapyramidal dopamine activity. Other possible contributing factors include pharmacokinetic interactions or drug-disease interactions. |
Shannon Brownlee
See book keywords and concepts |
| Paxil sales, most of which were for social anxiety disorder, hit three billion dollars in 2002, putting it ahead of Zoloft, the nation's number-two ssri.
Some might reasonably argue that Cohn and Wolfe's marketing campaign was indeed a public service to people who did not realize that their debilitating shyness was actually a mental disorder, that help was available. It undoubtedly brought some social-phobes into a doctor's office for treatment. |
Byron J. Richards, CCN
See book keywords and concepts |
 It is a sad commentary on the skill level of the medical profession when they think they are solving PMS by giving an ssri medication.
While such symptom suppression may make a woman feel better for a while, ssri medications frequently have weight gain as a side effect.567 Another common side effect is sexual dysfunction, hardly a desirable result in correcting female hormone issues.568 These medications are known to override body rhythms and can induce sleep disorders. |
Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D.
See book keywords and concepts |
 For Additional Help with Cravings:
5HTP—50 milligrams per meal (don't take if you're on an ssri antidepressant or MAOI drug)—with all three main meals.
¦ Vanadium—100 micrograms at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Take at the same time you take chromium. See above.)
B complex—Take one at breakfast and one at lunch. (Don't take at dinner, because it can energize you.)
WHICH HERBS AND SPICES COULD HELP WARD OFF MY URGES TO SPLURGE ON SWEETS? |
C. W. Randolph, M.D.
See book keywords and concepts |
 Genie was working as a pharmaceutical representative for Eli Lilly in 1987 when the company launched the first ssri, Prozac. During sales meetings, she was instructed to target ob-gyns and sell them on Prozac as a cure for the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), such as depression, mood swings, bloating, and anxiety. Evidently, the recommended sales technique worked. Prozac soon accounted for one-quarter of Lilly's revenues, with annual sales reaching $2.6 billion. |
Greg Critser
See book keywords and concepts |
 Whatever you believe about motivation, you can be certain that every major ssri maker fudged when it came to reporting publicly the rate of suicide, suicidal ideation, and violence associated with use of their drug. Such was the conclusion of David Healy, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and the only independent researcher to look at every single ssri study ever done. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
See article keywords and concepts |
 The highly corrupt Food and Drug Administration didn't "accidentally" approve psychotropic drugs that just happened to kill children, you see: The administration knew that ssri drugs (antidepressants) were killing children for well over ten years! The FDA then went out of its way to bury the evidence, colluding with prominent drug companies to hide key documents while hastening the approval of dangerous drugs and keeping the public ignorant of the true risks from consuming them.
Kevin Miller's Generation Rx covers all this (and more) in heart-wrenching detail. |
John J. Ratey, MD
See book keywords and concepts |
| In a landmark study affectionately called SMILE (Standard Medical Intervention and Long-term Exercise), James Blumenthal and his colleagues pitted exercise against the ssri sertraline (Zoloft) in a sixteen-week trial. They randomly divided 156 patients into three groups: Zoloft, exercise, or a combination of the two. The exercise group was assigned to supervised walking or jogging, at 70 to 85 percent of their aerobic capacity, for thirty minutes (not including a ten-minute warm-up and a five-minute cool-down) three times a week. The results? |
Benjamin H. Natelson, M.D.
See book keywords and concepts |
| Fifty-five percent of patients with depression showed improvement when they tried with an ssri alone; 52 percent got better with CBT alone; but 85 percent showed improvement when both treatments were used. In the same way that CBT improves treatment of depression with antidepressants, I strongly believe that
CBT improves treatment of medically unexplained pain and fatigue.
I will discuss in more detail a simple version of CBT in chapter 8 because it is extremely useful in helping people cope with chronic illness, even in the absence of depression. |
Dawson Church
See book keywords and concepts |
 One study reported on the results from sixteen medical centers using Pulsed Magnetic Stimulation to treat depression in 300 patients who had been unresponsive to ssri drugs such as Prozac and Zoloft. Patients sit in a special chair for forty-five minutes per session, while magnetic pulses are directed at the parts of their brains linked to depression. Some 45% of the patients in the study experienced relief from depression using this method. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
See article keywords and concepts |
 Enormous evidence linking mind-altering drugs with violent acts
In 2005, I reported on this site that Eli Lilly had full knowledge of a 1200% increase in suicide risk for takers of their Prozac drug, a popular anti-depressant ssri medication. (See http://www.newstarget.com/003086.html )
In 2006, we reported the results of a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry showing that teens taking antidepressant drugs are more likely to commit suicide (and to be "successful" at completing the act). See http://www.newstarget.com/020643. |
| Depression, of course, is treated with ssri drugs, none of which have ever been safety approved by the FDA for use on children or teens. In other words, the use of these drugs on teenagers is a grand, mind-altering medical experiment, and what we just witnessed in Omaha is one result of that experiment.
There will be more. I hate to be accurate about this grisly prediction, because I grieve for the families of those lost to pharmaceutically-induced violence, but the truth is that until we stop drugging our children with psychotropic drugs, the shootings are not going to stop. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
See article keywords and concepts |
 Now, based on this reporting, you're going to have women suffering from osteoporosis who run out and get on antidepressants, thinking that the ssri drugs will reverse their osteoporosis.
Understand: This is exactly what Big Pharma wants to accomplish with this news! The whole point of this exercise in junk science, lousy reporting and astonishing nutritional ignorance is to get more women to take more drugs. It's really as simple as that. |
Email this page to a friend
