Cautions Issued on Use Of Psychiatric Drugs - Antidepressants, ADHD Medications Cited
smurf
Antidepressants, ADHD Medications Cited
By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 9, 2006; Page A09
Rare but serious side effects have been linked to two groups of widely
used psychiatric drugs, according to new reports yesterday.
Newborns whose mothers took antidepressants such as Prozac, Paxil and
Zoloft in the last trimester of pregnancy had six times the risk of
suffering oxygen deprivation after birth compared with newborns whose
mothers had not taken the drugs, according to a study published
yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
And a briefing document prepared by Food and Drug Administration
officials reported that adults taking medications such as Adderall and
Ritalin to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder might be at
higher risk of sudden death and other serious side effects, especially
if they have high blood pressure. The FDA's findings were issued ahead
of a meeting today aimed at figuring out how to study the risks.
The new reports follow two years of cautionary findings about several
psychiatric drugs. Although the medications have been shown to help
many patients, there are concerns that some subgroups of patients are
at risk of serious side effects. Parents, patients and clinicians have
struggled to balance serious but low-probability risks against known
benefits, and researchers are trying to identify which patients might
experience the problems.
The government analysis of the safety of ADHD medications said both
children and adults taking the drug might be at increased risk, a
worrisome finding because hypertension is so common in U.S. adults.
"Since hypertension is the most common primary diagnosis in America,
it is reasonable to deduce that the adult population at increased risk
of suffering a cardiovascular event associated with stimulant-based
ADHD treatment may be high," wrote FDA safety investigators. The
document noted that some sections had been redacted.
The warning flags on ADHD drugs were picked up through a program that
tracks side effects in the general population, a database that makes
it very difficult to distinguish problems associated with the drugs
from those that would have occurred anyway.
The agency's safety officials noted that reports of adverse effects
have grown in recent years as use of the medications had increased.
Records dating to 1969 show that nearly three-quarters of all serious
reported problems with amphetamines and half of all serious side
effects with drugs such as Ritalin occurred between 1999 and 2003.
In that five-year period, there were 28 domestic deaths among patients
taking Adderall and 16 domestic deaths among patients taking the drug
methylphenidate, most commonly sold as Ritalin. The statistics
excluded deaths among patients who were taking ADHD drugs in
conjunction with other medications.
Laurie Ostroff-Landau, spokeswoman for Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.,
said the company's own review of Ritalin found that "there does not
appear to be any increase in cardiovascular events associated with
methylphenidate use in comparison to the expected rates in the general
population." Shire PLC, which markets Adderall, did not respond to
requests for comment yesterday.
FDA spokeswoman Susan Cruzan said the purpose of today's meeting is to
design studies to better inform the agency about the possible risks of
the drugs.
Lawrence H. Diller, a California pediatrician who wrote "Running on
Ritalin," said the FDA was reacting "defensively" to the decision of
Canadian authorities to halt sales of an extended-release amphetamine
drug before it was put back on the market. The physician, who
prescribes ADHD drugs but is worried they are overused, said that he
thinks the drugs are largely safe for children but that adults might
be at greater risk.
The separate report published in the New England Journal of Medicine
examined whether mothers of babies with a condition known as
persistent pulmonary hypertension had taken antidepressants during
pregnancy. The condition is marked by newborns having trouble
transitioning to breathing on their own; as many as one in five of
such babies fails to survive.
The study found that women who used antidepressants in the latter half
of their pregnancies, especially in the final trimester, had about a 1
percent risk of having a baby with the condition, a rate six times
that of women who did not take those drugs.
Uncle Tom's manor
These are the kind of postings that Ulf Brettstam and the psych trolls
igore but should read be all means.
~~~~
Victoria ("Tory" "Magoo") Christman: "F*ck you!"
(She was found in contempt of court for refusing to give up her
harassment.) She disconnected from husband and son. Just ran out of
them.
~~~~
"I thought I was an alien myself. So I am in fact a space alien invader
disguised as psychiatrist plotting and conspiring all day long." --
Senior psychiatrist Ulf Brettstam
"ECT (Electro Convulsive Therapy), one of the best validated medical
treatment in the history of medicine." -- Senior psychiatrist Ulf
Brettstam
And now dig this: http://www.ect.org/effects.shtml
~~~~
Redneck William "Charlie" Barwell, from Houston, Texas, is a documented
hate monger, liar and spammer:
http://bernie.cncfamily.com/sc/barwell.htm
He is member of the weird and money oriented SubGenius cult but
hypocritically attacks and defames Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard.
Barwell signed his postings as "pope", and his mental state is
questioned by others. Barwell wrote he loves cats in white wine sauce,
drinks beer, rum and loves skunks.
~~~~
French hate monger Roger Gonnet: "I am a patented criminal, I got every
vices, and I have as single fixed idea and only obsession humanity's
death, (me living, everyone else dead). I am preaching satan and
hells... I am a monarchist-royalist as well as a Stalinist-Hitlerian
strong follower; I hate every people."
~~~~
Caswell
manor says...
I am sure Ulf goes out of his way to encourage pregnant women to take killer
anti-depressants and probably ups the dosage of those already on psych drugs.
To Ulf, that woman and her child are just animals to be experimented on, like
Davie with his rats.
Cas
~~~~~~~~
--
"Jail for Ulf! Jail for Ulf!" Has a nice ring to it, hasn't it? For those in a
hurry, the short form for this project is "JULF".
- Barbara Schwarz